A bit of history on International Women's Day and quizz

 

After watching the video from Fiveminded, you may want to  check how much you know about women who made a difference, a challenging quizz created by Paula López   and published by aulasgalegas

Queen Elizabeth II: A constant presence in a changing world - BBC News

Back to the twenties

I am glad to show you the project done by some of the amazing students I have been teaching for four years.  It is a collaboration between History ( Mercedes Martín ) and myself. The video shows some examples of the work they can do.  They are not all here but they are all outstanding. So proud of you!

The true story of Sacajawea - Karen Mensing

So now you will know  how to pronounce the name of this really interesting native American we read about last week.

1. How old was she when she was kidnapped?

2. Who did she marry? Was it love?

3.Lewis and Clark thought she would help them to ...

4. But what else did she do for them?

5. There was a happy encounter on their way to the Pacific. What was it?

6. How long did the journey  take?

YOu may also like this version

The first feminists in history?

"Sharing stories is often the way that sparks new ways of thinking about things we take for granted." that is what Joyce Meyer says in her article
about Laura Swan's book about the Beguines 

Adult women during the Middle Ages were expected to live either as a wife and mother, or dedicated to the Church and living in a convent as a nun. The Beguines questioned this concept and lived outside of these set boundaries. Women who entered Beguinages (Beguine houses and/or convents) were not bound by permanent vows, in contrast to women who entered convents. They could enter Beguinages having already been married and with children and they could leave the Beguinages to marry.

Meyer mentions in her article that

“The movement began in Belgium sometime in the mid 1100s and created much controversy. Who could accept that women might live a life of prayer, dedication to God and service to the poor outside canonically recognized Benedictine or Dominican cloisters and governed by men? Unthinkable!

Without the securities of cloistered life, the Beguines developed businesses to support themselves and their ministries to the poor, particularly women and children. Most lived alone, sometimes near a church, and others lived in small communities. The women did not make formal vows but remained celibate for life or as long as they chose and designed their own “way of life.” As this new life style developed and attracted members, Beguine villages were built, some of which are still standing today.”

Very interesting to know what happened during the Inquisition with them too.

Short video with info about the Beguines 

and in case you were very interested in the topic, a longer one

CINEMA, CINEMA, CINEMA...AND ONLY 2.90

REMEMBER YOU CAN GO TO THE CINEMA FOR JUST 2.90 (27/28/29 OCTOBER) TO WATCH THE MOVIES IN ENGLISH.

HERE IN VIGO  AT CINES NORTE
http://www.multicinesnorte.es/cartelera/

               A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK  (V.O.S) AT 10.20 pm

               THE KING  (V.O.S) AT 5.30 AND 10.30 pm

YOU CAN ALSO PRACTISE YOUR FRENCH 

I have just been told it is a really slow movie but you may enjoy it  if you are into art.

YELMO IN TRAVESÍA ALSO SHOWS FILMS IN V.O.S ON TUESDAYS!!!

In Spanish IT IS WORTH SEEING  "MIENTRES DURE LA GUERRA" BY ALEJANDRO AMENABAR. 

GO TO THE CINEMA! SUPPORT SPANISH INDUSTRY!!!

The STRANGE & FREAKY history of Valentine's Day!

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HIM/HER. 1ST BACH ORAL PROJECT

Last year I asked my 1st Bach students to prepare an oral project about a person who has done something relevant to humanity, who has managed to change the lives of others for better. People who surprinsingly may have been forgotten. I remember I gave them some examples. In that case I focused on women, as we know they are pretty often the forgotten ones. The outcome of that project had some  lights and lots of  shadows  with students talking about singers,  football players and even wrestling fighters.

This year I am planning to give you the same assignment and I am bringing here what could be a good example. 

Sir Nicholas Winton who organised the rescue and passage to Britain of about 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children destined for the Nazi death camps before World War II in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport. This video is the BBC Programme "That's Life" aired in 1988.

He met people he had saved from death when they were kids 

during  a BBC Programme

There is a biographical documentary as well. Have a look at the trailer.

Mary Beard wins Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

British historian and academic Mary Beard has won this year’s Princess of Asturias award, one of Spain’s top honours, in the field of Social Sciences for her "outstanding contribution to the study of the culture, politics and society of classical antiquity".



And this is what she wrote about the moment she received the good news in her blog "A don's life", from THE TIMES LITERARY SUPLEMENT

I had really good news this week. I was in my Faculty office on Tuesday at about 6.15 pm packing up to bike home, when the phone rang from (as the display flashed up) for a Spanish number. It turned out to be an extremely nice man from the Princess of Asturias Foundation to alert me that the jury had just decided to award me the 2016 Princess of Asturias Foundation Award for Social Sciences. It was to be announced the next day at 12.00 and I was to keep mum until then. 

I knew something about these prizes before and was obviously extremely chuffed (you dont get phonecalls like that very often -- and I cancelled my decision to make it an alcohol-free day). But I hadn't quite realised how very grand it was until I looked at the previous laureates in my own and other categories, from David Attenborough, Tzvetan Todorov and Mary Robinson in my own category to Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen and Leonardo Padura in literature (that's Padura arriving above), Michael Schumacher in Sport and J K Rowling in Concord. That was all a bit humbling.

The award comes with a nice cash prize, but that wasn't what mattered most this week (I know people always say that, but it is true). It was the fact that people, not on your back door step, have recognised what you do. If I have had a 'project' over the last few years it has been to continue doing top flight specialist academic work, while also sharing the fruits of that with a wider public. I hate with a vengeance the kind of popularising history (or popularising anything) that assumes that that wider public can be fobbed off with some over-simplified, dumbed-down version of what academics really talk about. It has always seemed to me that you can remove some ofthe jargon, talk clearly and capture precisely the issues that are those under debate. So I was particularly pleased when I saw these words of the jury, referring to my 'talent for making specialized knowledge both accessible and relevant to the general public'. That's exactly what I have wanted to do.

It was also nice (an unworthy confession is coming up!) actually to win something. Now, I have been absolutely delighted with howSPQR has gone down with critics, and with the buying punters. I cant really imagine how it could have done better, thanks in part to the big efforts of others (it's a good book, I immodestly say, but lots of good books dont get attention or find buyers). And I have also been delighted that it has been shortlisted for all sorts of literary prizes. To me, shortlisting matters the most. It's a real vote of confidence in the product, after which the final winning choice must always be a bit random and depend on the unpredictable personal preferences of the judges (to put it another way, you could almost guarantee that a different group of judges would choose a different winner -- and that's certainly been the case on the panels I've been on). That said, I was beginning to get a bit of an 'always the bridesmaid' feeling and to wonder if, bauble as it was, it wouldn't be nice actually to win something one day.

And indeed, as I have discovered this week, it is nice. I am so very grateful to the judges for picking me, and really looking forward to going to Oviedo in October to receive the award. The aim for this summer has to be to get some conversational Spanish under my belt. I can just about read the language (especially when it is about Roman history), but I need to do a bit better than that in the autumn.

If you are still interested in some of her works, here you can watch the documentary about Pompeii. Her English is very clear and easy to understand and  I have included  the subtitles so it will be really easy to follow.

If you find it too long, watch a few minutes and in any case let me know what you have learnt. If you really like it, there a few more.