Vantagens e desvantagens de fazer intercâmbio

Bom, gente, resolvi fazer este post em Português para que todos pudessem entender bem minhas considerações sobre o assunto, apesar de eu já ser professora de Inglês há muitos anos, de já ter 34 anos e de ter ficado somente duas semanas nos Estados Unidos, mais especificamente em San Francisco, Califórnia. Por isso, quero que vocês considerem todos esses aspectos, embora eu mencione tudo o que vi por lá em termos de idade, aproveitamento, etc.
Em primeiro lugar, mesmo que não seja você, mas sim seus pais os responsáveis pela contratação do curso, é bom pesquisar antes de fechar com a primeira agência que lhe oferece um cafezinho e joga uma conversa mole. Os preços não variam tanto assim, mas é bom considerar todos os serviços e taxas da agência/escola. E saber bem seu objetivo: trabalhar, estudar meio período ou integral, curso de férias, etc.
No meu caso, escolhi a agência C.I (Central de Intercâmbio), que tem filiais em alguns estados do Brasil. Escolhi essa agência não só pelo preço, mas porque só eles me prometiam certificado (apenas presencial), mesmo com 2 semanas de curso. Eles foram bem legais e atenciosos antes e durante a viagem. Só tenho 2 reclamações a fazer: o preço da passagem aérea (comprei com eles 6 meses antes) ficou um pouco mais caro por causa da comissão e o fato de eles terem me dado um chip para celular 3G que simplesmente NÃO funcionou lá, nem colocando crédito. Me disseram que o cartão telefônico seria bem útil, mas acabei devolvendo o meu porque todos usavam celular por lá e isso me deixou completamente desnorteada por alguns dias, até eu comprar o meu lá.
Bom, escolhi uma escola muito boa, a Kaplan, que tem unidades em vários países e em vários estados nos EUA. O pessoal lá foi muito atencioso, me chamavam pelo nome, organizavam passeios e estavam sempre dispostos a ajudar, fora as instalações, os professores, a limpeza e a localização (perto do centro e de vários restaurantes e linhas de transporte público). Você paga $40 pelo livro e pode ficar com ele ou devolvê-lo (em bom estado) no fim do curso e pegar seu dinheiro de volta. Não usei o livro um só dia, pois meu professor era muito dinâmico e sempre levava muitas coisas diferentes. Mesmo tendo ido para o último nível, acho que aprendi bastante e aproveitei sim o curso e as aulas. Recomendo a Kaplan!
Bem, em termos de gastos, se você vai para os EUA para ficar 2 semanas em casa de família, vai gastar mais ou menos  R$ 7.000 (reais mesmo) com curso, acomodação (meia pensão, isto é, café da manhã e jantar) e passagem. Bom para juntar turismo e estudo! E o ideal seria levar no mínimo $1.500 (dólares), isso se você não for muito consumista. Em S.F, por exemplo, apesar de ser uma cidade cara, muitos passeios são gratuitos ou baratos, mas se gosta de comer bem (pois só fast food sai barato) e gastar em compras, é bom levar mais, já que os EUA são um paraíso para compras, pois roupas e produtos de beleza são bem baratos mesmo, além de diferentes. Se quiser viajar para outras cidades, é preciso mais dinheiro também, obviamente!
Sobre ficar mais tempo, sendo mais jovem, com pouco domínio de Inglês e bancado pelos pais, meu conselho é: aproveite e faça jus ao dinheiro deles não faltando às aulas, conversando com as pessoas ao máximo e sugando tudo que puder em termos culturais, porque vale a pena sim! Agora é bom ter em mente que, se seu Inglês não for muito bom, melhor ir para Miami ou Nova York, pois lá tem mais Brasileiros e Latinos que possam lhe ajudar caso necessite, pois em SF os Americanos só falam Inglês mesmo! Somente Hispânicos falavam Espanhol por lá... Eu passei por alguns apuros dos quais só me safei porque sabia muito bem Inglês: tive que remarcar meu voo que foi cancelado, minha mala demorou 5 dias para chegar e me perdi bastante na cidade (por isso é bom ter SEMPRE um mapa, Google Maps ou GPS). Smart Phone é essencial por lá, já que a maioria dos estabelecimentos tem wifi gratuita e shoppings e aeroportos tem estações para carregar celulares (ah, detalhe, leve um adaptador, caso seu carregador seja modelo Brasileiro!). 
É bom estar atento ao clima, pois embora seja verão para eles, na Califórnia, por exemplo (tomando SF como base), venta muito e não faz mais que 16 graus, mesmo com sol! Somente em Miami, no Texas, no Arizona e em algumas outras regiões faz mais calor.
Sobre ficar em casa de família ou em residência estudantil: claro que sai mais barato ficar em casa de família, cerca de 40%, já que 2 refeições estão inclusas, mas na casa de família você pode estar longe da escola (graças a Deus não foi meu caso!), comer mal, dormir em lugar ruim e ter restrições com banho, privacidade, horários, etc. Na residência, você tem que cozinhar em uma cozinha coletiva e o banheiro é coletivo também (a ducha não, só o banheiro!), mas os quartos são bons e confortáveis. Aí é analisar as condições e escolher a opção que se encaixe em seu bolso e satisfaça suas necessidades! Apesar do choque cultural e das dificuldades que possam aparecer (elas SEMPRE existirão, de um jeito ou de outro...), vale muito a pena não só para o currículo, mas para o crescimento e amadurecimento pessoal. O jeito e meter as caras mesmo e perder a vergonha, senão passa fome!

