Tutorial Excel: Funciones Básicas

En las clases de NTICX, durante este último trimestre y al concluir con las prácticas de Word, comenzamos a trabajar con Excel. Luego, a modo de trabajo final, generamos un video tutorial explicando el uso de las funciones básicas de Excel, además de un par de funciones y formatos. Para hacerlo nos separamos en grupos, yo trabajé con Iñaki Fierro y Octavio Zacagnino. Este es nuestro trabajo:

Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?

In our class of History, so as to finish the last term, we created a mind-map of all what we have been reading and studying about the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Our teacher divided us in different groups, I worked with Manuela Benadusi and Octavio Zacagnino. This is our final work:

"The Lemon Orchard"- Story analysis

As we finally approach the date of the IGCSE Literature, the teacher divided us in groups in order to make presentations about all the stories that we have read for the exam. In this way, we finish with the syllabus and at the same time help the candidates with their final preparation. My group was assigned "The Lemon Orchard", written by Alex La Guma. This is our presentation:

"Cetacean"- Poem analysis

As we finally approach the date of the IGCSE Literature, the teacher divided us in groups in order to make presentations about the last poems that we must read for the exam. This way, we finish with the syllabus and at the same time help the candidates with their final preparation. My group was assigned "Cetacean", written by Peter Reading. This is our presentation:
 

"A view from the bridge" - Character analysis

During these last couple of weeks in the Literature periods we have been making a recap on "A View from the Bridge", a play we had read last year which is part of this year's IGCE Literature syllabus.

As a final task, our teacher asked us to pick a character in order to create an infograph with some good information. Together with Iñaki Fierro we picked Alfieri and here is our work:

¿Sabían que existe más de un tipo de corazón?

En clase, estudiamos el sistema circulatorio. Con la ayuda de imágenes, comparamos los distintos corazones que existen dentro del reino animal. Creamos un cuadro comparándolos con fotos y las características de cada uno. Por último, buscamos una imagen y un vídeo que explique el corazón humano y el ciclo cardíaco. Yo lo hice con Mora y Manuela.

Hacer click para ver el cuadro completo

Tipos de corazones dentro del reino animal

Corazón de anélidos

Corazón de peces

Corazón de insectos

Corazón humano

Water around the world

In EM (Environmental Management) classes we watched and analysed two videos about water-rich and water-poor countries. In addition, our teacher Marcela Rossi told us to create our own conclusion or comment about them.

In the first video there’s a boy, who clearly lives in a water-rich country, that fills a bottle with water from the tap of his own house, while a girl living in a water-poor country has to collect it from a river which is not even clean. However the video ends with the boy switching the girl’s bottle of polluted-water with his own clean one. This could be a “call of help” for the water-rich countries, who could contribute by helping the water-poor ones. 

In the second video there is a girl of a water-poor country who travel 4 miles daily in order to collect water from a river. This water is not even clean enough for human consumption. 

As I interpreted, both videos  aware us of the great importance of having clean water and make us think if we are giving it a responsable consumption. They also show the contrast between how people live in water-rich and how people does in water-poor countries, making us notice how lucky we are that we can get clean water by only using the tap. That’s why everyone should take care of clean water, and this is not a complex thing to do, only by reducing the unnecessary use of it would help for its caring.

Poem analysis: "The Poplar Field"

In Literature classes we read a short poem named "The Poplar Field" written by William Cooper (1784). After we analyzed the story all together and we completed a guide of questions, we were told to create a presentation in pairs about it. I worked with Iñaki Fierro and we used the app named Prezi.

 

The Cuban Missile Crisis

In History classes we studied about the Cold War and its most important events. After we investigated and read about it, we created and delivered a presentation of a particular event. I did it with Nicolas Penedo, Lucas Montes Pita and Ignacio Pereyra. This is our work:

Climate Types

In the first term we studied and investigated about tropical storms. In addition we also learnt about the different types of climates around the world. As part of an activitie, our teacher told us to create a chart comparing all the types of climates. This is my work:

On partage une belle chanson française

La Marseillaise!

Ca c'est la lettre de l'hymne français

Allons enfants de la patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes
Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!
Français, en guerriers magnanimes
Portez ou retenez vos coups!
Épargnez ces tristes victimes
À regret s'armant contre nous
À regret s'armant contre nous
Mais ces despotes sanguinaires
Mais ces complices de bouillé
Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitié
Déchirent le sein de leur mère!
Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!
Amour sacré de la patrie
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs!
Liberté, liberté chérie!
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire
Accoure à tes mâles accents
Que tes ennemis expirant
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire!
Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!

C'est le video pour que vous pouvez écouter:

Ce qui s’est passé en France ces dernières années?

Le Festival International du Film de Cannes

La première édition du Festival International du Film de Cannes a été programmé  pour l’année 1939. Mais, il a été annulé à cause de la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale. Dans les années 1948 et 1960 il a été annulé aussi. Cette année il a été célébré du 14 au 25 de mai.

