Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Thursday, May 2. 2024

Today's schedule is DCBA

D Block Physical Geography - Today you have the block to finish your work on the Medicine Hat Topographic map. You need your Canadian Landscape topographic map book and the Medicine Hat map can be found on pages 40-42. You will need to work on questions 1 a, b and d, 2 a&b, 3 a-e, 4, 7 a-d and 8 (PLEASE NOTE...I've added questions 4 & 8 to your work). You can find topographic maps of Medicine Hat on Google Maps (Type in Medicine Hat Alberta on a Google search and click on maps at the top and then choose "Terrain" as an option). For other maps and information on Medicine Hat that will help you with some of the topographic map assignment questions check out Tourism Medicine Hat 

From Tourism Medicine Hat...

Pinto McBean – the World’s Largest and Most Armed Pinto Bean – Bow Island’s answer to the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle (in Illinois, for you long-haul road-trippers). Pinto McBean celebrates the town’s role in Southern Alberta’s agriculture industry, which is a leader in beans and lentils. The fact that agriculture even exists here is a feat of human engineering thanks to an impressive canal system that delivers nearly a billion cubic metres of waters to farmers. Indeed, with the effort put forth to grow crops in this dry, sun-soaked land, the world’s largest pinto bean is an apt, wonderful mascot and a deserving point of pride.

C Block Human Geography - Today we are back in the library for your next day to work on your information graphic poster on an endangered language. There are lots of videos below to help. Remember, for your endangered language you’ll need to:
  1. Show where the endangered language originated and diffused to (yes on a map).
  2. Show the connection to the family, branch, and group of the endangered language. (Use your best judgment on this). 
  3. Show where the language is spoken today, indicate how many people speak it.
  4. Show Unique features of this endangered language (What makes it different to and similar than others?)
  5. Show examples of how the language is written and or spoken 
  6. Show why your endangered language is important to save
  7. Show how your endangered language is both being threatened (contributing factors) and being saved
  8. Show how people can find more info (links...sources cited)
You will need to chose an information graphic site to use:
Canva (I highly recommend this one - with your school district login credentials you have access to unlimited content - templets, images, fonts, colours and storage)
Easily  
Visme  
Snappa  

What can your poster look like? Here are some stock vector examples for layout ideas

And then you could use this Spanish language infoposter as a guide as well


See me if you need help or assistance. This project is due this Friday - email me your digital infoposter. 










B Block Legal Studies - You have the block to work on two things:
  1. Questions 2, 3 and 4 on page 231 of the All About Law text
  2.  "Key Components of Criminal Code Offenses" worksheet, which you'll get today. You may work on this activity in partners. For the Elements that Must be Proven section you will need to identify BOTH the Actus Reus (yes that means explain what the physical act or omission that it is which constitutes the crime) and the type of Mens Rea (yes that means explain what the Intent, Knowledge, Recklessness or Willful Blindness is for the crime - you have this in your text but you do not need to worry about general intent or specific intent for this activity) in each scenario you're given. For the Maximum Penalty section feel free to use the Wikibooks Canadian Criminal Sentencing/Appendix/Offence Charts for questions regarding narcotics you'll need to look at the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Cannabis Act


A Block Criminology - Today we'll look at gangs and gang activity in Canada. Your job will be to make a gang information poster about organized crime in Canada. In Triads (groups of three) you'll need to:
  1.  Identify the gangs we have in Canada (aboriginal crime groups, cartels, ethnic crime groups, and outlaw motorcycle gangs - be specific) and 
  2. Explain the activities of each group: What do they do? How do they do it? What do they control? Where are they based in Canada?
Organized crime by nature (according to Howard Abadinsky) is monopolistic - in other words organized crime groups want to have a monopoly over a specific geographic area for the illicit activity they wish to pursue. (Note: use the section in your text to help as well). For more stories about organized crime (especially a particularly interesting court case in Ontario and Manitoba involving the Bandidos) see:

The Canadian Encyclopedia Organized Crime in Canada
A good video of the article from Vice above is:


Today's Fit...

