American Film Workshop (29/6)

Yesterday for our film workshop we finished up the second half of "Gone with the Wind," which tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara during and after the American Civil War and is based on a novel by the same name by Margaret Mitchell. We then have a short discussion on the importance of owning land for the protagonists of the movie, and how this propelled their decisions throughout the film. Do you this Scarlett will win back Rhett? Comment below to let me know!

Question of the week:

In which ways was slavery and its abolition different or similar in Brazil and the United States (based on the events portrayed in the film)?

See you next Saturday!

Conversation Hours (27/6 & 28/6)

Hello all!

This past Thursday and Friday in conversation hour, we worked on prepositions of place. 

On Thursday, we reviewed the most commonly used prepositions Do you know the 25 most commonly used prepositions?

1. of
2. in
3. to
4. for
5. with
6. on
7. at
8. from
9. by
10. about
11. as
12. into
13. like
14. through
15. after
16. over
17. between
18. out
19. against
20. during
21. without
22. before
23. under
24. around
25. among

We also played a game in pairs where students had to arrange themselves in relation to each other based on the prepositions I used, for example:

"Student A must be behind Student B" or "Student B must be under student A"

The pair who completed the physical representation of the sentence fastest won a point. 

On Friday, we reviewed preposition of place and used a map of the Western half of the United States to practice.

American Culture Workshop (26/6)

Yesterday in American culture class we reviewed prepositions for our language component and studied the geography of the United States.

First, we read a passage describing the geographic features of the United States, and students were asked to circle every preposition they heard from the passage. From the vast number of prepositions circled in the passage, students gleaned the importance of this grammatical feature in writing and reading in English. Do you have any questions about prepositions? Leave them in the comment box below!

Next, we did some map activities to learn about the locations of major cities, tourist attractions, and natural wonders of the United States. Check out the map below to learn more about American geography!

Finally, students made itineraries for the tours they would like to take of the United States, explaining the reasons behind each of the stops on their trips. Most students' tours included sightseeing in New York and San Francisco, and a stop to either Niagara Falls, the Gateway Arch or Yellowstone National Park. Where would you go on your trip to the United States?

Protest Conversation Hour (21/6)

Good afternoon everybody!

In honor of the protests happening this evening, we talked about protests today in our Conversation Hour. First we learned some vocabulary words and phrases related to the protests like:

*I agree/disagree with the protests because...
*I will/won't go to the protest because...
*city infrastructure
*public health
*sewage system
*education
*public transport
*World Cup
*Olympics

Students then made posters as if the protest were in English. It was not necessary to agree with the protests to make a poster, simply share an opinion.

Next, we looked at a newspaper headline from the New York Times and a quote from the article:

"Sweeping protests in Brazil pull in an Array of Grievances"

“They don’t invest in education, they don’t invest in infrastructure, and they keep putting makeup on the city to show to the world that we can host the World Cup and Olympics,” said Jairo Domingos. 

Do you agree with the above quote? Leave a comment below to share your opinion. 

Finally, we listened to two American "protest songs" and read along with the lyrics. Here are the links to both the songs as promised:

Sam Cooke, "A Change is Gonna Come."

Black Eyed Peas, "Where is the Love?"

Here are the names of 10 other American newspapers and magazines to check out online for more headlines (so you have no excuse to not read the news in English):

1. The Wall Street Journal

2. USA Today

3. Washington Post

4. The Los Angeles Times 

5. The Nation

6. The New York Times Magazine

7. The New Yorker

8. The Economist 

9. Time Magazine  

10. Miami Herald 

Please be safe if you are attending the protest today, and leave a comment below to let me know if you agree or disagree with the protests. 

Talk to you later!

Clothes and Fashion Conversation Hour (20/6)

Hello fellow fashionistas!

This past conversation hour we learned vocabulary words about clothes (roupa), and took a fashion quiz. 

If you missed class, you can still take the style quiz to learn more clothing vocabulary in English and find out what your style personality is:

What’s your style? Circle the answers that best describe you. To find out what your answers mean, check out Define your fashion style. 

