GENERATION X or GEN Xers

Although the changing between generations takes some years to happen effectively and there is no agreement on the start and end date to define generations,  the Gen X  is a generation born from early 1960s through early 1980s ( a little bit less or a little bit more). If compared to the Baby Boomers, this generation is much more heterogeneous concerning to religion, sexual orientation and more willing to change jobs. It is also the first generation to grow up with computers. They are often described as working to live rather than living to work as their parents used to. Members of Gen Xers are individualistic and according to TIME magazine, they described Xers in different ways on different times:

"They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial. They hate yuppies, hippies and druggies. They postpone marriage because they dread divorce. " (Time, 1990)

On April, 2012 we could read at the same TIME magazine

" Gen Xers are a lot more conscious about their food than their parents were — especially the men, who are cooking and shopping more and watching food TV as much as women".

Teachers playing in the garden

On a sunny and cold morning in July,after the first meeting of the semester, teachers have fun in the school garden. Watch the video by clicking in the link below.


http://animoto.com/play/7OxwGadKGyemTm3nbSdKGA#embed?utm_source=trigger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mp4_ready

BABY BOOMERS

Traits and characteristics 

Last Sunday, talking to a family friend about  labeling  generations by their age I decided to take a look  on the stuff. Some findings, starting from mine: the so called Baby Boomers. It´s useful to say that a generation, from this point of view, represents a group of people living in the same period, sharing values and attitudes which might be controversial since the length of time between the first and the last to be born can make all the difference.

Baby boomers/ Generation Jones

This refers to a person who was  born between 1946 to 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The oldest baby from that generation is now 66 years old and the youngest, 48. They were coined so, because of the incredibly high rates of  births  in that period. Men, at that time have returned home from war and started making children! The"Boomies”, as Canadian calls them, were a generation completely different from those who were born before, the Silent Generation. The Boomers grew up during a strong social and cultural change, redefining and transforming every single fact on their life comparing to their parents`: from access to education to family relationship and workforce participation. I came of age in the seventies and  my group of age is called “Generation Jones” and according to specialists on classifying this or that characteristic of a Generation,  they study attitudes, and the focus given on things on  the period. Taking into account what they say I may consider myself a "boomer stuck in the middle", that is, not engaged in ideological battles. By the way ,I was playing " Kings and princesses" and  my Dad passed away at that time.  I have heard about Vietnam after it was over, missed Woodstock and the protests from the sixties and had my visa denied in the seventies, during the Watergate scandal, more precisely when Richard Nixon renounced as president. By the way, President Obama and his wife may be considered part of this group. The concepts of workaholic, superwomen, less ideological and more pragmatic came with this generation. According to  msnbc.com  “ Generation Jones…In the tech world, Jonesers are known as the “early adapters,” the ones with the knowledge and the cash to jump on the latest tech trends”. Am I? 

http://www.history.com/topics/baby-boomershttp://www.history.com/topics/baby-boomers

http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/babyboom.htm

http://www.newswise.com/articles/defining-an-aging-baby-boom-generation

Philosophy for Old Age by George Carlin

SWEET MEMORIES

FAMILY RECIPE

      I have made my own personal cookbook. It´s a kind of scrapbooking with pictures of my family´s favorite recipes, and my first intention on doing it was passing on family traditions and keeping them alive through it. And then, after a time I found out that I could keep it virtually and stopped using so expensive papers because scrapbooking papers are very, very expensive.

  Well, turning back to my book I´ve just found on it what we call in Portuguese “ Sonhos” or  “Dreams” in English. But our “ dreams” are quite different from the ones we can find in São Paulo State open and filled with vanilla cream. Ours are closed and filled with guava jam.  The recipe comes from my hometown in Paraná State.

Donana or Dona Donana, as children used to call her, was the woman who used to sell her dreams on a big straw basket . Ours are closed and filled with guava jam.  The recipe comes from my hometown in Paraná State.

Donana or Dona Donana, as children used to call her, was the woman who used to sell her dreams on a big straw basket covered with the cleanest and whitest dish cloth I have ever seen.

And the recipe goes like this:

Ingredients

45 grams of yeast

1 coffee spoon salt

 3 cups warm milk ( almost cold)

3 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoon of butter

3 eggs

750  grams of flour

1. In a small bowl, add the yeast and the salt. Stir until is dissolved. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl,   add the warm milk, the flour, the butter, the slighted beaten eggs and the yeast. Mix it all together and knead the dough  in a clean and dry well-floured surface until it becomes smooth and satiny.( This should take about 10 minutes).  Let it rest for 30 minutes or until it doubles its size.
3. Stretch small amounts of dough into shape leaving a hole in the middle, fill it with guava jam and press it to close it.
4. Heat the vegetable oil and fry them ( not more than 3 or 4 at a time) until you get golden brown color on both sides. Quickly drain to any excess oil and immediately roll them in the white sugar. Serve while warm and enjoy.