 

Posted by Geo Teacher at 2:56 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Wednesday, May 1. 2024

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Legal Studies - Today you have a Criminal Law Unit test. The test will cover chapters 4, 5, and 6 of the All About Law text (Introduction to Criminal Law; The Police - Investigation, Arrest, and Bringing the Accused to Trial; and Trial Procedures). The test will have: 20 True/False questions; 15 Multiple Choice questions; 15 Matching questions; and 4 Short Answer questions.  I am certain that you will do extra well on this test. No lawyer works in isolation and today neither will you, you may not use notes, however, you may collaborate with colleagues on the test. You'll have as much time as you need for the test however it should only take 45-50 minutes to complete.


After you may work on questions 2, 3, 4, and 5 from page 221 of the All About Law text (Homicide) along with questions 2, 3 and 4 on page 231 of the All About Law text (Assault/Sexual Assault). 

A Block Criminology - Today we start with your second to last quiz in the course. This quiz covers our property crime and white collar crime units in Criminology. After you still have four questions to answer for me:

1. What’s the psychology behind the con and what can we learn from it? (check out The 7 Psychological Principles of Scams: Protect Yourself by Learning the Techniques)
2. How does a con man identify a mark? (check out Maria Konnikova on How we Get Conned and her interview below) 
3. What are the nine phases of a long-con game? (check out The 9 Stages of the Big Con and the 4 Phases of Small Value Fraud)
4. What is the one fact that instantly makes you harder to con? (check out Protect yourself from scams and fraud) 

-AND/OR- 

What can you do to reduce the chances of being victimized by a good burglar? - Consider targets (houses, cars AND commercial properties like businesses)

Tomorrow....gangs, yo!

D Block Physical Geography - Today you have the block to finish your work on the Medicine Hat Topographic map. You need your Canadian Landscape topographic map book and the Medicine Hat map can be found on pages 40-42. You will need to work on questions 1 a, b and d, 2 a&b, 3 a-e, 4, 7 a-d and 8 (PLEASE NOTE...I've added questions 4 & 8 to your work). You can find topographic maps of Medicine Hat on Google Maps (Type in Medicine Hat Alberta on a Google search and click on maps at the top and then choose "Terrain" as an option). 

The Seven Persons Creek watershed is 4,785.01 km2 in size and comprises 3.28% of the South  Saskatchewan River Basin (146,100 km2). The watershed consists of a topography of slightly rolling grassy hills and deep coulees which is similar to other South Saskatchewan River Sub-Basin regional  watersheds; land that was glacially scoured and subsequently shaped by huge volumes of meltwater which occasionally cut through the glacial debris to form long and narrow, now typically dry, flat-floored valleys. Seven Persons Creek is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, intersecting the City of  Medicine Hat, providing off-stream storage for irrigation, and discharging to the South Saskatchewan River. On average, the Medicine Hat weather station receives 330 sunny days and 2,544 sunshine hours annually and receives 323 mm of precipitation per year making it a semi-arid climate.

To Help:



Quiz Review:

Weathering & MW: Names of MW (Big 3 – flows slides and falls – speed and consistency); Chemical & Physical Weathering (Frost Action, Oxidation & Solution – Carbonation); Karst (Carbonation created it – found in limestone) along with features (stalagmite & stalactite); Slopes – causes of slope failure
 
H2O & Streams: Water Cycle terminology (condensation, evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, percolation, infiltration, aquifer); Where is most of fresh water?; Transportation of sediment in water (bed load & suspended load); Young – mature – old profile (what’s going on in terms of erosion & deposition) and features of young & old; Deltas (4 types); Floods (causes, damages, impact); Cross section of a river (meandering profile)

Coasts, Glaciers & Deserts: Longshore Drift (swash & backwash); Types of coastlines and features (depositional- spit/barrier bar vs erosional Cave-Arch-Stack); Continental vs Alpine erosion (scouring & plucking) – features cirque, horn (pyramidical peak) & hanging valley, U Shaped valley & fjord Deposition – moraines Deserts – erosion (Aeolian) & transportation & desertification (increasing sizes of deserts – causes)