How do you say...? Interesting words Brazilian speakers should know in English

*Abacaxi/ pepino: a hot potato, a tough nut to crack, a big problem

Don´t buy that old car! In a few months you may have a hot potato in your hands.

*Abobrinha: baloney, nonsense, rubbish (UK), stupid ideas

Most of the things she says is baloney, don´t take her seriously.

*Amigo secreto: Secret Santa

I hope his Secret Santa is me because he always buys nice gifts.

*Antenado: well-informed, alert, plugged into something.

Anyone who´s plugged into new teachnologies is eager to have the most updated gadgets.

*Bambambã: bigshot, expert, a whiz

My Japanese friend is a math whiz.

His boss is a big shot: he owns most Latin American branches of the company.

*Bater na mesma tecla: to harp on the same thing, to repeat the same thing over and over

"Doctors never stop harping on about the importance of the regular check-up."

*(Da) Boca prá fora: to (just) say something

If she keeps saying she´s gonna do something about it, I think she means it. She´s not just saying it.

*(Ser) Cara-de-pau: (to have the) nerve (to do something)

I barely know the guy and he kept asking me personal questions! What a nerve!

*Comer o pão que o diabo amassou/passar por maus bocados: to suffer severe hardships, to go through a rough path

Anyone who´d been through a rough path/ suffered a severe hardship comes a bit humbler out of it.

*Cricri: nitpicker, picky

All employees complain about the new manager saying he´s a nitpicker.

*Engolir sapos: to swallow insults

I´m sick and tired of swallowing insults and I´ll not put up with them anymore!

*(Ser) Farinha do mesmo saco: (to be like) two peas in a pod

You and your brother are so alike! Actually you´re like two peas in a pod.

*Fechar com chave de ouro: to bring to a perfect end, to finish off or conclude something perfectly

The band finished off the concert perfectly when they played my favorite song.

*Folgado: freeloader (the annoying one), roomy (the one that takes up a lot of space), a slacker (Am) /a shirker (Br-one who doesn´t like to work)

Her husband is real shirker. He´s unemployed and he´s not making any effort to get a job.

*Fulano: what´s his/her name

What´s his name was here yesterday looking for you.

*Fulano, sicrano e beltrano: Tom, Dick and Harry

"He argued with Tom, Dick and Harry".

*Gota d´água: the last straw

Their relationship was already going bad, but when she found out about her boyfriend´s affair, that was the last straw.

*(Levar) jeito (com): to have a way with something

Babysitters need to have a way with kids.

*"Laranja": stooge (an intermediary who uses his name in corrupt transactions)

"The ex-governor is the real owner of the company and Ferreira is his stooge".

*Cada macaco no seu galho: each one to his trade

I don´t give you opinions in your job and you shouldn´t interfere in mine. Each one to his trade.

*Macaco velho: an old hand

My mechanic always knows exactly what´s wrong with my car. He´s an old hand who´s been in the business for over 20 years.

