Becca’s GED Social Studies Blog

Hey everyone, isn’t it just horrible what happened in Haiti? If you haven’t heard yet, you can donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting “HAITI” to the number 90999, and the money will be added to your next phone bill. Or you can go redcross.org and donate there. I picked a practice question today that talks about Haiti’s past–particularly about the language they speak.

photo taken by dominic arizona : azfoto.com

• In the early 15th century, the Spanish took control of the island of Hispaniola for its gold, killing many of the indigenous peoples with disease.

• In the 16th century, Africans were brought to the island as slaves.

• Many French pirates made their homes on the western shores of Hispaniola.

• France eventually gained control over the western portion of the island, and many battles for independence were fought until 1804, when independence was won, and the nation was renamed to Haiti.

• In the 20th century, the United states occupied Haiti in an attempt to help stabilize their government. During this time, Haitian Creole was also accepted as an official language of Haiti, particularly in education.

• Throughout the turbulent years of Haiti’s past, many Haitians have left to try and make a better life for themselves in other parts of the Caribbean and North America. (Read on …)

I once visited the Grand Canyon, and let me tell you, it was a real sight to see. I mean, I’ve seen holes in the earth before, so I wasn’t even really sure I’d be as impressed as people tell you you’ll be, but once you get out there, and stand on the edge of a cliff dropping right down into that giant hole, it really takes your breath away.

Later I read about how the Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. I’ve never seen most of the others, except the Northern Lights, which I once saw on a long haul up to Whitehorse in the Yukon. It was real pretty. Kinda like bright white, greenish clouds, only at night. And they’d kinda shifted and moved around real fast, like there was a giant fan up in space blowing them around. I can definitely see why the Grand Canyon and the Northern Lights are part of the Seven Natural Wonders. I think I’d like to see all the rest someday, even they are all across the globe, like Mount Everest way over there in Asia.

I started looking up some of the other wonders of the world, and found out that there’s a lot of different lists! One of the most popular is the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. That’s got the Pyramids in it, along with a lot of other neat things. Here’s a practice question about one of them that I thought was pretty hard. (Read on …)

To make sure that you understand the information, the GED social studies test sometimes asks you to recognize something you’ve read, said over again in different words. In other words, it’s restated! If you can understand the same thing in different words, then you really understood what it meant. (Read on …)