La vocation fondatrice du festival était de révéler et mettre en valeur des oeuvres de qualité pour servir l'évolution du cinéma, favoriser le développement de l'industrie du film dans le monde et célébrer le 7ème art à l'international.

Le Festival est très attentif à découvrir de nouveaux talents et à servir de tremplin à la création. 

Les Marches rouges sont la partie la plus médiatique de l'événement, et pour l'organisation, l'opportunité d'accueillir pour la première fois et avec les mêmes égards plus grands artistes du cinéma mondial et les talents émergents. C'est également l'occasion d'honorer la créativité des artistes sur laquelle repose le prestige du Festival. Après le passage à Cannes qui constitue un accélérateur de notoriété pour les réalisateurs, les films poursuivent leur carrière souvent couronnée de succès dans les salles et les festivals du monde entier.

Le prestige de Cannes tient à un secret de fabrique assez complexe solidement ancré dans son histoire, mais il est aussi très attentif à accueillir la nouveauté au fil des années, il a évolué en cherchant à préserver ses valeurs essentielles: la célébration du 7e art, la découverte de nouveaux talents, l’accueil des professionnels et des journalistes venus du monde entier pour contribuer à la naissance et à la diffusion des films Lors de chaque édition, des projets voient le jour, des expériences se transmettent, des cultures se découvrent: c'est aussi cette effervescence qui fait du Festival de Cannes le reflet de son époque.

A literary essay on "The Moving Finger"

In this essay I will analise a short story called “The Moving Finger”, written by Edith Wharton, which talks about the relationship between two men and how the portrait of a dead woman influences in their lives. The ideas of love, obsession, in addition to control are explored through the characters and the portrait. Consequently, I will develop and discuss how the author portrays these ideas in different situations of the story.

To begin with, we get to know that the main character of the story, Mr Grancy, was immersed in a great depression after his first wife’s death, “Left alone, he revealed numb withered patches, like a tree from which a parasite has been stripped”. However, he recovers from it as he married his second wife (Mrs Grancy) who, in comparison to his first one (which was not good for him: “his first wife’s soft insidious egotism”), he really felt in love with. She was the new love of his life, so there was no sadness to fight anymore: “...and when he met the Lady who was to become his second wife… the whole man burst into flower”. Furthermore, in the course of the story we can observe how this love turns into obsession: his new wife was so priced for him that he trapped her essence in a portrait made by his friend Claydon, in order to have her forever; “you're my prisoner now- I shall never lose you.” he used to said, making reference to the fact that, even if she left, he would still have her. This kind of ‘joke’ became real as, even when she unfortunately died, she continued loving the portrait as if it was his real wife. Therefore, here is presented the idea of control, because not matter her death, she still belongs to him, being imprisoned in the house, inside the portrait. He also started to believe that she’s still alive (he too has conversations with it). 

Moreover, the portrait is a very important object in the story. Actually, it is much more than just an object, instead it is one way in which the author portrays these ideas of control and obsession. This is shown as Mr Grancy’s love towards the portrait was so intense that it turns into an obsession. In his attempt to keep her alive through the painting, he twice made some changes to it so as to make her look older, as if it had been growing old all those years at his side. In fact, this started when Mr Grancy comes back from Europe and sees the portrait for the first time since he left: “She smiled at me coldly across the distance that divided us”, he said, in my opinion, making reference to the gap between life (he) and death (his wife), and also the one of age, as he realizes that the portrait showed a young woman, while he was an “old gray-haired broken man whom she had never known!”. In addition, the word “coldly” means that she was emotionally cold or also that she was dead; it also has to do with arrogance; she is too proud of herself while he feels inferior to her. This is connected to the idea of obsession, as he is being preoccupied with making the portrait look as she wanted it to look. Because of this, Mr Grancy decided to ask for help to Claydon, the one who had painted the masterpiece, in order to do these changes to it. The portrait also represents control; while it firstly seemed that Mr Grancy control the portrait and with it Mrs Grancy (the painting may represent a prison where she belongs only to him), then the portrait seemed to control him due to the fact that he was conditioned by what his wife appeared to show. That’s why we can assume that Mr. Grancy’s well-being depended on the way the portrait looked like. 

