Now thy enemy and you'll conquer him. (by Chrystian)

On my internships and now with our classes of Pedagogical Practice (???) I could confirm something that I've already had in mind. The importance of work with things that really catch the attention of our Students. Like musics, movies and the most representative to me... cartoons.

Who here never watched the serie called "The Simpsons" and never learned something new? With their Smart philosofy of life showing all the bad side of the things with an awesome good

 mood and making us to think better about the things. Or even the offensive and hilarious "South Park" that is the mix of dark humour with infomation to think about. And those are only 2 options that we have to work with them. If you watch TV today you'll receive lots and lots of information that can be very useful to you in class. Moreovre I dare say that is good to you to know about some cartoons due the fact that one day you'll need to explain somethin

g that they are not understanding and using an example more attractive, certainly they will get it really fast.

I did it some time and I always got a positive outcome.

Well, I leave here my idea to help us at classroom, the day that you have a chnce of d it... please do. And you will see that you won't regret.

catch ya later.

Child stuffs becoming Adult stuffs (by Priscila Cunha)

This time I’m going to talk about a thing I like to do in my leisure time which is read manga. Manga is a Japanese comic book. It’s usually printed in black and white and you must read the left to right side. Often comic books are associcated to children but in japan are totally different. Manga is read by people of several ages and the vast kinds comprehend adventure, romance, sports, drama, sex, mystery, and etc. The manga’s target public is divided by genre which contain shojo, josei, seinen, shonen, seijin, yuri and yaoi manga.
Shojo manga is usually focused in young girls and deal with ideal romance, comedy and in this style they show what the characters feel through the story. Josei manga is focused in young woman and deal with daily life and real relationships. Shonen manga is focused in young boys and deal with adventure and action. Yuri and yaoi manga is focused in relationship between girls and boys of same genre. Yuri is focused in girl’s relationship and yuri is focused in boys relationship.
What become manga so amazing is the divertsity of designing that the drawer put in each page and what make diference when you see the figure. Besides the reasons I presented here to know manga what stimulate me to read is because through stories you can learn about japanese culture and how they live, its really nice.
This time I’m going to talk about a thing I like to do in my leisure time which is read manga. Manga is a Japanese comic book. It’s usually printed in black and white and you must read the left to right side. Often comic books are associcated to children but in japan are totally different. Manga is read by people of several ages and the vast kinds comprehend adventure, romance, sports, drama, sex, mystery, and etc. The manga’s target public is divided by genre which contain shojo, josei, seinen, shonen, seijin, yuri and yaoi manga.
Shojo manga is usually focused in young girls and deal with ideal romance, comedy and in this style they show what the characters feel through the story. Josei manga is focused in young woman and deal with daily life and real relationships. Shonen manga is focused in young boys and deal with adventure and action. Yuri and yaoi manga is focused in relationship between girls and boys of same genre. Yuri is focused in girl’s relationship and yuri is focused in boys relationship.
What become manga so amazing is the divertsity of designing that the drawer put in each page and what make diference when you see the figure. Besides the reasons I presented here to know manga what stimulate me to read is because through stories you can learn about japanese culture and how they live, its really nice.

Our Blog (By Anelise)

This is the last time that we writte in our blog and I would like to know that it was an excellent idea and I enjoy a lot to writte and read all that was wrote were for my friends.
In this semestre we could read about very interesting subjects, controversials things, points of view, very good ideas and feelings .
As we never had wrote in a blog before, it was great for us lose the shyness and this is one more form be exposed in a language.
I hope that this idea continue in the next semestre and with news ideas.

An angel watching over me (by Lucila)

Some time ago I was feeling a bit blue and, to cheer myself up, I decided to make a list of the nice things I have in my life. The list included places I have visited, the dear friends I have, my beautiful daughter, things that I have done, experiences that enriched my life, the interesting people I have met, and so on. All I could think of and, above all, what really mattered, have become, one way or another, part of who I am.
I have lost a dear friend recently and again, what is left of him is still with me. His things, his house, his car, his favorite book, the bag he always carried with him, a CD I once gave to him may be used by someone else, may be disposed of, or might as well be forgotten. The things we lived together, the people he brought into my life, the things I learned with him, and his candid laugh will remain.
Although I am going to miss him, one thing is for sure: he is on my treasured list!

The Black in the Power (by Bruno)

After many important black people, as Martin Luther King and Malcolm Little (Malcolm X), fighting for civil rights in the United States, in the first half of the XX century, now this country has its first black president called Barack Obama. This is the expressive results of the election won by Obama: 67,66% of votes to Obama and 30,11% of votes to McCain (by The New York Times). These are some information about the new president:


Born August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 47) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Birth name Barack Hussein Obama II

Spouse Michelle Obama (m. 1992)

Children Malia Ann (b. 1998) and Sasha (b. 2001)

Residence Kenwood, Chicago, Illinois

Alma mater Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School

Profession Attorney and Politician

Religion United Church of Christ

The spread of the English Language!!! (by Antônio)

Hi everyone last week I was looking for an article for a paper and I found a very nice one, which I’d like to share with you.
As we are studying the varieties of English, the article refers to the spread of English worldwide and the multiple “Englishes” generate by this spread. At first it establishes the basic differences between English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Native Language (ENL), showing two attitudes towards the spread of EIL (“Fawlty Towers and Ivory Towers”) and how this spread affects ENL.
Another important point in the article is the 3 misinterpretations about the nature and functions of EIL such as International Language = English language, British and American varieties are understood as the only legitimate varieties of English and finally that native speakers are the best teachers because of their “nativeness”.
Apart from these misinterpretations the article also deals with English varieties, specially the British and American ones and some myths about them. It is possible to see the prejudice towards another varieties of English, the complete misunderstanding of the influence of the local culture in languages and the misunderstanding about the evolution of languages, which is a natural and inevitable process.
The Article states that the EIL, which is being taught nowadays, are in fact the British and American varieties in disguise.