1. You are most comfortable in
   A. long, flowing dresses.
   B. cable-knit sweaters.
   C. a bikini.
   D. the latest trend.
   E. a white button-down shirt and jeans.
   F. a fitted sweat suit.
2. When not working, you feel most like yourself
   A. in a romantic vacation spot.
   B. on the tennis court in a country club.
   C. on a beach.
   D. in a big city.
   E. at home hosting an intimate dinner party.
   F. in your SUV with the kids.
3. Your accessory of choice is
   A. an armful of gold bangles.
   B. a strand or two of pearls.
   C. a rash guard.
   D. the new “it” bag.
   E. big, round, black “Jackie O” sunglasses.
   F. a diaper bag.
4. The perfect everyday shoe for you is
   A. flip-flops.
   B. loafers.
   C. barefoot.
   D. stilettos.
   E. flats.
   F. sneakers.
5. You tend to wear
   A. mostly white.
   B. lots of navy blue.
   C. bright colors.
   D. head-to-toe black.
   E. anything neutral.
   F. dark colors.
   
   

What's you personal style? Leave a comment below and let me know. 

See you next time!

American Culture Introduction Class (19/6)

Yesterday we had our introduction class for the American Culture and Language workshop (Wednesdays 17-19). We started off with a quote by Jack Kerouac, leader of the Beat Generation and author of On the Road:

"All of life is a foreign country." // "Tudo na vida é um pais extrangeiro."

What does this quote mean to you?

In class, we decided that this quote refers to the idea that everything new that one does in life is like visiting a foreign country, and that one doesn't have leave her home to experience a foreign country. Every week we will discuss a quote by a famous American, so keep an eye out for more quotes as the weeks go by.

Next, we talked about important American symbols like the Statue of Liberty, the Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell, the American Eagle, the Donkey and the Elephant, and Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is a symbol of the American government that was first used in propaganda during World War I to recuit Americans to join the army.

Finally, we listened to the American National Anthem ('Star Spangled Banner') as sung by Beyonce at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration for Barack Obama. Follow the link below to see the full video:

Beyonce "National Anthem" 2013

See you next week! As always, please comment below with questions, concerns or opinions.

100 Verbs Conversation Hour (18/6)

Good morning students! 

Yesterday we went over the 100 most used verbs in the English language, going over the meaning of each and how to conjugate the first 20 of them. 

Finally, we listened to one of my favorite songs ("You are the Sunshine of my Life" by Stevie Wonder) and filled in the blanks for the missing verbs in the lyrics. Stevie Wonder is one of the most famous African-American musicians in the United States. Here is a link to the song with lyrics for you to follow:
Stevie Wonder "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"

From the song, we learned 3 fun phrases in English which I placed below with their literal translations into Portuguese :

1. "Sunshine of my life" - Raios do sol de minha vida
2. "Apple of my eye" -  Maçã de meus olhos
3. "Drowning in my own tears" - Afogando em minhas próprias lagrimas  

If you liked this song, here is another popular Stevie Wonder song called "Superstition" performed live: "Superstition" Live

Here are the 20 most frequently used verbs of the English language. 

1.      be

2.      have
3.      do
4.      say
5.      go
6.      can
7.      get
8.      would
9.      make
10.    know
11.    will
12.    think
13.    take
14.    see
15.    come
16.    could
17.    want
18.    look
19.    use
20.    find

Do you know them all? Comment below to let me know! 

Dating Game Conversation Hour (17/6)

 Hello all,

This past Monday, we learned about the word "date" as both a noun and a verb. As a verb, "to date" means to go out with someone in a romantic sense. For example, "I am going out on a date with John tonight" or "I am dating Henry right now."

As a noun, "date" simply means a meeting with someone, and does not have to imply anything romantic. For example, "I have a brunch date with Sally on Sunday" or "Joan and Rachel have a shopping date this weekend." A "playdate" refers to a meeting of children organized by parents. For example, "George Jr. and Little Sally have a playdate this weekend at the Children's Museum." George Jr. and Sally are obviously not going on a "playdate" without their parents!


Next, we played a dating game based on "Lonely Hearts" ads in American and British newspapers. Here is an example of a "Lonely Hearts" section of a newspaper if you guys are interested in seeing a real one. Do they look like the ones we produced in class? How are they different?

Using photographs cut out from a magazine, students made up descriptions of individuals of a variety of backgrounds: some were old, young, African-American, caucasian, slender, athletic, voluptuous, and the list goes on etc.

Next, we created a description of who these individuals were looking for in a romantic partner using the "lonely hearts"ad style. Finally, students went around the room trying to find a match for their character using 4 questions we cam up with:

1. Are you a man or a woman?

2. How old are you?

3. What do you look like?

4. How would you describe your personality?

Here is a picture of our wonderful students with the matches they found for their characters.

Do you have any dates this weekend (romantic or not)? Let me know in the comments below! Thank you to everyone who came. See you next time.