Entradas

Mostrando entradas de 2025

Education in Australia and New Zealand

Imagen
 Australian education is compulsory from till students reach 17 or 18 years old, structured in the following levels: -Early Childhood: includes preschool or kindergarten for children aged 3 to 5 years. -Primary Education: normally from Year 1 to Year 6 (ages six to twelve). -Secondary Education: typically from Year 7 to Year 12 (students from 12 to 18 years old). -Post-compulsory Education:  -Pathways Programs: they have transition programs to prepare students for university if they do not reach entry requirements, these may include foundation studies or bridging courses. -Vocational Education and Training (VET): they provide practical training and education in specific careers to get diplomas and certificate courses in fields such as hospitality, trades, health care, ICT, etc. -Universities: they offer undergraduate (Bachelor´s), graduate (Master´s and Doctoral) degrees and professional qualifications. Students enter after they pass the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admiss...

Education in Canada

Imagen
The Canadian educational system is known for its high quality and diversity, varying by province and territory because each region has its own policies and regulations. It is divided in: -Elementary and Secondary Education: normally from kindergarten to Grade 6 at Elementary and from Grade 7 to Grade 12 in Secondary schools and High schools around age 17 or 18, once the students graduate they have several options: -Trade schools/ Apprenticeships: for students interested in hands-on careers in skilled trades (carpentry, bakery, hairdressing, plumbing, etc.), trade schoools offer classroom instruction and practical training and apprenticeships allow students to work under experienced tradespeople while completin technical training. -Colleges: focused on practical skills and applied learning. They offer diploma and certificate programs that can range from 1 to 3 years. Programs are often career-focused in professions such as nursing, graphic design, etc. which sometimes can also lead t...

Education in the USA

Imagen
Education in the United States of America: The first formal schools appeared in the 1630s in New England such as the Boston Latin School and in the "Old Deluder Satan Act" required that every town in Massachussets must hire teachers to operate grammar schools. During the eighteenth century the religion gradually weakened and after the American Revolution the constitution made all states to have public schools but its attendance was obligatory only in Massachussets and Connecticut. After the court decision in Brown&Board of Education in 1954 racial segregation was banned and in the 60s, 70s and 80s state schools in the inner cities became famous for lack of discipline, ghettoisation, substance abuse and violence. The federal government supports lunch programs, research grants, loans in college students and scholarships for veterans. In all states are permitted private schools though state schools are the majority and the state regulates the curriculum, graduation requirem...

Education in Ireland

Imagen
 The Irish education system is well-structured and has undergone various reforms to meet the needs of its population and it is divided into several stages: -Early childhood education: it includes preschool or nursery programs for children aged 0 to 6. It is optional and some children are home-school at these ages and other children attend preschool to prepare for Primary School. -Primary school: it usually lasts from 6 to 12 years old (eight years total) and it is divided in two cycles:Infant classes: Junior and Senior Infants (2 years) and First to Sixth Class which lasts 6 years and attend children from 8 to 12 years old.  -Post-Primary Education: it lasts six years divided in "Junior Cycle" from 12 to 15 years old and "Senior Cycle" till 18 y.o. leading to the Leaving Certificate exam crucial for the university admission.  There are national secondary schools (state funded) and vocational schools which focus on skills and trades and there are also private cent...

Education in the UK

Imagen
The church established learning centres in the Middle Ages and later monarchs and noblemen helped to develop into Universities and grammar , high and public   schools which were evolved into modern independent and state schools. In the nineteenth century churches, industrialists and philantropists established Sunday or evening schools for children of the lower classes meanwhile noblemen and wealthy people sent their children to private schools, colleges or universities. It was in 1870 that England & Wales established the Elementary Education Act to provide with elementary or board schools and from 1880 it was obligatory and from the year 1890 it was free for all English children. The Education Act 1940 established three phases being obligatory from 5 to 16 years old: primary (5 to 11 y.o.), secondary (11 to 16 y.o.) and further or higher education which was available to all based on age, ability and aptitude and local authorities set up grammar schools ( advanced students),...

Arthurian legends and the Matter of Britain

Imagen
In the history of English the legacy of King Arthur in literature is of paramount importance. It seems that the folk hero was a king or a Roman general at the beginning of the Middle Ages, after Romans left Britannia there was chaos and Arthur arose to bring order and peace. The legend says that he was born a Roman-Briton in the fifth century, entered the army and fought against the invaders Anglo-Saxons with many victories as narrated firstly by the Welsh cleric Nennius and the "Annales Cambriae", "Historia Britonum" at the beginning of Middle Ages and after the Norman invasion of England in eleventh century of England the monk Geoffrey of Monmouth also wrote about king Arthur in his "History of the English Kings" in Latin, though it is also said that it may a historicised figure from folklore like Hengest & Horsa former horse-gods. As the legend says the king Uther Pendragon was in love with Igraine but she was married and loyal to Duke Gorlois ...

