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Blog criado por Bruno Coriolano de Almeida Costa, professor de Língua Inglesa desde 2002. Esse espaço surgiu em 2007 com o objetivo de unir alguns estudiosos e professores desse idioma. Abordamos, de forma rápida e simples, vários aspectos da Língua Inglesa e suas culturas. Agradeço a sua visita.

"Se tivesse perguntado ao cliente o que ele queria, ele teria dito: 'Um cavalo mais rápido!"

segunda-feira, 27 de maio de 2013

Extreme Measures

Clique na imagem para ouvir o texto.


After just a few years of marriage, filled with constant arguments, young man and his wife decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling. They had been at each others throats for some time and felt that this was their last straw.

When they arrived at the counselor's office, the counselor jumped right in and opened the floor for discussion. What seems to be the problem?

Immediately, the husband held his long face down without anything to say. On the other hand, the wife began talking at 90 miles an hour describing all the wrongs within their marriage.

After 5 - - 10 - - 15 minutes of listening to the wife, the counselor went over to her, picked her up by her shoulders, kissed her passionately for several minutes and sat her back down.

Afterwards, the wife sat there - speechless. He looked over at the husband who was staring in disbelief at what had happened. The counselor spoke to the husband, Your wife NEEDS that at least twice a week!

The husband scratched his head and replied, I can have her here on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


Vocabulary

  • marriage - casamento
  • arguments - brigas, discussões
  • couseling - aconselhamento
  • throat - garganta
  • feel (feel, felt, felt) - sentir
  • last straw - último recurso
  • listen - ouvir
  • kiss - beijar
  • speechless - sem fala, muda
  • stare - olhar surpreso
  • disbelief - incredulidade
  • speak (speak, spoke, spoken) - falar
  • twice a week - duas vezes por semana
  • scratch - coçar
  • head - cabeça

quarta-feira, 22 de maio de 2013

[JOKE] THE COWBOY

Clique aqui na imagem para ouvir o texto.


A tough old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.

The grandson did this religiously and he lived to the age of 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and a fifteen foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.



Vocabulary
  • tough - durao
  • counsel - aconselhar
  • grandson - neto
  • sprinkle - pulverizar, espalhar
  • gunpowder - polvora
  • oatmeal - aveia
  • hole - burado
  • wall - parede



The end of the teaching profession?




Some months ago, I participated in a debate or talk, if you like, about, say, the future of education and obviously the future – or even the end – of the teaching profession.

Nowadays it is very clear that teaching is not being taking so serious anymore. I mean, anyone – qualified teachers or not – may teacher English, for instance. I have just seen this on Stephen Krashen’s blog. This is a good entry and I reckon educator should read it.



"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." - Lily Tomlin.

Anthony Cody has posted an interesting (and chilling) vision of the future of education, predicting that by 2018 all teaching will be strictly controlled, with frequent testing, classes monitored and taped for regular inspection, and teacher evaluation based, among other things, on value-added analyses of student test scores, and videos evaluated by outsiders.

I wonder if Anthony is being too optimistic.  There may not be any professional teachers left in the schools in 2018.  I suspect that the plan is to vilify and push out teachers, and replace them with temps, part-timers, and technology. The goal, the only goal, is to make a lot of money for the .01%.

The details:

The goal of the war against teachers is to eliminate the concept of teaching as a profession, to be replaced by temps (eg Teach For America) and eventually be replaced largely by technology (ultimate goal of flipped classrooms). The reason is 100% financial – so that the .01% can grab nearly all of the money teachers earn as well as profit from electronic/virtual teaching.

The .01% want as much of the (at least) 500 billion we spend yearly on education as they can get. 

The .01% plan
1.   Keep pressure on teachers by making their lives as difficult as possible and their task totally impossible. The common core standards and tests are a major part of this.

2.   Continue to attack the teaching profession: The message will continue to be that the US is in economic trouble because of bad education, which is because of bad teachers.


3.   The public, media, and politicians will have no sympathy for teachers’ pointing out how difficult teaching has become, This will be seen as whining, and teachers will then resign/quit in greater numbers.

