Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Hey, everyone!

This is the group that could attend the Happy Hour last Tuesday (Nov.24th) at Rascal...

For those who came, hope you enjoyed this opportunity to meet new people and exchange some ideas on a number of issues. For those who couldn't attend, hope you can participate some other time.

As Thanksgiving was yesterday (Nov.26th) , I really wanna thank the greatest opportunity to have you guys as my students this year. I really enjoyed teaching you all for the pleasure of learning new viewpoints, different business and areas of interest.

Hope in 2010 your English skills can go beyond your expectations and propel you to new heights!!

All my best wishes of Love, Peace, Health, Happiness and Great Achievements in the New Year.

Flávia

HOHOHO!! CHRISTMAS is approaching and so is our HAPPY HOUR!!

Hello, dear students.

And so this is CHRISTMAS...and so this is HAPPY HOUR TIME!!


Let's meet our virtual friends.

Look at the slideshow on the left and you will see some of my students (hope some others can join this Gallery). In class, I'm going to say who is who, ok?

But here is what it is:

We are planning our Happy Hour either on TUESDAY, Nov. 24th or WEDNESDAY, the 25th, from 7:30 on...

The place some students suggested is the RASCAL RESTAURANT, on the corner of Santos and Eugênio de Lima Sts, to eat some pizza and exchange lots of opinions on a diverse range of topics...and everything in English, of course!!


Hope you really want to be in this nice gathering and meet interesting people.


Please let me know thru the blog your chosen day and/or place, as soon as possible.


Have a nice time, you all!!


Flávia

Let's correct what's wrong in the following sentences?

Hello, everyone!

Let's challenge your mind and correct the following English sentences extracted from the book COMO NÃO APRENDER INGLÊS by Michael Jacobs.

Choose 01, 02 or all of the sentences to correct. Up to you! Share your ideas with your virtual friends!

Hope to see your participation on the blog. Give it a try!

Have fun with English!

See ya around.

Flávia

1) My suggestion is you do a freeze on personnel. (Note: the meaning is that you don't want to hire anyone else).

2) She has to have a surgery (Note: there are 04 possible ways to say it better).

3) He thinks he goes to the shopping.

4) Many times I saw that film.

5) The notices are not good (Note the word notice)

6) Did you remember that a meeting budget went 6 months ago?

Movie Activity: Let's watch BABEL (2007 Oscar Nominee for Best Picture)

Hello, dear students.

Let's challenge our brains and pretend we are Screenwriters this time! Hope you enjoy taking part in this activity!

Have you seen BABEL? If not, this is your chance. I'll upload the YOUTUBE trailler (see below) for you to have an idea of the plot.

CHARACTERS and Main CAST:
RICHARD - Brad Pitt
SUSAN - Cate Blanchett
SANTIAGO - Gael Garcia Bernal
YASUJIRO - Koji Yakusho
CHIEKO - Rinko Kikuchi
MITSU - Yuko Murata
AMELIA - Adriana Barraza
MIKE - Nathan Gamble

CREW:
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga
Producers: Jon Kilik, Steve Golin, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Director of Photography: Rodrigo PrietoProduction
Designer: Brigitte Broch
Editor: Stephen Mirrione

PLOT:

FOUR interlocking stories all connected by a single gun; all converge at the end and reveal a complex and tragic story of the lives of humanity around the world and how we truly aren't all that different.

In Morocco, a troubled American married couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are on vacation trying to work out their differences.

Meanwhile, a Moroccan herder buys a rifle for his sons so they can keep the jackals away from his herd.

A girl in Japan dealing with rejection, the death of her mother, the emotional distance of her father ( Koji Yakusho), her own self-consciousness, and a disability among many other issues, deals with modern life in the enormous metropolis of Tokyo, Japan.

Then, on the opposite side of the world the married couple's Mexican nanny ( Adriana Barraza) takes the couple's 2 children with her to her son's wedding in Mexico, only to come into trouble on the return trip.

Combined, it provides a powerful story and an equally powerful looking glass into the lives of seemingly random people around the world and it shows just how connected we really are in the big web of inter-cultural dimensions.

Your Challenging Activity:

After watching the movie, you are going to choose one of the 04 stories (a) the American couple; (b) the Nanny; (c) the Japanese girl and father; (d) the Moroccan father and son ... to continue the plot, because there are some pending resolutions to make and solutions to find to some of these characters. You can either write in DIALOG FORM, or in TEXT FORM, by trying to answer some of these questions (or others you can bring up) related to the 04 stories:

(A) What will happen to Susan (Cate Blanchett) after the hospital?

