A nice party!

Who does not want to have the opportunity to spend a few hours practicing English in a very informal way?

Well, that's exactly what happened here at the teacher's house last Friday, December, 05.

A nice gathering of students, outside the classroom environment, drinking, eating and enjoying free conversation. The teacher influenced as little as possible, actually her participation was practically unnoticed, rs...

Conversation went from basic job and family information to literature, police novels, pets, life in Brazil, politics, everything you can imagine.

I have to say I am incredibly proud of those who were able to come. And those who didn't make it, you don't know what you missed. But don't worry, there will be other events. Now that the party was a success, I am totally encouraged to continue trying to put people together.

Special thanks for the guest of honor, Julia, who was essential for the speaking.

Wonderful participation Oscar for Juliano Alves, who started a conversation with everyone present.

Congratulations for overcoming her shyness for Rose Desidério.

Congratulations on his courage also for Marcelo Akira who is at the early stages of learning but was not discouraged to come.

Great job to Tom, who, together with his wife, helped Juliano Alves understand a bit more of how our international laws work.

Take a look at some moments and feel inspired for the next time:

Make or Do

Here is the genius Fluency MC with a great clip full of DO and MAKE collocations he calls collo, enjoy:

Can you follow the MC and sing along in the second half of the clip?

Try and write down these collo (collocations) for your improvement! And then choose a few, perhaps 5 a week, to put in a real sentence that makes sense in your world. That will help you remember them easily.

This guy is great, check out more of his work here:

In time - On time a great explanation

Hello everyone, how are things going?

I've recently come across this wonderful channel on youtube with simple English videos that teach you great things in a simple way.

This one will talk about two very confusing expressions:

in time x on time

Do you know the difference of those two? Can you use them correctly?

Watch Vicki Hollet's video and and test yourself at the end:

Now tell me, have you finished your latest homework piece yet?

Are you on time with it? Or are you behind schedule?

To be behind schedule means to be late. 

How about at work? Did you send that business proposal on time? This is extremely important. You don't want to risk the company's image...

When was the last time you've been to the theater to watch a musical, a play, an opera, a concert or even a dance show? Did you arrive in time for it? You mustn't arrive at the last moment. That it because you need to find your seat. Sometimes people want to get refreshments. Or even use the ladies' or men's room. If you're going to see an opera, a ballet or a concert you might want to spend some time at the theater, enjoying yourself. Having a drink perhaps. So, it's good to arrive in time for all that.

Right?

Check out Vicky Hollet's YouTube channel, she has amazing videos there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCskz5P7AEEVieGX2-Vtc4Dg

Thanks for now folks!

Collocations with the word conversation

Hi everyone!

I have been following this EFL (English as a Foreign Language) blog recently and I'd like to share with you a very good lesson the teacher has posted this week.

Her name is Shanti Cumaraswamy. She was born in England but grew up in Kuala Lumpur. Her posts are incredible and of very good quality. So, it is also further reference for your studies.

This week she started a series on collocations. I usually define collocations as very good combinations of words. Good combinations are words that often come together. In Portuguese we can give a few examples like: colocar a mesa, passar um fax, mascar chiclete, chupar manga, tomate cereja, leite azedo. Collocations are usually combinations of verbs and nouns; or adjectives and nouns.

Teacher Santi writes a nice text about collocations with a valid dictionary definition. After that she shows tons of great examples.

So, without further ado, let's move to the link below and check out what she has in stock for us:

English With a Twist - Collocations

How did you like it?

Let's choose a few examples to practice ourselves?

Vocabulary for the elections part II

Hello guys... After I wrote the post about the elections and shared it with some of my students new words came up, so here we go for another edition of elections 2014:

During the months that lead up to the elections we are quite forced to listen to and watch political propaganda on the radio and TV... : ( not so pleasant...

Now, suppose you're not very happy with your candidates and you wish to protest while you're voting, so you may annul or spoil your vote (although some people might argue that spoiling your vote is a prejudiced term... since what you are doing is an act of protest... what do you think?). That means you are not voting for any valid candidate.

And how about those who also wish to protest by simply not writing anything on the ballot? That is a bit different, and in English we express it by saying to cast a blank vote. In Brazil, we use machines, not paper ballots anymore. So when we go to our polling booth, there is a special key for those who wish to cast a blank vote. Have you ever done that? What reasons led you to it? Do you regret it? Are you planning to do it this year?

And when you are away from your town? What can you do? You may cast an absentee vote!

But this year, for the first time we will be able to vote by post! Thanks to advances in technology if you are not near your polling station you'll be able to go to another polling station available in the city where you are and vote by post... Nice, isn't? I've often wondered why this was not yet possible, haven't you?

Well, I'd also like to say which political offices we are going to vote for in this edition of the elections:

• president
• governor
• senator
• federal deputy
• state deputy

And last but not least, at least for this edition of the elections posts, we have a difference in pronunciation guys:

politics x politician

got it?

Can we try one more time?

Thanks for the attention and see you soon!!!

Vocabulary for the elections

Good morning everyone, since we are approaching the time to choose a candidate both for governing our state and our country I thought it might be a good idea to bring to front some relevant words to the theme:

The politician who wants a job in the government is called a candidate. The person who chooses him or her in an election is a voter. and all the people in a country who have the right to vote are called together the electorate.

When a candidate decides to be a candidate we can say that he is running for president, for example:

Marina Silva is running for president now that Eduardo Campo's died. 

