Dolly Ros

OSEOLA McCARTY

BIOGRAPHY

Oseola Mc. Carty was a small woman. She was not strong, but she had a very big heart!

She was born in Mississippi (USA); She lived there all her life. When she was young, she dreamed of becoming a nurse.

Mc.Carty had to leave school because her aunt and grandmother became ill, so she had to take care of them. She worked hard as a washerwoman: she used to take in clothes for washing and ironing from many people in the town. 

She lived simply, so she saved money and when she was 87 years old, she had accumulated a great deal of money. She made a gift of $ 150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi in order to help needy students. She always said:”I´m giving it away so the children won´t have to work so hard like I did!” 

Now, with Mc.Carty´s support, students have an opportunity to study.

In several occasions, she had to sleep in hotels. The first night when she woke up, she made her bed! 

She shook hands with Bill Clinton who was the President of the U.S

I admire her because instead of thinking of herself, she only worried for children, giving them opportunity to study.

Tina Català

SALVADOR DALÍ

BIOGRAPHY

Salvador Dalí I Domènech was born on 11 May 1904 in Figueres (Girona). Dalí died in Figueres on 23 January 1989. He was a painter and a sculptor. 

He was born nine months and ten days after his brother died. Because of that, his parents spoiled him. His first self-portrait is: “The ill child”.

Dalí studied at the School of Fine Arts in San Fernando, Madrid in 1921 but he was expelled because of his eccentricity.

During his military service, Dalí made his first “Daliniana” work. In 1929 he travelled to Paris, came into contact with the group of surrealists headed by André Breton and Gala. From that time on, Gala never left his side. In 1934 entered into a civil matrimony with Gala. When the German Troops entered Bordeaux, the Dalí couple moved the United States, where they remained until 1948.       

                            

In July 1948, the Dalí couple came back to Catalonia. Dalí painted pictures, wrote and designed jewelry, but what he liked the most was painting, and that was what made him famous. In 1973 a year before its opening, the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, he presented the Dalí’s exhibition. 

I like and admire him for his work. Dalí is a very important painter in Catalonia and in the whole world.

He was a Catalan painter and was well known, despiste his eccentricism. Well, he was probably so famous because of that.

Sole Galán

MARIA MONTESSORI

BIOGRAPHY

Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, province of Ancona, Italy. She died on May 6, 1952 when she was 81 years of age. Montessori was an educator, paedagog, a doctor and a psychologist.

Her parents moved to Rome to access the best schools. Her father wanted her to study to become a teacher, but she decided to enter engineering school, which she left after one year when her interest in studying medicine arose, until finally, in 1896, she became the first female doctor in Italy.

She studied a speciality in nervous and mental diseases, which led her to work with children with intellectual disabilities. Living with them is how she realized that many of their problems were not only medical, but also paedagogical, and that is how she became interested in education.

She began to observe the behaviour of children with learning problems and to coexist with them daily. This experience led her to design educational materials that responded to their needs. With this material she managed that many children, who were considered "Ineducable", learned to read, write and count.

Years later, she adapted her method for regular students, beginning with students up to 6 years of age. Her philosophy was known throughout the country and it became the official method of teaching.

Over the years, her method has been expanding all over the world.

The Montessori method was initially applied in Italian primary schools and later throughout the world. Directed especially to children in the preschool stage.

She wrote some books and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.

I admire Maria Montessori because she was an advanced woman for her time who fought for what she wanted, for her dedication to children's education and her method has continued along the years pass by.

books
Discovery of the Child (1909)
The Montessori method (1912)
My system of education (1915)
Spontaneous Activity in Education (1916)
The secret of childhood (1936)
Educate for a new world (1946)
The education of human potentialities (1946)

What You Should Know About Your Child (1948)
The absorbing mind of the child (1949)

Quotations

"The greatest instinct of children is precisely to free themselves from the adult."

"Help me do it by myself. "

"Any unnecessary help is an obstacle to development. "

"Movements are not just made simply by moving, each movement has its purpose, it always has some intention. "

"The biggest sign of a teacher's success is being able to say:" Now the children work as if I did not exist. "

"If you criticize a child a lot, he will learn to judge. If you praise the child regularly, he will learn to value. "

''The greatest instinct of children is precisely to free themselves from adults".

