Homework Question:  What is the longest river in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland?

England: There are loads of rivers in England such as the River Eden, River Nene, Leeds and Liverpool Canal but the longest one in England is a River called the River Thames. The River Thames is 346km. It is a river that flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Shannon.

Scotland: There are approximately eight very long rivers in Scotland. The River Findhorn, River Nith, River Don, River Dee, River Tweed, River Spey, River Clyde and the River Tay. The longest one is the River Tay. The River Tay is 188km. It is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom.

Wales: The longest river in Wales is also the second longest river in the UK. The River Severn is 354km long. That’s longer than the Leeds and Liverpool Canal twice! The River Severn is about 220 miles. It rises at an altitude of 2,001 feet on Plynlimon, close to the Ceredigion/Powys border near Llanidloes, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales.

Ireland: The longest river in Ireland is one called the River Shannon. It is the longest river in the UK. It is approximately 360.5km long. The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at 360.5 km. It drains the Shannon River Basin which has an area of 16,865 km², one fifth of the area of Ireland. The Shannon divides the west of Ireland from the east and south.

I was seven years old when it happened. If you was there with me you would have thought nothing can go wrong. It was a normal day as always. I woke up, brushed my teeth and ate my breakfast. As I took the bowl out the cupboard and poured the milk over my cereal, I was looking through the kitchen window at the garden. I was wondering what would lie ahead. After a couple of hours of watching my TV and playing my Nintendo DS lite. I asked my mum mum if I could go over to my next door neighbors house Otto. My mum agreed but only if I was back before dark. It was winter and it got dark very quickly. As I approached my friend Otto’s house, he saw me and waved. I smiled and gave a gesture with my arm, pointing at the door for him to open it. The thing about Otto and me was we both had Nintendo DS lites. We always used to swap games and try and finish them for each other. I swapped him football academy for Journey to the centre of the earth. We played each others games for about an hour and then got bored. His mum came and offered us some sandwiches. I said no. In the end we decided to go out into the garden. We were playing with a football. I headed the ball to Otto and he tried to volley it but kicked it into the neighbors garden. I climbed over and saw the orange ball waiting for me. I walked over to the ball and was about to bend down when I heard a voice. It was my neighbor Mrs. Susan. There was one thing that everyone hated about her…she hated children. She shouted at me. I grabbed the ball and threw it over the fence and ran. I jumped on the fence but as I jumped my foot caught the top of the wall. I dropped over the wall and saw black. Whilst I was out, a lot happened. Apparently I cracked my head on a big rock. My head opened in half. Otto ran and told his mum. My mum screamed with my sister and ran over to the garden. They called A&E immediately. The ambulance came very quickly. I’m not sure if my dad even knew about it. When I got to the hospital they had to stitch my head up. If you were to shave my head bald  you would see the line from where they stitched it. My mum cant even believe how I am still alive now.My dad and my mum think it was God who kept me alive. I have been into a lot of accidents and somehow i still turn out alive. That is my identity. That is why I am special. 

What is Conduction?

Conduction is when a solid is heated up and the particles inside the solid start to vibrate. When the particles collide, they pass around kinetic energy. An example of this is when you boil water insude a metal pan. When the fire is turned on, it heats up the pan. This cauaes the particles inside to collide and cause conduction. This then allows the water inside the pan to heat up. Conduction can occur in solids, liquids but mostly solids. This is because the ions inside a solid are closely packed together. This means that when the particles vibrate it is easier to collide with each other. Wheras in liquids and gases, the parties are far apart from each other which means they cant collide with each other.

This is a diagram of conduction

Can conduction take place in a Vacuum?

It is not possible for conduction to take place in a vacuum. This is because there are no particles in a vacuum. A vacuum is a space without no matter. So if someone was to heat up a vacuum, nothing will happen because no vibration  or collision is taking place.

Intro

This essay will be answering the question ‘Is the merchant of Venice an anti-semetic play?.’ Anti-Semetism is racism or discrimination towards Jews. There are a lot of examples of this in the play. One example of this is in the beginning of the play Shylock gets spat on by a Christian named Antonio. The Merchant of Venice has a lot of tension between Christians and Jews. This is because back in 1596 Jews were known to be money lenders and not a part of society. They were seen as an outcast. To answer this question thoroughly I will be sharing my,Shakespeare’s and Jonathan Freeland’s (2004) point of view. Using the play and the evidence from the history of Jews in 1596, I will try and answer this question. The first paragraph will be talking about Jonathan Freeland’s (2004) point of view.

