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Sunday, October 31, 2010

SONG OF THE WEEK - A BEAUTIFUL MESS (JASON MRAZ)

Hello Everybody!
Love is in the air! Se você é uma pessoa romântica e suspira pelos cantos à espera de um amor para toda vida...seu lugar é aqui! Essa semana, a música escolhida traz uma atmosfera apaixonada para os amantes de plantão! Jason Mraz e sua banda, cantam A Beautiful Mess, uma música para curtir a dois, no calor de uma lareira, com a neve batendo na janela, degustando um fondue de queijo Emmental ou chocolate, acompanhado de um Brunello di Montalcino safra de 1993, em uma casa de montanha em Copenhagen... E aí, entrou no clima? A música dessa semana é em homenagem à Marcela França, ex-aluna minha, pessoinha muito querida e presença habitué neste humilde blog! (Pedido atendido Marcelinhaa!) Façam vocês também pedidos de músicas pelos comentários do blog que teremos prazer em atendê-los! Chame o amigo(a), a namorada(o) ou o(a) paquera e ouçam juntos essa bela canção! Apaixone-se junto com o English Study Institute!
Até a próxima!


Thursday, October 28, 2010

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

...the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces are called 'aglets'?
.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP

click on the image to enlarger it. / clique na imagem para ampliá-la.
PEANUTS Z

Source: Comics.com

ENTENDA DE UMA VEZ POR TODAS O QUE SÃO "IDIOMS"


Hello Everybody!
No aprendizado da língua inglesa existem certos assuntos que nos deixam um pouco confusos. Sempre me perguntam o que são idioms, então vamos esclarecer de uma vez por todas essa dúvida que paira sobre a cabeça de várias pessoas.
  1. O que é um Idiom?
É um grupo de palavras que tem um significado especial (expressões idiomáticas). Ao isolarmos essas palavras, cada uma delas terá um significado próprio. Por exemplo, 
Você não pode adivinhar o significado de out to lunch (falar ou se comportar de maneira estranha), apenas traduzindo palavra por palavra. O que importa no idiom é o conjunto dessas palavras que formam um único significado. Veja alguns exemplos:

  • in short order - muito rápido, em pouco tempo.

    The cleaners came in and cleared up the place in short order.
    As camareiras entraram e limparam o lugar rapidamente.
  • shout down - intimidar alguém com gritos.

    Mary was trying to speak, but Sally shouted her down.
    Mary estava tentando falar, mas Sally falou mais alto.
  • Take aside (someone) - retirar alguém de um determinado grupo para conversar em particular.

    I'm sorry he insulted you. I'll take him aside and talk to him about it.
    Sinto muito por ele ter insultado você. Eu o levarei para fora e conversarei com ele sobre isso.
Perceba que se separarmos as palavras, o idiom perde seu sentido original.

2. Pares de PalavrasAlguns 'idioms' consistem em pares de palavras separadas por 'and'. A ordem das palavras nesses pares não podem ser mudadas.

Her previous husband had left her high and dry.
Seu marido anterior havia deixado ela sem nada.

3. SimilesUm 'simile' é uma frase adjetiva que tem em sua estrutura 'as' ou 'like'.

Riding a bicycle is as easy as pie. (fácil como fazer uma torta = muito fácil)
Andar de bicicleta é muito fácil.

The story is as old as the hills. (antigo como os morros = muito antigo)
A estória é muito antiga.

The plan worked like a dream. (funcionou como um sonho = funcionou muito bem)
O plano funcionou muito bem.

Espero que esse post tenha esclarecido seus questionamentos. Se ainda houver alguma dúvida, faça uma pergunta nos comentários logo abaixo que terei prazer em atendê-lo(a).
Keep Walking!


Source: LDCE
Cambridge Grammar of English

Monday, October 25, 2010

SONG OF THE WEEK - SOMEBODY TO LOVE (JUSTIN BIEBER)

All right, all right... Lots of people asking me to publish some of Justin Bieber's songs on the blog, so here it is! The song chosen this week is 'Somebody to Love' !  I hope you enjoy it! Keep suggesting and helping us improve this blog everyday! Stay tuned!

