A minha Lista de blogues

terça-feira, 30 de abril de 2013

Jazz Day



April 30 is the International day of Jazz. It was first celebrated in 2012 to raise awareness of the virtues of jazz. This music was born in New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. Its roots are African rhythms, European musical forms, and American gospel. Nowadays jazz has evolved into various styles all over the world.







Older post:
International Jazz Day (2012)




segunda-feira, 29 de abril de 2013

International Dance Day




International Dance Day was first introduced in 1982. It is held on 29 April as this is the birthdate of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), creator of modern ballet.




Margot Fonteyn (1919 - 1991), was an English ballet dancer, who was regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, Britain’s largest ballet company.



Margot Fonteyn was appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta (a very rare honour, reserved only for the most exceptional prima ballerinas), of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.



Margoy Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first performed together in Giselle, in 1962. She was thinking of retirement from ballet when she met Rudolf Nureyev who had fled from the Soviet Union. She was 42 and he was 24. 


Their performance was a great success. They created a partnership that lasted until her retirement in 1979 at age 60.




domingo, 28 de abril de 2013

Laurissilva de Pedro Vaz



Laurissilva é o título da exposição de pintura de Pedro Vaz na Galeria 111, em Lisboa.


Pedro Vaz- Laurissilva


As fotografias e os textos que acompanham a exposição foram gentilmente cedidos pela Galeria 111.

GALERIA 111
Campo Grande, 113
1700-089 Lisboa | Portugal
+351 21 797 74 18
info@111.pt
www.111.pt

George W. Bush´s Library

The current US president, Barack Obama, and all his living predecessors (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter) attended the opening of the George W. Bush´s Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, Texas, on April 25.


http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/

Several presidents have established their presidential libraries in their hometowns. The 13 Presidential Libraries are not libraries in the usual sense.They house vast archives of documents, records, artifacts and other presidential materials to the public for study and discussion.



http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/about/

The previously-established libraries saw more than 1.9 million visitors in 2012. The most popular museum last year was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, which saw more than 380,000 visitors. 


“A nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain judgment in creating their own future.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt, founder of the Presidential Library System
June 30, 1941

A Royal Visit to Harry Potter



On April 26, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry visited Warner Bros studios in London with children who have been helped by their Charities Forum.

http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/


sábado, 27 de abril de 2013

27th Appi Conference- Day 2



April 26 

9.am- Brian Tomlinson Looking out for English

Brian Tomlinson demonstrated that no classroom course can provide English to lead to sufficient acquisition. He started his presentation by telling a joke of an Irishman and an American as he always does to expose students to English.
 He also used stories and bloopers to activate the mind. 



EDU: Experience     Discovery     Use
Brian is the president of MATSDA (The Materials Development Association), which was founded in 1993 by him to bring together researchers, publishers, writers and teachers to work together towards the development of materials for the learning of English.

http://www.matsda.org.uk

In Portugal students can use the newspaper Portugal News. http://theportugalnews.com/



10.15-Hitomi Masuhara Want is the mother of invention
The presentation started with the image of a coin. It has two sides just like the word WANT, which can mean both Wish and Lack. Desire is the strongest motivation for students. Dr. Hitomi showed the EEE approach : Experience, Engage Empower giving examples of the three stages. She showed a resignation letter published recently by Time Magazine as an example of innovation (a resignation that is also an advertisement)





I

To The Management,


Border Force, Stansted:
Today is my 31st birthday, and having recently become a father I now realise have precious life is and how important it is to spend my time doing something that makes me, and other people, happy.
For that reason I hereby give notice of my resignation, in order that I may devote my time and energy to my family, and to my cake business which has grown steadily over the past few years.
I wish the organisation and my colleagues the best for the future and I remind you that, if you enjoy this cake, you can order more at www.mrcake.co.uk
Sincerely,
Chris Holmes
(Mr Cake)


She also read a poem:



THE BULLY ASLEEP

By John Walsh

One afternoon, when grassy
scents through the classroom crept,
Bill Craddock laid his head
down on his desk, and slept.

The children came round him;
Jimmy, Roger, and Jane;
they lifted his head timidly
and let it sink again.

'Look, he's gone sound asleep, Miss,'
said Jimmy Adair;
'He stays up all the night, you see;
his mother doesn't care.'

'Stand away from him, children.'
Miss Andrews stooped to see.
'Yes, he's asleep; go on
with your writing, and let him be.'

'Now's a good chance!' whispered Jimmy;
and he snatched Bill's pen and hid it.
'Kick him under the desk, hard;
he won't know who did it.

Fill all his pockets with rubbish --
paper, apple-cores, chalk.'
So they plotted, while Jane
sat wide-eyed at their talk.

Not caring, not hearing
Bill Craddock he slept on;
lips parted, eyes closed --
their cruelty gone.

'Stick him with pins!' muttered Roger.
'Ink down his neck!' said Jim.
But Jane, tearful and foolish,
wanted to comfort him.