Eduardo Suplicy is running for senator.

Gilberto Kasssab is running for senator of São Paulo state.

It's important to note that we use run for a position. Like:

run for president
run for governor
run for senator

The same word goes when you choose your candidate, you should say vote for somebody;  for example:

I'm going to vote for Eduardo Suplicy for senator.
I still haven't decided who I'm going to vote for in these elections.

The period of time we are in now is called in English run-up to the elections, this is when the candidates make their campaigns, talk to the voters and try to persuade the electorate to vote for them. During the run-up to the elections Brazilians must deal with intensive political propaganda on TV, radio, as well as debates with the main candidates.

On the day of the elections we must go to a polling place (this is a British term) and direct ourselves to a polling booth (a British and Canadian term for a voting booth), which is a compartment with one open side in which one voter at a time stands to mark their ballot (New Oxford American Dictionary).

The ballot is a synonym of vote, but it is also the name of the piece of paper on which we mark our vote. In Brazil we have a very modern voting system and we only need to press buttons. Our system is entirely computerized.

In our country a candidate for president, governor or even mayor of a city must have 50% + 1 of the votes. When this does not happen we have what is called a run-off election. A second chance for the 2 candidates who received the biggest number of votes in the first time.

When we read the news about who MIGHT win the elections, we are in fact reading survey results. Survey is like an investigation of the opinions or experience of a group of people, based on a series of questions (New Oxford American Dictionary).

Well, I guess this is the basic vocabulary.

How about you? Have you chosen your candidate yet?

How wolves change rivers

How wonderful dear students!

Advice for senior girl

I read today off the facebook page of widely famous writer Elizabeth Gilbert this wonderful text:

Dear Ones -
Yesterday, a friend of this page named Gloria asked if I would write some advice to her daughter, who is in her senior year, about to head off into life.
Such an honor to be asked!

So today I thought I would share with you all the thoughts I gathered for this young girl on the brink of adulthood (or, as we say it my family, "on the adult of brinkhood"):
"Out into the world you go! Here is some advice along your way: Stay out of debt! Keep your expenses low and learn how to live without luxuries so you can have a bigger and more free life, unbound by the fear of the bill collector. Remember that Autonomy Is The God of Woman. Never give your heart or your body to anyone who doesn't view you as a precious treasure. Never use another person's heart or body as a way to pass time while you're waiting for real love to come along. Don't ever expect somebody else to hand your destiny to you — go out and find it. Follow your curiosity bravely, because ultimately it is your curiosity that will lead you to your passion. Remember that you are not made of sugar candy: You are stronger than you think, more powerful than you could ever imagine. Therefore, stay near people who know that you are strong and stay away from people who fear that you are weak. Character is more important than personality, both in yourself and in your friends. Learn how to be happy alone. Listen more than you speak. (I'm still learning this one!) Don't worry what anyone is thinking about you; they are only ever thinking about themselves, anyhow. Don't smoke. Don't ride motorcycles — especially not in Southeast Asia. Floss. Wear your seatbelt. Don't drink sugary sodas. Try to be creative for a half an hour a day. Save your money (have I mentioned this?) and give yourself the gift of travel. Don't get married too young: Statistics show that the happiest women are those who delayed marriage. (In the meantime, if you want to wear a pretty diamond ring, you can always buy one for yourself.) Be interested and you will always be interesting. Have FUN! Love, Liz"

(ps: I took this photo of the sky yesterday with my iPhone. It really is a pretty spectacular world. Go out there and look up.)

How angry are you?

What are you like?
Are you a more easy-going person, or a more stressed person?
Do you spend lots of time in traffic jams? Does that make you angry?
Do you mind waiting for people?
What gets on your nerves?
What calms you down?
What are some of the synonyms of angry that you can remember?
How about its opposites?

Listen to this 6 minute English from BBC Learning English and find out what research has found out about anger:

Angry People


Now that you have listened to the clip help me out with some vocabulary:

public transport annoys me
it's the passengers that I find most annoying
it really makes my blood boil when...
things that used to make us angry

A Job Interview

 

What happens in the sketch? (up to 1:55'')

What impression do you get of the interview? Is the applicant successful?

How does the video turn out?

How did your last job interview go?

Have you ever felt as wrong about a situation as the guy in the video?

What advice can you give him? (use should)

Teapot Tower - I like it, do you?

Believe it or not, this is an office building:

Listen to this BBC report and tell me if you would like to work there:

Words in the news: Teapot Tower

Cinema Etiquette

Do you think there is a proper way to behave at the cinema?

What are some of the things you may do?

And what are the things you shouldn't do?

Listen to this BBC Learning English Lesson:

Cinema Etiquette

Students of all levels!!!

My newest addiction: Duolingo

have you heard of the app Duolingo for language learning?

It is sooooo nice!

You may review basic forms that your teacher is always correcting but they never seem to disappear from your English...

You may learn new vocabulary and practice listening, writing, speaking and reading too, why not?

And best of all, you may do it almost anywhere, anytime. When you are in the doctor's waiting room. On a bus.

It is free and it works on mobiles, tablets and computers:

https://www.duolingo.com/

Browstache

Do you girls like a mustache?
And can you imagine what a browstache means?

 Brow + Mustache = Browstache

Brow = hair over your eyes

Mustache = hair over your lips and below your nose 

 

Can you imagine inverting them? hehe...

Mashable about Browstaches