Charles Dickens

Imagen
Charles Dickens, the English writer that due to his works political reforms were promoted for the benefit of the most impoverished people in the country and the trend of Christmas celebration especially for children and those good-hearted citizens who share the same compassion for the weakest part of society as our brilliant author. His works are of paramount importance in England and worldwide especially his novels about children such as "A Christmas Carol", "Oliver Twist", "Great Expectations" and "David Copperfield". Before Dickens, there was literature for children by means of tales (cuentos) or lesson paddles (paletas con lecciones) often moralistic, religious or funny (story tellers). There were pictures of the world (orbis pictus) with sentences for children to learn since in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but the Father of the children´s literature is John Newbery, an Englishman who published "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes...

English for Science, Technology, Business and Administration

Imagen
 The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom during the late eighteenth century and the geopolitical influence of the nation in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, its expansion in colonies and the thriving British Empire during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries facilitated the expansion of the English language in many countries and fields such as technology, science and business. Moreover the importance of the United States in the world increases the importance of English in all areas from politics to business or art such as literature, music or films. 

The dystopian novel

Imagen
 The dystopian novels are those which present a future dehumanized, frightening and controlled or anarchist society, these type of novels reflect social anxieties, radical and dictatorial political climates and human nature. The origins can be traced back(se remonta) by utopian literature which is the opposite because presents ideal societies, one of the earliest examples was " Utopia" by Thomas More in Renaissance England which describes an imaginary society in an island. Also the origins are in satirical novels such as "Gulliver´s Travels " 1726 by Jonathan Swift which highlights the absurdities and flaws (defectos) of contemporary civilization. Another origin is the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution which brought significant social changes and many people became aware (llegó a ser consciente) of the potential negatives of progress. It also served as a social and political critique of contemporary political systems such as communism or capitalism esp...

The Romanticism in literature

Imagen
 Romantic literature in English which not only points out to love and emotion as Saint Valentine´s poems but also a celebration of melancholy, exoticism and history like the novels of Sir Walter Scott or eccentricity, individualism, adventure, bravery and isolation like in Lord Byron´s poetry or nature, animals, magic, transcendentalism, delicacy and art like in John Keats´poems. Romanticism was a literary movement which started as a reaction to Classicism at the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth. We have got painters that focus on nature and isolated or tender characters like John Constable, J. W. Turner and Pre Raphaelite painters and later we have the Hudson Rivers  painters in the US and European painters like Goya, Géricault, Eugène Delacroix and nature Scottish painters. Also in philosophy we have a Counter-Enlightenment movement  preceded by philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, it was a reaction to the Age of Reason in the Germanic Ideali...

Gothic literature

Imagen
 Gothic literature is a genre which started in Europe in the eighteenth century due to the success of pseudomedieval novels set in castles with an evil character who seduces or kidnaps a lady (damsel in distress) and the setting is usually a gloomy castle, dark forest or cemeteries, in an atmosphere of mystery and terror. More elements of Gothic genre are omens (presagios), curses, nightmares, supernatural and paranormal activities (ghosts, spirits, witches, wizards, etc.), passionate romance or a couple of lovers in distress, anti hero or flawed (imperfecto) protagonist and a villain usually autocratic male or a monster, vampire or another weird character. The first Gothic novel is named "The Castle of Otranto" (1764) by Horace Walpole, later many authors achieved great success such as Mary Shelley in "Frankenstein", Sir Walter Scott in "The Bride of Lammermor", 1819,  Edgar Allan Poe in his series of horror tales such as "The Premature Burial",...

THE UNITED STATES

Imagen
 The United States is a country which became independent from England after the Independence War in 1783, the nation endured the Civil War in 1861-65 and assassination of many presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy though Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump are the only two presidents who survived their murder attempt. It is a confederation of 50 states that appear in the American flag as stars, though there were only thirteen states at the beginning. The republic is made up of the House of Representatives and Senate as lower and upper bodies and the Congress which is the legal branch of the federal government. The USA participated in the two world wars and has military bases throughout the planet, it is a big country which was enlarged after the purchase of Luisiana to France and Alaska to Russian, the conquest of the west till California and Texas taking them during the Mexican-American war till 1848 and it was received many European ...