*Mão-de-vaca: tight-fisted, cheap(skate), a scrooge

I think it´s ok to save money, but being tight-fisted all the time is a real pain in the ass.

*"Marmelada": (to be) fixed (competitions and games that have been dishonestly arranged beforehand)

I believe some soccer games are fixed sometimes.

*Em maus lençóis: in a tight spot, in a fix, in deep trouble, in a jam

If the teacher finds out you cheated on the test, you´ll be in a real fix.

*Nhenhenhém: grumbling, whining, complaining

Don´t you ever get tired of listening to their whining all the freaking time?

*Nota preta: a pretty penny, a fortune, a bundle

He won a pretty penny in the lottery. That´s why he´s so happy.

*Nu e cru: plain and simple

All I need is the plain and simple truth.

*Ossos do ofício: all part of the job

One of the downsides of working as an English teacher is that you have to work in the evening and on Saturdays. All part of the job, though.

*Pai coruja: doting father

He´s a doting father and he´s always there for his kids.

*Panelinha: clique

Wherever she goes she hangs out with her clique: at school, in church, at the club, etc.

*Para Inglês ver: just for show, just for the sake of appearances

My neighbor ´s not that rich but he changes his car every year. I think he does that just for show.

*Perua: bimbo (a beautiful and rich woman that´s usually stupid)

Look at the way that woman dresses! Isn´t she a real bimbo?

*Pisar na bola: to screw up, to drop tha ball

Man, how could you forget your mom´s birthday? You dropped the ball big time!

*Puxar o saco: to kiss ass,  to suck up, to kiss up (Am), to brown-nose, to bootlick (Br)

I never need to kiss anybody´s ass to be successful. All I´ve got is due to my personal achievements.

*Queimar o filme: to lose prestige, to ruin your reputation

Once you lose your prestige, it´s hard to get people to trust you again.

*(De) Queixo caído: flabbergasted, astonished, amazed

I was flabbergasted when I learned how much money he makes.

*Ralar: to bust a gut. to bust your ass (informal), to slave, to work your fingers to the bone

We should get a raise, after all, we all bust a gut here.

*Rios de dinheiro: loads of money, a bundle, a mint

He´s a very successful man and he makes loads of money.

*Rodizio de carne: all-you-can eat barbecue restaurant

In this all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant, they have the best kinds of meat.

*São e salvo: safe and sound

We´ve arrived safe and sound from our trip.

*(A) sete chaves: under lock and key, locked up safely

I´ll tell you my secret provided that you keep ip under lock and key.

*Show de bola: cool, awesome, wicked

That party was simply awesome. Lots of food, beautiful peple and very good music too.

*Tintim por tintim: blow by blow, in minute detail, point by point, in full detail

I want you to tell me all the gossips, blow by blow!

*Tô nem aí: I couldn´t care less, I don´t give a rat´s ass (informal), I don´t give a damn

So she said she doesn´t like me? I couldn´t care less!

*(Aos) Trancos e barrancos: by/in fits and starts

I´s been taking me long to finish this post, but I´m almost through, in fits and starts.

*Vá plantar batata!: take a hike!

Take a hike! Can´t you see you´re annoying me?

*Vapt-vupt: wham-bam, wham-zap

I personally don´t believe there´s a wham-bam method for learning a language efficiently.

*Vir a calar: to come in handy, to come at the right time

A raise is coming in very handy now that she has a kid.

*Vestibular: university entrance examination

Lots of students try to enter a public university but many don´t manage to pass the entrance examination.

*Xará: namesake

Your name´s also Flavia? So we´re namesakes!

*O xis da questão: the crux of the matter

The crux of the matter here is that his mother spoils him too much.

(Main source: Jack Scholes´s "Break the Branch"?-Common, everyday words and phrases in Brazilian Portuguese by Disal)

Nice and informal words/slangs/expressions and their translation to Portuguese

*To lose the appeal: perder a graça

Reading has lost its appeal to my mom. Now she´s more into soap operas.

*Dunk tank: piscina de bolinhas

Kids go nuts when they have a chance to dive into a dunk tank at a party.

*Lame in the sack: ruim de cama

She left her ex-boyfriend because she says he was lame in the sack, can you believe it?