Finally, the idea of desire is also presented, portrayed in Claydon’s character, as we can interpret that he was also obsessed with Mrs Grancy. Before Mrs. Grancy’s death, the relationship between Ralph and him was good. Afterwards, when she died, they started having problems regarding the portrait; their friendship turns into a rivalry. We can assume Claydon’s obsession firstly through Ralph’s comment in which he ask himself how could Claydon paint his wife as if he was looking with the same eyes, full of love, of her; so we may suspect that Claydon is also in love with her. However, in my opinion there can be two interpretations for this: “when he came home and sent for me to change the picture it was like asking me to commit murder. He wanted me to make an old woman of her who had been so divinely, unchangeably young!”. On the one hand, Claydon may not have actually been in love with her, but with the masterpiece he had created. He saw the action of changing his ‘divine’ painting as something fatal. On the other hand, he could have been all that time in love with her, and he only wishes to remember her as the young and beautiful woman she was. In fact, the first case ends up with Claydon’s refusal towards Mr Grancy’s request. However, when he was left alone with the picture, Mrs Grancy seemed to tell him (at least is what he says happened) "I'm not yours but his, and I want you to make me what he wishes", so he finally accepted to do it. But many years later, Mr Grancy ask Claydon to grow Mrs Grancy older, who was leaving him behind. By this time Grancy was ill, but doctors said he was going to get better. However, Claydon modified the portrait in order to reflect a woman who knew her husband was about to die. This meant his death-warrant, because as I said before, Mr. Grancy’s health depended on the way the portrait looked like, obviously this was part of the fantasy he had created. Even though Claydon swore that “...it was her face that told me he was dying, and that she wanted him to know it! She had a message for him and she made me deliver it” and also said “that was what she wanted of me and I did it - I kept them together to the last!”. I actually believe that he used it as an excuse to convince himself that what he was doing was right. However what he really wanted was to have the portrait for himself (the idea of obsessing control appears again): “ ‘But now she belongs to me’, he repeated…” 

To conclude, I strongly believe that these three ideas of love, obsession and control are the main concepts in the story. Moreover, I really like how they are developed all throughout it. And something that astonished me is how love sometimes can make people do crazy things.

Tropical Cyclones: Hurricanes

During the class of Environmental Management (EM) we are studying tropical cyclones, specifically working with hurricanes. So our teacher, based on the information previously discussed, told us to produce a summary about hurricanes.

“Climatic hazards can be seen as agents of disaster according to the effects they may produce in human settlements, as well as to the environment” (www.link.springer.com). Some of them are floods and droughts, in addition to tropical storms. Another name that is given to tropical storms is tropical cyclones, which are short storms that last no longer than 48 hours. Nevertheless, these storms are usually very strong and come up with lot of destruction. As Tropical Cyclone is a general term; there are three different names given to refer to them: Typhoons, Cyclones and Hurricanes. These names varies depending on the place where they are formed. On one hand, Typhoons are in p western part of the North Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, Cyclones are in the North of the Indian Ocean between 100º east longitude and 45 east latitude. And finally, Hurricanes form in the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and eastern or central North Pacific Ocean.

We are going to focus on hurricanes. This word (“hurricane”) comes from the Carib Indian God of Evil, called “Hurican”. Their God Hurican was derived from the Mayan God of Wind, Storm and Fire, “Huracan”. Anyhow, in order not to give the same name (hurricane) to every tropical cyclone that occurs in the North Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, there is a World Meteorological Organization which develops a list of names that are assigned in alphabetical order to tropical storms as they are discovered in each hurricane season. Names can be repeated after an interval of six years, but the names of especially severe storms are permanently retired from use.

These kind of storm usually occurs in areas which are located within the tropics, in most of the cases near the equator, areas of very hot weather. Moreover, they normally happen towards the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. In addition, they are generally formed above the ocean, where water remains at least at 27ºC. They are form when a mass of warm air rises as this previous water is evaporated, causing an area of lower air pressure below. Air from surrounding areas pushes into the low pressure area and then becomes warm and rises too. All this air starts making a swirling movement, and when there is no more air and moisture can’t be held, it starts raining. The calm part of the hurricane is the center (also known as the eye of the storm) and stays “Inside” of it. Turbulences occur in the surroundings of the center, as it is where contact between cold and warm air masses occur. Despite that, the center also moves, so in the middle of the storm it might turn sunny, but as the eye moves, it probably won't last long until the strong storm starts again. The facts that are analyzed and the way hurricanes’ formation is predicted are by the sea movements, measuring the speed of the winds and by satellite images.

Hurricanes can reach 150 kilometers per hour (or even more), so its intensity is measured using the Saffir-Simpson Scale, which goes from Category 1 as the lowest, to Category 5 as the strongest (most destructive). Furthermore, another important fact, is that hurricanes’ intensity decreases (they lose energy) when reaching land. To conclude, the effects that these strong storms cause are divided into3 types: immediate, short-term and long-term. The ones that occur as soon as the hurricane passes through are called immediate effects (as an example the destruction of an entire building). Short-term effects happen in the following days after the natural disaster occured (a flood is an example). And finally, long-term effects are those things that, even though they had been caused by the storm, they appear weeks (or more time) after it (for example the lack of services of water or electricity, in addition to diseases and the money that governments have to invest in order to pay for reparations).

Analysis on "The Open Boat"

In Literature classes, before reading our first story of the year named "The Open Boat" (written by Stephen Crane), we deeply analized it in all of its aspects, and then we answered a questionnaire based on it. Moreover, our teacher told us to create an infographic inspired in a questionnaire's question which talks about the different themes. In addition, we could use the app/site we wanted as long as it creates an infographic, so I decided to use Piktochart. Here is my work: