jueves, 29 de noviembre de 2012

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY & History of Economics and Ethics

Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is often cited as the father of modern economics for histreatise The Wealth of Nations (1776).^[1]^[2] His ideas built upon a considerable body of work from predecessors in the eighteenth century particularly the Physiocrats. His book appeared on the eve of the Industrial Revolution with associated major changes in the economy.^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_economic_thought.wikipedia.org-History_of_economic_thought

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

Capitalism and Marx

Main article: Marxian economics

Karl Marx provided a fundamental critique of classical economics, based on the labour theory of value.

Just as the term "mercantilism" had been coined and popularised by its critics, like Adam Smith, so was the term "capitalism" or Kapitalismus used by its dissidents, primarily Karl Marx. Karl Marx (1818–1883) was, and in many ways still remains the pre-eminent socialist economist. His combination of political theory represented in the Communist Manifesto and the dialectic theory of historyinspired by Friedrich Hegel provided a revolutionary critique of capitalism as he saw it in the nineteenth century. The socialist movement that he joined had emerged in response to the conditions of people in the new industrial era and the classical economics which accompanied it. He wrote his magnum opus Das Kapital at the British Museum's library.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_economic_thought#Capitalism_and_Marx

Money As Debt II: promises unleashed (FULL MOVIE)

Paul Grignon's second presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its "Duncan Initiative" received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada, the United States and in whole Europe.

How Banks Create Money out of Thin Air

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson

Do you know how your money is created?

An Entertaining but hard hitting look at how the problems we have today are nothing new,and why leaders throughout our history have warned us and fought against the current type of financial system we have in America Today.(SUPREME MASTER LEADER EXPLAINED AT THIS LINK)
http://www.theamericandreamfilm.com/the-cast/supreme-master-leader.php
(DVD's Available at) http://www.infowarsshop.com/The-American-Dream_p_454.html
(Subtitles/Other Languages at this Link) http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEA94C43FDDAFACB8
All of us Americans strive for the American Dream,and this film shows you why your dream is getting farther and farther away.Do you know how your money is created?Or how banking works?Why did housing prices skyrocket and then plunge?Do you really know what the Federal Reserve System is and how it affects you every single day?You will be challenged to investigate some very entrenched and powerful institutions in this nation,and hopefully encouraged to help get our nation back on track..

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

Educational and Methodological Principles of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

While some basic features of a teaching methodology for CLIL may be distinguished, bilingual teaching is determined by the features of the teaching of each specific subject. Thus, one should distinguish between general teaching methods for CLIL and a subject-specific component within them, i.e. a component that is tailored to the specific subject being taught in the foreign language. This statement applies less to the linguistic side of CLIL (i.e. the language through which the subject is taught), although approaches to foreign language teaching often differ on account of different teaching traditions in teaching different languages. Thus, we can only discuss typical features of general teaching methods in CLIL that are an inherent part of all combinations of subject and language (cf. in this connection also Jansen O’Dwyer 2007).

Simultaneous promotion of subject and language knowledge

In terms of teaching methodology, the way in which one can integrate subject and language work is of central importance for every form of CLIL. As in any form of institutionalised learning, however, the question also arises for CLIL as to how the learning processes in school can be appropriately promoted methodologically and didactically. This crucial didactic question raises itself doubly in the context of CLIL since the aim is to promote knowledge of a subject and knowledge of a foreign language at the same time.It has emerged ever more clearly in foreign language teaching in the last decade that learning processes at school can only be influenced by the teacher to a limited extent; there are meanwhile similar findings in the teaching of a number of other humanities and social sciences subjects, e.g. history. Increasingly, calls are rather being made to promote learning processes through appropriately designing the learning environment. If learners work actively with one another in an appropriate learning environment in which they engage with the subjects consciously and emotionally, so the argument goes, learning processes are promoted to a greater extent than in traditional forms of teaching in which the teacher may be actively involved but learners are involved only reactively. While such learning environments have been discussed for some time in the teaching of foreign languages and also occasionally in the teaching of other subjects, they are introduced by teachers into lessons with little enthusiasm – and unfortunately that also applies to CLIL lessons. I am referring here in particular to forms of work involving a partner, work in groups and project work. These cooperative forms of work are linked with the educational principle of learners’ autonomy, the conceptual basis of all recent educational approaches.