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

...96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Friday, October 22, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP

LINUS TOOTH FAIRY

CAMBRIDGE DAY 2010 - RECIFE-PE


So here I am to talk about the Cambridge Day Event 2010. I've just got home and It was really nice, I could meet some of my old friends there and some of the new ones too! As I said before, this is a great opportunity for you to meet some new people and improve your skills on the language. I also had the opportunity of meeting 2 people from London and one from Canada. The speaker, Jeff Stranks, talked about Listening, Lexis and Learning. A great speech, funny and very meaningful. There were also raffles and I did not get anything... =(  LOL  But a lot of people did! =D
Take a look at the video & pictures and see what you missed!
Stay Tuned!


Before the Event Starts...
Me

Audience



Jeff Stranks

Jeff Stranks

Jeff Stranks

Audience



It's raffle time!

The Gang - Part I

The Gang - Part II

Me and Jeff Stranks



DID YOU KNOW THAT...

...there is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger, neither apple nor pine in pineapple?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP

Click on the strip to enlarge it. / Clique na imagem para ampliá-la.CHARLIE BROWN SHERLOCK HOLMES

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'?

PASSANDO UM TEMPO FORA…

INTERCHANGE

Hello Everybody!
Você já pensou em sair do Brasil? Viajar à negócios? Estudar ou ir para uma colônia de férias em outro país? Se algo parecido já passou pela sua cabeça, então esse post é pra você!
As tendências mudaram e a maneira de se fazer intercâmbio também. As pessoas não vão mais apenas para adquirir o idioma e sim para agregar outras atividades ao aprendizado da língua-alvo, como por exemplo, futebol, gastronomia, moda, rapel, dança, trilhas, além de muitas outras, consideradas paixões, pelos mochileiros de plantão.
Antes, claro, de você sair do Brasil para outra localidade, é necessário ajustar certas coisas antes de despachar sua mala! A primeira delas é saber qual o país que você vai se aventurar. Após decidir, procure conhecer os costumes, a moeda, a cultura local, a gatronomia e tudo o que for preciso para que você não se sinta um estranho no ninho quando o avião aterrissar. A segunda etapa é o passaporte. Documento obrigatório para você circular tranquilo por todos os países. Para tirá-lo basta entrar AQUI! e verificar os procedimentos para iniciar toda o processo. Outro cuidado que você deve ter são as vacinas. Alguns países exigem determinados tipos de vacinas como por exemplo, a da febre amarela. Toda vacina deve ser tomada no mínimo 10 dias antes do embarque. Para saber mais sobre os procedimentos de vacinação clique AQUI. Devidamente vacinado contra qualquer mazela que venha aparecer pela frente, está na hora de checar sua conta bancária. Exatamente. Não cometa, por exemplo, a gafe de ir para a inglaterra com pouca grana. Você não passará do aeroporto. Leve dinheiro suficiente para se manter com folga, durante os dias que você for permanecer por lá. Comprovante de hospedagem, se for estudar apresente o comprovante de matrícula ou algum documento válido da instituição de ensino que você irá frequentar e passagem com a data da volta. Isso não é regra, apenas algumas precauções.
Ufa! Muito trabalho, não? Pois é… PORÉM, você sabia que existem empresas especializadas em intercâmbio? Exatamente!  Algumas delas fazem a maioria desses procedimentos pra você! Para facilitar a sua vida, eu pesquiisei 5 das empresas mais conhecidas de intercâmbio no Brasil e trouxe aqui os detalhes de cada uma delas. São elas: Student Travel Bureau (STB), Education First (EF), Central de Intercâmbios, CIA do Intercâmbio e World Study. Confira abaixo o que cada uma oferece, os destinos e seus programas de vantagens.

    2. Student Travel Bureau (STB)

      3. Central de Intercâmbios (CI)

      4. CIA do Intercâmbio

      5. World Study

Smiley piscandoHave a nice trip!





 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP

Click on the image to enlarge it. / Clique na imagem para ampliá-la.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

DID YOU KNOW THAT...



...Walt Disney was afraid of mice?