*Innuendo: indireta, insinuação

I hate when people don´t tell me what they want right away. They think innuendoes always do the trick.

*An ordeal: uma chatice, um incômodo

Waiting for service in a crowded place is the typical ideal of an ordeal to me.

*To rag on something: falar mal de algo, meter o pau em algo

Some people take pleasure in ragging on other people´s lifestyles.

*To squeal on someone: dedurar alguém

(Squealer: dedo-duro)

Bob is always squealing on his older brother, I think he´s a bit jealous of him.

*Flashy: espalhafatoso, chamativo

I really like the color orange, although I think it´s kind of flashy.

* To give someone the heads up: avisar alguém, dar um sinal

If you come visit me, please give me the heads up in advance.

*Warped mind: mente poluída

Some guys have a warped mind, all they can think of is sex.

*Get bent: vá se ferrar

Why don´t you leave me alone? Get bent!

*Just what I need: tudo que me faltava

It´s raining and I got a flat tire! Great, just what I needed!

*To be in bad shape: estar em maus lençóis

He´s got into trouble again? Boy, he´s gonna be in bad shape now!

*To get into specific: entrar em detalhes

And thats´s pretty much what happened yesterday, without getting into specific, of course.

*Hope springs eternal: a esperança é a última quer morre

I might get rich one day! Hope springs eternal, that´s what they say!

*To have a heart to heart: ter um papo aberto, sincero

I think parents and kids should always have a heart to heart so thay can solve any kind of problem.

*To have a soft spot for something: ter uma queda por algo

Most girls have a soft spot for shoes and bags.

*Piece of tail: rabo-de -saia

Jonh´s a real womanizer. He can´t see a piece of tail in front of him.

*Pronto: imediatamente

When my boss says he wants me to do something pronto, I can´t waste a single minute!

*To slack off: ficar de papo para o ar, fazer porra nenhuma

On Sundays I enjoy slacking off the whole day.

*To keep the emotions bottled up: não demonstrar os sentimentos

You can hardly tell if Jane is angry or sad because she keeps her emotions bottled up.

*Testy: irritado, nervoso

There´s no need to get testy! All our problems will be solved eventually.

*Can it shut your trap: cala a boca, fecha a matraca

I didn´t ask you opinion! Can it, will you?

Sit down and shut your trap, now!!

Phrasal Verbs and idioms with "make"

To make it: to be able to do something.

I don´t know if I´ll be able to make it to the movie (=to arrive in time to watch it).

To make out: to kiss or toi have sex

They were making out in the car.

To make up: to resolve a quarrel.

They made up after that huge fight.

To make up: to use facial cosmetics

I don´t have time to make up in the morning.

To make something up: to invent something

I didn´t want to go to the party, so I just made up an excuse.

To make someone´s day: make a person´s day great

That promotion made him so happy. It made his day.

To make out: to be able to see well

I could barely make out his face in the dark.

To make money: to earn money as self-employed

 The money he makes in this profession isn´t enough to support his family.

Others:

To make for: 

1. To have or produce (a particular effect or result): small details that make for comfort.

2. To help promote; further: makes for better communication.

 

To make off:

 

To depart in haste; run away.

 

To make over:

 

1. To redo; renovate.

2. To change or transfer the ownership of, usually by means of a legal document: made over the property to her son.

 

Idioms: 

To make a clean breast of:

 

To confess fully.

 

To make a face:

 

To distort the features of the face; grimace.

 

To make a go of:

 

To achieve success in: have made a go of the business.

 

To make away with:

 

1. To carry off; steal.

2. To use up or consume.

3. To kill or destroy.

 

To make believe:

 

To pretend.

 

To make bold:

 

To venture: I will not make so bold as to criticize such a scholar.

 

To make book: 

To accept bets on a race, game, or contest.

 

To make do:

 

To manage to get along with the means available: had to make do on less income.

 

To make ends meet:

  

To manage so that one's means are sufficient for one's needs.

 

Tomake eyes:

 

To ogle.

 

To make fun of:

 

To mock; ridicule.