The family secret: Add a small smashed potato while kneading the dough.

The role-playing: I´ve asked my husband to make this recipe on Mother´s Day.

JUST ONE MINUTE

VIDEO OF THE PROJECT  I HAVE PROMISED. (THIS ONE IS FROM THE SIXTIES AND BEATLES WAS THEIR CHOICE) 1C/2012

The girls from the nineties and Lídia with her kaleidoscope eyes...

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE II

 GEORGE CARLIN CONT.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England .

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, 

And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,
What do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English

Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

We ship by truck but send cargo by ship...
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing..........

If Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop???

JUST ONE MINUTE

Here are some pics of the Project "JUST ONE MINUTE" mentioned below.
Today´s presentation was awesome. I can say that the students did the lesson today. Wired, visual, active... with their clicks, links and communities.... This makes me reflect on which direction we are going...
Some of the questions are in this video and in  the article referred on the video: digital natives and digital immigrants. But what are the answers to the questions??????????????????????

    I promise to post the links to their works as soon as I get them.

                                                                                                    hugs
                                                                                                            Laís

NEW TOOLS

TOY

A NEW TOY FOR MY SUNDAY AT HOME. Follow the link:


http://gobarbra.com/hit/new-3efee29a8f5c3bae5ea554d1c7b87be2

VISUAL ART MOVIE

NO SCRIPT, NO ACTORS, BUT IMAGES AND SONGS. A SPIRITUAL MOVIE.

 It´s not a movie to work with all the classes we have , it´s just for those  whose students  already know movies from a different and sensitive perspective. One can work with a Review, for example, or even with the emotions it brings, using adjetives to describe them. From a different point of view the directors Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson have produced "A MAGIC JOURNEY” through cultures. Take a look at the trailer and have a nice journey.

This outstanding movie brings to our minds the singularity of  civilization, customs and sensations. For me, a kind of therapy. For the students, reflexion and humanity.They would  research the cultures showed on the movies and this is important to broaden their cultural universe.
The opinions are controversial among the students, and it´s a kind of movie they don´t use to watch for the obvious: it doesn´t have the “Hollywoodian recipe”.
 The images include: a solar eclipse, Buddhist monks, Brazilian slums, Auschwitz, African tribal rituals and much more.

Filmed in 24 countries´´

Samsara is Ron´s 2011 follow-up to Baraka.  The release of Samsara will be in August 2012

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The English Plural according to....

The comedian in a 1975 promotional photo for NBC's Saturday Night Live

NBC / AP

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1817192,00.html#ixzz1xnqUmpDG

George Carlin

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and there would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Valentines Day: History of Valentine's Day

WHERE WOULD YOU PASS YOUR  VALENTINE´S DAY IF YOU COULD?

I would easily  go to a place like that today: http://www.baixaki.com.br/papel-de-parede/16568-vale-linha-viena-rio-grande-do-sul.htm

 More than big cities, shopping centers and too much civilization I love the countryside with its mountainous and beautiful landscapes. I would choose a place to sit down, after walking around of course, place a picnic blanket and lay down on the grass….There would be some fruit, bread, cheese, wine and music… ALL RIGHT, LET´S GO TO THE TOPIC.  Let´s watch to the video about Valentine´s Day in history.

GREAT LINKS - PART I

   HI FOLKS,  here you can find some great links to inspire the use and learning of the English language.

LISTENING/ SPEAKING/ READING/ WRITING/ENTERTAINMENT

http://www.ivona.com/us/

The best site on Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology. Excellent to check (or learn) pronunciation of texts in several languages, including English. HIGH QUALITY.

