There is a super hero in all of us!

This summer we have got an invasion of films based on comic books. First was Thor and we didn’t have to wait long for the new X-Man. Next in line are Green Lantern and Captain America. Take some superpower back to class and get your students to transfer into super heroes and creative comic book writers.

Super Hero Squad is a website where you can find material for more that one lesson.

http://marvelkids.marvel.com/shows/122/the_super_hero_squad_show

In The Squad section you can find heroes and villains each with a short description. Students work in small groups and go through the characters, choose their favorite ones, then they try to convince the other groups that their pair of characters have the best powers, qualities and deserve a movie. You can also run a contest where students decide on the best hero and villain character. As homework students create their own heroes and villains and write a short description of them.

In Videos you can watch various episodes and clips of comic cartoons. It could be a great listening comprehension activity where you prepare questions for students and they watch a cartoon and answer them. You could also play part of the cartoon and ask them what happens next. Students watch and check their predictions. You play the video and stop it before it ends and ask students what happens.

In Comics you can find the comic of the day as well as browse the archive. It could be a fun reading activity. You can also do some vocabulary and grammar. I am sure that all of the students by now will have loads of ideas to create their own comic. They can do it in the same section at the bottom of the screen. There is an option of creating a comic strip or a comic book! You choose the style, characters, objects, dialogue and finish with sounds effects. Then, you can download it or print it.

I hope you and your students will have fun!

Source: http://www.blendedmec.com/top-tips/there-is-a-super-hero-in-all-of-us

Student who obtained 0% on an exam.

Student who obtained 0% on an exam (Part1)

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?

R1. His last battle.

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?

R2. at the bottom of the page.

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?

R3. liquid.

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?

R4. Marriage.

Q5. What is the main reason for failure?

R5. Exams.

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?

R6. Lunch & dinner.

-----------------------

Vocabulary Help

battle - batalha

bottom - parte de baixo

breakfast - café da manhã

dinner - jantar

eat (eat, ate, eaten) - comer

failure - fracasso

flow - fluir

last - última

lunch - almoço

main reason - principal razão

marriage - casamento

never - nunca

sign - assinar

state - estado

Q7. What looks like half an apple?

R7. The other half.

Student who obtained 0% on an exam (Part2)

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?

R8. Wet.

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?

R9. No problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?

R10. You will never find an elephant that has only one hand...

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?

R11. Very large hands!

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?

R12. No time at all, the wall is already built by eight guys.

Q13. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

R13. Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

--------------------------------

Vocabulary Help

already - já

any way you want - como você quiser, de qualquer jeito que você quiser

apple - maça

at night - de noite

become - tornar-se

blue - azul

build (build, built, built) - construir

crack - rachar

drop - deixar cair

floor - chão

half - metade

hand - mão

hard - difícil, duro

how long - quanto tempo

lift - levantar

looks like - parece-se com

never - nunca

no time at all - tempo nenhum

red - vermelho

sea - mar

sleep (sleep, slept, slept) - dormir

stone - pedra

take (take, took, taken) ten hours - levar dez horas, gastar dez horas

throw (thrown, threw, thrown) - jogar, arremessar

wall - parede

wet - molhado

without - sem

ATIVIDADES DESENVOLVIDAS EM SALA DE AULA.

Por Bruno Coriolano de Almeida COSTA

Todos que são professores de “Inglês como Língua Estrangeira” sabem o quão difícil pode ser fazer com que os alunos se engajem em atividades que envolvem movimentos (exceção para alunos cinestésicos) e uma exposição um pouco maior envolvendo o uso da língua-alvo, nesse caso o inglês. Muitos fatores podem interferir na prática desse tipo de atividade como a timidez e o medo de cometer erros; o cansaço devido a mais um longo dia de trabalho, causando assim a indisposição na aula.

Nessa postagem, decidi colocar uma atividade feita em sala de aula com meus alunos do nível II (elementary). Aqui optei por fazer o uso de mímicas para praticar o uso do “can” e “can’t” para habilidades em inglês.

Justifico o uso desse recurso recorrendo ao pensamento de Holden e Rogers (2001, p. 99):

A mímica – ação sem palavras – pode também ser usada nas aulas de língua estrangeira, desde que os alunos gostem da brincadeira. Pode ser adequada a atividades de adivinhação: um aluno faz uma mímica de uma pessoa ou de uma ação, e os outros têm de adivinhar quem é a pessoa imitada ou o que está fazendo, usando perguntas que tenham como resposta apenas “sim” ou “não”.

No caso desse vídeo, nós fizemos uma adaptação para o uso do “can” e do “can’t” para habilidades. Os alunos tinham que estourar um balão e fazer a mímica da sentença que estava dentro de cada bexiga. A atividade durou cerca de cinco minutos e foi muito divertida e simples de se fazer.