Paragraph One

Jonathan Freeland (2004) thinks that the Merchant of Venice is an anti-semetic play. He says that Shakespeare portrays Shylock (the Jew) as a villain. In the beginning of the play a Jew gets spat on. This already shows some anti-semitism in the Merchant of Venice.The reason why he thinks this is because in his article called ‘A very Jewish villain’ he says that in the play Shakespeare makes Shylock look like a selfish man. He says that Shakespeare shows this by making Shylock cry about his riches being lost and not his daughter.

Paragraph Two

We know this because in the play he says ‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter’ Jonathan Freeland says one way how Shakespeare makes Shylock look selfish is because his first words are ‘Three thousand ducats'(this was what the money was called back then.) When Shylock signs a contract with Antonio saying if he does not pay him back in three months he will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Freeland says that this is meant to stir the memories of when Jews took Christian blood for Jewish rituals. He says that Shakespeare is clearly trying to use anti-Semitism here. He also says that Shakespeare does this to try and make people laugh. This shows Anti-Semitism because Shakespeare is trying to make Jews look bad and say that they are not very good people. If this message gets across to the audience then other people could change their mind about the Jewish religion. Then the person may not talk to Jews. This is another reason stating that the Merchant of Venice is anti-semetic.

Paragraph Three

Another way to see that the play is anti semetic is that when Shylock wants to take his bond on Antonio, the court says that what he is doing is not right when they buy flesh theirselves. This is another  example of antisemetism in the play. I personally think that the play is antisemetic at times because in the play Shakespeare makes Shylock talk about money a lot. By doing this he is trying to make Shylock selfish. Another reason why I think this play is antisemetic is because Christians are seen as these people that need to be treated better than Jews, which is not true because in the bible it says everybody should be treated equally. This means everybody should be respected in the same way. Shakespeare thought that by making an antisemetic play he would make people laugh, which he did but it also made people such as Jews offended. This is not right, which is why I respect Jonathan Freeland(2004) for writing an article defending his religion. 

Paragraph Four

I personally think that Shakespeare doesn’t care what he’s done because in the end he got what he wanted, which was for people to laugh at his antisemetic play. Maybe if people stood up and said they didn’t like what he was doing like how Jonathan Freeland was doing then he would feel guilty. I reckon people did still feel angry but they didn’t talk because everybody would think they were crazy. Anti-Semitism was a normal thing when Shakespeare was around so everybody was cool with Shakespeare making anti-Semitic plays. Shakespeare knew that by doing this he would get a positive reaction from the majority of people that watch the play. He obviously didn’t care about offending Jews or anyone else.

Conclusion

To conclude this essay I will leave you with this. The Merchant of Venice is an Anti-semetic play, or at least thats what I think. The author of this play, Shakespeare clearly wanted a reaction which is what he got. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. So instead of dwelling on the fact that the play is anti-semetic and Shakespeare is to blame for it, make plays and movies that embrace the fact that everybody should be treated the same. The merchant of venice is only a mistake that we can use to make the world a better place.

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Research Notes: 

. Jews were prosecuted in England.

. Jews were not allowed to own any land

Jews have been present in England as early as 1066, when the establishment of the first Jewish settlement as recorded. Jews followed William the Conqueror to Britain from Rouen. As in Europe, the Jews faced persecution in England. They could not own land outside the towns or join guilds. Consequently, many turned to money lending, an occupation forbidden to Christians. This at least allowed them to have some financial independence in society, though it was a role for which they were despised.

Essay

I Think that the reason why Shakespeare decided to set the Merchant of Venice in Venice was because Jews first came to England in 1066
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1st Diary Entry

Dear diary,

Why did i join the army? I’ll tell you why I joined the army. I joined this army for various reasons. The first reason is because I was forced by my mother anyway so even if I didn’t want to go, it would not make a difference. The more my mother kept badgering me, the more I wanted to go. So in the end I was willing to go. Part of this was because of the posters I was seeing around my town. All the posters were linked to the war. They were all saying that as men, we need to fight for our country. As I saw more and more men signing up I was feeling increasingly relieved. I felt proud of myself… I felt like a warrior

2nd Diary Entry

Dear diary,

I just came back from daily training and I am knackered. I’ll try and make this entry quick and snappy. To be honest I hated today’s training. All we done was practiced our fall backs and backups. If you don’t know what that is then I will explain it to you. Fall backs are when you realize you are going to be out numbered and you return to your trench before they attack you. Backups are when you are already out numbered and you cannot fight by yourself so you call your troops to help you. I am tired right now so I am going to bed. See you later.