Joan Torrents

AMELIA EARHART

BIOGRAPHY

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas (U.S.A). She was declared dead on January 5, 1939. She was a pilot.

She studied in Chicago and she was the first woman to fly a plane by “HERSE F” accross the Atlantic Ocean. She died on January 5, 1939 over the South Pacific Ocean, while trying to fly around the world.

EARHART was American, her father was a lawyer and her mother was a medicine doctor.

She wrote some books, most of them were about her flights.

Some people believe that she was a spy for the US Government and was captured by the Japanese on Gardner Island. The most plausible is what many researches prove, which is that the “Electra” ran out of fuel.

About her life, there is a range of documentaries .

It has been surmised that “Earhart” might have survived on Nikumaroro.

I admire her because she was a brave woman and a great pilot.

Eduardo Ocón

MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

BIOGRAPHY

Agnes Gonxa Bojaxhin, known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje (Macedonia) and died of a heart attack on September 5, 1997.

Agnes was the youngest of three children born to Nicola and Drane. When Agnes was nine years old, her father died. Drane raised her children and influenced Agnes character and vocation.

Gonxha attended public school in Skopje where she was moved by a desire to become a missionary. In September 1928, she left her home to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There, Agnes Gonxha received the name of Sister Mary Teresa. In 1929 she was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St Mary’s School for girls. 

Although the school was close to the slums, the students were wealthy. So, in 1946 Mother Teresa felt she had to leave the convent life and work directly with the poor. Her first task was to teach unschooled children from the slums. After that, in 1948, Mother Teresa established a religious community Missionaries of Charity dedicated to the service of the poorest among the poor. Nine years later, her group began to work with lepers and they also opened nine elementary schools in Calcutta and a home for orphans and abandoned children. She was always wearing a white and blue-bordered sari. 

Mother Teresa was awarded the Prize of Peace by the Pope John Paul II in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She said “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor”. In 1997 Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4000 members and established 610 foundations in 123 countries in the world.

I admire Mother Teresa because in my opinion her simplicity is based in six ideas:

The fruit of silence is the prayer.

The fruit of prayer is the faith.

The fruit of the faith is love.

The fruit of love is service.

The fruit of service is peace.

The whole of Mother Teresa’s life and labour is loved by every human person.

She said “the value of little things done faithfully and with love” and “the surpassing worth of friendship with God”. 

I think that Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Mother to the poor is a symbol of compassion to the world.

Pope John II opened Cause for her Canonization in 2002.

Maria Cruz Ruiz

                                     

VICKY SHERPA

BIOGRAPHY

Victoria Subirana, known as Vicky Sherpa, is a teacher who has devoted her life to fight for the disadvantaged people in Nepal. She uses education to make a social change.

She was born in Ripoll, Catalonia, in 1959. First, she went to a rural state school in Ripoll and later she went to the University of Vic. There, she studied teaching and she started working as a teacher. In 1979, she studied several courses of Paedagogy in Italy and Brussels, and she got a Master of "Curriculum and Teaching" at Michigan State University.

In 1988, she travelled for the first time to Nepal and she liked it a lot. In Katmandu she saw the poverty and the living conditions of the people there, so she was impressed.

When she returned to Barcelona, she couldn't forget those images of the children in the street. Then, she planned and designed an educational project to help them. One year later, she studied Nepalese in Barcelona and after that she went back to Nepal to do her project.

In 1989, she founded her first school, The Dorgee School. That school took 32 refugee children from the Tibet in its classrooms. In 1998, she founded The Dalekicon school to serve the most disadvantaged people there. She took kids of different etnic groups to integrate them. She began to prepare her Montessory Series of Books, more than sixty books. At the same time, she promoded the association Amics de Viki Sherpa.

In 1999, she created the first school for Primary School Teachers. This school was closed in 2002 because the king of Nepal was killed; but the teacher training has continued to the present times.

In 2002, the association Amics de Viki Sherpa became "The Foundation Eduqual" to apply Viki's methodology: The transformative Paedagogy.

