As our High school is lucky to have Jalen, an American language assistant this year, the American revolution, has been our choice in History to explain the rise of liberalism and the liberal political system during the last month. The final activity to challenge our students’ knowledge on the matter was a quiz, that the students developed following the rules set by their History teacher, Dr. Mónica Lanero, by using information provided in the Flash Charts with which the students in the US actually learn.
The John Adams’ team, whose motto was “Children should be educated in the principles of freedom” beat the Abigail Adams’ team whose motto was “We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them”. Asking face to face questions, both teams were almost even, but finally due to the questions set by the students, by Jalen and by their teacher, Ms. Lanero the girls in the John Adams’ team won at this stage. Both teams challenged Jalen to get more points as a kind of tie-break, but they were not able to beat him.
The Lincoln team, whose motto was “Government by the people to the people”, won the competition against the Franklin team, under the motto “Join or die”. Both teams were made up of male students. The final competition between Lincoln and J. Adams team developed in this way: several questions were asked by each team to the other, and then Jalen’s and Monica’s questions were posed too, this time medium and hard difficulty questions, any student in the classroom was able to take the reboot if both teams failed. Finally the John Adams team: Nerea, Carla, Claudia and Marta won the competition with a remarkable role of their speaker: Luna, who proved to have a wide command of the US political system.
We had a great time!
Dr. Mónica Lanero Taboas
The Activity
A QUIZ ON THE US POLITICAL SYSTEM
I. Developing the quiz . RULES
STUDENTS HAVE TO MAKE 4 TEAMS UP, EACH TEAM CONSISTING OF 4/5 STUDENTS
Each student has to write 4 questions (and their right answers) on the US political system by using ONLY the four pages of the copies Flash charts on the US Government. Any other source of information is not allowed since it is the information for every student to compete in the quiz .
The sentences have to deal with these topics: it is compulsory to write one sentence on each topic
*THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH (meaning, main bodies, composition, functions, conditions to run or to hold office…)
* THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH (meaning, members, conditions, duties…)
* THE JUDICIAL BRANCH or the Articles of Confederation and The Constitutional Convention
(meaning, functions, the Supreme Court and its members…)
* AMENDMENTS TO THE US CONSTITUTION (the Bill of Rights and other key amendments) -the kind of rights they are related to.-
People wanting extra points or willing to go further in the competition, must write a fifth question on the page “Party time” or “How is a President elected”. This would be useful in case their team passes to the second round of the competition or challenges Jalen. Focusing on the Flash facts – Eagle, presidents - will also provide questions in case tie-breaking were needed.
PEOPLE IN THE SAME TEAM CANNOT HAVE THE SAME QUESTIONS, EVERY TEAM MUST HAVE 16 (teams made of 4 students) or 20 (teams made up of 5 students) DIFFERENT QUESTIONS: 4/5 ON EACH TOPIC. The QUESTIONS MUST ASK FOR SHORT AND SIMPLE ANSWERS. Like in the example:
What was the purpose of the 13th Amendment?: to outlaw slavery
What was the amendment passed in 1865? The one that outlawed slavery
Which amendment outlawed slavery? The 13th one
Each team must choose a Founding father, one of his quotes and a symbol to identify the team.
II. THE COMPETITION
Samples of students’ questions:
There were many more questions, but they gave them to me in a paper, so as to correct their spelling and so I can’t add them … These were the questions of the teams that reached the final
Which members of the executive branch help the president? (Luna)
The cabinet and the vice president
What are the Articles of Confederation? (Luna)
It is a document where some rules for a new U.S. government were written.
Why is the U.S. constitution called a living document? (Luna)
Because it changes over time as the situation requires it
Which right guaranteed the 9th amendment? (Luna)
"Habeas Corpus", it guaranteed protection before the court
How is the republican party referred to? (Luna)
It is referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party)
Who can propose laws that can require people to pay taxes?
The House of Representatives.(Nerea),(legislative branch)
What are one of the four amendments of the Bill of Rights that belongs to habeas corpus?
Sixth/ Seventh/ Eighth/ Ninth. (Bill of Rights)(Nerea)
What did the 15th of December of 1791 do the delegates?
Added 10 amendments.(Bill of rights)(Nerea)
When the Congress passes a bill, what can the president do? ( Claudia )
The president can make it a law or veto it ( which means he can turn it down )
Which houses has the Congress? ( Claudia )
The Senate and the House of Representatives
Which guarantees gives the fourth amendment? (Claudia)
The right to privacy and the right not to have your possessions taken by the government without any reason.
What did the delegates wanted to protect in the American Revolution? (Carla)
What they wanted to protect was the freedom they had fought.
What was one of the other powers Congress had? (Carla)
They had:
• It controls trade between states and also between the U.S. and other nations.
• It approves the minting, or making, of money.
• It can declare war on the other countries.
Can you give two facts of a president out of the four in the copy? (Carla)
Holds office for a maximum of two four-year terms and must be at least 35 years of age.
What did the 19th Amendment do? (Carla)
It extended the right to vote to women.
How many stars are in the seal of the presidency? (Marta)
There are 50 stars.
When did the delegates meet to improve the Articles of Confederation? (Marta)
They met in 1787.
What did the sixth amendment guaranteed? (Marta)
The right for a fair and speedy trial by a jury.
Cristian
● (Legislative)How many representatives and senators were in the congress?
There were 435 representatives and 100 senators.
● (Judicial)What was the function of the Bill of Rights?
To protect the freedom and the rights of the people.
● (Executive)What is written in the symbol of the executive branch?
SEAL of the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES
● (Amendments) What did the 26th amendment?
It reduced the voting age from 21 to 18
Pablo
● (Legislative) Which is the document that stated the rules of the delegates?
The articles of Confederation
● (Amendments) What did the 15 th amendment extend?
The right to vote for black men
● (Executive) How old had to be the president at least?
At least 35 years old
● (Judicial) Which are the persons that form the supreme court?
Eight justices and one chief justice
Hugo:
PARTY TIME
What are the symbols of the republican and democratic parties?: Republican - Elephant /
Democratic - Donkey
LEGISLATIVE
● What is the name official the place where the congress meet?: US Capitol Building,
JUDICIAL
● What is the function of the Supreme Court?: Review laws passed by Congress to
make sure they do not violate the Constitution
EXECUTIVE
● What does the president need to declare war to a country?: The president must get
the approval official the Congress.
Roberto:
LEGISLATIVE
● How many years must a person be as a U.S. citizen to take part in the House of
Representatives? At least seven years.
JUDICIAL
● What’s the minimum age for a Supreme Court justice? There is no minimum age.
AMENDMENTS
● What was set in the 22nd amendment? Limited a president's service to 2 terms.
DIFICULT
● What could the president did referring to the bill? He could sign the bill, refuse to sign
it or veto it
These were Diana’s questions, she was in a different team.
DIANA
Legislative branch: - How old must a citizen be to join the House of Representatives?. At least 25 years old.
Executive branch: - What does the second Article of the Constitution say about the executive branch? It gives this branch the power to enforce laws passed by Congress
Judicial branch: - How many people is the supreme court made of?. Eight justices plus one Chief Justice.
Amendments: - How many amendments are there apart from those in the Bill of Rights? There are seventeen others
Extra:
By whom is the president elected?. By the Electoral College
There were many more questions, but they gave them to me in a paper, so as to correct their spelling and so I can’t add them …
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