Check the whole article in the link below, it’s an excellent article and it deals with a lot of important issues especially for us, non-natives English teachers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/jan/22/tefl.wordsandlanguage

American English (by Solvejg Braathen)

I never thought that American English could change something on British English, maybe the word change does not suit in this case but I cannot think in other word. Of course I know that American English is world widespread and that it influences the whole world but that British English was also being influenced is something new. After I finished reading this article I could realize that I already knew some of the reasons why it is happening, and if we stop to think we will see it is true. As David Crystal points out in his article, Americans were the first one to create lots of things and named these things according to their spelling and pronunciation rules, for example Internet was developed in the USA, and the words related to it have American spelling. I think it very interesting article, I wish you like it.

http://www.davidcrystal.com/DC_articles/English42.pdf

The beach of my dreams (by Júlia Rockenbach)

As I didn't know what to write about here, I decided to tell you a dream…
Unlike many people, I often remember what I dream. This night I “went” to a place which made me feel very well. Actually, I’ve already dreamed about it many times and I always feel good when I “go to this place”. I dreamed about a beach, a wonderful one. For me this is the most beautiful place in the world… I don’t know where it is, but I know that one day I will know this place. There, the sun shines much more than in any other place and there are trees and a lot of vegetation…the sea is really beautiful as well. I’ve already dreamed I was there, in the same beach, at night, in a cloudy day and so on. I’ve tried to find out what this dream means, and all I could conclude up to now is that it is related to emotions. There is a dream dictionary which says that see a beach in dream symbolizes the meeting between our two states of mind. The sand is symbolic of the rational and mental processes while the water signifies the irrational, unsteady, and emotional aspects of ourselves. It is a place of transition between the physical/material and the spiritual. However, I believe this place does exist. All I know is that this dream is unique and has to do with my own experiences or perhaps with my wishes. I love dreaming about this pleace because it renews my body and my spirit.

This photo is one which a friend of mine took of a place she’s been living.. It looks like the beach of my dreams and that’s why I always look to this photo when I want to feel good.

Nowadays are Shakespeare’s words difficult for readers?
(by Valéria Guilherme)

An article from David Crystal called my attention this week. On it, the author explains the wrong idea that some specialists have about the difficult people may have when they are reading Shakespeare. This comment inspired David Crystal to do a research through Shakespeare’s works to certify if this was true or not. Crystal had decided to build a glossary based on the words Shakespeare used in his plots, poems, etc. At the end of all research, the author realized that over 90% of the words used in his works have not lost their meaning. In front of the results of Crystal’s research, we can clarify and confirm two points: first that English did not change so faster, as some people are used to say. Second, the idea that Shakespeare language is losing its meaning is not true.

If you like to read and to learn about Shakespeare follows some web sites where you can find precious materials about it. Enjoy it:

www.davidcrystal.com
www.shakespeareswords.com

(One brief history about me - Vanessa Filippini)

It was August, 2006. I had just got a scholarship from PROUNI at Centro Universitário IPA Metodista. I was working in a very nice home store and I had a cool boyfriend that I was in love with. From August up to October I lived a perfect moment in my life, but I couldn’t imagine the things were going to change.
The timetable of my classes weren’t in accordance with my work schedule. The store was open until 7p.m. and the class started at 7h10 p.m.. So, after one year working there, my boss fired me without prior warning. To complete my sadness, on November 8 (just my birthday) I found out that my boyfriend had another girl. That was terrible for me. Meanwhile I was having my final exams at the university, I was heartbroken, my bills were due and my head was full of problems.
Although al this things were happening at the same time, I could have the support from my friends and new classmates who helped me study for my exams. I went on, but I was still sad. Then, a very good friend told me: “Nothing last forever! Even the grieves of heart. Everything is gonna be alright.” And he was right!!!! Time heals all wounds.
As the mouths went by, I got a new job at Police Academy (from 8 p.m. until 1 p.m.) Now I can study or rest in the afternoon before my classes. And the best of all: I have met a man who loves me and I love him. We get married nine mouths ago. This is my happy ending.

Halloween (By Cecília Haas Mezzomo)

This is the last web post here, and I've decided to write about the Halloween party I went to last Friday.

A place was rented to have the party and it started at 7 p.m., although we got there a lot earlier to decorate and get things ready. There were about a hundred people there, and the kids had so much fun.

I was in charge of the Spooky Bowling, but they could play in the Bloody eye toss, Ghost throw, Jack-o’-Lantern workshop, the horror tunnel among others. This tunnel by the way, was the great sensation. In the tunnel, besides the creepy decoration there were three cauldrons where children had to put their hands in. The first one, with damp sand and plastic spiders, the second one with cooked pasta and the third one with candies. After playing the games, they would get a stamp on a chart and after three stamps they could change it for a gift.

All kids were wearing costumes and even some parents were. In the trick or treat moment, the children had to talk to as many adults as possible and say “Trick or Treat”. If they had candies, the kid would get a treat, otherwise, they little ones had to play a trick with the grow ups, like making a face at them, sticking their tongue out, etc.

At the end, we all had a great time and children left the party with their Halloween bags full of gifts and candies.

Buenos Aires (by Silvia)

It's been a while I have wanted to go to the Capital Porteña and it seems that the time has come. Next week, for the first time I'm going to Buenos Aires and I'm very excited about that.
Many friends have said I should do this and that, but I just feel like visiting the city not as a tourist, but as a Porteño, going to the places they usually go. I’m not the tourist kind that goes to the most visited places and take pictures only of the most famous spots. I like discovering things, people. Even though, I’m posting below a picture of Caminito, one of the most famous neighborhoods in the city.

Word Order (by Lucila)

Tuesday, 26 August 2008
On Team GB
A correspondent wonders about the 'unusual' grammar of the phrase Team GB, as used for the Olympics team. It reminds him of a North London pub in the 1970s called Pub Lotus (where it seems all the chairs were replica bucket seats from Lotus sports cars) and Canadian usages such as Health Canada. He adds: 'Here in the UK we seem to be in a transitional stage, with English Heritage coexisting with Sport England. It's not unlike the pattern seen in stock phrases taken from Norman French, e.g. court martial, battle royal - the difference being that in the modern pattern nouns, rather than adjectives, are used in apposition.'