O professor pode trabalhar as ações (habilidades) que os alunos vão ter que imitar antes da atividade ou em uma aula anterior. Como os alunos já haviam estudado anteriormente no livro didático, nós utilizamos alguns instantes da aula apenas para explicar a atividade e fazê-la.

EXEMPLOS DE SENTENÇAS:

I can play basketball.

I can dance.

I can ride a horse.

I can play chess.

I can play the piano.

I can speak Japanese.

Existe a opção também de colocar as frases na forma negativa (I can’t play basketball, I can’t dance). Depois pedir para os alunos transformarem em perguntas (Can you play basketball?; Can you dance?...).  

The most effective learning is not an isolated but a highly socialized activity where the learner is engaged in a constant process of negotiation with himself, in the sense of what he already knows, and with others, in the sense of sharing knowledge, and with the subject matter, in the sense of what it is that has to be learned. (Candlin & Edelhoff, 1982)

REFERENCIAS

HOLDEN, Susan e ROGERS, Mickey. O ensino de língua inglesa. São Paulo: SBS, 2001.

ESSA POSTAGEM FOI DEDICADA À

Carla Carolina Cerqueira Da Costa (because she can ride a horse);

Cristian Fonseca Kitayama (because he can speak Japanese, run, and draw);

Eldisberg Cesar De Freitas (because he can speak Spanish);

Geison Sanderson Moraes De Lira (because he can play chess and the piano);

Kallio Luiz Duarte Gameleira (because he can swim);

Maria Margarida Carlos (because she can dance);

Raissa De Carvalho Gurgel (because she can play the guitar).

Nossa proposta é levar conhecimento a todos os interessados em aprender e aperfeiçoar suas habilidades referentes à Língua Inglesa. Podem contar com o PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA.

Se você gostou dessa postagem, poderá gostar das opções que aparecem aqui logo abaixo. Deixem suas sugestões ou críticas. Ajudem-nos a fazer um blog melhor. Em breve, teremos mais novidades para nossos leitores. Aguardem. 

[NEWS] Universities around the world prepare to welcome an influx of Brazilian students

14 October 2011

[The Brazilian government hopes to improve the country's knowledge base in key scientific disciplines]

Ned Stafford/Hamburg, Germany 

Universities in Germany, the US, the UK and other nations are preparing for an influx of tens of thousands of Brazilian students, doctoral candidates and post-docs in the next three years. The students will start arriving in January as part of Brazil's new Science Without Borders programme.

The goal of the programme is to more than quadruple the number of Brazilians studying abroad to 75,000 by 2014. The plan is to place them at leading universities in fields of strategic national importance to Brazil, whose economy is booming but lacks sufficient scientific and technological knowhow.

About 35,000 of the 75,000 participants awarded scholarships will be placed in the US, 10,000 in the UK, 10,000 in Germany and 5000 in France, according to Emerson Willer of Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), one of the two groups coordinating the programme, which was announced in August.

Willer tells Chemistry World that the remaining 15,000 will go to institutes in Asia and other countries in the Americas and Europe. The total cost of the programme will be R$3.16 billion (£1.13 billion).

The government foresees about 35,000 of the programme's slots being held by doctoral candidates and about 8900 by post-docs, Willer says, adding that Brazilians sent abroad must be go into engineering, 'pure sciences', such as chemistry, physics and mathematics, or biosciences and health research. Chemistry related fields being targeted as strategically important include nanotechnology, new materials, pharmaceuticals, traditional energy generation and renewable energies.

Brazil has also put in place measures to try to avoid a brain drain. 'The students need to return to Brazil for the same period of time that they stay abroad,' Willer says.

Jutta Steffen of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which is handling the placement of Science Without Borders students in Germany, says that interest in the scheme is strong, with about 70 universities in contact with DAAD as potential hosts. 'Students from Brazil are considered to be valuable contributors for the internationalisation of German universities,' she says.

In 2010, only 2561 Brazilians enrolled at German universities or advanced technical schools - just over 1 per cent of the foreign student total. The new students will have access to undergraduate or graduate programmes, but will not be 'aiming towards a BA or MA degree in Germany,' she says.

Sharon Witherell of the New York City based Institute of International Education (IIE), which is handling US placements, says the first round of applications from Brazil are now pouring in. 'We have seen a high level of interest from the US institutions,' she says, adding that colleges and universities want to expand 'their global reach and activities, especially in Latin America and Brazil in particular'. She expects more than 100 institutions to host participating Brazilian students.

In the 2009-10 academic year, 8786 students from Brazil attended US colleges and universities out of a total of 690,923 foreign students, she says. More than 128,000 Chinese students came to US institutes and 105,000 from India. 

source: Chemistry World.