New Zealand

Imagen
 New Zealand are two islands east of Australia inhabited by sailors from Polynesia since the Middle Ages in three different phases in which they adapted to form small villages and cultivated crops. The Geography in the two islands is diverse with alpine forests, glaciers, deserts, geysers, tropical forests and beaches, the northern island has tropical weather whilst in the south island is falls to -0 in winter, there are many rivers and mountains, lakes, forests and more than eighty volcanoes because it is located in "the Ring of Fire". The Northern island is smaller though it is more populated, Wellington is its capital city and Auckland, the most populated. There is a volcanic plateau on the side of lake Taupo , on the east there are mountain ranges and rivers and farmlands of sheep in the Taranaki region. The South Island has mountain ranges as the Southern Alps, cliffs looking to the Tasman Sea and valleys with crops and farms. History says that the first Europeans arrive...

Australia

Imagen
Australia is a continent which forms a country, apparently Asians from India and Malaysa arrived to Australia thousands of years ago, the Aborigines have many stories about the creation of their country named "the Dreaming" and its origins such as the story of the Rainbow serpent. However Captain Cook discovered it for England in July 1770 and the scientists in the ship "Endeavour" called animals, plants and places such as the kangaroos, Botany Bay or New Soth Wales and from the beginning of the nineteenth century the British Empire used this vast continent as a huge prison where usually poor people who had committed petty crimes could redeem themselves by hard work as farmers and other jobs.The geography shows a huge desert in the centre named the Outback, the Pacific in the east, Indian Ocean in the west and the Southern ocean in the south which the coastline enjoys a moderate climate whilst in the north there is a tropical climate wet season very hot and dry seas...

Canada

Imagen
 Canada was inhabited by Asian who arrived on foot through the Strait of Bering, once a dry land and these people were called the "First Nations" like Iroquouis, Métis and Innuit and they hunted animals, fished, cultivated the land and later traded with furs with Europeans like Leif Ericson a Norse explorer, John Cabot an English explorer sent by king Henry VII settled in Cape Breton and the French king Francis I sent Jacques Cartier found Prince Edward Island, later French explorer Samuel de Champlain established Quebec and more colonies in New France. More Europeans arrived to trade for the fur and fish establishing the Hudson Bay Trading Post in 1670, but French and British wanted to control all the land so the Seven Years´ War started in 1756 finishing with the defeat of the French, after the American Independence many colonists loyal to England seek refuge in Canada. The colonies signed an agreement on 1st July, 1867 uniting Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario...

Wales

Imagen
 Wales was an independent nation during most of the Middle Ages since the early settlers were Celts, they were invaded by Romans and the Normans fought against them to control rebellions after William the Conqueror but the worst invasion was led by the English king Edward I who built many castles such as Caernafon and Conwy castles to keep Welsh rebels controlled. The Welsh continued their fight with heroes  like Owain Glyndwr, the last native Welsh to hold the title of Prince of Wales through rebellions till Henry VIII of England passed in 1535 and 1542 the Laws of Wales Acts giving the same legal rights to Welsh as English people. The climate is mild atlantic though changeable and stormy in the coast and its geography is diverse and beautiful landscapes of the coastline with sandy beaches or high cliffs and many islands, it has valleys and also mountains in the north and central part in Snowdonia National Park with high peaks like Crib Goch in Snowdon Mountains. Legends has...

Scotland

Imagen
 Although Scotland belongs to the United Kingdom for many centuries remained an independent country. It was never conquered by Romans who under emperor Hadrian built a wall to divide Britain from Scotia or Alba where fierce tribes named Picts lived and it was not invaded by Angles nor Saxons but they had their own leaders. It is a country with a population of nearly six million people and there are still around sixty thousand people who speak Scottish Gaelic. Scotland was an independent with its monarchs but in 1286  king Alexander III died with no successor, nobles governed the country and seek advise from the English king Edward I who chose the weakes man, John Balliol. Later in 1296 king Edward´s army conquered Scotland forcing John Balliol to abdicate till William Wallace, the son of a Scottish landowner claimed to fight for independence, he led his men to a victory in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 but Wallace was finally defeated at the Battle of Fakirk in 1298 an...

Culture of Ireland

Imagen
 Ireland is a country located in one the British Isles and it has around five million inhabitants though it is said which is the country with more population abroad in the world due to frequent immigrations through centuries during the English colonization. It has many important cities such as Dublin, its capital, Limerick, Galway, Belfast and Londonderry (in Northern Ireland belongs to the United Kingdom), Waterford, Kilkenny, Tallaght, Swords, Drogheda, Bray, Dundelk, Douglas, Dún Laoghaire, Armagh and others smaller with a rich heritage since the Celts, Middle Ages from the Viking or Norman invaders or later the English (Romans never invade Ireland) or Irish landmarks. There are also 26 counties such as Cork, Mayo, Donegal, Tipperay, Tyrone, Clare, Antrim, Roscommon, Down, Wexford, Meath, Wicklow, Offaly, Sligo, Laois, Kildare, Leitrim, Monaghan, Armagh, Carlow, Louth...English invasion started since the English Pale around Dublin and increased during the Renaissance in settleme...