Tag Archives: History

A Historic VP of the USA

Who is Kamala Harris?

I. Did you follow the last elections in the USA? Why? Why not?

II. You’re going to watch a video about the new VP of the USA. First, check these words that are going to appear in the video and match them to their definitions.

Letter 1. former a. in the US, a political partner chosen for a politician who is trying to get elected
2. outspoken b. a lawyer 
3. running mate c. of or in an earlier time; before the present time or in the past
4. heritage d. to cause somebody embarrassment or difficulty by forcing them at that moment to answer a difficult question or make an important decision
5. attorney e. expressing strong opinions very directly without worrying if other people are offended
6. put somebody on the spot f. a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organization, a government, or a political party
7. policy g. features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance

 

III. Watch the video and answer the questions.

a. What are Kamala Harris origins?

b. What was her job before she became a California Senator?

c. Can you think of three adjectives to describe Kamala Harris?

d. Give three reasons why Kamala Harris being elected Vice President of the USA is a historic event.

e. Do you think politics are going to improve with Biden and Harris after the Trump administration? Write your opinion in 50 words.

 

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Daylight Saving Time

Source: needpix.com

Source: needpix.com

I. What do you know about the daylight saving time? How long have we been shifting our clocks? Do you know why?

II. Match the following words with the definitions:

a. to come up with 1. an important subject or problem that people are talking about.
 b. shift  2.  to (cause to) be used or exercised
 c. to catch on  3. to think of; to produce
 d. issue  4. to change (the) position or direction (of)
 e. to enact  5. to become popular
 f. to cut down on 6. to put something into action, especially to make something law 
g. to come into play to reduce the consumption of something

III. Watch the video about the story of the daylight saving time and do the activity below.

Fill in the gap with the missing word(s):

  1. The idea of shifting time dates back to __________________ ago.
  2. In 1895 George Hudson proposed a time shift. The idea was well received but it didn’t _______________.
  3. In 1905 William Willet developed the idea independently of Hudson. He brought the idea to the Parliament until ______________ in 1915.
  4. During WWI the Germans were looking for ways to ____________________  and decided that ____________________ was the answer.
  5. Today ____________ countries around the world practise daylight saving time.
  6. Critics today say it no longer ___________________.
  7. An etimated __________ of the global population does not use it.
  8. In Australia __________ states and territories do not practise daylight saving time.
  9. In the United States _____________ and most of __________ do not bother with daylight saving time.
  10. The shift to and from daylight saving time has been linked to the increase risk in _______________________ and automobile _________________.

IV. Comment on the following questions:

  • Does the daylight saving time affect you? How? 
  • Do you really think it saves energy?
  • If you were asked to vote for or against keeping daylight saving time, what would you do?

WORKSHEET

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Catalan independence through history

I. Before watching the video comment on these questions in pairs:

  1. What is celebrated on September 11th?
  2. When do you think Catalonia started to be a separated nation?
  3. When did it start to be part of Spain?
  4. What happened between 1702 and 1714? And what were the consequences?
  5. Did the situation of Catalonia improve at the beginning of the 20th century?
  6. How did the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship affect Catalonia?
  7. What happened in 1975?
  8. When has the Catalan call for independence become stronger? Why?
  9. What percentage of Catalans support independence?

II. Watch the following video and check your answers.

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The Inuit People

Read the following text and do the quiz below: 

The Inuit people live in the far northern areas of Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Greenland. They originally made their home along the Alaskan coast, but migrated to other areas. Everything about the lives of the Inuit is influenced by the cold tundra climate in which they live.

An Inuit family outside their home
An Inuit family

What kind of homes did they live in?

The typical materials for making homes such as wood and mud are hard to find in the frozen tundra of the Arctic. The Inuit learned to make warm homes out of snow and ice for the winter. During the summer they would make homes from animal skin stretched over a frame made from driftwood or whalebones. The Inuit word for home is “igloo”.

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The mystery of Tutankhamun’s death

Watch the following video about the mystery of Tut’s death and do the exercises:

Write true or false:

(until 1:42)
T/F
  1. Tut was an icon of the Egyptian power.
 2. Until the discovery of his tomb Tut was well known in Egypt.
 3. The walls of his tomb were full of information about his life.
 4. Nobody knows why he died.
 5. There are two possible reasons to explain his death.
 6. One reason can be that he was hurt during a combat.
 7. He fractured his leg while doing some sport.
 8. He was murdered with a gun shot.

Choose the correct option:

(from 1:42 til the end)
1. The scanner generates more than________ images.
  1. 500
  2. 1.500
  3. 50.000
2. The hole in the head means that maybe he was ________.
  1. killed
  2. ill when he was little
  3. hit on the head accidentally
3. The Egyptians think that the hole in the head was made by __________
  1. his family
  2. the embalmers
  3. the gravedigger
4. When they keep on analysing Tut’s body they see a fracture in __________
  1. his foot
  2. his leg
  3. his knee
5. The mystery of Tut’s death is solved after __________.
  1. 13.000 years
  2. 3.000 years
  3. 1.000 years

Worksheet to print

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