It is the learning environment that counts

It is precisely this concept of a modern learning environment based on constructivist principles (cf. Wolff 2002) which, in the view of CLIL methods, also best does justice to the demands of integrated subject and foreign language teaching. The best way to combine subject and language work is to integrate them in a learning environment of this kind. Bilingual subject teaching is first of all subject teaching, i.e. the subject presents the contents with which the learner has to deal. The contents of the subject are real in the sense of the discussion in the early 20th century on Realien - material objects used as teaching aids to stimulate the imagination, i.e. contents relating to the real world. Unlike the often fictional contents of foreign language teaching, these contents encourage learners genuinely to deal cognitively, consciously and emotionally with the subject, thus promoting optimal learning processes. Because the contents of the subject are real, they are also more appropriate for modern forms of joint learning such as group and project work than the contents of foreign language teaching. When learners work in small groups on geography or history topics, their individual learning processes are enhanced, their motivation for dealing with these contents is increased and they are more involved in the learning process. Of course, such an approach requires the development of learners’ autonomy, i.e. the ability to work independently, which is developed in turn in the context of group and project work (cf. here also Dam 1994).

The question of integrating content and language

These comments do not yet answer the central question, of course. So far, CLIL lessons have only been described as modern subject lessons like those that could also take place in the learners’ mother tongue. The question of the linguistic side of CLIL and above all of the integration of content and language requires further considerations. Language plays a central role in the teaching of any subject. History or biology lessons in the learners’ native language also work with language to a great extent. The concepts of specialist subjects are conveyed to learners through language. Language is needed to be able to observe and describe situations, and language enables learners to exchange ideas and discuss controversial insights. It is no coincidence that the observation was made in the field of specialist English teaching methodology back in the eighties that all teaching is language teaching. The concept of language across the curriculum that called on all teachers to make language transparent in their lessons is also indirectly a didactic basis for CLIL. This is because if one teaches a subject in a language other than the learners’ mother tongue, raising an awareness of linguistic products and processes plays an even more important role.

A repertoire of speech acts is needed

While the foreign language is not the focus of lessons in modern CLIL, more emphasis is placed on the language and on making it transparent to learners than in lessons in the learners’ native language. Terminological aspects should not be the focus here, as was originally called for in CLIL. What appears to be much more important in language work is to develop a repertoire of speech acts that play a central role in subject lessons. This may be determined for all subjects, regardless of whether they are science, social science or humanities-orientated. The pupil has to be equipped linguistically for these speech acts in order to be able to act independently. If lessons are held in a foreign language, the relevant linguistic repertoire in the foreign language must also be provided. These speech acts include the following:

Describing: identifying, defining and classifying the partial actions.
Explaining: using the partial actions to provide examples, to elaborate and to reduce.
Evaluating: using the partial actions to argue and to provide evidence.
Drawing conclusions: concluding and explaining with the partial actions.

These acts, which may be assigned to linguistic functions, are implemented linguistically in the learners’ native language or, in the case of bilingual subject lessons, in the foreign language, but they serve the work with the subject’s contents and are therefore very realistic. Because learners are made aware of them in their work with subject contents and regard them as necessary, they are also learned.

Academic interaction skills

Thus, the decisive factor in promoting language skills is the development of language skills related to subject-based work. Allow me to illustrate this with an example. Subject work is to a great extent based on work with texts and documents but also refers to other materials, e.g. pictures, graphs and films. Learners need to be linguistically prepared to deal with such materials. That means that their reading skills need to be developed more than in traditional foreign language lessons, for example, where oral interaction plays a greater role. Reading texts and documents is dependent on reading strategies that have to be taught to learners. Work with pictures, graphs and films requires other strategies that also have to be developed and promoted in respect of the linguistic application of the knowledge that has been gained. For example, describing the picture of a geological formation requires strategies by means of which the important features of this formation can be recognised, but at the same time it requires the ability to translate this knowledge from its conceptual form into a linguistic form. Thus, the promotion of language skills always takes place in combination with subject-related tasks; these tasks determine which linguistic processes and strategies, but also which linguistic means, are included in the lesson. In the broadest sense, this involves promoting academic interaction skills in the sense of Cummins' cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) concept. While foreign language teaching, especially in the first years, promotes what Cummins referred to as basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS), bilingual subject teaching focuses from the outset on developing academic interaction skills.