 

To make good:

 

1. To carry out successfully: made good his escape.

2. To fulfill: made good her promise.

3. To make compensation for; make up for: made good the loss.

4. To succeed: made good as a writer.

 

To make hay:

 

To turn to one's advantage: The candidate's opponents made hay of the scandal.

 

To make heads or tails of:

 

To understand: I couldn't make heads or tails of the report.

 

To make history:

 

To do something memorable or spectacular enough to influence the course of history: The first space flight made history.

 

To make it:

 

1. Informal : To achieve a goal; be successful. finally made it as an actor.

2. Slang To have sexual intercourse.

 

To make light of:

 

To treat as unimportant: He made light of his illness.

 

To make love:

 

1. To engage in amorous caressing.

2. To engage in sexual intercourse.

 

To make much of:

 

To treat as of great importance.

 

To make no bones about: 

To be forthright and candid about; acknowledge freely: They make no bones about their dislike for each other.

 

To make off with:

 

To snatch or steal: made off with the profits.

   

To make (one's) peace with:

To bring oneself to accept; reconcile oneself to.

 

To make (one's) way:

 

1. To go forward; advance.

2. To succeed, especially in making a living.

 

To make sail:

 

1. To begin a voyage.

2. To set sail.

 

To make sense:

 

1. To be coherent or intelligible: an explanation that made sense.

2. To be practical or advisable: It makes sense to go now.

 

To make something of:

 

To start a fight or quarrel over.

 

To make the grade: 

To measure up to a given standard.

 

To make the most of:

 

To use to the greatest advantage.

 

To make the scene (Slang):

 

1. To put in an appearance: made the scene at the party.

2. To participate in a specified activity: made the drug scene.

 

To make time:

 

1. To travel speedily.

2. To travel at a specified rate: We made good time getting to town.

3.( Slang) To make progress toward attracting someone: tried to make time with the new neighbor.

 

To make tracks: (Slang):

  

To move or leave in a hurry.

 

To make up (one's) mind:

 

To decide between alternatives; come to a definite decision or opinion.

 

To make waves: (Slang)

 

To cause a disturbance or controversy.

 

To make way:

 

1. To give room for passage; move aside.

2. To make progress.

 

On the make (Slang)

 

1. Aggressively striving for financial or social improvement: a young executive on the make.

2. Eagerly seeking a sexual partner.

(Main source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/make+do)

Let´s talk about fluency, shall we?

I´m going to discuss some important topics about achieving fluency in a foreign langage. I´ll start by explaining when you know you´re already fluent. But many students would unwisely say this: I´ve finished my course, I have a diploma that says so. Sure, you may have finished your course, but there are some pretty crucial questions here! One of them is: from the time you finished it until today, have you kept in touch with the language on a daily basis? If your answer is negative, then I´m afraid you´re losing your fluency, especially if you finished that course a long time ago! Of course it doesn´t mean you have to start all over, but you should try to bring all that knowledge back by practicing and remembering it. Anyway, back to the definition of fluency! Being fluent does not mean you have to speak a foreign language just like you speak your mother language because this is fairly hard when you´re not living in a country that speaks that language most of the times. A language is a living thing and due to that, it´s bound to change from time to time, new words and expressions are created to keep up with the progress of mankind. Being fluent is mainly about: being able to read something and understanding most of the words and their meanings, being able to listen to different speakers (with different accents, different rhythm and speach speed) in many contexts and finally, being able to express yourself both in written and oral language, making as few mistakes as possible. In oral language, a fluent person must speak without hesitation, using correct grammar structures, with a good pronunciation (you don´t have to sound like a native, though) and showing you master idioms, current slangs and phrasal verbs. You don´t have to know specific or technical vocabulary, but you should show a great variety of words, from the most formal to the most informal. In a meeting, you would avoid using too many slangs, for instance, whereas in a chat with a friend you would´t talk as if he were the CEO of an important company you´re doing business with.

There is no such thing as a certain number of words a person must know to be regarded fluent, but the average estimated is 3000 words.

This is also something to bear in mind: the current stage of a student taking a course does not reflect the real level of proficiency he´s got. I have Intermediate students I regard as fluent and on the other hand, I have Advanced ones regarded as Basic. There are many things to take into account here: his/her difficulties, the school, the teacher, the method, his/her personal efforts, attendance in class, interest, use of the language outside the classroom context, etc. In a nutshell: never trust your certificate! Instead, rely on how much you think you kow the language and if you have doubts about it, ask your teacher (make sure he/she´ll give you a straight answer!).