4.   Continue to stress the importance of teacher evaluation, This sends the message that teachers are not doing their job and that there are a lot of bad teachers out there who must be identified and fired.


5.     Continue to push the idea that TFAs as just as good or better than experienced teachers.

6.     Do not reward teachers for experience, for years of service. This will also encourage more experienced teachers to retire/resign, creating more room for lower-paid temps in the system.

7.     Gradually increase the percentage of teachers who are temps as teachers retire and as they leave the profession because of frustration, This releases money because experienced teachers cost much more than temps. The result is more money for technology.

8.     Continue to convince the public that all technology is wonderful. Use this to push  flipped classrooms and glorify the Khan Academy.  The role of teachers will then be diminished to the equivalent of TA’s. This reduces time spent in classrooms (lowers salaries even more), and lowers the status of teachers even more, as well as saving more salary money and increasing teacher frustration.  Hire part-timers (no benefits) to serve as supplements to virtual teaching. This will be promoted as expanded opportunity for jobs, no teaching credential required.  The public will accept this because they will have lost all respect for teacher credentials.


Look for even more attacks on teachers and teachers unions. This makes sure there is no sympathy for teachers when they complain and no public outcry when teachers leave the profession and are replaced with temps and part-timers.

The above is a reasonable and likely scenario. My conjecture is that in addition, the reformers will continue to expand testing, will charge students for taking the required tests, and in fact make it illegal for students not to take the exams. 



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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.



terça-feira, 21 de maio de 2013

Austin Powers: Tell us about your childhood.

In this clip from the 1997 move ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,’ Mike Myers plays Doctor Evil describing his childhood to a therapy group.







Dr. Evil (Mike Myers)

Actually, the boy’s quite astute. I really am trying to kill him, but so far unsuccessfully. He’s quite wily, like his old man.

Scott: This is what I’m talking about.

Therapist: OK. Well, we’ve heard from you, Scott. Now you, tell us a little about yourself.

Dr. Evil: The details of my life are quite inconsequential.

Therapist: Oh no, please please. Let’s hear about your childhood.
Group: Yeah, Come on! Of course, Please! etc.

Dr. Evil: Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.

My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.
My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we’d make meat helmets.
When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds – pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe.
At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. At the age of 18, I went off to evil medical school. At the age of 25, I took up tap dancing. I wanted to be a quadruple threat — an actor, dancer…
Therapist: You know, we have to stop….

[joke] Exams




Clique na imagem para ouvir o texto.

A high school teacher was giving a true/false test. He was strolling up and down the aisles surveying the students at work. He came upon one student who was flipping a coin, then writing.

Teacher: What are you doing?

Student: Getting the answers to the test.
The teacher shook his head and walked on. A little while later, when everyone was finished with the test, the teacher noticed the student was again flipping the coin.

Teacher: Now what are you doing?

Student: I'm checking the answers.




Vocabulary 
  • true/false test - teste falso/verdadeiro
  • strolling - andando
  • aisles - corredores
  • survey - pesquisar
  • flip a coin - jogar uma moeda para cima (cara ou coroa)
  • shake (shake, shook, shaken) - balançar
  • notice - notar, observar


Listening.


Ter contato diário com a língua que se está estudando é extremamente importante. Deixo aqui uma dica de três vídeos para ouvir enquanto se ler. Garanto que depois de ouvir pelo menos duas vezes cada um, você estará que sua compreensão bem mais apurada.

Dica: tente ouvir a primeira vez sem ler e depois ouça lendo. Por fim, ouça mais uma vez sem ler.


Queen Elizabeth II: Diamond Jubilee Speech, Westminster, March 2012.

Prince Charles speaks at his mother Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations outside Buckingham Palace on June 5, 2012.

{Learning English} Mitt Romney Concession Speech, 2012.




Queen Elizabeth II: Diamond Jubilee Speech, Westminster, March 2012.




This great institution has been at the heart of the country and the lives of our people throughout its history. As Parliamentarians, you share with your forebears a fundamental role in the laws and decisions of your own age.