Code switching required

To conclude these considerations, allow me to make a methodological remark on the use of the mother tongue and the foreign language in bilingual teaching. In the early days of CLIL, the methodological demand was for bilingual subject teaching to be strictly monolingual, in line with the principle of foreign language teaching at that time i.e. the mother tongue was not to be used in the classroom. Views have now changed - the importance of the mother tongue in integrated foreign language and subject learning processes is no longer called into question, particularly since it has been recognised that the code-switching processes often to be observed in the bilingual classroom are very important in language-learning and language awareness-raising processes, but as yet have rarely attracted methodological interest (cf. here in particular Wannagat).

Literature on the subjectCummins, J. (1987): “Bilingualism, language proficiency and metalinguistic development”. In: Homel, P., Palij, M. & Aaronson, D. (eds.): Childhood Bilingualism: Aspects of Linguistic, Cognitive and Social Development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

miércoles, 7 de noviembre de 2012

PROBLEMS?

the teaching of the subject of citizenship in UK schools

An Ofsted report was released into the teaching of the subject of citizenship in UK schools. Part II involves a panel discussion on the subject. Part I of the BBC News 24 excerpt is a background piece.

Civics (History and Government) USA

El asesinato de Martin Luther King

1ª Parte. El asesinato de Martin Luther King.

A finales de marzo de 1968, King partió a Memphis, Tennessee para apoyar a los trabajadores negros de los sanitarios públicos, representando a AFSCME Local 1733, quienes habían estado en huelga desde el 12 de marzo para lograr aumentar sus sueldos y lograr un mejor trato. (Por ejemplo, los trabajadores afro-estadounidenses, a diferencia de los blancos, no se les pagaba cuando eran enviados a sus casa debido al mal tiempo.) El 3 de abril, King regresó a Memphis y se dirigió a un conjunto de personas, dando el discurso titulado "I've been to the Mountaintop" ("He ido a la cima de la montaña", en español) en Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ, Inc.-World Headquarters). El avión de King se retrasó debido a que se hicieron amenazas de bombas en contra de él.[4] En uno de sus últimos discursos antes de su asesinato, en referencia a la amenaza de bomba, King dijo lo siguiente: Entonces llegué a Memphis. Y algunos empezaron a decir amenazas, o a hablar sobre las amenazas que circulaban. ¿Qué me ocurrirá a mi de parte de algunos de nuestros enfermos hermanos blancos? Bien, no sé que ocurrirá ahora. Tenemos unos días difíciles adelante. Pero ahora no me preocupa a mí. Porque yo he ido a la cima de la montaña. Y no me importa. Como cualquiera, me gustaría vivir una vida larga. La longevidad tiene su lugar. Pero no me preocupa eso ahora. Solo quiero realizar la voluntad de Dios. y Él me ha permitido ir arriba de la montaña. Y lo he revisado. Y he visto la tierra prometida. Puedo que no llegue allí con ustedes. Pero quiero que esta noche sepan, que nosotros, como un pueblo, llegaremos a la tierra prometida. Estoy feliz esta noche. Nada me preocupa. No le temo a ningún hombre. ¡Mis ojos han visto la gloria de la venida del Señor! King fue hospedado en el cuarto 306 del Motel Lorraine, propiedad de Walter Bailey, en Memphis. El Reverendo Ralph Abernathy, un cercano amigo y colega de King que estuvo presente en el asesinato, juró bajo juramento ante el Comité Selecto de la Cámara sobre Asesinatos que King y sus cercanos se hospedaron en el cuarto 306 en el Motel Lorrain conocido como el "King-Abernathy suite, y murió asesinado por Mauro Raul Rivero Pilan que no se lo encuentra todavía ;se cree que esta en Argentina. De acuerdo al biógrafo Taylor Branch, la autopsia de King reveló que si bien él tenía 39 años de edad, su corazón era el de una persona de 60 años, evidenciando con ello el estrés que soportó durante 13 años en el movimiento de derechos civiles. Después del asesinato la ciudad logró llegar rápidamente a un acuerdo favorable para terminar la huelga. Captura y juicio de RayDos meses después del asesinato de King, el convicto fugitivo James Earl Ray fue capturado en el Aeropuerto de Londres-Heathrow mientras intentaba partir del Reino Unido con un pasaporte canadiense falso bajo el nombre de Ramon George Sneyd. Ray fue expedítamente extraditado a Tennessee y acusado por el homicidio de King, confesando el asesinato el 10 de marzo de 1969 (aunque se retractó de su confesión tres días después). Siguiendo el consejo de su abogado Percy Foreman, Ray aceptó declararse culpable para evitar una condena en juicio y así la posibilidad de recibir la pena capital. Ray fue sentenciado a 99 años de prisión. Ray despidió a su abogado Foreman (desde entonces llamándolo "Percy Fourflusher") diciendo que conoció a un hombre en Montreal, Canada con el alias "Raoul" estaba involucrado, como también lo estaba su hermano Johnny, pero no el mismo, afirmando posteriormente que aunque el no había "disparado personalmente a King," si podría haber sido "parcialmente responsable sin saberlo," en la conspiración. Pasó el resto de su vida intentando (sin éxito) el retirar su declaración de culpable e intentando lograr un nuevo juicio que nunca obtuvo. Fuga y vuelta a prisiónRay junto a otros siete convictos escaparon de la prisión Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary en Petros, Tennessee el 10 de junio de 1977. Fueron recapturados el 13 de junio del mismo año y regresados a prisión.[10] Se le agregó un año más a la condena anterior sumando un total de 100 años. Poco tiempo después, Ray testificó no ser el asesino de King ante el Comité Selecto de la Cámara sobre Asesinatos.