AN EDUCATION



No, this is not about that movie which was released some months ago.This is about students struggling to make a presentation. This is about blurred PowerPoint. This is about Posture, reading instead of presenting the project, and so on. Have you ever seen this scenario before? So did I. The thing is, I am not talking about my students or English students at all...I am talking about other students, students from universities, students who will be teachers, students who will be graduating in a few months.
I had the opportunity to watch a presentation today at a certain university, and I can tell you that I was terrified by the way they presented that project. They were definitely not prepared. They did not have any clue of what they were doing there.They were struggling to make eye contact with someone in that classroom. No techniques, no methods, no approaches, nothing! Is it their fault? Future teachers trying to impress everybody with cliche sentences! Trying to motivate other students but they themselves were unmotivated! Where could they learn those techniques, methods and approaches? University? Yes, I also thought so...but, actually that is not true. Students who were supposed to be prepared for classroom, leave university unprepared and with little or none experience! The presentation was related to the English Language and "theoretically", it should be presented in English, but that did not happen. Not a word! (Except for reading material). It is not their fault, I know...But I also know that we should change how "system" works in Universities, schools, and in most places around the world, and I also know that if we do not change the curriculum for students of English , there will always be unprepared teachers. 
The way things are taught at those places is not right. Manipulation, Fees, unnecessary subjects, and I cannot see any effective nor positive result of anything. Those students are "products" made by that, or other universities, and so are thousands of people around the globe. Education became a market and if you pay more, you get more.  
Poor students, I do feel sorry for them because "life will teach them" and most of the times it is really hard going through all this. This is not a movie. This is the real deal. This is not an education...anymore.

Monday, October 18, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP


Click on the image to enlarge it. / Clique na imagem para ampliá-la.


DID YOU KNOW THAT...

...annually americans eat 45 million turkeys at Thanksgiving?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

SONG OF THE WEEK - BEAUTIFUL MONSTER (NE-YO)

Hello Everybody! ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?! Today's video is  Ne-Yo singing "Beautiful Monster". You can also listen to the audio and follow the lyrics on the right side of the blog!
Have Fun!


LAUGHING TIME!


Follow us on Twitter - @englishsi

Saturday, October 16, 2010

THE DAILY STRIP

Click on the strip to enlarge it. / Clique na imagem para ampliá-la.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

...the only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating  a letter is uncopyrightable?

Friday, October 15, 2010

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!



I had my first English class when I was 7, but I could only realize how important that was to me some years later that time. I was at church when I had the first talk with a foreign person. She was american and everything I had learned all those years, I could put into practice talking or trying to do it with her. From that moment on, I realized how important English was and then started a new journey in my mind to reach some goals. I did not have them very clear yet, but I knew I would some day use it for real in my life. So, here I am. I've been teaching English for more than 15 years.  In the meantime, I had a lot of teachers,, some of them good, some not. Among those who were good, there were the "inspiring teachers", and I must say that I became a teacher because of them. I could see the motivation, the hard work, all the different activities they brought to classroom to entertain and teach my friends and I. I was aware of that. 
Recently,  I've seen lots of discussions about what teachers should do, what approach to follow, Dogme vs.Unplugged, and many other questions related to the teaching profession. Taking my inspiring teachers as examples, I could say that, if you love teaching, you will find an effective way to make it work, it doesn't matter if it is Dogme, Unplugged, Communicative Approach, Lexical or whatever. Of course we have to know all of them to be aware and see if it fits in our classroom and maybe once give it a shot to see how students respond to it, but teaching is different from everything. 
It is priceless to see your students improve their skills with your guidance, with having you as a facilitator, helping them deal with their problems and then solve it. It is priceless to get to school and have your name shouted as a sign of happiness because you've arrived and the class is about to start. It is priceless to see the happiness on their face after a hard work in class finished successfully. It is priceless to see a real good presentation of students who were struggling to speak English in the beginning of the semester, and I couldn't number here all the wonderful aspects of being a teacher. If there's one thing I must say, that is I've been trying to reach the level of those 'inspiring teachers", and give my students my best to make them improve and not only show a "blue report card" at home, but help them become in real life, citizens of the world. I hope all of us teachers can work together to make their world and ours better.
Happy Teacher's Day!

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

..."I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language?

Thursday, October 14, 2010

TEACHER'S DAY EVENT - SÃO PAULO



Hello Teachers!
Tomorrow (10/15) at Disal Barra Funda - SP there will be an amazing event for teachers and coordinators sponsored by Pearson Longman. This is to celebrate the Teacher's day and it will be a nice opportunity for you to know other teachers during the event. The guest speakers are Lilian Leventhal - Parents Involvement With Teaching English to Children: A Powerful Tool! (9:00 - 10:30 a.m.), Vinícius Nobre - Reading: A Link Between Your Students and the World (11:00 - to 12:20 p.m.)and Carmen Castellani Technology in Language Teaching: The Future is Now! (02:00 - 4:00 p.m.).
If you would like to register, click HERE
I would't miss it, If I were you!
Stay Tuned!