11.45 – Chris RolandA Discipline Festival 2013
I like his definition of discipline: “ Discipline is when the teacher can dedicate an equal amount of time and attention to each student and no student steals anybody else´s teacher-time. 


http://www.chrisroland.net/



2.15- Rebecca l. Oxford- English teachers helping students become strategic and successful
Professor Rebecca Oxford talked about the importance of learning strategies (plans of action) to help students overcome barriers: cognitive, affective and socio-cultural strategies. 

3.15- Penny Ur- Making languages interesting
Penny Ur has written many books on English language teaching. She is an English teacher in Israel.

She presented several exercises that were interesting and fun.

5pm- Julie Dawes and Lucy Bravo- Box it! Browse- Collect- Organize- Share

The Cambridge tool box, a tailor-made training for teachers was presented. We only have to register. It is free!

http://www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org/







quarta-feira, 24 de abril de 2013

25 abril 1974





25 De ABRIL

Esta é a madrugada que eu esperava
O dia inicial inteiro e limpo
Onde emergimos da noite e do silêncio
E livres habitamos a substância do tempo


COM FÚRIA E RAIVA

Com fúria e raiva acuso o demagogo
E o seu capitalismo das palavras

Pois é preciso saber que a palavra é sagrada
Que de longe muito longe um povo a trouxe
E nela pôs a sua alma confiada

De longe muito longe desde o início
O homem soube de si pela palavra
E nomeou a pedra a flor a água
E tudo emergiu porque ele disse

Com fúria e raiva acuso o demagogo
Que se promove à sombra da palavra
E da palavra faz poder e jogo
E transforma as palavras em moeda
Como se fez com o trigo e com a terra






domingo, 21 de abril de 2013

Earth Day 2013



Entrosa, Boaventura - Madeira Island. 


Patagónia


Pico, Azores


                                                                  Península Valdés, Argentina


Margarita island 


Andes


South  Dartmouth, MA, USA

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd.


Alvor, Portugal


Caracas, Venezuela- a city surrounded by the Avila mountains


Cape Verde

It has been observed since 1970.


Santarém, Portugal


Guinea- Bissau


Los Roques, Venezuela

Earth Day was founded by the American senator Gaylord Nelson as a way of promoting environmental awareness.



Cap Skirring, Senegal



Madeira Island




Happy Earth Day 2013!


Fotografias:
Carlos Alberto Ferreira
Joana Teles Fazendeiro
Maria Teresa Relva

Idioms (4)



To be in the same boat.

This month’s idioms all involve transport. How many do you know?

idiom (n): an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made


To get on your bike.
To get moving or start doing something.
“You’d better get on your bike if you want to finish the project in time!”

To be in the same boat.
To be in the same situation (usually unpleasant) as other people.
“She's always complaining that she has too much work, but we're all in the same boat.”

To have a face like the back end of a bus.
To be really ugly.
"Quasimodo has a face like the back end of a bus, but he is really nice."

Drive someone up the wall.
To make someone extremely angry.
"My neighbours are driving me up the wall with their loud music."

Go off the rails.
To start behaving in a way that is not generally acceptable, especially dishonestly or illegally.
"Prince Harry has really gone of the rails recently."

To get the show on the road.
To begin an activity that has been planned.
"Let's get this show on the road."

Off the beaten track.
An unexplored area or a place where few people go.
"When I’m on holiday I like to get off the beaten track"

Train of thought.
The connections that link the various parts of an idea or argument together.
"I was trying to explain a maths principle, but I lost my train of thought and got confused."


© Clever Pants 2012

sábado, 20 de abril de 2013

Be safe, Boston!


                                              Newbury St , Boston



Yesterday, the teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., after a manhunt that left Boston, New England’s largest city, shut down as transit service was suspended all day. 

SWAT teams and Humvees rolled through residential streets. Military helicopters hovered overhead. Bomb squads were called to several locations. Classes at Harvard, M.I.T., Boston University and other area colleges were canceled. The Red Sox game at Fenway Park was postponed, as was a concert at Symphony Hall. Residents were urged to stay behind locked doors all day until shortly after 6 p.m. 





sexta-feira, 19 de abril de 2013

Riddles









Some clever riddles to test your mental







Can you match the questions and answers?


Q: What's black and white and makes a lot of noise?
Q: What dog can jump higher than a building?
Q: What has four legs but can't walk?
Q: Why did the boy take a pencil to bed?
Q: What are witches` favourite subject at school?


A: A chair!
A: Spelling!
A: Any dog, buildings can't jump!
A: A zebra with a drum kit!
A: To draw the curtains!




© Clever Pants 2012

www.clever-pants.com

Ring ring!


© Clever Pants 2012
www.clever-pants.com




This month the mobile phone turns 40!! We've brought you some amazing mobile phone facts which will surprise and amuse you. 






That first portable phone was called a DynaTAC. The original model had 35 minutes of battery life and weighed one kilogram.



The first smartphone was IBM's Simon, which debuted at the Wireless World Conference in 1993. It had an early LCD touchscreen and also functioned as an email device, electronic pager, calendar, address book and calculator. 