Luther King - I have a dream

Discurso de Gandhi en Ginebra

martes, 6 de noviembre de 2012

THE STORY OF ENGLISH JUSTICE .3 (Subtitle in the video buttons) EPISODE 3 Presumed Innocent. Although England had a well-developed legal system by the 19th century, the trial process was stacked against the defendant. Crimes like theft and damage to property could be punished by death, but trials were often over in minutes and most defendants had no-one to put their case other than the judge himself. Harry Potter explores the incredible transformation that enshrined fairness in English court procedure and put the defence on an equal footing with the prosecution. It was a change shaped by seismic shifts in English society, from the Industrial Revolution to the rise of the popular press. Above all, it saw the emergence of the star turn of the courtroom drama - the defence barrister. Harry's journey involves spies, forgery, fraud and murder, and a visit to the set of drama series Garrow's Law.

Ethics Workbook I: World History Chapter 9 The Middle Ages

Ethics Workbook I: World History Chapter 9

The Middle Ages

All of the societies we have studied so far have held individual people responsible
for their actions. In fact, we could say that ethics is about individual decision making.
But, we have also seen big variations in how people look at what's right or wrong.
Sometimes this difference comes from a disagreement over how important people think
the good of society as a whole is. Next we're going to study a way of looking at right and
wrong which stresses what's good for the group that the individual is part of. This idea
holds that what's best for the group is most important, and, in the end, is what's best for
each individual.

Before we get started, think about this issue. Should you try to do what's best for the
group you belong to even if it might not be, at least in the short run, what seems best
for you as an individual?

This question speaks directly to the most fundamental ethical question and should generate
considerable discussion. The teacher should try to encourage as complete a consideration of
the issue as possible.

Feudalism

After the fall of Rome, the rule of law disappeared, and Europe became a
dangerous and lawless place. People naturally banded together and formed groups for
their own protection. The land was divided into many small territories, which were
defended by castles. Nobles and knights ruled, while peasants and serfs farmed the land.
This so-called feudal system lasted for over a thousand years.

Feudalism’s ideas of right and wrong were based on what would best hold
together a strong group. We call this idea communalism. A commune is a group of
people living together and sharing what they have.
Ethics Workbook I
©Anthony Tiatorio 1999
57
In feudal society people freely agreed to be ruled by other people, and to do what
they were told in return for protection. To seal these personal agreements, it was
common to swear an oath of allegiance. The greatest crime that you could commit was to
go back on your word, and not stand by your oath. This was called a felony. The word
felony is still used today to describe the most serious crimes.