Her work continues today with the collaboration of The Generalitat of Catalonia and Architects without Borders.

I admire her, because she has dedicated her life to improve the people's life in Nepal.

Bibliography

- Wikipedia

- Personal Knowledge

Maria Espinet

TERESA PÀMIES I BERTRAN 

 BIOGRAPHY

Teresa Pàmies was born on October 1919 in Balaguer, Catalonia (Spain). She was a journalist, an activist and a writer.

She grew up in Balaguer and her childhood was happy and intense. In her childhood she went to school to Balaguer. When she was 10 years old she already sold a clandestine magazine called La batalla.

Her father was an important leader in the BOC (Bloc obrer camperol) and her mother was a dressmaker.

When she was 17 years old, she moved to Barcelona because of her ideas. After the Spanish Civil War ended she went to exile to different countries.

Teresa Pàmies studied journalism at the Female University of Mexico and later she worked at the radio in Prague. From there, she wrote for some magazines of Catalonia.

She went back to Catalonia in 1971 and then she dedicated herself to writing books mainly about life in exile.

She received some awards. The most important ones are:

                                               Premi Josep Pla de narrativa 1970
                                               Premi d’honor de les lletres catalanes 2001
                                               Premi internacional de periodisme Manuel Vazquez Montalvan 2006
                                               Creu de St Jordi 1984
                                               Medalla d’or de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona 2000

I admire her because she was consistent with her ideas.
 

Carmen López

HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA

BIOGRAPHY

Hypatia of Alexandria was born in 370 in Alexandria, Egypt. She was murdered in 415, when she was around to 45 years old. She was a Mathematician, Philosopher, Astronomer, writer and inventor.

Hypatia was daughter and disciple of the Philosopher, Mathematician and Astronomer Theon of Alexandria. She lived her childhood in an academic and cultural environment because her father taught her mathematics and astronomy. Later, she was the first woman mathematician.

She was a beautiful woman and she looked after body and exercised every day.

Hypatia wrote a book of Geometry, Algebra and Astronomy.

In my opinion, she was an open minded woman.

She was a privileged woman because she could have education in her life time.

Her quotes are ahead of her time, for example:

Independently of our colour, race and religion we are brothers.

Mercè Font

FÉLIX RODRÍGUEZ DE LA FUENTE

BIOGRAPHY

Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente was born in Poza de la Sal, Burgos (Spain), on March 14 1928. He died in Shaktoolik (Canada) on March 14 1980. Mr. Rodriguez was probably the first person who worked with falcons.

His studied at the University of Valladolid to be a doctor-dentist, but he only worked as a dentist for four years, because his passion were animals, and especially: wolves.

In 1967 he began to work with other people to make a TV programmes, for exemple "FAUNA" "EL HOMBRE Y LA TIERRA", etc.

His parents were Marcelina and Samuel, and  his wife is still alive. Her name is Marcelle Genevieve. They had three daughters.

Until his death, Rodríguez de la Fuente wrote a lot of books about animals and nature in general.

I admire him because he defended the animals in danger of extinction.

Maite Solé

ROSA PARKS

BIOGRAPHY

Rose Louise McCauley, known as Rosa Parks, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama (USA), on February 4 1933. She died on October 24 2005 in Detroit, Michigan (USA). Rosa Parks was an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America.

She was an African-American woman. She grew up in a farm where she lived with her family and she was brought up in the Methodist religion. Rosa worked as a weaver. She married Raymon Parks in 1932, so Rosa changed her last name into Parks.

Mrs Parks became famous because she refused to give up her seat and to move to the back of the bus. The most important thing was her rebellion, the principle of equality between black people and white people. She was imprisoned because of her activism. 

Rosa Parks is frequently cited as the spark of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America.

I admire her because she was a brave woman.

Ghita Abdelbaki

ANNE FRANK

BIOGRAPHY

Annelies Marie, known as Anne Frank ,vas born on June 12 1929 and died on March 12 1945. She wrote her story on a diary which has been read by millions of peple around the world. 