(B) What happened to the nanny's nephew Santiago ( Gael Garcia Bernal) in Mexico and the nanny herself?

(C) What was written in the note the Japanese girl delivered to the police officer? Will he tell her father what happened?

(D) What will happen to the Moroccan father and son? Will they be penalized or not?

You will have 02 weeks to fulfill this assignment. For a better connection with everyone, I invite you to go to a new Web2.0 resource: http://creativenglish.wikispaces.com/message/list/home . I'll exaplain in class.

I really hope you enjoy challenging your creative mind by using the English language to both write your screenply and put your message across .

Have fun with English!!

See you around.

Flávia

A New Challenge: How to Translate into Portuguese?

Good morning, everyone!

Let's try a new challenge! Can you translate these sentences into Portuguese?

1) What a nerve!/ He's got a nerve! To come to my house after what he had done!

2) Her new boy friend is accomodating to her refined tastes.

3) When you go to an exclusive club, unless you dress well you won't fit in.

4) I can't have lunch with you today because I have a commitment with a client.

5) You don't like meat. I don't like fish. Well let's compromise: let's eat pasta!

Let's give it a try! Hope to see your posts on the blog!

Cheerio!

Flávia

40 Years after Moon Landing

Hello dearest students,

Well, for those who are 40 over must remember the TV announcement and news on the first men to land on the Moon. Those who are under 40 can now watch those moments by the ex-astronauts' own recollections, and all the TV coverage to pay homage to the these incredible men who made that happen!

Here go 02 videos to be appreciated and also to be commented on.

1) - Buzz Aldrin is interviewed by Fox News to answer about which was the most important moment for him when landing on the Moon 40 years ago.

2) - Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and John Glenn speak to about 500 people to celebrate the 40- year landing on the Moon. They expressed their feelings and thoughts even about the future of up-coming missions.

Let's make the best of your English skills by posting your comments here.

Hope to see your post!

Cheerio!

Dear students,

This month, I'm going to propose a more intense participation on the blog.

I've selected some topics on Politics, Culture and Technology to suit all tastes and hope to have your lively participation. Here they are:

1) SCO Summit. Do you know what SCO stands for? If not, go to the following video links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m5pPXXT68g&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qWs4aX7Efs&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYlo6GM0vFs&feature=channel

Also, go to WIKIPEDIA to be well-informed about SCO:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation

Then, you can post your comments on the following point:

Do you think these international organizations (SCO, BRIC, to name some) can help improve regional and international trade and security? Why?

2) Endangered Cultures:

This video shows some interesting points on endangered cultures. Watch it and point out which aspects you agree or not with:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/por_br/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

3) Twitter, Facebook - new technologies:

This is a very interesting presentation by Clay Shirky on the new technology trends. At the end of the presentation, he asks a question that you can try to answer:

How can we make best use of this media even changing the way we've always done it?

http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

Have fun and mind work with English!

Hope to see your post here!

Flávia
http://www.creativeenglishlearning.com.br/

BRAZIL, THE CRAFTY SUPERPOWER - Newsweek Article of April 22nd, 2009

Hello, everyone!

I invite you all to read this article on http://www.newsweek.com/id/194604?from=rss and have in mind the following questions to guide your comprehension and encourage you to write your comments on the blog.

1) How did the journalist Mac Margolis describe Lula's participation in the Domestic and International scenario (number of embassies/ number of International trips/ number of departments in Foreign Ministry) ? What about Brazil's participation ?(G5/BRIC/peacekeeping mission/ trade with Latin countries and USA) . What do you think?

2) What is your view on Brazil having military expenditures stagnant compared to other countries?

3) Do you agree on what was said about Fernando Henrique Cardoso? Why?

4) What about WTO rules in favor of Brazil? Was Lula responsible for that?

5) Do you think the journalist was partial or impartial when talking about Lula and Brazil? Give examples from the article.

6) Is there any relevant piece of information that you disagree on? Why?


Hope you all take this very chance to post your ideas in writing. Have a nice work!

Best wishes of fun with writing!

Flávia

Watch and comment CNN interview with young Chinese pianist Lang-Lang

Dear students,

Hope you can make the best of this blog and participate the most you can.

This is the link to CNN site (www.cnn.com/talkasia ). Hope you can enjoy it! http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/04/06/ta.langlang/index.html

Hope to see your posts here and you build good networking with your English virtual classmates.

Best wishes,

Flávia

What would you like to discuss in April?

Dear students,

This is the new Blog version, I'll be using from April on.

I invite you all to post your questions or topics for discussion.

Don't be shy! Give it a shot!

I'll be waiting for your participation!

See you all here,

Flávia