Disal Barra Funda
Marquês de São Vicente Ave.182, Barra Funda - SP.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

..."Bookkeeper" is the only word in the English language which has 3 repeated letters in a row?

BRAZ-TESOL MANAUS EVENT!



Hello Everybody! 
If you are from Manaus, you cannot miss it!
English teachers from all over the city of Manaus will be Celebrating two years of excellence in teaching with Braz-Tesol Manaus Chapter! Here comes a great party! The Event will be on October 29th from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. and the speaker will be: Paul Seligson (Richmond), Najin Lima (Pearson), Anderson Leite (Cambridge) and Vinícius Nobre (Braz-Tesol). Check out the Braz-Tesol website for more information, clicking HERE.
Stay Tuned!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010



Hello Everybody!
Sabe que dia é hoje? Hoje é o Dia da Língua Inglesa! E você sabe como tudo começou?
Foi assim: Um grupo de Winchester, chamado "The English Project", teve uma idéia maravilhosa. Eles criaram o English Language Day e ainda estão planejando um espaço para exposição permanente da Língua Inglesa com a previsão de inauguração dentro de 3 a 4 anos. E por que foi escolhido o dia 13 de Outubro?
O negócio é o seguinte: Eles escolheram essa data porque no dia 13 de Outubro de 1362 foi criada a "Lei do Pleito em Inglês" e ela tinha o intuito de banir o francês da Inglaterra e o latim das cortes judiciais inglesas, com o argumento de que os idiomas não eram muito cohecidos na terra dos saxões e o povo consequentemente não sabia o que era dito a favor ou contra eles nas tais cortes as quais usavam a Lei Francesa. 

A "Lei do Pleito em Inglês", portanto, ordenara a substituição do latim pelo inglês no seguimento de todos os pleitos judiciais. Nesse ano (1362), o Chanceler da Inglaterra, pela primeira vez, abriu o parlamento com um discurso em inglês e nesse mesmo parlamento foi aprovada um estatuto de alegação que permitia os membros em exercício usar a língua inglesa. Esta medida reflete a tentativa de manter a ordem e o controle da situação por meio de uma comunicação mais eficaz, visto que o inglês já era a língua partilhada por todos os habitantes do reino. 
O grupo "The English Project" desde o dia 07 de Outubro já está comemorando o English Language Day! O evento começou dia 07(Dia Nacional da Poesia) e vai até o dia 17 de Outubro. Lá, você poderá participar de:
  • Palestras
  • Caça ao tesouro
  • Noite da comédia
  • Leitura de poesias
  • Caminhadas
  • Criação de mapas
  • E muito mais!
Clique AQUI para ver a programação completa!
É uma pena que as pessoas não conheçam, mas já existem 2 datas relativas à comemoração nesse aspecto, uma é o dia 26 de setembro que comemora o "European Day of Language", algo como "O Dia Europeu do Idioma" e o dia 21 de Fevereiro o "World Mother-Tongue Day", o "Dia Mundial da Língua-Mãe". 
O dia 13 de Outubro simboliza a sobrevivência do inglês e um marco histórico em seu desenvolvimento como uma língua mundial.
Cultura, informação e curiosidades só aqui!
Stay tuned!


              http://david-crystal.blogspot.com 
              Aulas Magazine, "Dossiê Religião", April - July 2007.

Monday, October 11, 2010

UNBELIEVABLE...



Recently I read an article at JAMIEKEDDIEDOTCOM that a teacher lost his job because of one of Jamie's lesson plan. Basically, the activity involved using Google to investigate frequency of collocation pairs. The teacher was fired because his boss did not agree with that. Ok..here we go. How can we be teachers, I mean, English Teachers if we cannot use all the tools around us to make a class a little bit more interesting than usual? How come? I've seen this before. There was a teacher in a school were I used to teach (the same one where all the innovative projects were declined), who was fired because his classes were very noisy, consequence of the students' excitement...so, if students like it, it means that it is wrong? If students don't like it, the teacher is also fired...so, what do we have to do?
TTC (Teacher Training Course), Workshops, Teachers' meetings, all kinds of training we participate, for what? If we cannot use it, why bothering going to those training courses? Do you know why I had the urge to write about this? Because here in Brazil, specifically in my city, Recife, most of the schools here are like that...they want you to teach, but not to be very innovative, because it may disturb some of the "school authorities", or it is not the school's teaching philosophy, and you know what? It sucks! I keep motivating myself by using twitter, following teachers around the world, visiting websites, blogs and also going to teacher training meetings because I hope, I said I hope someday this will be over, and we will teach using our creativity to improve our way of teaching. 
I wish we can reflect abou what happened to that teacher, and I also would like you to have a say  and tell me what you think.
See you.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

TO BE OR NOT TO BE?