Parliament has survived as an unshakeable cornerstone of our constitution and our way of life.

History links monarchs and Parliament, a connecting thread from one period to the next. So, in an era when the regular, worthy rhythm of life is less eye-catching than doing something extraordinary, I am reassured that I am merely the second Sovereign to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee.

As today, it was my privilege to address you during my Silver and Golden Jubilees. Many of you were present ten years ago and some of you will recall the occasion in 1977. Since my Accession, I have been a regular visitor to the Palace of Westminster and, at the last count, have had the pleasurable duty of treating with twelve Prime Ministers.

Over such a period, one can observe that the experience of venerable old age can be a mighty guide but not a prerequisite for success in public office. I am therefore very pleased to be addressing many younger Parliamentarians and also those bringing such a wide range of background and experience to your vital, national work.

During these years as your Queen, the support of my family has, across the generations, been beyond measure. Prince Philip is, I believe, well-known for declining compliments of any kind. But throughout he has been a constant strength and guide. He and I are very proud and grateful that The Prince of Wales and other members of our family are travelling on my behalf in this Diamond Jubilee year to visit all the Commonwealth Realms and a number of other Commonwealth countries.

These overseas tours are a reminder of our close affinity with the Commonwealth, encompassing about one-third of the world’s population. My own association with the Commonwealth has taught me that the most important contact between nations is usually contact between its peoples. An organisation dedicated to certain values, the Commonwealth has flourished and grown by successfully promoting and protecting that contact.

At home, Prince Philip and I will be visiting towns and cities up and down the land. It is my sincere hope that the Diamond Jubilee will be an opportunity for people to come together in a spirit of neighbourliness and celebration of their own communities.

We also hope to celebrate the professional and voluntary service given by millions of people across the country who are working for the public good. They are a source of vital support to the welfare and wellbeing of others, often unseen or overlooked.

And as we reflect upon public service, let us again be mindful of the remarkable sacrifice and courage of our Armed Forces. Much may indeed have changed these past sixty years but the valour of those who risk their lives for the defence and freedom of us all remains undimmed.

The happy relationship I have enjoyed with Parliament has extended well beyond the more than three and a half thousand Bills I have signed into law. I am therefore very touched by the magnificent gift before me, generously subscribed by many of you. Should this beautiful window cause just a little extra colour to shine down upon this ancient place, I should gladly settle for that.

We are reminded here of our past, of the continuity of our national story and the virtues of resilience, ingenuity and tolerance which created it. I have been privileged to witness some of that history and, with the support of my family, rededicate myself to the service of our great country and its people now and in the years to come.





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segunda-feira, 20 de maio de 2013

Como se diz "Mandado de segurança" em inglês?




Devido à grande procura por termos relacionados à área de Direito, resolvi postar aqui, toda semana, pelo menos um termo dessa área do conhecimento. Para verificar todas as palavras relacionadas a essa postagem, coloque LAW DICTIONARY no campo de pesquisa aqui do blog.


Mandado de segurança, Injunction, em inglês, é o instituto de direito anglo-americano atual que mais se assemelha ao nosso mandado contra atos arbitrários de autoridades públicas, para proteger direito líquido e certo não coberto pelo Habeas Corpus.

mandamus tem o mesmo significado, mas entrou em desuso e foi substituído por Injunction ou por complaint in the nature of a mandamus.


Essa pesquisa foi feito pelo professor BRUNO CORIOLANO (curriculum). Se você gostou da postagem curta nossa página no Facebook.


 
Reference:

Mello, Maria Chaves de. Dicionário jurídico português-inglês – inglês-português- Portuguese-English, English-Portuguese – Law dictionary / Maria Chaves de Mello. 7a ed. – Rio de Janeiro: Elfos, ed. 1998.


In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here, and we would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so.



sábado, 18 de maio de 2013

No evil can happen to a good man.

Clique na imagem para ouvir o texto.



Evil

No evil can happen to a good man.

Plato

Vocabulary
  • evil - mal
  • happen - acontecer