But that difference is important, making the construction very different from the case of postposed adjectives. How unusual is it, in fact? If we construe it appositionally as 'the team which is, more specifically, GB', then the construction is not very different from the many cases of restrictive apposition which have been in English for a long time:

Mount Everest (= the mountain that is Everest)
Lake Windemere (= the lake that is Windermere)
River Thames (= the river that is Thames)
County Cork (= the county that is Cork)
Queen Elizabeth (= the Queen who is Elizabeth)
Dr Brown (= the doctor who is Brown)
architect Jim Smith (= the architect who is Jim Smith)
the number six (= the number that is six)
the year 2009 (= the year that is 2009)
my brother Fred (= my brother who is Fred)
Platform 3 (= the platform that is 3)
and so on.

But Team GB does have a certain rhetorical punch, which comes, I think, not only from the reversed word order but also from the omission of any determiner: compare the GB Team. This makes it like Operation Desert Storm, Hurricane Katrina, Eggs Benedict, and so on, as well as such dramatic names as Mission Impossible. Constructions such as Health Canada are interesting because of their use of an uncountable noun as the first element. And part of the effect of Team GB may derive from the fact that its first element is a collective noun. A few other collectives work in the same way, e.g. Club Med, Department 2, Generation X

Is the usage likely to extend beyond the present top-level institutional senses? Will we get Team England, Team Chelsea, and so on? It would be good to collect a few more examples of the current fashionable trend.
Posted by DC at 18:38 12 comments

http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/
Imagine how confused a speaker of English as foreign language can be when faced with a construction such as Team GB, if even an educated native speaker is. Word order seems to be a little bit tricky to many students of the English language, and it can be very hard to explain. The thing is, even though anyone with a certain level of proficiency in English can understand the meaning of expressions or names discussed in the text above, it is not so clear the reason for that. One thing to look at when faced with such unusual constructions is the fact that although English derives from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, it was greatly influenced by French with the event of the Norman Invasion in 1066. This influence goes beyond the contribution of French words in the English lexicon and it is also responsible for a change in word order from Old to Middle English. But this pattern observation also poses us to the truth that English is changing every day, and besides the new vocabulary coined for specific purposes, there is slang being created, as well as idioms, expressions and so on. As Mr. Crystal said, let’s wait and see if this pattern becomes a new trend.

Black Hole? Armaggedon? Whada Hell! ( by Chrystian)

Some weeks ago you might heard about a pos

sible End of The World by a Black 

Hole artesanal made by humans, right?

Well, I read about it and discover that tale about 

the Armageddon is nothing less than gossip.

Swiss scie

ntists created the "LHC" - Large Hadron Collider - which is the biggest machine in the whole world; it has 27km of perimeter and cost more than £4 billions.

The LHC has as objective to control the acceleration in the atoms to see how it works and his variations. Another thing is to explain the origins of the elementary particles (Quarks and Leptons) and to do this job this project will count with more than 2,000 physics from more than 35 countries.

 

Some scientists are worried about this project because they believe that this machine can create a Black Hole on Earth and destroy everything around it. Well it's not THAT true. But, yes, this machine can create a Black Hole, but not dangerous. Due the fact that our atmosphere does not give conditions for a Black Hole to survive. And IF a Black Hole were created it would go out to Space, because it needs a 300,000km/sec to exist, to stay on Earth it would rotate only 15km/h. Otherwise it would be attracted to the Space. 

 

Moreover, special physicians as Antony Hawkins already researched about it and conclude that there are nay problems. So don't worry. It's not this time that we will have our final Judge with our Hearts being put on Anubis' Balance.

The mystery continues… (by Valéria Guilherme)

I was waiting to talk about my pregnancy after knowing if I will have a baby boy or a baby girl, but as we have just one more posting, there is no time for that. I had in mind that I would be able to talk about the big news this time, but unfortunately, the baby was too shy on our last appointment. This week I had to do an ultrasound, and maybe on it the doctor would be able to see the sex of my baby… unfortunately the baby was with her (or his) legs crossed, so it was impossible to confirm if I must to include on my shop list some pink ribbons or a little truck. However, no big deals, as the most important thing was to know that the baby is fine.
These last months are being a great surprise, with lots of discoveries and new things to learn and to care about it. I got from Solvejg a nice book that is helping me a lot to solve my doubts, concerns, and expectations… This book called “What to expect when you are expecting” by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. On it we can find useful information about everything related to pregnancy: the first symptoms, how the baby is developing through the weeks, how will be the first months before the childbirth. And on it you can also clarify doubts about exercises during pregnancy, all the body changes related to this period, what we must (or not) eat, the breastfeeding… so many comforted answers to millions questions that the future moms usually have.
I read this week that my baby is about palm-size, and his (or her) heart is regulated by the brain and clocks in at 140 to 150 beats per minute.
I know most of you are not interest yet on this subject, but this book is a good option for a present.

Internet & "crazy" ideas!!! (by Antônio)

It’s pretty clear to all of us that the Internet is an amazing tool for entertainment, research, communication and obviously education. In other words it changed our lives in many aspects. When it comes to education, the range of possibilities is endless. The computers and specially the Internet made a revolution in terms of education. Another interesting feature of the Internet is the amount of emails we receive, most of these emails are “chains”, jokes, useless or nonsense information. Some are meant to be funny; while others have a social purpose such as people looking for people who have disappeared, charity and advertisements in general. Once in a while I receive funny emails like power point presentations, small audio files, cartoons and pictures. As we, English teachers, are privileged professionals that can work with almost any topic in classroom, I’ve decided to plan warm ups and wrap ups activities base on these emails I get. So I’ve been thinking about using some of these emails in class.

I’m posting here 3 of these files, which are my favorite ones so far. The first on is called “The floating cat theory” and needs translation. The second is a cartoon already in English. I’ve thought of doing writing and speaking activities with it, but I’m not sure whether it could be used as a listening activity or not. The last is my favorite one; it’s an audio file of a conversation between Condoleeza Rice and George Bush. I’ve already done an activity with it in class; it was focused on listening, general knowledge and a little bit of grammar (phrasal verbs). These are only “crazy” ideas for classes, which need planning. Contributions are welcome, so feel free to send me your opinion about them and I’m sure you might also have some interesting stuff in your email boxes.

At least they are very funny!!!!!

PS: I couldn't attach the last two files here, so I sent them to this email account. ipappi3@gmail.com

Hum.... (by Cecília Haas Mezzomo)

Yeap, I’m really running out of ideas. I mean… not really. One of my most frequent thoughts lately is going to the beach and walk bare foot on the sand. Just that feeling would do wonders I suppose.

