Different and cool profiles

It is amazing how people choose their own ways of learning a foreign language. I really look up to my student Giu even though she is not very interested in taking notes in class or getting involved in classroom activities. But she is really into movies and she has seen all the titles you can imagine. She is also an avid reader and through these two hobbies I can see how she each day becomes a good communicator in Portuguese and English. I just pray and hope that my 4 year old daughter will somehow follow the steps of Art, looking for information, insights and knowledge!!! Way to go Giuliana, you have a great future ahead of you!!!! And that is why we, teachers and parents, should be tuned and focused on our children in order to offer them our very best, brainstorming and exchanging relevant information. To wrap this up I would like to share with you guys a really cool link that gives you all the news about movies that are just coming out, I mean, if you enjoy movies as much as we do!
http://www.hollywood.com

Classroom gifts

I`ve been teaching English for 20 years, I got started when I was 17 and I truly believe there is no activity as magic and rewarding as being a teacher, sharing with whoever crosses your path what you have learned so far. Each day you face something difficult as far as interaction goes, no matter how hard and carefully you planned your lessons. But with all the ups and downs you see magic in your student`s eyes, having fun learning a foreign language and interacting with others. And each day I see or feel something special in my students` behavior, I feel gifted for being a teacher and for being able to interact, learn and share what I have learned in life, communicating in a foreign language. The last couple of weeks I was deeply touched by my students Ivie ( a fresman in High School) and her brother Lucas ( a 7th grader). Of course they belong to two different classes and levels in my English School and they touched my heart through different paths. The first one was fully engaged in a listening task, figuring out new expressions we had highlighted before in conversation practice and her brother touched my heart through his pro social behavior during the movie The Perfect Man. I usually pick up expressions I have been teaching my students in conversation ( chunks of language) and write a list for them to analyse the context such expressions are being used and my students are supposed to write down in parentheses if it was a man or a woman who said them. They enjoy the ride and can actually see whatever they have been learning during conversation practice coming out of the mouth of their favorite actor or actress. My student Lucas arrived a little bit late for the movie, but engaged himself in the process very quickly, asking his friend to help him out with the ones he had missed and at the same time asked his friend for a pencil. The way he said thank you was really impressive, it came from the heart and he showed a wonderful prosocial behavior in the classroom. And with a world full of unpolite and uninterested kids, it made me wonder if these two are special in the classroom because they were raised by the same Mom, with the same studying and politeness rules or because some are born great and they just go for it, avid for more knowledge and interaction? Either way, I'm very happy to have these two around and I remember the motivation on their faces each time I'm planning something for my classes. So I'm the one who says THANK YOU now!

Reiki

Just for today, do not worry.
Just for today, do not anger.
Honor your parents, teachers and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude and love to everyhting. ( Mikao Usui)
htpp://www.reiki.org/FAQ/WhatIsReiki.html