C Block Human Geography - Today, we are in the learning commons/library working on a language project. Your job will be to create an information graphic poster on an endangered language. For your endangered language you’ll need to:
  1. Show where the endangered language originated and diffused to (yes on a map).
  2. Show the connection to the family, branch, and group of the endangered language. (Use your best judgment on this). 
  3. Show where the language is spoken today, indicate how many people speak it.
  4. Show Unique features of this endangered language (What makes it different to and similar than others?)
  5. Show examples of how the language is written and or spoken 
  6. Show why your endangered language is important to save
  7. Show how your endangered language is both being threatened (contributing factors) and being saved
  8. Show how people can find more info (links...sources cited)
From Lera Boroditsky in Scientific American:
A hallmark feature of human intelligence is its adaptability, the ability to invent and rearrange conceptions of the world to suit changing goals and environments. One consequence of this flexibility is the great diversity of languages that have emerged around the globe. Each provides its own cognitive toolkit and encapsulates the knowledge and worldview developed over thousands of years within a culture. Each contains a way of perceiving, categorizing and making meaning in the world, an invaluable guidebook developed and honed by our ancestors. Research into how the languages we speak shape the way we think is helping scientists to unravel how we create knowledge and construct reality and how we got to be as smart and sophisticated as we are. And this insight, in turn, helps us understand the very essence of what makes us human. 
From A silenced tongue: the last Nuchatlaht speaker dies
Without a geographic and population base to cling to, minority languages seldom tread water for more than a generation or two before going under. Chances are, if your grandparents came to B.C. speaking something other than English, you can’t speak their mother tongue...The question has to be asked: Why fight the tide? The answer: Language is key to retaining culture...That’s not just important to those within the culture, but to all of us. “What the survival of threatened languages means, perhaps, is the endurance of dozens, hundreds, thousands of subtly different notions of truth,” argued Canadian author Mark Abley in his book Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages. Lose a language and you lose the nuanced perspectives it contains, the ones that offer a different view of the world.
And from Wade Davis
“Language is not merely a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. It is a flash of the human spirit, the means by which the soul of each particular culture reaches into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the …mind, a watershed of thought, an entire ecosystem of spiritual possibilities.”
UNESCO has six factors that identify the vitality and endangeredness of a language. They are:

1) Intergenerational Language Transmission;
2) Absolute Number of Speakers;
3) Proportion of Speakers within the Total Population;
4) Trends in Existing Language Domains;
5) Response to New Domains and Media; and
6) Materials for Language Education and Literacy.

*Hint* Start on page 9 (of 27) on the pdf document above for help

So, today you’ll need to choose an endangered language and research the points above. Start here:

http://languagesindanger.eu/
https://www.ethnologue.com/
http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/
http://www.fpcc.ca/language/ELP/
https://www.firstvoices.com/




Today's Fit...


 

Posted by Geo Teacher at 8:56 PM 0 comments

Monday, April 29, 2024

Tuesday, April 30. 2024

Today's schedule is CDAB

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll finish Petite Rouge where Cajun Little Red Riding Hood helps us understand Cajun culture and worldview through language. After, we'll look the the key question "Why Do People Preserve Local Languages?" This is the basis of your upcoming project in Human Geography. We'll look at multilingual states and linguistic diversity in Switzerland, Belgium, Nigeria and here in Canada. We'll try to examine of Celtic languages like Welsh, Irish, Breton, Scottish, and Cornish are being preserved along with Aboriginal languages (in Both Australia and Canada) and Maori (in New Zealand). Finally we'll look at English as a lingua franca and examine pidgin, Fringlish, Spanglish and Denglish.

Now, since you asked about AAVE or Ebonics, its use and appropriation:


  • Explain what an isogloss is.
  • What is the standard language for of English?  Where did it come from (3 cities)?  How was it diffused throughout Britain?
  • Why is it difficult to distinguish individual languages from dialects?
  • Define creolized language:

D Block Physical Geography - Today and tomorrow we are working on the Medicine Hat Topographic map. Medicine Hat, Alberta, incorporated as a city in 1906, has a population 63,260 (based on the 2016 census). From the Canadian Encyclopedia

Medicine Hat is located in the South Saskatchewan River Valley on the traditional territory of the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy). The Saamis Archaelogical Site, located in the valley of Seven Persons Creek, is a designated provincial historic site. The location was a winter campsite used by Plains Indigenous peoples prior to European colonization. Medicine Hat’s economy has historically been tied to two natural resources, natural gas and clay. The city’s numerous natural gas wells led to its nickname, “Gas City,” while the clay in the region supported the production of various items, including bricks. Ten years ago (in June 2013) the South Saskatchewan River flooded Medicine Hat temporarily displacing 8,000 people and affected 2,845 properties. The South Saskatchewan River peaked at 5,460m3/s. The Government of Alberta announced $9.1 million in provincial funding for Medicine Hat to use for flood mitigation measures along the South Saskatchewan River. This included support for flood mitigation projects such as berm and dike building along with riverbank stabilization to help to limit future flooding caused by the South Saskatchewan River.  

