Advantages of taking an INTENSIVE COURSE

Hey citizens of the world!

I'm here today to talk about the benefits of taking an intensive course. As the name says, it's a very fast and dynamic course. It's extremely challenging and some may find it a little too much. What I think about it, though, that all the hectic pace of this kind of courses is well worth the trouble, as it comprises a great number of classes within a very short period.

I recommend the intensive course as a teacher and as a student. I have already been on both sides of the table, studying Spanish, German or French and teaching the most diverse courses in English.

For those students who are really willing to dedicate themselves towards learning a new language within 3 weeks, I say you should accept this challenge. You should not miss ANY classes, though. Not missing classes during an intensive course is a crucial requirement. The student should also do his/her best to do the little homework he/she is required. And last, the student should be prepared to get out of the classroom thinking in English, even when he/she reaches home! Another "side effect" of the intensive course is to dream in the language you're studying.

Well, as you can perceive, I can only see advantages in taking an intensive course.

In this crazy and nonstop world we live today, who wouldn't be willing to sacrifice themselves for 3 and a half weeks to learn the contents given during one semester?

For more info. about intensive courses, send an e-mail to barao@havad.com.br

There's a new intensive course starting next Wednesday, the 2nd of Feb.

Hope to see some of you around there!

Flooding in Brazil

Hey citizens of the world! Today we have a very important contribution from teacher Bruno Costa. He wrote this very precise article about the sad flooding events which have been occurring in Brazil.

"In the recent weeks, the state of Rio de Janeiro has been the scene of a tragedy of unseen proportions in Brazilian history. More then 600 people have died in the flood that devastated up to 7 cities, leaving behind desperate families, civil and economic instability and the cost of millions to public funds. Meanwhile, in the news, one can also here from disastrous raining in Queensland, Australia. In terms of natural turmoil, the two events are quite similar. But similarities end when the events are seen through their social consequences. There is no doubt that a maximum of 50 deaths yet in the Australian flooding is not the same as 600 casualties, increasing day by day, down here in Brazil.

When Mother-nature strikes hard, human and material loss is inevitable. But responsible planning, care and attention from civil authorities can minimize this loss and prepare people for the bad times do come. With such efforts, these people surely would not be in a worse situation then what they are passing now. And since year by year numbers related to flood damage in Brazil have gone rocket high, perhaps facts are showing us that to treat this solemnly as a well-known and intermittent problem will not due. After all, behind these numbers, there are real people."

by teacher Bruno Costa

Philosopher and Graduate student at the Education Department- UNICAMP.

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Thank you, Bruno!

Here are some links from some international news about the flooding:

This page shows all of the recent news (Time.com)about the flooding and mudslides:

http://search.time.com/results.html?N=0&Nty=1&Ntt=brazil&x=0&y=0&p=0&cmd=tags&srchCat=Full+Archive

NYTimes:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/americas/17brazil.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=brazil&st=cse

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/school_report/9363900.stm

Al Jazeera:http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/20111140122621565.html

The Mainichi Daily News (Japan):

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/archive/news/2011/01/13/20110113p2g00m0in063000c.html

English as a global language

Hey citizens of the world, happy 2011!

To celebrate the new year, I'd like to talk about English as a global language.

It's extremely interesting what's happening with English these days, as the world's lingua franca.

For the very first time, a language has been spreading regardless of territory.

What I mean is, people from all over the world have been using English sponteneously among their native language. I was reading a fashion magazine in Portuguese last week and the number of expressions in English, being used so naturally among the articles is amazing!

For instance, I was reading this short essay:

"Você pode utilizar qualquer uma das cores, whatever works."

Another reccurrent expressions was "out", "a must-have".

So, this was a fashion magazine.

But we can all observe that the same thing is happening with other magazines too, academic journals, newspapers. It is also curious to observe that foreign words are being incorporated in English as a global language. A good example of this is the the word "favela", which I have previously posted: http://englishhavad.blogspot.com/2010/11/favela-in-english-is-favela.html

Other examples are vuvuzela, sushi, confetti, among thousands of others.

The good news is that with so many resources available on the internet, we can all get acquainted with new expressions and improve our English quickly and interestingly.

So, here again, the link from some of my favorite websites: http://englishhavad.blogspot.com/2010/05/purpose-of-this-blog.html

I wish you all a fantastic year!