At http://www.ivona.com/us/news/ 

 One can find talking cards to insert your own messages.

www.gobarbra.com 

Techno music to insert  voice words. COOL!

http://www.eslnotes.com/synopses.html

Topics for discussion and Plot Summary, from many movies.  The dialogs contains a lot of useful, colloquial English. Loved it.

http://www.kimaronson.com/

Kim Aronson video production with samples of video he produces. Some of them with subtitles.

http://www.eslcafe.com/

A very famous site with lots of stuff for teachers and students.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com

Top  speeches ( Texts and video ) of the most famous speeches from movies and politicians. ( Martin Luther King, Citizen Kane, Nash in A Beautiful Mind….) 

http://anascatena.blogspot.com.br/

Ana gives excellent tips on vocabulary, TOEFL, English for traveling, among other things. I had the opportunity to watch one of her lectures in São Carlos years ago ( (actually, many!) She´s a great speecher.

http://www.teclasap.com.br/blog/

Idiomatic Expressions, common mistakes, humor, translated jokes and so on.

http://pt.englishcentral.com/home

Indicated by Elizabeth Pow, an interesting site to practice speeches after watching to  a small video with subtitles. After speaking, you will get a grade. Search for “videos”. There are more than one thousand, including Steve Jobs, Angelina Jolie, History of Superman, Ads, trailers, interviews and the latest news.

http://playingforchange.com/
Dedicated to link the world through music in communities around the world. The foundation works in the poorest villages providing  peace and change to people´s life. Watch to the videos and fall in love with the project ( Roger Ridley  and Grandpa Elliott, very talented street musicians are my favorite ones).

http://www.lyricstraining.com/ 
For learning pronunciation or just entertainment. An easy method to practice oral comprehension. Coose the song and the level you want and just fill in the blanks with what you hear. At the end you will get a grade. Try it.

http://www.englishexperts.com.br/
Very famous site where you can find much on tips, forum, chat and the blog itself, where you can find a new article everyday.

http://9gag.com
THIS ONE WAS SUGGESTED BY MY STUDENTS. JUST TAKE A LOOK ON IT IF YOU LIKE COMICS AND CARTOONS.

American Accent - "heel" or "hill"? Pronunciation of English vowels

LONG LIVE THE BLUES

  PROJECT   “BLACKS WHITES AND THE BLUES”

Professores responsáveis: Eliane ( LPL)  Laís (INGLÊS) e Richard (ARTES)

Trabalho solicitado aos alunos das primeiras séries do Ensino Médio sobre  “BLUES” e elaboração de Portfólio  e de blog, com os resultados da pesquisa.

Após a  aula de apresentação  sobre a  constituição de um portfólio, foram sugeridos aos alunos  das primeiras séries do Ensino Médio, sub-temas da pesquisa da HISTÓRIA DO BLUES.
*   Gêneros/estilos ( Delta, Chicago, Dallas, Britânico, Nacional etc)
*  a transição do Blues acústico para o elétrico
*  a influência do Blues em outros gêneros musicais ( Rock, Jazz, Pop...), além de projeção e indicação de filmes e documentários que abordam o assunto.

Obs. O Portfólio deve ser escrito em inglês e comentado em português, evidenciando o entendimento dos textos, bem como as reflexões de todos os  integrantes do grupo.

                            Resultados do Trabalho ( algumas imagens da edição 2011 do projeto)

                                  
                                WE WERE VERY PROUD OF THE STUDENTS´WORKS

                                 
                                          EXHIBITION TO THE OTHER STUDENTS

                                      

                                                   PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

                                        

   
                                      SOME  WEBBLOGS DEVELOPED BY THE GROUPS

 (Sorry guys, I couldn´t find all the blogs and  I couldn´t post all the 200 pics as I wish)

http://blackwhiteandtheblues.tumblr.com

musicalliberty.tumblr.com

icanseetheblues.tumblr.com

http://bluesspirit.tumblr.com

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

Dear All!

In this video, Charles, the British guy, is testing his American friend Michael on his understanding of  ENGLISSSSH.

 HOPE YOU LIKE IT. 

BILLY COLLINS AND HIS ANIMATED POETRY

This is a very interesting poem  by Billy Collins. He was selected as the New York State Poet for 2004-2006. Billy Collins has been called the most popular poet in America still  alive and has won many prizes....I´m here imagining what would happen if I showed this animation to my students and asked them to write a little poem and make an animation... Bet they would give their all...

One can find more of Billy Collins on You Tube or at the good site on poetry below:

http://www.poemhunter.com/billy-collins/

I hope you like it.

English Pronunciation - vowel changes in stressed and unstressed syllables

A VERY GOOD VIDEO FOR PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE

ADELE

Some from the site http://www.lyricstraining.com/index.php I have mentioned before. I´ve chosen Adele mainly because I can feel passion when she sings: passion on the lyrics and passion on singing...and what a voice she has! How about  a Karaoke on a sunny Sunday? Or maybe some practice on listening chosing among easy, medium and expert? Have a lovely weekend you all.