Time flies! It’s Monday, week begins and, with a blink of an eye and it’s the weekend. And soon it’s Christmas! In about two weeks it will be already possible to see the shopping malls all decorated.

Wow… it’s scary. By the way, in a week’s time, it’s gonna be Halloween. At the school where I work, there is going to be this huge party that we’ve been preparing since the beginning of October. Kids are doing crafts to decorate the room, we’ve been reading spooky stories, playing games, singing songs… really nice! I love this particular holiday.

Anyway… I’ve started writing about one thing, ended up with something else, but what I can’t forget to say is “THANKS LUCILA!” She knows why. (LOL)

The Freedom Writers (Solvejg Braathen)

I would like to talk about a film that I saw recently, which is The Freedom Writers. It is the true story of a literature teacher and what she had to face to teach a special class that no one wanted to teach. It is a story of strength and courage in which her class and she achieved success. Erin Gruwell is a new teacher that had to face her first group of students in the school. The class was a mix of African-American and Latino students, many of them had grown up in rough neighborhood. The students were not interested in anything, but she changed that, after a few days she motivated them to write about their own life, their problems and fears. And once they started to write they did not want to stop. It’s a very moving film and I think it is important to us, future teachers, to watch it. It film is based on the book with the same name, and there is also a website The Freedom Writes Foundation with information about the book and the film.

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/site/c.kqIXL2PFJtH/b.2259975/k.BF19/Home.htm

Homeless People (By Anelise Sarantopoulos)

Living in the streets is a worldwide phenomenon. Around one hundred millions of people live like that in the whole world, and, in Brazil, around 26.615 people live in a miserable situation. But, nowadays, the homeless’ profile is not represented by the figure of an immigrant, usually Negro, with little schooling anymore. There is a new sort of homeless, formed by people who already had a job and who have a family. It is possible to find those who even speak a second language or who are graduated as well.
Although a part of homelesses in Brazil is unemployed, the major part of them practices a paid activity. They are recycling collectors, “car keepers” or civil constructions workers. But, even thus, their level of gains is really low: they earn between 20 and 120 “reais” a week. The major part of them does not receive any benefit of governmental organs, such as “Bolsa Família”; but they utilize the public health services, such as hospitals and health stations.
On the other hand, although the homelesses have to face all this difficulties every day, there are those who really worry about them. One example is the “Fundação de Assistência Social e Cidadania” (FASC), in Porto Alegre, which is a foundation created by the town hall of the town. This foundation offers some services that give support to children, teenagers, adults and old-aged people who live in the streets and also who live in a situation of poverty. These services have as main objective to develop on the target public the will of elaborate a new life project. The volunteers and the social assistants go through the streets of the town and they establish a confidence link with the people who are in the streets. There is also a service called “Acolhimento noturno” in which the homelesses can eat, sleep, take a shower and can participate of cultural and recreative activities.
Indeed, it is not easy to change the world, and to help all people who live in the streets. The change will delay to fulfill but, even thus, we must try. We are able to promote humans values and we can help people to find out and value their own human dignity.

They really deserve our help (by Júlia Rockenbach)

This’s a photo of a place where a couple takes care of many dogs (more than 150). In general they take animals from streets and provide them food, medicines, a place to live and love. These people sold their apartment and bought this place, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to do what they’ve been doing. They don’t have any servant to help them thus, they do everything by themselves and every month they spend around 2,500 reais on food, medicines, etc. One day, four months ago, they didn’t have any food to give to their dogs so that they decided to organize a campaign at Usina do Gasômetro in order to collect food (ração) for the dogs. The donations mantained the dogs for more two months, but now they need to do it again. They have already done it on September, but I received their e-mail just this month.

For people who like animals and who would like to help them, the dates for donations are October 25th and 26th; November 29th and 30th and December 27th and 28th at Usina do Gasômetro.

I’m not sure about the time they are going to be there, but I believe it will last all day. For people who want to know more about their job and who want to have a confimation of the event, here are their phone numbers and e-mail adress:

(51) 9911 9910 (Acyr) / (51) 8409 3260 (Ceres) / soscannisluppus@gmail.com

Wild Life X Confort Life (By Priscila Cunha)

I have been reading a book called “Into the Wild” from Jon Krakauer which depicts a real story about a guy called Chris Mcandlless. He left his family to take his backpack and live an adventure, goes to Alaska and stay there for two months without contact with technology, money and etc. He really wanted to be into the nature and live with the earth gives to him. But he made a mistake there and unfortunately he died.

Thinking of it I tried to understand what lead a person left everything to live a simple life. Because you need to be sure that you are prepared to do it. Today is it possible live only with the necessary? How to measure what is important and what is frivolous nowadays. Every place you look the media and also the people want to make us slaves of technology and make us buy more than we need. Are we prepared to live without these stuffs which we be used to? It’s important answer these questions to know if it’s important a change in your life style and have more quality in your life or realize that you are happy the way it is.

(Child's day - by Vanessa Filippini)

(CHILD’S DAY – by Vanessa Filippini)

In October 12th Brazilians commemorate the child’s day. During this week, most TV programs showed many documentaries related to children. I could watched some of them on Hoje Em Dia (a Rede Record program), like how to deal with hyperactive children, poor nutrition on Nordeste, pedophilia, campaigns to collect toys for needy children, child labor in Brasil and others. However, the documentary that most attracted my attention was the child’s day gift the Hoje Em Dia gave to children’s home Luz do Mirante in São Paulo. The home shelter around thirty orphans abandoned and molested children.
Unfortunately the children’s home was very old and the furniture too and the walls was discolored. The program output contracted an architect to make alterations in the home. During three days the children stayed in a hotel, which they could swim, play video game, ride horses, watch films and play a lot and al of them loved it.
In the children’s home the architect and her equip worked hard to finish all the reform.
In the last day in hotel, the hotelier gave a new television, home theater and a micro system away to the children.
When returned to home the children have a big surprise. The entire home was completely different, besides the bright color in the walls, was installed a new computer laboratory, library with new literary books, a Walt Disney classic DVDs collection and new toys. Some of them cried emotionally when saw their home completely new.
I think this child’s day will turned unforgettable for them. Congratulation to Rede Record and Hoje Em Dia output.