I've been thinking about posting this for quite some time... Creativity has always been a challenge to me, in terms of being innovative everyday and not repeating the activities with my students even if their levels are the same (this is a little bit challenging!). We are not inspired everyday and there are not so many books available with a reliable proposal of creativity for you to develop some ideas and have your students do it. Recently, I read an article at Cecília Coelho's blog that she had read a book called Cem Aulas Sem Tédio (A hundred classes with no boredom) by Vanessa Menezes Amorim and Vivian Magalhães. I must say I had already done some of the activities from this book and I totally recommend it. But that's not the point, the question I keep asking is Can we, as teachers be creative 24/7? Is there a formula? Is the act of teaching suffice to make you creative? How does it happen?
There are, for sure, those people who were born with some kind of talent, (I know a few), who do not need to struggle looking for some light coming from the sky to find creativity. As I am not one of them, I have to do it my way and try to reach "perfection", if it is possible. In my opinion, one way of having some Ideas is simply reading. There are lots of books about ELT and some of them help you build a solid base for your profession. Definitely, my bedside book is The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer. I used to take this book at the University Library for quite some time but I had the opportunity of buying it at XII Braz-Tesol National Conference and I also had it autographed (Yeah!). In this new edition there's a DVD with interviews and some real class observations which is fantastic! Talking about class observation, which is another way of improving your ideas, observing a class is not always boring, it is actually an opportunity for you to review your methodology and see if you can apply some of the other's techniques in your teaching practice. It is, for sure, a valuable moment in which you are inside the classroom not to teach, but to be part of it and learn from your colleagues. In my opinion, It gets hard to be creative if you stick only to one method or technique. I think diversity, as Cecília Coelho said in her blog, is the first thing one should look for, to find new paths and start a new teaching approach. Free your mind.
What about you? Are you creative? How do you do it? What do you think? I would like to know from you some ideas about how to be creative or how to develop creativity.  Is it a natural skill? Can anyone develop it? 

Have your say!  =D

Saturday, October 9, 2010

VIRTUAL ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE



ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS!! This morning I had a wonderful experience at http://www.virtual-round-table.com - Teachers from all over the world taking part in an on-line conference about Technical English! It was awesome!! We could watch the speakers' presentations, videos and we could also join a live talk and chat about the ideas exposed in the conference room. Sign up to the website, check out the program and Stay Tuned!! This is a great opportunity for you to improve your knowledge in the English language with teachers around the globe! Have a look at the picture below taken during the conference!
Bye, See you there!





Next Meeting: Today, all day long.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

CAMBRIDGE DAY 2010 - RECIFE-PE



Hello Teachers! An amazing event is about to happen soon,  the CAMBRIDGE DAY has been a huge success everywhere in the country. Teachers from all over the place are coming every year to take part in this event. It is a great opportunity for you to know other ELT teachers and also improve your knowledge in the English Language. Fun activities, speeches, workshops and of course, RAFFLES!! Yes, exactly! You also have a chance to win some of the Cambridge products! If you want to register, click HERE.The guest speaker will be 'Jeff Stranks who has worked in ELT for over 30 years. He is a freelance material writer and trainer, and has co-authored, with Herbert Puchta, English in Mind and More! published by Cambridge University Press. He is also an examiner and moderator for Cambridge ESOL teacher-training courses'. The talk will be "Listening, Lexis and Learning". The Cambridge Day will take place at Recife Palace Golden Tulip Hotel - Boa Viagem Ave. 4070, Boa Viagem Beach, Recife-PE, on October 22nd, from 1 to 4:00 p.m. .
So, what are you waiting for? Register Now!!
I will be there! Will you?

What?
 

- Cambridge Day 2010
Where? 
Recife Palace Golden Tulip Hotel (Boa Viagem Ave. 4070, Boa Viagem Beach).
When? 
- October, 22nd.
At What Time? 
- 1 to 4:00 p.m. 
Website:
- http://www.cambridge.org.br/cambridge/hotsites/cambridgeday2010
How much?
- 1kg of Non-Perishable food.