Brazil and the United States: An Intercultural Exchange in Araguaína: September 2012

Monday, September 17, 2012

Welcome Back!!!

Welcome back UFT students!!!! We are pleased to announce our new courses for the semester!!!!

Conversation Hour

Improve your speaking and listening skills in English!

Attendance is REQUIRED at 2 de 3 das aulas semanalmente at the following times:

Segundas 16:00 – 17:00

Quartas 16:00 – 17:00

Quintas 11:00 – 12:00

Aulas Substitutivas

Sábados by Appointment

Inscrição: Sábado 22/09 09:30 – 11:00
in the Letras Block

· CERTIFICATES offered for estudantes MATRICULADOS who complete ALL requirements of the course.

· ALL STUDENTS ARE WELCOME!!!

40 vagas (30 vagas for Letras/10 vagas for non-Letras)

· Inscrição is NOT necessary to attend, but is required for receiving a certificate.

See You There!!

Perguntas???? E-mail: etauft@gmail.com

AND...

Oficina de Escrita em Língua Inglesa

English Language Writing Workshop

com a ETA Michol Miller

Segunda-feira 17:30-18:30

ou

Terça-feira 11:00- 12:00

Melhore suas habilidades de escrita em Inglês!

Certificados oferecidos para alunos matriculados que concluírem todos os requisitos do curso.

Todos os estudantes são bem-vindos, mas a prioridade é dada aos estudantes de Letras, no ato da matrícula.

20 vagas disponíveis en cada oficina (70% para estudantes de Letras, 30% para outros cursos)

Inscrição: Sábado, 22 de setembro, de 9:30-11:00 no bloco de Letras, ou por e-mail: etauft@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

More Fulbright Bolsas

Now is an exciting time to be a Letras student/graduate. This week's post is about
another Fulbright opportunity in the United States. For your convenience, I've
re-added information about the FLTA grant. From the website:

Aperfeiçoamento de Inglês nos EUA para Professores

A CAPES, a Embaixada dos EUA e a Comissão Fulbright selecionarão até 20
professores de língua inglesa da rede pública de ensino básico, de cada um dos
estados e do Distrito Federal, para curso de capacitação de seis semanas nos EUA,
a ser realizado de 12 de janeiro a 22 de fevereiro de 2013. O curso será oferecido
por 22 universidades dos EUA, para grupos de até 25 professores.

Alguns dos objetivos do programa são: fortalecer a fluência oral e escrita em inglês,
compartilhar metodologias de ensino e avaliação que estimulem a participação do
aluno em sala de aula, estimular o uso de recursos online e outras ferramentas na
formação continuada de professores e na preparação de planos de aula.

Os professores selecionados não terão nenhuma despesa associada ao curso, já
que o programa prevê:

- Alojamento no campus universitário;

- Alimentação;

- Seguro saúde;

- Passagem aérea de ida e volta; e

- Taxas e materiais escolares.

Click here for more information: http://www.fulbright.org.br/content/view/128/169/

Professor Assistente de Lingua Portuguesa nos EUA

O programa Professor Assistente de Língua Portuguesa nos EUA (Foreign
Language Teaching Assistant – FLTA) tem o objetivo de incrementar o ensino
de português em universidades norte-americanas e estreitar as relações bilaterais
entre o Brasil e os EUA. O programa prevê a concessão de até 45 bolsas, com
duração de nove meses, no ano acadêmico norte-americano (agosto/setembro
de 2013 a maio/junho de 2014).

Será dada prioridade a candidatos:

- com nenhuma ou com pouca experiência nos EUA

- professor da rede pública de ensino;

- ex-bolsista do PROUNI.

Click below for more info:

http://www.fulbright.org.br/content/view/107/154/

Please e-mail us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Happy Wednesday!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Happy Independence Day!!

With that said I want to spend today’s post on a very hot topic in the United States right now. Can you guess what it is? It’s the general elections, of course! Every four years on the first Tuesday of November the American population goes to polling places (the polls) to vote. The word poll can be a noun or a verb. As a verb it means to record an opinion or a vote. This year’s election will take place on November 6^th.

This is another important language lesson. When you say the date in English you don’t say “Day 6 of November” as you would in Portuguese. We use ordinal numbers to describe dates. This can see confusing but it uses the same principle as does Portuguese. In Portuguese, for example, Segunda is written 2^da(using the number being described and the last letters of the word). In English second is written 2^nd (again using the number 2 and the last two letters of the word). The other endings are –st, -rd, and –th. (1^st First, Third 3^rd, 4^th- Fourth). The numbers five through ten all use the –th ending.

In Brazil it is illegal not to vote. In the United States on the other hand, candidates spend a lot of time and money trying to convince people to vote at all. If you remember my post about sufferage http://etauft.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/seneca-falls.html, you’ll remember that many people did not have the right to vote in the past. Men of color and all women worked hard and died for this right. This is why I think it’s unfortunate that many people who can vote do not vote.

The United States has two major political parties: Democratic and Republican. Last week was the Republican National Convention and this week was the Democratic National Convention. At each of these conventions there are really important speeches given. The Democratic presidential candidate is the current president (Barack Obama). The Republican presidential candidate is Mitt Romney. Even in the United States many people think that these are the only two political parties but they’re not. There is also a Libertarian Party, a Green Party, and a Constitution Party. As of November 2011, there’s also a Justice Party.

The simplest way to explain our voting system is that people have votes and states have votes. States with more people get more votes. States vote for the candidate that the majority of its population voted for. The person with the most state votes wins. (The system is actually much more complex, but this is the general idea)

So there you have it. What is the election process like in Brazil?? E-mail me at etauft@gmail.com or post a response below.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Louisiana Puchase

Hello UFT!!! We’re excited to see you all soon! Until then, today’s blog post is another historical one. It’s about a very important event in U.S. history- The Louisiana Purchase. Purchase means “to buy.” In this deal, Thomas Jefferson (the 3^rd president of the United States, 1801-1809) bought Louisiana and a whole lot more land from France.

The deal went down on April 30^th, 1803. This was what we call a win-win situation. It means that everyone involved gets what they want or need. France was in need of some cash. The U.S. could double its size. Before the United States stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, it was just the territory that you seen in orange on the map. The other land was owned by France and Spain.

France wanted to have a large influence in the new land and especially in New Orleans. Due to some conflicts outside of the United States (namely the Haitian Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars), the area lost its usefulness and money seemed like the better option.

Thomas Jefferson asked two explorers to investigate the territory’s resources including a means to travel the country by water. Meriwether Louis and William Clark (better known as Louis and Clark) also had an “Indian” or Native-American girl with them. Her name was Sacagawea. She acted as a guide for Louis and Clark. In my opinion, Sacagawea probably did the bulk of the “discovering” while Lewis and Clark were credited.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton commissioned gold dollars with her image to be made. Around that time she also posthumously (after death) received another award. It’s been my experience that until then she was nothing more than part of the myth or legend of the New World, much like Pocahontas.

Please feel free to comment, compare, disagree, etc. We’d love to hear from you!!

To read more about the Louisiana Purchase:

http://www.gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html