Farol de Santa Marta (by Antônio)

Dear folks, I’m writing about one of my favorite beaches in Santa Catarina. It is also one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

Farol de Santa Marta is a small beach in Santa Catarina that everybody must visit and help to protect. The beaches are very clean and the restaurants offer very good food.
The main beach is surround by a range of hills, the locals are very proud of their place because it’s a well-preserved area ecologically speaking. The beach is known by its lighthouse, which is one of the oldest of the Brazilian shore. Another sightseeing attraction is the foundation for the white whale protection. The shore of Santa Catarina is visited every year by the whales that go there to breed, so there is the need of constant protection.
Farol de Santa Marta beach has a colony of fishermen, so on everyday of the week you can buy fresh fish and seafood. To complete the countryside atmosphere, the houses were all built on the hills. Most of them are small, colorful and made of wood. There are houses that are really close to the sea, some have fireplace for those who wish to visit the beach in the winter.
For those who like being in touch with nature, having healthy food, enjoying the company of simple people and don’t like cars, television and mobile phones, Farol de Santa Marta is the right place to visit.
If you have nothing to do in the summer please visit this beach I bet you won’t regret it.

Public X Private Schools (Chrystian Oliveira)

Probably one of the things that I most hear in the Academic Enviroment when we talk about ou internships is the horror that a public schools are nowadays. Things like children with weapons in school, using drugs and almost having sex inside of it (probably they already do). And how students are agressive and dangerous loosing their respect with the teachers image, that they would obbey and follow as an example when they do not have it at home ( I know that some educations must me taught at home, but...). And at my internship I've been hearing some creepy stoies about students behavior. THe school that  I "work" is a Pivate one and goes from the Elementary to the High School and has two turns. I do my internship there at the afternoons three times per week and you just can't imagine the sort of things that I hear there. Things like students with drugs, weapons, confronting teachers at classroom, and sometimes as I have mentioned before, some stoies of students having sex along the school. The school is just a mess, and studentes are unstoppable. The teachers and the coordinators try to do everything to decrease this kind of behavior at school. They try to work side-by-side with children's parentals, but they seem just to close their eyes to somethig that is clearly visible: the lack  of respect and behavior.

I studied there when I was a elementary student and things were completely diferent, it's hard to understand how things can dramatically change just in a decade. Well, I listen to people talk about this same problems in other institutions, like the public ones. And frankly I do believe that time when we could clearly separate the Public and the Private school by their enviroment and teaching quality are things fom the past. Honestly I don't know what can be done to reverse this situation, but the things is that nowadays, public and private schools walk hand-in-hand. And people just gave up to try to revert this situation. As an almost teacher I do believe that we can do soemthing to help even if it is a minimal thing, it will be a great diferential.

Sexual Traffic (By Anelise Sarantopoulos)

I was thinking in what I will write in this week when I remember about a subject that I will use to present my social issues in English 4. It is about a sexual traffic, in specific in international traffic of women and children. I thought this after I saw a movie that is about it. In my opinion this is a strong movie that do we think about what are the value of the people, all the terrible situations that some women and children pass to do another person earn a lot of money.
This movie inform that every year more than one million people are trafficked across international borders against their will, this borders are mainly in New Jersey.
Well, I don’t now what this fell me so thoughtful about this subject and did me fell so upset. Must be because we think in our own life, our family, friends……..you can imagine if your brother, sister, daughter, son disappear? I think this situations cause so much despair.
In Claudia magazine, (number 08, ano47) we can find an article written by Priscila Siqueira, 69 years old that is very worry with this problem too.
Friends, I think to see this movie can change our head and we would think in something to help this people.In Portuguese the name of this movie is “Desaparecidos.

Legoland (by Bruno)

This week I was searching for some material to apply in my internship and I found a very interesting text in wikipedia website about the origin of “lego”, this fantastic toy that most of us have already played with. Well, among other information about the history of the company that produces the toy (Lego Group) and the stores that they have around the world, I underline the following: the country where Lego Group was based in 1932, which is Denmark; the word “lego”, that in Danish is “leg godt”, which means “play well” in English; and the legolands, the parks that are Lego themed. Here are some pictures of these parks:

Looking for a place to go..(by Eduarda Duarte)

One of the things I'm doing very often nowadays is going to restaurants that I've never been to. We always tend to go to the ones we already know for years and to eat the same things we've been eaten for years! At least I do. But now I'm trying to do it differently. It's a hard thing to do, especially for me, I don't really know new places to go in Porto Alegre. So I always look for information on the internet..and the website hagah is a good option for that. There's information and pictures about some restaurants including comments from people that have been there. So It's helping a lot.
On this website we can also find information about places (restaurants, pubs, hotels..etc..) to visit in Santa Catarina and in Parana. I recomend!
http://www.hagah.com.br/

My American Family (by Valéria Guilherme)

At the end of this month will turn one year that I visited my American family. At this time last year I participated in a workshop at Bausch & Lomb’s headquarter, so I had the opportunity to spend the weekend over with them. It was so nice and pleasant to see them again and most important thing was realized that our relationship is still strong even with the distance.
I spent the last six months of my exchange program with them. The first part of the program I stayed with another family, and as I had serious problems with the boy I took care of, I changed to Taylor’s house. As they enrolled on the program just because they wanted to help me, I was the first nanny they had. They decided to be part of the program because some friends of them had a Brazilian au pair (it is the way girls that participate on this program are called) on their house and she told them about my problem. So they decided to help me… this was one reason because for me they are very special: they did not need a nanny for a full time, they did not know anything about me, and even in front of this prospect they decided to help me.
Through the time I lived with them I was so happy and few weeks later my arrival I was totally involved with them specially with their baby Nicolo. He was a lovely boy and it was so easy to take care of him. Attached are some pictures of him when he was little and one from last year.

This experience for sure it was the most important challenge I have ever had in my life. Even the bad moments contributed to my growth, but through the good ones, I was able to learn how kind and generous someone can be.

P.S. I think they will be at my graduation so you can meet them and see how nice they are.

Follows the web site of the Program (it is the same one Priscila talked about it few weeks later): www.Aupair-World.net

Packing (by Lucila)

Do you find it difficult packing for a trip? I certainly do!