This is downtown Medicine Hat looking downstream - east northeast towards Police Point:
This is what the meanders on the South Saskatchewan River look like

You need your Canadian Landscape topographic map book and the Medicine Hat map can be found on pages 40-42. You will need to work on questions 1 a, b and d, 2 a & b (which we'll do together in class) and then, 3 a-e, 4, 7 a-d and 8. This work is due on Tuesday and if you wish to work on this activity out of the class (and really who wouldn't?) I would highly suggest you ask me questions ahead of time. You can find topographic maps of Medicine Hat on Google Maps (Type in Medicine Hat Alberta on a Google search and click on maps at the top and then choose "Terrain" as an option). Thanks DKay Creative Productions for the vid of the Hat below


A Block Criminology - Today, in the learning commons, I'll have you finish the first eight sections of the movie "The Corporation". Please do not forget that the documentary is an opinion piece...it is trying to persuade you that a corporation acts like a psychopath. Not all business is bad but we do need to understand the "corporate view" of white collar criminal activity. What is it that makes a successful business person and what kind of ethical behaviour is valued by corporate culture? You will need to work on the following questions on your blog site:
  1. Is it fair to blame a single executive for the activities of a company that has thousands of employees?
  2. Can Corporations Commit Murder? If a corporation is considered as a person in law (as it is in the US) who can be held liable (responsible) if a corporation kills people?  
  3. Recall 10 or more brands, their logos, their jingles, slogans, and any memory of the product (think Nike = swoosh = "just do it"). Do you know who owns the brand? What is your perception of this "brand"? Has the company/corporation committed any business legal violations? If so, for what? Does this change your perception of the brand?
  4. The documentary raises important questions about ethics and personal responsibility. One of the fundamental messages in the film is that corporations are irresponsible because in an attempt to satisfy corporate goals, everyone else is put at risk. To what extent is a person responsible for what they do even when within a company? Is a person morally culpable for their actions when satisfying the goal of profit within a corporation? Why or why not?
For more on the movie go to the official site here

Join Dean Mitchell, KPMG's forensics specialist and host of Forensic Lens, as he discusses the intriguing world of fraud, deception, and corporate crime and what drives white collar criminals to deception. Gain first-hand insights, stories and experiences on deceitful behaviour from top detectives, lawyers, psychologists and corporate regulators in conversations that aren’t just revealing but informative.
You can also listen here at Forensic Lens

B Block Legal Studies - Today we'll finish up the violent crimes section of this unit. First we'll review assault and sexual assault. In Canada, there are three levels of assault, based on the level of severity and corresponding penalties:

Level One: assault (max penalty 5 years)
Level Two: assault causing bodily harm (max penalty 10 years)
Level Three: aggravated assault (max penalty 14 years)

These levels are identified in section 265 of the Criminal Code. All assaults have two common elements:

1. The accused must have intent to carry out the attack and cause harm.
2. There must be no consent by the victim (for example, as in a boxing match).

After our discussion I'll have you work on questions 2, 3, 4, and 5 from page 221 of the All About Law text (Homicide) along with questions 2, 3 and 4 on page 231 of the All About Law text (Assault/Sexual Assault). To help...

Implying death ( bodily harm or burning property (burn/destroy) *Must be believable and Must be imminent

CC 265 Assault
Any unwanted application of force against another person
Level 1 simple assault
Level 2 assault causing bodily harm
Level 3 aggravated assault
Any unwanted sexual contact
Level 1 any touching (molestation).
Level 2 with a weapon
Level 3 aggravated (endanger life or wound/maim/disfigure)


Today's Fit...