Anne Frank was one of the Jewish victims of the World War II nazi holocaust. She was born in Germany, but she and her family moved to Amsterdam and had to hide for two years there because of the nazist hunting to the Jewish people. During that time, Anne wrote about her experiences and wishes. She was 15 years old when the family was found and sent to a concentration camp where she died.

Anne Frank is famous for being a brave girl and because of her books:

• Anne Frank Diary
• Secret hiding tales

Some quotes: 

"Who happy makes those of more happy."

"What has courage and faith should never appear missfortune."

In my opinion, Frank was a strong and intelligent girl. This is very beautiful, because you don't have to be big to be famous.                                                                              

Video and song about Anne Frank:

Xavier Codony

                               RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ TUM

BIOGRAPHY

          Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 in San Miguel Uspantán (Guatemala). She’s a Guatemalan indigenous leader and a woman fighter for peace and dignity.

        She grew up in a very poor family and she does not have any university degrees because she started working in a coffee farm, in such terrible conditions that they were the cause of the death of her brothers and friends when she was five years old.

            Her father was a farmer and her mother was a midwife. Her mother was tortured and killed by the military and her father, Vicente, was one the 37 people who the National Police of Guatemala burned alive with white phosphorous.

           Menchú is famous for her struggle in favour of the indigenous people and farmers. In 1992, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for social justice and for the rights of indigenous people. After that, in 1998 she also won the Prince of Asturias award for International cooperation. She’s a human rights defender and a goodwill Unesco ambassador.

          She’s an exemple to follow because, from total poverty, she has fought a lot for her people. She has been mentioned in the Guinness book for being the youngest woman to have won the Nobel Prize. 

April 2018

                              

               

Agustí Corominas

FRANCESC FERRER I GUÀRDIA

BIOGRAPHY

Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia was born in 1859 in the village of Alella in Catalonia. He was a teacher.

His family members were farmers. Francesc Ferrer had thirteen brothers. When he was a child he went to the local school for ten years.

When he was thirteen he started to work and he moved to Barcelona. When Francesc Ferrer was fourteen, he joined the factory workers association Ateneu to study. There, he contacted with the labour movement. Francesc Ferrer first became interested in political movements and he collaborated with them.

In 1879 he worked on the railway from Madrid- Zaragoza- to the border with France. There he met his first wife, Teresa. They had four daugthers: Trinitat, Pau, Llum and Sol.

In 1895 he exiled to France and divorced Teresa and vinater worked and wrote the book in French: L'espagnol practique and he collaborated with the Spanish resistence. At that time he read philosophy books and wrote to Kropotkin, Tolstoi... and he came to the conclusion that only education could change the world.

He met his second wife, Lepoldine, and also Mme. Meunié. When Mme. Meunié died, he received her inheritance, so Ferrer could make his dream The Modern School come true.

In 1901 Ferrer came back to Barcelona and he founded the Modern School. However political, military and religious powers did not like the Modern School. So Ferrer was accused of making the Setmana Tràgica a success and he was sentenced to death.

He was shot at Montjuic castle on October 13, 1909.

I admire him because he died standing up and,  looking at the soldiers, he shouted:

--It isn’t  your fault!

--I'm innocent!

--Long life the Modern School.

  

Quinti García

VIRGINIA WOOLF

BIOGRAPHY

Adeline Virginia Stephen, known as Virginia Woolf, was born on 25 January 1882 in South Kensington, London. She was a writer.

She didn’t go to school because she received private lessons from her father.

Woolf is considered to be one of the most outstanding figures of Anglo-Saxon Modernism in the twentieth century and of International feminism. Woolf was a significant figure in the literary society of London and a member of the Bloomsbury group.

Woolf suffered her first depression when she was thirteen years old because of her father’s death. That provoked an alarming attack and was briefly followed by recurrent periods of depression. She also suffered abuse from her stepbrothers.

In 1912, when she was thirty years old, she married the writer Leonard Woolf.

His most famous Works are:

• Mrs Dalloway
• To the Lighthouse
• A room of his own

On March 28, 1941 Woolf committed suicide.

My comments:

I admire her because she was the first feminist writer.

Bibliography:

• Gran Larouse Universal, Ed. Plaza & Janés, S:A., 1984
• Wikipedia

April 2018