3rd Diary Entry

Dear diary,

Posters say that trenches are good but it is all part of their trick. Their little plan! The trenches are nothing like four walls protecting you with a roof to keep you dry. With beds and covers to keep you warm. In fact, it is more like a ditch in the floor with sandbags, wood planks and mud to keep the walls from toppling on top of you. It is nothing like what they say it is. One of my mates even cried when he saw what we were staying in. Throughout the whole journey to the trenches he kept reminding us that he wants the top bunk because he does not want anyone wetting themselves though the mattress and dripping on him in the night. Others were just very disappointed. I do not understand how some people in my trench sleep through gunshots, fireworks and grenades being thrown. I am trying to be as clean as can be. I don’t think anybody knows this but very early in the morning I sneak of into the woods where there is a pond. I wash in there unless I’m on night duty. I also wash my boots. Once I wake up in the morning I go and collect my shoes that have dried over night. I do all this so that I don’t get trench foot. That’s enough from me now. I’m off to daily training. See you in my next diary entry.

4th Diary Entry

To start this entry I am going to tell you

Summary of Portia’s suitors

In today’s lesson we were talking about how Shakespeare used stereotypes in his stories. An example that we used in today’s lesson was the way Portia was talking about her suitors. She was talking about how English men have no style and are very messy and don’t look after other peoples belongings. She also spoke about the Scottish suitor and said that they always borrow money from other people and don’t pay them back.  Shakespeare uses stereotypes in his stories so it is easier for us to understand the story a bit better. He also uses it so we can think about why these stereotypes even exist.

“The Bible is the best guide we can have when making moral decisions”

Agree 

I agree with the statement “The bible is the best guide we can have when making moral decisions” The evidence for this is self experiences. The bible helps you to make wise decisions because it was inspired by wisest person of all, which is God. People in the bible were inspired by God and he never makes mistakes. If God never makes mistakes then he is probably the best person to go to when making very important decisions. The bible is written by God because he told people what to write in the bible. The bible is a book that has passed down throughout the generations which explains how loads of people have written in it. This is the first reason why I believe the statement “The bible is the best guide we can have when making moral decisions”

Another reason why I agree with the statement is because of the outcomes I have seen happen in other peoples life. I have seen people struggle with making a decision, and they have used the bible as a guide to help them make a decision. They have also been happy with the decision they have made. This means that they have done the right thing and they were not wrong to read the bible. They have also thanked God after for helping them. When people are happy with someone else they thank them and that’s what people do. Reading the bible is a way that God can speak to you. Sometimes we don’t need to use the bible or God as a helpful resource because they can make the decision out of their own willpower.

Disagree

I disagree with the statement “The bible is the best guide when making moral decisions”. The reasons for this are because anyone can make a decision using a responsible adult or someone who has gone through the same thing. If someone has gone through the same thing then they can tell you what the best decision based on their experiences.  For instance if I use an atheist. There are many successful atheists who have not used the bible and had similar outcomes as to if they had used the bible. This is why I believe that the bible is not the best guide when making moral decisions.

Another reason why I don’t agree with the statement is because people can be very happy with their life and the choices they have made throughout their life without using the bible. If the bible was the best guide to use when making moral decisions then everyone’s life would be great, but because not everyone knows God they can’t interact with him and ask him questions. There are some decisions you can make by yourself and you don’t need to use God because the outcome is not that bad. Such as if I didn’t know whether to choose a chocolate biscuit or custard cream biscuit. This is  the other reason why I believe that the bible is not the best guide when making moral decisions.

This is the end of my arguments FOR & AGAINST

Task 1

a) Portia feels like her dad is being very controlling because he is choosing who she can and can’t marry. She feels like she has a right to choose who she wants to be with for the rest of her life.

b) 

Five main points

1) Jews were seen as a threat to christianity

2) Venice tolerated jews and looked after them

3) The jews were crammed into one flat

4) The jews were useful because they gave to the poor

5) The jews were also useful because they were very good at handaling money

Summary

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Jews were not tolerated, they were seen as a threat to christians and humanity wanted nothing to do with them. Venice were the only place who tolerated them. they used the Jews talents as an advantage and used them as workers. Although the Jews helped the christians in Venice they crammed the Jews into one big flat. One thing that the Jews were good at was handaling money and making profit. The Jews were very nice and often gave to the poor.

These to religions might be different but they are both very nice people and should like each others differences.