That's why I searched the net looking for tips for this not easy task. Well, it's not like I am taking a long trip, on the contrary, I am going to be away only for three days and I do not want to get to my host's house with lots of luggage. On the other hand, I can't figure out what to cut down on my list. I have to take hygiene products for me and my kid (and it does not make much of a difference if it is for 3 or for 30 days), clothes for rainy weather (I've already checked the weather forecast) and also for the beach (we might have a sunny window), and the same with shoes. Sunscreen, sunglasses, documents, mp3 for the trip, ohmygod! Well, guess what, two sites helped me concentrate on what's really necessary, one of them even reminding me to consider what to do with my pet (I've already arranged a hotel for the "lady") before I leave.

http://www.travelsense.org/TIPS/PACKING.CFM

The other one has options to choose from, such as lenght of the trip, temperatures you are going to get, what activities you plan to do, etc. You submit your information and they instantly create a list with all you need. And it is also a good idea to keep the list to check it when you pack to get back.

http://upl.codeq.info/

See you all when I am back! Cheers!

A Cultural Tip (by Solvejg)

This time I will recommend a play. Next week on 17th, 18th and 19th of October will be in Porto Alegre a Shakespeare’s play, Othello, at São Pedro Theater. I know that it might be a little too expensive because it is with Diogo Vilela (global actor) and it is at São Pedro but I think it is worth. Othello is my favorite play I know I wouldn’t miss it. We all need a recreative moment for the sake of change. To get more information about price and the play you can go to http://www.opuspromocoes.com.br/.

Laughing is contagious! (by Júlia Rockenbach)

I was looking for something interesting to write about here when I found a short text called “Why laughing is contagious". It reminded me of Douglas’ “show and tell” in English V, in which he talked about “Yawning”.
This text says that the University College London did a research which found out that the fact of people laugh without a reason, just because they see another person laughing occurs due to the action of “mirror-neurons”. They are located in the premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule and are essential for imitation and language acquisition. This way, these mirror-neurons awake the comprehension of the meaning of gestures and body expressions and it makes us imitate what we see. The cause of this reaction hasn’t been known yet, but it might be because of a natural artifice that helps people in the social integration, unconsciously we want to be accepted by the group so we do what they do. This might be the same reason why we yawn when we see other people yawning, don’t you think?

This is not the text I read, but here you can read something about it.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061212_laugh.htm

Volunteer teaching in Porto Alegre (by Silvia)

If you have availability and are looking for a reliable NGO (non-governmental organization) to dedicate your free time helping people, why not use your teaching skills to do so?
In Porto Alegre, more specifically in Lomba do Pinheiro, you can see the integrity of the organization IPDAE – Instituto Popular de Arte-Educação. This institution provides lower class children access to culture, music, art and education (including English classes). I know that it is a little far for most of us, but IPDAE has also an association relationship with Pão dos Pobres, which is located in Cidade Baixa.
How can you help? You don’t have to donate any money; you just have to have availability and sympathy.

If you are keen to the idea and have some spare time, get in touch with me and I can introduce you to the people there. Unless you prefer to contact them directly. Feel free.

The main point here is to help those who need it.

Meeting Ben Harper (By Cecília Haas Mezzomo)

Today I was checking some old pictures and I came across this particular one I enjoy a bunch:



Last year, in January I went to São Paulo. I had never been there before, and I wanted really bad to go to Bairro da Liberdade and to 25 de março! I invited my mom to go with me. We spent two days there only but I had the best time in that city!

Actually, I got quite disappointed with Rua 25 de março. I thought I would find really cheap things over there, but I didn’t. I mean… things are way less expensive than what we see in the shopping malls, but there was nothing there I can’t find downtown here in Porto Alegre.

On the other hand, Bairro da Liberdade was even more charming than I expected. Going to the supermarkets and finding all those Japanese things was amazing! (Things I don’t even know what they are used for) Such a pity we don’t have a Chinatown in our city too.

After a whole day walking up and down São Paulo, taking the subway, then a bus, walking blocks and blocks it was time to go home. We got to the airport and that was a mess because of the aviation crisis. I almost fell asleep waiting for my flight, but then, a good surprise. I overheard there were two famous people on the plane. Ben Harper and Donavon Frankenreiter had a concert in Porto Alegre on the next day.

As soon as the plane landed, I went after them and we took the picture above. Those guys are really cool. That was the perfect ending for my trip.

Travel without spend much Money (Priscila Cunha)

A couple of days I was looking for an exchange programme which I wouldn’t pay so much. After look for many travel agencies, finally I found one which was perfect, the Au Pair programme. In this programme you should live with a family, take care of their kids and also study doing a course. The programme has duration of one year and when you finish you can renew you contract with the family you chose if they want. But to do it you need to fill in some requirements like: have 25 five years, have drive license, experience with children and speak intermediate level of English. There are others exchange agency which offer travel to other places than United States like France Holland etc. there are many options you just need to pick up your backpack and be prepared to travel.

Good manners, what is that? (By Valéria Guilherme)

I am so impressive the way people are behaving nowadays… most of the people around us do not have good manners and even know the meaning of these simple words. I am not talking about fancy things like how to behave in a black tie party or what is the properly dressing to go in a theatre. Actually I am talking about simple things like the use and the meaning of the words thank you, please, may I? I am saying that being nice and polite to someone that needs help is something unfashionable. People just prefer ignore and keep their attention on the songs they are listen to or just keeping their eyes closed. As everyday I spend so many hours going to work and to school by train and by bus, I can see so many examples of bad attitudes people can have. Yesterday I saw I blind guy trying to get a bus, and no one at the bus station helped him, they prefered just to look to the other side instead of offering help. It is so sad but it is something that we face every where, no matter in which neighborhood we are or which social class we came from. I bought some time ago a book that called Tempo de Delicadeza by Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna that talks exactly about this and a phrase in one poem called my attention: “…sejamos delicados. E, se necessário for, cruelmente delicados”. We are not able to change the whole world, but I think we need to think more about our attitudes and try to change little and precious things in our lifes and always when is possible do the right without looking at who. For sure this is one of my beliefs that I am going to teach my baby.

