More Stuff on Countries

     So today in class we discussed our answers for the questions on the countries we've been associated with for the past couple of weeks, so we should be experts on them by now. This time we talked about their history and background/political geography. We had to say when each country declared independence, if they were ever part of another country, when they were founded, and lastly, where they are found on a world map. Mr. Schick also informed us that we will be writing a 500 word paper on two of these countries and their relationship with the United States. I'm thinking about choosing China as one of my countries because I know that almost all of our trading come from there. Another country I might choose would be Venezuela because the United States buys most of it's oil from there, but their President, Hugo Chavez, doesn't like us too much. But a country like Afghanistan would also a good pick because of the war in Afghanistan, and I could describe why it is happening. So those three countries are my top picks.

World Countries

    United States
Declared independence on July 4, 1776
From the 1500s through the 1700s, they were settled and colonized by the Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and other European nations.  The original thirteen colonies were held by Great Britain until the Revolutionary War, after which they became the first thirteen states.  There are now 50 states in the United States.  The United States is considered the last true superpower, with the world's largest military and the world's largest economy.


   Israel
Israel became an independent state on May 14, 1948
Following World War Two, the newly-formed United Nations drafted a treaty dividing up some of Palestine's land.  They established an independent Arab state and an independent Jewish state.  Many Jews emigrated to the new nation of Israel post WWII.  Creation of this new Jewish state was not universally accepted by Arabs, even though Israel was officially admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949.  There is still controversy surrounding Israel's very existence in the Middle East.


China
China's official date of independence is October 1, 1949.
China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.  As long ago as 221 BC, China was unified as a nation during the Qin dynasty.  They formed a republic on January 1, 1912.  The current Communist government, officially called the People's Republic of China, was formed in 1949.






Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's independence day is the same as the day the kingdom was founded because they were not ruled by any other country. This day is September 23, 1932.









Iran
Iran is a middle eastern country founded in 1935 and became independent on April 1, 1979 when the ruling monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza PAHLAVI was forced into exile. Before Iran gained it's independence, it was know as Persia.









France
France has no official date of independence but, they celebrate a national holiday known as Fete de la Federation on July, 14.This holiday is to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy dating back to 1789. Te oldest traces of human life in what is now France date back to 1,800,000 years ago.






India
India was under the rule of the United Kingdom and declared independence on August 15, 1947. India was one of the few countries that did not have to fight for their independence.

Test Review

    Today in class we went over our tests that we took last week. Our class got the most A's out of all the other sections, and we had the highest average score compared to the other sections with a score at 88.1%. So this seemed to be a pretty good test for our class. We began reviewing the test and realized not everyone still knew the pronunciations for the world leaders, but we're getting there. We also, talked about the drug trading business in Mexico. The drug trading business, which is extremely illegal, makes millions and millions of dollars a year and there is basicaly no way to stop it. This is because our country is the biggest buyer of drugs so they keep making more. Also, they make enough money to basically bribe officers out of punishing them because they can give them twice as money as they already make, and in some cases, the only option the officers have is to agree with them or else they will be shot. We also talked about how Hu Jintao will most likely be replaced by a man named Xi Jinping in a couple of days. We went over how different their government compared to most places because the people don't choose their leader and they don't have the slightest affect on who is chosen. Also, when a leader is picked in China, their term lasts for 10 years.

New Unit

         On Fridays class we took our tests on world leaders. The first part of the test was the exact same as the quiz we took a few days before, so it was pretty easy. On the back of the test we had to identify which leader went along with certain facts given about those leaders, but we got to use our blogs on it, which made it easier than it sounds. After we finished taking the test we began to talk about colonialism and imperialism. Imperialism a process through which a state attempts to control the economic, political, and/or cultural make up of another state. Colonialism Is the most developed form of imperialism whereby the controlling states invades another state to exploit resources and for large scale immigration. In some ways both of these things can be viewed as good OR bad, it just depends on how you look at it.

Beach Ball Earth!

      Today we did some more reviewing on the country leaders and we had to spot out those countries on a globe, or beach ball I should say. We would tell everyone something interesting about one of the leaders we have been studying, them Mr. Schick would throw us the Earth and we'd have to find the country of that leader in around 5 seconds. After all of those fun and games, we had a quest come into the room. She seemed like any other student just stopping by to say hi to an old teacher but she was not. Mr. Schick began quizzing her on the country leaders and all that, but then she reached for Mr. Schick's water bottle. At this point the class got all silent and it felt really awkward as she began taking a sip out of her teachers water bottle. After she finished drinking the water she turned to the class and after a few seconds she said "Oh that's my dad" and pointed to Mr. Schick. So that made the whole scenario a lot more understandable.

Country Leader Facts

 Enrique Peña Nieto
      - the former governor of Mexico but has now been elected to be the President. He will officially be the Mexican president on December 7th.
      -Peña Nieto proposed that he will reinvigorate Mexico's economy and reduce drug violence that has left more than 55,000 dead in six years.

King Adbulla Bin Abdul Aziz
       - one of the many sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia
       -First public office was the mayor of Mecca

Angela Merkel 
       -first woman to be the chanseller of Germany. 
       -she was the president of the European Council in 2007 (she was the second woman to do so)

Hu Jintao
       -During his term in office, he reintroduced state control in some parts of the economy.
       - Hu is the first leader of the Communist Party without any significant revolutionary credentials.

 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
        -He launched a gas rationing plan in 2007 to reduce the country's fuel consumption
        -he cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge.

Hamid Karzai
        -is not very powerful
        -fights for his country himself
        - Taliban was in charge before him

François Hollande
        -He previously served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008.
        - He is also the first President to be elected without having prior experience as a Minister and / or Junior Minister since Paul Deschanel in 1920.
        
Pranab Mukherjee
         - He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress
         -Mukherjee got his break in politics from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Hugo Chavez
         - He introduced a new constitution which increased rights for marginalized groups and altered the structure of Venezuelan government.
         - He is a highly controversial and diverse leader.

David Cameron
          - He is the youngest Prime Minister since Earl of Liverpool in 1812. He
          - He earned a first class honors degree in politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford.

Queen Elizabeth II of England
          - She has the second longest reign for a British monarch lasting 60 years and still going.
          - She was homeschooled

Dilma Rousseff
           - First female president of Brazil.
           - Tried to overthrow government in her early 20's. She spent 2 years in jail and was tortured.
Barack Obama
           -Graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
           - Ended war in Iraq

Test Review

    Today Kishan and I reviewed the test with the class, which was a first. Him and I just stood at the front of the room and re-asked the questions on the test, but we wouldn't let them answer by just saying "A, B, C, D or E. They had to give the actual verbal answer so it would help them review better instead of just looking at their paper and saying B! That was really all we did the whole class but we had about 5-10 minutes left over. But Mr. Huber just let us do what every we wanted silently.