Teacher's Day

Today we are celebrating the Teacher's Day! Although being a teacher is a very known profession, "teaching" is a kind of activity that is done by everybody! Parents teach their children, friends teach and are taught by other friends, elderly people teach the young ones and vice-versa. Learning is a process that is absolutely connected to life itself.
Isn't interesting that some people actually do that for living? It's a great privilege to be able to exchange knowledge with the students and learn a lot from them. I do think that it's one of the most important teacher's features - be aware that we, as a teacher, know a lot but not all - and there will always have "room" for learning more and more. Being a teacher is a process that will not be totally completed because we've been learning, researching, studying...and we will always keep doing that for the sake of our students! That's what make a great teacher - being humble and patient! Pacience is required because the harvest of the fruits of this hard "teaching" work will only be seen years and years later...
For all my friends that work at school with me - HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!

"If you think in terms of a year - plant a seed;
If in terms of ten years - plant a tree;
If in terms of 100 years - teach the people!" - Confucius

Teacher Wagner and Snoopy - our best wishes!

Today is a very nice day! Besides celebrating teacher Wagner birthday we also celebrate the 'Peanuts'60th Anniversary! What a great day! Can you belive that...Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip “Peanuts” and its cast of characters including Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy turn 60 today? And they keep on captivating our hearts and minds as they did since their first strip, on Oct. 2, 1950.“Peanuts” has appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers in 72 countries and 21 language(according to The Associated Press). Although we can have one character which is our favorite, there is no doubt that people all around the world just love this group of friends and its lovely Beagle! There are 17,897 original “Peanuts” comic strips. Schulz (Peanuts author) announced his retirement on Jan. 3, 2000. He died on Feb. 12, 2000, one day before his last original strip appeared in Sunday newspapers. But what has Wagner to do with it? NO...he is not turning 60 today (not yet!) - but I can clear see a great affinity between them - both enjoy their job and I don't know if it will be doing exactly what he is doing today, but I can picture Wagner the same way as Schulz...working and involved with Education untill his retirement (which could be just at the end of his days). May God bless you with a healthy, long and wealthy life! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The weight of the WORDS

According to the issue of Newsweek (September 20, 2010) - 130 POUNDS – Exactly that -130 pounds is weight of the Oxford English Dictionary. Its publisher says the next edition may be online-only.
Language is an "alive" element and changes over the years due to the influence of people who speak the language. Today, a very famous TV presenter said "You can read it (the book written by Ingrid Betancourt -'Even Silence has an End') or you can kindle it! The word kindle was created to define the digital reader launched by the online bookstore Amazon. The noun was used now as a verb too! So, it's not so hard to imagine why the publishers are considering just one online edition...can you image 10 years from now...how many pounds would the dictinary weight?
It's amazing, isn't it?

The Nordic World - Norway (Part I)

Na semana passada celebramos a entrada da primavera, sem dúvida uma das mais bonitas estações do ano. Inevitavelmente lembrei-me dos noruegueses com os quais dividi a celebração do solstício de verão no último mês de junho. Ao entardecer,com o sol bastante animado, todos foram ao parque do Museu Folclórico e fizeram um pic-nic coletivo, sentados nos seus "cobertores" estendidos pela grama, conversando e aguardando as apresentações culturais! Tudo muito tranquilo e com aquela deliciosa sensação de feriado e de que o tempo é seu aliado e passa bem devagar...só pra você se divertir mais. Absolutamente festivo!
WHAT A GREAT DAY! BEAUTIFUL PLACE, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!
Douglas e eu improvisamos um pequeno pseudo-pic-nic apenas para fazer parte da festa, mas principalmente participar daquela alegria toda que estava presente no ar! Muito bom!
Várias crianças se divertiam, correndo pra lá e pra cá pela grama e nadando em um lago onde a água (pelo menos pra mim) estava absolutamente gelada! Mas esse é o verão lá...com toda sua plenitude dos 17º aos 20º graus! Na verdade eu até achei que estava um pouco friozinho, devido ao vento, e que um agasalho seria útil. Mas ao olhar ao meu redor e observar quase TODOS sem blusa (98% dos presentes), confesso que resolvi tirar minha blusa e ter uma atitude "viking" - suportar o friozinho!
Afinal, já dizia a nona - quando estiver no meio dos lobos, você deve falar a língua deles!
Além das brincadeiras, algumas crianças também apresentaram uma dança típica! TRADITIONS! ALWAYS VERY IMPORTANT!

Depois dessa grata experiência, durante o nosso equinócio da primavera, meus pensamentos voltaram-se para os noruegueses e fiquei imaginando como eles celebraram o equinócio de outono. - De qualquer forma, mesmo sem saber a resposta...a sensação de que seria muito bom estar lá ainda permanece!
Just missing Norway and the calm and peace of that gorgeous day!

Fill in the blank...

Studying English is really getting easier day by day! There are a lot of tools that can help us to improve our language learning process - web, magazines, newspapers, friends, books, blogs, etc. One of these magazines (Go! English Brazil) has done an interesting article. It asked some people to fill in the this blank - English is _________. Let's check some answers:

"English is necessary." - Sharanya, 19, student from Mumbai, India

"English is THE international language." - Janathan, 31, medical student from Ames, Iowa, USA

"English is chaotic. Iam talking about English pronunciation. There are too many ways to pronounce the same letter It gets really confusing for English leaners and does not help native speakers either when they come across a new word and try to pronounce it." - Ngan, 26, teacher from Boston, Massachusetts, USA

"English is a work in progress. The Oxford English Dictionary has to be added to every year to reflect the constant changes.(...)A lot of the changes have resulted from the computer age and the influence of Microsoft that is universally accessed. "- Dawn, 48, writer from Bath, UK

"English is beautifully versatile." - Erin, 27, teacher from Duluth, Georgia, USA

And what about you? How could you (3ºEM) fill in this blank? Let me know your opinion!