If you wanna take a look on the poem I mentioned follows the link:
http://br.geocities.com/mensagembomdia/t/tempodedelicadezaaffonsoromano.htm

(Local Elections, by Vanessa Filippini)

The politics never change!
It is unbelievable the way that the politicals act in the closing stages of the campaing. They do anything to try persuade the people's opinion about their. Unfortunately, things like distribution of basic baskets to poor families still have been doing.
On last Monday, during my internship, a student tell me the current mayor was in his neighborhood during the weekend. According the boy, the political, who was followed by a truck full of food, had gone all over the streets distributing basic baskets to the families. The worst thing is that, while the boy was tolding me the event, I could realize that he had satisfied with had happened. He told me that in the basket had ben, rice, pasta, sunflower oil, flour. cookies, crackers, sugar, chocolate, soap, dishwashing liquid, toothpaste, toilet paper... And besides the food, the children in scholar age received scholar materials like erasers, tisours, notebooks, pencils, colour pencils, pens, pencil sharpenes, rulers, portuguese dictionaries and bags. So, I asked him what his family thought about and he answer they liked a lot, because the cupboards had been empty. Also the student said him parents didn't had money to bought new materials to him and his brothers.
What really get annoy me is the fact of the ill-natured politicals didn't help poor people during their administration. They do it just before the votes. IT IS A SHAME!
On top of everything the candidates still doing miracle promises.
So, as voters and future educators we need pay attention in the candidates. Although been a hard task (because sometimes they get lie convincently) it is our obligation observe their behavior and attituds. Also we need to taught our students how vote correctly (as far as possible, considering the lack of confidence in politic).

Online videos for English learners (by Silvia)

A workmate has recommended me this amazing website for English learners called Yappr.
Yappr is a community of people interested in learning English that provides several videos online with the subtitles in English and Portuguese. You can find a diversity of videos on it, such as musicals, news, cartoons, films, advertisement and so on. Every video has the ‘replay’ function and another function where you can listen to the audio again but slower and clearer, which is very cool! :)
It is a fantastic tool to practice listening and reading skills, even for us who still have so much to learn about English.
Check it out and have fun!

Irish icons - Saint Patrick and Guinness (by Antônio)

Dear folks, once upon the time I was in a pub celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day having a lovely pint of Guinness. What I’m going to do is to try to explain the connection between Saint Patrick’s Day and Guinness.

First of all they are two of the most known icons of Ireland.
Saint Patrick was born around 387 in a small village of Cumberland, Caledonia (Scotland today). When he was about 16, he was captured and sold as a slave by the Irish who were against the roman domains when Ireland was still ruled by The Romans. Saint Patrick spent 6 years in captivity, working as a shepherd and living in miserable conditions. During the captivity he became a very religious man. By the time he returned to England he became a priest and after 12 years studying theology he was pronounced bishop and was named Patricius. Short after he went back to Ireland to evangelize the Irish people who had the druids as spiritual leaders. In the Celtic Ireland, Catholicism was not known, as the myth says Saint Patrick banned all the snakes of the country although there were not snakes in this country. This snake episode symbolized the defeat of the evil and the conversion of the Irish people to Christianity. It was around this time that the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover and one of the Irish national emblems, was adopted to symbolize the concept of Trinity (three divine persons in the one God). The green color of the clover was also adopted as the national color of Ireland. Saint Patrick died in March 17th, 431. Saint Patrick’s day is celebrated in March 17th; in USA it became a feast day in remembrance to Irish emigrants who had run away from the great famine that stroke Ireland in the 18th century.

Guinness is a popular dry stout (kind of beer) that originated in Arthur Guinness’ brewery at St. James’ Gate in Dublin, Ireland. It was originated in London in the early 18th century. It is one of the most successful beer brands in the world and is exported worldwide. Its characterist flavour comes from the roasted and unfermented barley. Its thick creamy head is the result of the beer being mixed with nitrogen when is served. Guinness stout is made from water, barley malt, barley, hops and brewer’s yeast. A portion of the barley is flaked and roasted to give Guinness its dark colour and characteristic taste. It is pasteurised and filtered. Although its reputation as a "meal in a glass", Guinness only contains 198 Kcal per imperial pint. The smoothness of draught Guinness is due to its low level of carbon dioxide and the creaminess of the head caused by the very fine bubbles that arise from the use of nitrogen.

Intership experience ( Solvejg)

Intership experience
I would like to share with you my intership experience . It is almost unbelievable that the things we have been studying at college, we don’t see it in the intership, I say this because after my third observation I could release that my teacher does exactly the opposite process that we have been learning with Claúdia. She does not contextualize anything. She just writes on the board a grammar point, she gives a very brief explanation about it and exercises and more exercises. Before the end of the class, like 5 minutes before, she corrects it and that is it. She also likes to give them some translation activities, all texts were about foreign cities like New York and Hawaii, topic that are unfamiliar to them, another thing that we learned it is wrong. Some times I think “Did she study the same subject?”

Travel the World Through Photography (by Lucila)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24400925@N05

Hi, everyone!

I recommend this site of photos to those of you who enjoy photography, off course, but also to the ones who would like to learn about culture, customs, the people and geographic aspects of places such as Scotland, Cape Town, Paris, Amsterdam and Bolivia. Photographer Miguel Kieling, who also happens to be an English teacher, shares the moments, colors and feelings he has sensitively registered and he also gives us his thoughts on the scenes. It is like taking a guided tour around the world!

Pay special attention to the green in Scotland (remember that our dear Literature Professor Elaine has mentioned how unique it is!) and the colors in South Africa!
This is also a pleasant opportunity to improve your English…

Have a nice trip!

What are people looking for? (by Anelise Sarantopoulos)

I was thinking about an article that I read in Veja magazine- edition 2067. It was about aesthetic and plastics that women and men do in order to become perfect.
I invite you to read this article because it portrays human being preoccupation with appearance and not with the essence. My question is: What are these people looking for?
If we read the article and observe the number of people that do a plastic surgery we will understand that this exceeded the normality. The doctors have named these people who have done plastic surgery compulsively “dismorfia”. The patient who suffer from this, never think that it is time to stop doing plastics and never is self-satisfied with appearance and his/her body. The problem is the doctors who earn money with this people and who don’t have any ethic. They should advise these patients that it is necessary to look for psychiatry and begin a therapy, but they don’t do it and commit atrocities in consent with theirs patients that are desperate with appearance.
I think we should pay attention to this problem that have been appeared in our society and that reflect what we are looking for.