 

Posted by Geo Teacher at 3:36 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Monday, April 29. 2024

Today's schedule is ABCD

A Block Criminology -  Today, in the learning commons, I'll have you watch the first eight sections of the movie "The Corporation". Please do not forget that the documentary is an opinion piece...it is trying to persuade you that a corporation acts like a psychopath. Not all business is bad but we do need to understand the "corporate view" of white collar criminal activity. What is it that makes a successful business person and what kind of ethical behaviour is valued by corporate culture? You will need to work on the following questions on your blog site:
  1. Is it fair to blame a single executive for the activities of a company that has thousands of employees?
  2. Can Corporations Commit Murder? If a corporation is considered as a person in law (as it is in the US) who can be held liable (responsible) if a corporation kills people?  
  3. Recall 10 or more brands, their logos, their jingles, slogans, and any memory of the product (think Nike = swoosh = "just do it"). Do you know who owns the brand? What is your perception of this "brand"? Has the company/corporation committed any business legal violations? If so, for what? Does this change your perception of the brand?
  4. The documentary raises important questions about ethics and personal responsibility. One of the fundamental messages in the film is that corporations are irresponsible because in an attempt to satisfy corporate goals, everyone else is put at risk. To what extent is a person responsible for what they do even when within a company? Is a person morally culpable for their actions when satisfying the goal of profit within a corporation? Why or why not?
For more on the movie go to the official site here





From the Business Ethics Forum blog site:

An outstanding in-depth article on the Value of Corporate Values can be found in an article by Reggie Van Lee, Lisa Fabish, and Nancy McGaw in this month's S+B. Based on a survey at 365 companies in 30 countries, the authors claim "increasingly, companies around the world have adopted formal statements of corporate values, and senior executives now routinely identify ethical behavior, honesty, integrity, and social concerns as top issues on their companies’ agendas". The highlights of the survey and article are:
  1. A large number of companies are making their values explicit. That’s a change — quite a significant change — from corporate practices 10 years ago. The ramifications of this shift are just beginning to be understood.
  2. Ethical behavior is a core component of company activities.
  3. Most companies believe values influence two important strategic areas — relationships and reputation — but do not see the direct link to growth.
  4. Most companies are not measuring their “ROV.”
  5. Top performers consciously connect values and operations.
  6. Values practices vary significantly by (continental) region.
  7. The CEO’s tone really matters.
The article provides quantitative data about these 7 findings and concludes with "A commitment to corporate values may be in vogue, but the public will remain suspicious until corporations both understand and can demonstrate that they are committed to using values to create value". What we are looking at is what makes people abuse the public trust in corporations.

White collar crime/corruption

B Block Legal Studies - Test Wednesday... Today, we'll turn our attention today on violent crimes - specifically the categories of homicide in Canada. We'll learn the difference between culpable and non-culpable homicide and examine the levels of murder (first and second degree) as well as manslaughter (voluntary and involuntary)…all done through an interpretive play involving my swivel chair, the floor and possibly a garbage can. 

R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46 

229 Culpable homicide is murder

(a) where the person who causes the death of a human being
  • (i) means to cause his death, or
  • (ii) means to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not;
(b) where a person, meaning to cause death to a human being or meaning to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and being reckless whether death ensues or not, by accident or mistake causes death to another human being, notwithstanding that he does not mean to cause death or bodily harm to that human being; or

(c) if a person, for an unlawful object, does anything that they know is likely to cause death, and by doing so causes the death of a human being, even if they desire to effect their object without causing death or bodily harm to any human being.

231 (1) Murder is first degree murder or second degree murder.

(2) Murder is first degree murder when it is planned and deliberate.
(3) Contracted Murder is Murder in the First Degree
(4) Murder of peace officer is Murder in the First Degree
(5) Murder while Hijacking, sexual assault or kidnapping is Murder in the First Degree
(7) All murder that is not first degree murder is second degree murder.

232 (1) Culpable homicide that otherwise would be murder may be reduced to manslaughter if the person who committed it did so in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation.

233 A female person commits infanticide when by a willful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child

234 Culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide is manslaughter.

There is a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for being convicted of either first degree or second-degree murder. For first degree murder, life imprisonment comes with no possibility of parole for 25 years.  For second degree murder, life imprisonment comes with no possibility of parole for a minimum of 10 years. There is no minimum punishment for manslaughter, meaning that it carries a very wide sentencing range. If a firearm is used, however, a mandatory minimum punishment of four years is in effect. Otherwise, there is only the maximum, which is imprisonment for life.

In 2021 there were 788 homicides in Canada, 29 more than 2020. The national homicide rate increased 3% from 2.00 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020, to 2.06 homicides per 100,000 population in 2021. Police-reported 190 Indigenous victims of homicide, 18 fewer than in 2020. Despite the decrease, the rate of homicide for Indigenous peoples (9.17 per 100,000 population) was approximately 6 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people (1.55 per 100,000 population). The rate of homicide for individuals identified by police as persons of a group designated as racialized increased 34% in 2021 to 2.51 homicides per 100,000 population. This rate was higher than for victims identified as belonging to the rest of the population (1.81 homicides per 100,000 population). In 2021, four in ten (41%) homicides were firearm-related. The firearm was recovered in 29% of firearm-related homicides. Of the 297 firearm-related homicides that occurred in 2021, almost half (46%) were considered by police to be gang-related.