In September 2007, an Arizona-based firm marketed PetCell, a mobile phone for dogs with a built-in GPS satellite system, at $500.




The most prolific texters in the UK are 12 to 15 -year-olds, who send an average of 193 texts a week. In total, British texters sent more than 150bn messages in 2011.



Research shows that smartphone users spend an average of 12 minutes a day on phone calls. They spend more time playing games (14 minutes), listening to music (16 minutes), using social media ( 17 minutes) and browsing online (25 minutes). The most common use of all mobiles is to check the time. 



By the end of 2011, there were 78 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people in the developing world. In the developed world there were 122 subscriptions per 100 . 



© Clever Pants 2012

www.clever-pants.com






domingo, 14 de abril de 2013

O eucalipto




Ontem comecei a ler o livro Trinta árvores em discurso directo de António Bagão Félix com ilustrações de João Leal Pereira, publicado em Março 2013 pela Sextante Editora. É uma obra fascinante. Mostra o entusiasmo do autor pela botânica. Escolhe trinta árvores, caracteriza-as e aponta as respectivas ligações à literatura e à arte. Como o próprio título indica, elas são apresentadas na primeira pessoa, o que confere muita originalidade ao discurso, tornando-o mais próximo do leitor. Inclui-se ainda um quadro com árvores de interesse público em Portugal e um glossário da nomenclatura botânica.



Foi um prazer ver o eucalipto, essa árvore às vezes tão mal-amada, ser uma das escolhidas. 



O eucalipto 

O género inclui mais de 700 espécies, quase todas originárias da Austrália. No século XVIII foi objeto de estudo de naturalistas franceses, que o transportaram para França, onde iniciou o seu caminho na europa. Em Portugal os primeiros exemplares surgiram em meados do século XIX. Tolera terrenos húmidos e até encharcados, desde que não sejam excessivamente calcários, motivo pelo qual tem sido aproveitado para transformar charcos e pântanos em terrenos produtivos. 

O eucalipto é uma árvore de crescimento muito rápido, chega com facilidade aos 40 metros de altura, podendo atingir 70 ou mais metros. Se for cortado volta a rebentar de toiça* em mais do que uma vara. 



Convive sem problemas com pinheiros, sobreiros e muitas outras árvores. 









O seu fruto exala um perfume intenso e agradável, podendo ser usado para combater a traça. 




Tem uma importância económica relevante: utilização intensa na produção de pasta de celulose usada no fabrico de papel e, das glândulas das suas folhas, extrai-se o eucaliptol. Esta substância ajuda a combater a tosse, rouquidão, sinusite, sob a forma de xarope ou usa-se na composição de outros fármacos.
Serve de proteção contra alguns insetos e a queima da sua lenha desinfeta ambientes contaminados. A sua madeira foi também usada na construção naval, pelas suas características de incorruptibilidade, mesmo imersa. Na Austrália, também é utilizada para as travessas dos caminhos-de-ferro.


Um dos mais antigos instrumentos musicais de sopro, o didgeridoo, tocado em muitos rituais da cultura aborígene (os aborígenes eram os habitantes originais do continente australiano) é feito de eucalipto.


 E ainda, o conhecido coala, um dos vários animais marsupiais característicos da fauna australiana e atualmente dos mais representados em peluches para crianças, alimenta-se, quase de forma exclusiva, das suas folhas e mata a sede com o suco, que delas retira. 

Em Portugal há vários eucaliptos extraordinários, assinalados e protegidos sob legislação que lhes confere a proteção de árvores de interesse público.


O mais imponente é o eucalipto de Contige, com 130 anos, situado na estrada que liga Viseu a Sátão. 






*Toiça-porção remanescente do tronco de árvores, após corte, de onde surgem novos rebentos. 


sábado, 13 de abril de 2013

La Dolce Far Niente




Spring with a touch of summer


Today the sun shone all day (as promised)!




 See you tomorrow in


Monte das Pedras Pardas, Alentejo

April 13, 2013

quinta-feira, 11 de abril de 2013

Ouvir o silêncio a ler



O agrupamento de escolas Belém-Restelo participou hoje na atividade Ouvir o Silêncio a Ler, que consistiu em quinze minutos de leitura silenciosa nas salas de aula (entre as 10:15 e as 10:30h), uma homenagem simbólica aos livros, à leitura e à sua importância.
Escolhi o último livro de Alice Vieira: O Mundo de Enid Blyton.





Enid Blyton (1897-1968) foi uma escritora inglesa de livros infanto-juvenis. Publicou mais de 1070 obras incluindo antologias de contos, textos pedagógicos, crónicas em jornais e revistas, peças de teatro, anuários e almanaques. Contudo ficou conhecida sobretudo pela série de livros Os Cinco e Os Sete, que “devorei “ na minha adolescência e me abriam o apetite com todos aqueles lanches saborosos…



A escritora Alice Vieira visitou a nossa escola o ano passado quando estava ainda a trabalhar na biografia de Enid Blyton.