The Indigo Children (by Júlia Rockenbach)

As we all have been working with children in our internship and as I heard from a teacher that children don’t know anything and that they don’t want to study, I decided to talk a little bit about a subject that should be discussed everytime. Maybe some people do not believe in what I'm going to talk about, as it deals with spirituality too. But, even so, I believe this information is essential to parents, teachers, psychologists, pedagogues, and for all those people who intend to work with children.

Indigo children are children born in the last 10 years. They’ve been coming to change the world, in terms of education, society and spirituality. They have a different cerebral structure related to the use of their potencialities. They go beyond the “intelectual”, and their behavior in any aspect of life is the focus of changes. Indigo child has a new and uncommon set of psychological characterists and shows a pattern of behavior that has not been documented yet. So, it means that people who live around them has to change, and not the children themselves, in order to reach an equilibrium. If we ignore this new pattern of behavior, we will be causing them disequilibrium and frustration.

I’ve been reading a lot of materials about the subject but, of course, I’m not able to talk deeply about it yet. So I chose an website to indicate to you, then you can access it and read a little bit about Indigo children. There are books about them too. I really recommend these readings. It can help us a lot as teachers and also as parents.

http://www.metagifted.org/topics/metagifted/indigo/

The Phonetics Sounds of American English (by Eduarda Duarte)

In the middle of the year I attended a workshop about English Phonetics at Quatrum, it was a really good workshop, but unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the teacher who presented. Anyway, I especially wanted to attend this workshop because I knew I would have to study this for the fifth semester and until that moment I hadn’t had any contact with this subject. To present the workshop the teacher used a website called The Phonetics Sounds of American English from the University of IOWA. It was almost impossible to go through all of the sounds of English in one hour and a half, so unfotunately it had to be a superficial view. But it was a good introduction for this semester. The website used in the workshop is very good, we can listen to the sounds of the vowels or the consonants, there are examples of words and also it shows how the sound is produced with a video. It's only the sounds of American English, as the website’s title describes. I’ve used it a lot and it’s been helpful. Enjoy!
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

Helpful Tips (By Cecília Haas Mezzomo)

I’ve seen on TV an ad about a website called bemsimples.com.br, where people can upload solutions to daily problems, like preventing your dog from gnawing furniture, getting athletic playing video game and converting mp3 files into mp4. All the pieces of advice are fit into eleven categories, such as cars, technology, beauty, health, kitchen, etc.

There are some interesting tips, and the website is constantly being updated. It is worth having a look at it.

While I was exploring it, I remembered another very fun website, which is http://www.waitless.org/. They promise to turn tedious tasks into fleeting moments with tips that’ll refund your time and amaze your friends. There are videos that show how to make tasks faster and how much time you will save in your life from doing them. Some of the videos available are: ‘how to quick – peel a banana’ and ‘how to speed – dry a manicure’.

There is also a link where you can calculate your time. You choose and action and how long you take doing it - I’ve just found out that I’ll spend 6 months and 10 days of my life putting on make up. (Well, who cares about it?!)

Unfortunately, there were a lot more videos available some months ago and one in particular was very interesting. Does anybody know to make a baby stop crying?
…
…
…
Just open a faucet and take the baby near it. The sound of the running water will instantly calm him / her down. Doubt it? I’ve tested it today and it worked.

First teaching experience (by Eduarda Duarte)

I couldn’t write about anything else except my first real experience as a teacher. It’s been one month since I started working at Quatrum English Schools and it’s been really good. I’m really happy because I’m learning so many things about teaching, activities, games, classroom management etc...For someone who wasn’t completely sure about being a teacher ‘till the first internship I think I’m doing great!

I’m teaching kids and adults - although most of Quatrum’s students are children, there are a lot of adults too. Every day has been a challenge for me because I want to do things properly. So I spend a lot of time planning my classes and the activities, I also like to talk with more experienced teachers. But the thing is that no matter how many hours you spend on planning your class, you can’t plan some questions your students will ask. And you'll have to improvise and the only to learn this is with experience.
I know that I still have a lot to learn about everything including the language itself. But the main thing I already know. I love to teach.

Here is a picture of the Olympic Games, which students participated last month. They even won medals.

And to finish I really want to show you a video I did with some of my students about Newscasts of Natural Disasters. They had to create the lines and role-play a news program. This is a Pre-teen 6 level, which means that they understand a lot of English and now are starting to produce. Some have been studying English for 2 years.

Cruelty with Pigs- (By Anelise Sarantopoulos)

An article that was published yesterday in Terra´s website made me feel very angry. It is about a Belga artist called Win Delvoye that do tatto in pigs.Do you believe? Well friends, I can endure that pigs are killed to be eaten, although I think this culture is very delayed, but do tattoo with Louis Vitton´s symbols in animals? You that have a tatto know how this pain in ours skins is, and so, imagine in poors animals.

This animals will be exposed in Xangai and in a future, the skins will be sell for 60,000 libras each.

Here I available a picture and the link: http://noticias.terra.com.br/mundo/interna/0,,OI3157467-EI10495,00.html

Music and Drama - by Priscila Cunha

In the beginning I didn’t have idea about what topic I could write and share with my classmates. So, I decided to suggest to you a good movie I saw last year called Hustle and Flow. The movie is about a man called Djay who is a pimp and a drug dealer. One day he meets an old schoolmate, who is having a good life, and begins to think in change his life being a rap singer. His chance appears when he discovers that a famous rapper called Skinny will come to the city, so Djay and his friends decide to record a cassette tape and gives to Skinny to help him to be well-known.
At first sight the movie cause a strong drift, because violence scenes or the manner the main character treats people around him. Nevertheless you feel some sympathy about his struggle to modify his reality. This movie is interesting also if you enjoy music, especially black music and rap. But demonstrate us an American depict of miserable and sordid element of society very glamorized by media and rap singers in US. This movie has received many critics, awards and nominations including an Oscar in the category of Best Original Song for the music “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”. Now I hope you enjoy it. :P