Saskatchewan's homicide rate is once again the highest of all provinces. Saskatchewan accounted for 70 of the 788 homicides reported nationally, for a rate of 5.93 homicides per 100,000 people - the highest of all provinces and more than double the national rate. In 2021, Regina recorded the highest homicide rate among 35 census metropolitan areas: 15 homicides for a homicide rate of 5.67 homicides per 100,000 people. Thunder Bay, Ont., came next with a rate of 5.63 while Winnipeg, Man., finished at 5.39.
  • What factors might explain these high homicide rates?
  • Do any of these statistics surprise you? 
We'll finish the morning by looking at R. v. Nette (2001) and answer questions 1-4 on the case together. In terms of the Nette case and causation the citation states:
A 95-year-old widow who lived alone was robbed and left bound with electrical wire on her bed with a garment around her head and neck. Sometime during the next 48 hours, she died from asphyxiation. During an RCMP undercover operation, the accused told a police officer that he had been involved in the robbery and death. The accused was charged with first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Criminal Code -- murder while committing the offence of unlawful confinement -- and tried before a judge and jury. At trial, he claimed that he had fabricated the admission. He testified that he had gone alone to the victim’s house only with intent to break and enter, that the back door to the house was open as though someone already had broken into the home, and that he left after finding the victim already dead in her bedroom. The trial judge charged the jury on manslaughter, second degree murder and first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Code. In response to a request from the jury that he clarify the elements of first degree murder and the “substantial cause” test, the trial judge essentially reiterated his charge. Overall, he charged that the standard of causation for manslaughter and second degree murder was that the accused’s actions must have been “more than a trivial cause” of the victim’s death while, for first degree murder under s. 231(5), the accused’s actions also must have been a “substantial cause” of her death. On two occasions, however, once in the main charge and once in the re-charge, he described the standard of causation for second degree murder as “the slight or trivial cause necessary to find second degree murder” instead of “more than a trivial cause”. The jury found the accused guilty of second degree murder and the Court of Appeal upheld that verdict. The only ground of appeal both before the Court of Appeal and this Court concerned the test of causation applicable to second degree murder.
The Nette case deals with "causation" and murder which helps with questions 3-4-5 on p. 221 that I'll have you work on for me.

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll look at the key question "Why Do Individual Languages Vary Among Places"? To help with this we will look at dialect and accent. A dialect is a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. Generally, speakers of one dialect can understand speakers of another dialect. Due to its widespread diffusion around the world, English has an especially large number of dialects and subdialects. So we'll look at English and the accents that developed here in Canada, in the United States and see how they are different from UK English. 

So, let's use Little Red Riding Hood to help. 

The origins of the story can be traced to several likely pre-17th century versions from various European countries. The version you are most likely familiar with is that of the brothers Grimm ("Rotkäppchen," Kinder- und Hausmärchen, gesammelt durch die Brüder Grimm, vol. 1 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857). Today, I'll read you Petite Rouge, which is a Cajun version of Little Red Riding Hood written by Mike Artell and illustrated by Jim Harris. This story features elements of Cajun culture (including language - our topic of study). The setting is in a Louisiana swamp instead of the woods and the diction used is Cajun. What is Cajun? Acadien (French Catholic in Nova Scotia) = Cajun (French Catholic in Louisiana) The Cajuns are the descendants of the expulsion of Acadiens from Nova Scotia in 1755 (Le Grand Derangement). The Cajuns today form small, compact, generally self-contained communities. Cajun patois (non-standard language - creolized or pidgin dialect) is a combination of archaic French forms with idioms taken from their English, Spanish, German, American Indian, and African American (usually “Creole”) neighbours. The language that we speak influences our cultural identities and our social realities. Language affects the way we perceive the world and therefore, how we choose to interact with it. We internalize norms and rules that help us function in our own culture so the Cajun Little Red Riding Hood helps us understand Cajun culture and worldview through language. 