Let's look at one of these feudal oaths.

I swear before God that I will be your true and
faithful servant and be at your command. I will
love what you love, and hate what you hate. I will
not think or do anything of which you disapprove.
In return you will stand by me, and protect me in
all the ways we agreed to at the time I submitted
myself to your authority.
Composite of several typical feudal oaths.

An oath is like a promise to do something. How important is it to keep your promises?
Should promises be kept no matter what?

It is important for students to continually consider this kind of question.

Thomas Aquinas

During this feudal era, the Catholic Church was very strong, and most of the
thinkers and writers were church people. One great philosopher who had a lot to say
about right and wrong at that time was a Catholic priest named Thomas Aquinas. We're
going to read some of his words, and talk about them because they show the philosophy
behind communalism.

Here is how Aquinas put it:

The parts of things exist for the sake of the whole.
If a person had an infected finger, and it was
threatening to spread and kill the person, then it
would be right and good to cut it off. By the same
reasoning, the person who is dangerous and
infectious to the community can be rightfully
killed to protect that community.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II,64 simplified

You can easily see how strong this idea of protecting the group was. Think about
the groups you belong to. How important are these groups to you? Write a short
statement about groups in your life and prepare for a discussion.

Ethics Workbook I: World History Chapter 8 Christianity and Islam

The next topic in this Ethics course is Christianity and Islam you can find it in the Ethics Workbook I: World History Chapter 8

Christianity and Islam

Another powerful ethical teaching, which emerged during ancient Roman times

was Christianity. Christianity is a religion in the same tradition has Hebrew Judaism.

We read about the Hebrew law in the Old Testament, and learned that it was strict and

unbending. Christianity was an extension and variation of this tradition. Christianity

added a New Testament to the Bible. This book has some important new ideas that we're

going to learn about.

Remember the Old Testament commandment, “Thou shall not kill?” Let's

start by looking at the New Testament variation of it from the Book of Matthew.

You have heard it said thou shalt not kill, and if

you do you will be punished. But I say to you that

whoever is angry at his brother without cause will

be punished, and whoever speaks hatred to his

brother will be punished, and whoever calls insults

will be punished.

Matthew 5, 21-22

Is it as wrong to utter threats and insults as it is to actually do an act of violence? Think

about and be prepared to discuss this. Try to use some present-day examples of how

certain words, and even thoughts might seem to be as wrong.

This discussion will ignite students. Let it go naturally.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This also introduces us to the idea of intent, or the reason why a person does

something. Christianity takes the reason why you do things very seriously. Here is

another quote from Matthew:

A good tree bears a good fruit, but a corrupt tree

bears evil fruit.

Matthew 5, 17 Ethics Workbook I

What to do you think this means? Do you agree?

Let's look at some more comparisons.

You have heard it said an eye for an eye and a

tooth for a tooth, but I say don't fight back against

evil; if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him

also hit you on the left.

Matthew 5, 38-39

You have heard it said that you should love your

neighbor and hate your enemy but I say love your

enemies and do good for them even if they hate

you.

Matthew 5, 43-44

We first saw the idea of getting revenge on your enemies as being wrong

expressed by Socrates who believed that it was wrong because it only leads to more

violence. The Greeks replaced revenge with public laws. Christianity also sees it as bad

and for a very similar reason. But Christianity’s answer is different. Evil is overcome by

good, not by laws and punishments.

Do you think that this will work? What strength does its have? How might you argue

that this is the only way to overcome evil? Can you apply this idea to an everyday

situation?

Parables

A parable is a short story that has an ethical message in it about what's right and

what's wrong. We saw this teaching technique used all through history. Remember

Aesop’s Fables or the Ramayana. The New Testament has many important parables.

One of the most important is called of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Prodigal means

wasteful, so it's a story about a wasteful son, and his relationship to his father and his

brother. After you read, or listen to, the story, try to figure out what the moral message

in it is and explain it in your own words.

Ethics2013

Páginas

jueves, 29 de noviembre de 2012