“Back in de swamp where dat Spanish moss grow, I heard me a story happened long time ago"

D Block Physical Geography - Okay so I get it when you think about deserts normally this comes to mind:
Those cartoon backgrounds were inspired by this:

Today we will look at deserts and desert environments. We'll see the different types of deserts. I'll show you the Namib desert and the Skeleton Coast and then you'll  have three questions to answer:
  • Describe the erosional processes associated with moving air. (p.306-7) 
  • Explain how a sand dune forms and migrates. What are the major dune forms and what are the three factors that affect their creation. (p.309) 
  • Explain how a sand dune forms and migrates. What are the major dune forms and what are the three factors that affect their creation. (p.309) 
 For desertification watch this:


 For the websites look here:

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
USGS Desertification page
Green Facts Scientific page on Desertification


Great Sand Dune National Park Colorado, U.S.A.

Do you know what used to be under the Saharan desert sands? Nope not candy. Check out the image and article on Smithsonian about ancient riverbeds below the Saharan sands  (or IFL Science here or Ecowatch here). And you could watch this fascinatingly poor dub of an article on a really good video about the sub Saharan river systems:




Today's Fit...


 

Posted by Geo Teacher at 9:29 PM 0 comments

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Friday, April 26. 2024

Today's schedule is CDAB

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll look at the key question, "Why Is English Related to Other Languages"? English is part of the Indo-European language family. A language family is a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history. Indo-European is divided into eight branches. Four of the branches—Indo-Iranian, Romance, Germanic, and Balto-Slavic—are spoken by large numbers of people while the four less extensively used Indo-European language branches are Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Celtic. English is part of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.





And to help you with language diffusion for Indo-European languages (remember the question about the nomadic warrior and sedentary farmer hypotheses?)




You have two charts to fill in a three questions to work on for me today

D Block Physical Geography - Today we'll look at glaciers and we'll make sense of how they erode the landscape and examine the land forms they create. We'll understand the differences amongst the various alpine and continental glaciers and we'll define: cirque, arete, pyramidical peak, hanging valley, truncated spur, esker, drumlin, kettle lake, and fjord; along with some questions from your Geosystems Core text.


We'll watch the BBC Earth - Power of the Planet episode on Ice






A Block Criminology - Today I'm going to show you a television show called White Collar. Before we do, however  What is it that makes a successful business person and what kind of ethical behaviour is valued by corporate culture?




From USA network:

White Collar is about the unlikely partnership of a con artist and an FBI agent who have been playing cat and mouse for years. Neal Caffery (Matt Boomer), a charming criminal mastermind, is finally caught by his nemesis, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay). When Neal escapes from a maximum-security prison to find his long-lost love, Peter nabs him once again. Rather than returning to jail, Neal suggests an alternate plan: He'll provide his criminal expertise to assist the Feds in catching other elusive criminals in exchange for his eventual freedom. Initially wary, Peter quickly finds that Neal provides insight and intuition that can't be found on the right side of the law.

The episode I’d like you to show is called Hard Sell from season 1, which deals with stock manipulation and churning the value of stock in a boiler room (metaphor). From tv.com...

The scam is a "pump and dump", in which a group of "junior Gordon Gekkos" is selling bad stock. The guy in charge buys a large amount of dollar stocks, and has his men inflate the price by selling it over the phone. When the price peaks, guy in charge dumps the stock and leaves the buyers holding worthless shares. The average person loses $30,000, and some victims have lost their homes. The boiler room is mobile, moving to a new location after each stock dump 

 

What is the "Profit Motive"

B Block Legal Studies - Today we'll watch an episode of Law & Order from Season 23 "Human Innovations" A big tech CEO replaces hundreds of employees with an AI, then is murdered. After the chief suspect's confession is thrown out, Nolan and Maroun must decide whether to use a video which purports to show the murderer killing the victim—but which could have been a deepfake manufactured by that same AI. In some ways, the fearful future depicted in this episode is already here.

After, your questions from yesterday...

AAL p. 187
3. Why is it important for judges to be impartial?
4. Why is the role of a court recorder so important to the appeal process?

AAL p. 194
1. Describe the steps followed in jury selection.
2. Identify eight categories of people who are excluded from jury duty, and give one reason why you think each category is ineligible.
3. Explain the difference between a peremptory challenge and a challenge for cause.

Today's Fit...


 

Posted by Geo Teacher at 3:22 PM 0 comments
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