To conclude, I´ll give a few tips to those who really want to climb their way to the summit of this steep rocky mountain. Never give up, try not to miss/ cancel many classes in a row unless it´s extremely necessary, avoid speaking your native language in class, always solve your doubts before the end of the class, take the learning process as a fun thing to do rather than an obligation, don´t miss an opportunity to use the language by reading, watching movies, series or tv or even talking to your friends (or to yourself!), be open to correction (don´t criticize your teacher for doing that, he/she knows best!), have a daily contact with it, if possible, travel to a country whose first language is the language you´re learning, learn how to use a monolingual dictionary, write down new words and try to use them to memorize faster, don´t stop studying (you never know everything!) and don´t be shy!

That´s it!

It´s Thanksgiving time, so let´s learn a little about it...

Thanksgiving is a holiday in the USA and Canada when people give thanks. It is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November in the USA and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. American immigrants brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada, beginning on April 5, 1872. The United States Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday in the year 1941, and Canadian Parliament later established the second Monday of each October as a national holiday in the year 1957.

The First Thanksgiving

Although not as famous, the first "day of Thanksgiving" actually took place at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia in 1619 - a year before the Mayflower brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims were early settlers on the east coast of North America. They traveled from England on a ship called the Mayflower and made their new home in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, 380 km northeast of what is now New York.

Many of the Pilgrims died during their first winter in North America. They were cold and did not have enough food. The following year, though, the Native Americans, who were from the Wampanoag tribe, helped them grow crops. At harvest time in the winter of 1621, they were very thankful that they had a good crop of food to eat during the coming winter. They thanked God and the Wampanoags for teaching them how to grow crops.

They invited three of the Wampanoags who had helped them to their feast. They were Squanto, Samoset, and Chief Massasoit. The Wampanoags brought their families. This was over 90 people. There were so many people that the Pilgrims did not have enough food to make the meal, so the Wampanoags brought along their own food for the feast.

The Wampanoags brought turkey, duck, fish, deer, berries, squash, and cornbread.* They also brought vegetables that they had farmed and shown the Pilgrims how to care for.

Thanksgiving today

A traditional thanksgiving dinner today.

The Thanksgiving holiday is a four-day holiday over the weekend. Families and friends usually eat a special meal together (usually with a turkey as the main dish). This meal also usually includes mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, several casseroles, and stuffing. This meal is made to remember a group of settlers called the Pilgrims, who came from England in 1620 to make a new life in North America. The food eaten today for Thanksgiving is very different from the food that was eaten at the First Thanksgiving in 1621.

On television, there are parades and football games.

(*Cornbread or Johnny cake is a name for any number of "quick breads"- bread leavened chemically instead of by yeast- containing cornmeal. As maize (also known as corn) is native to North America, the various kinds of cornbreads are more prevalent there. In Italy, the corn-based mush known as polenta is sometimes fashioned into a fried form resembling cornbread.)

(Source: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving)

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than the 6abc IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. The three-hour event is held in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. EST (Eastern Time Zone) on Thanksgiving Day.

History

In the 1920s, many of Macy's department store employees were first-generation immigrants. Proud of their new American heritage, they wanted to celebrate the United States parade of Thanksgiving with the type of festival their parents had loved in Europe.

In 1920, the inaugural parade (originally known as the Macy's Christmas Parade and later the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade was staged by the store. Employees and professional entertainers marched from 145th Street in Harlem to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street dressed in vibrant costumes. There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of that first parade, as has been the case with every parade since, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square. At this first parade, however, the Jolly Old Elf was enthroned on the Macy's balcony at the 34th Street store entrance, where he was then "crowned" "King of the Kiddies." With an audience of over a quarter of a million people, the parade was such a success that Macy's declared it would become an annual event.

Large animal-shaped balloons, produced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, replaced the live animals in 1927 when the Felix the Cat balloon made its debut. Felix was filled with air, but by the next year, helium was used to fill the expanding cast of balloons.

At the finale of the 1928 parade, the balloons were released into the sky where they unexpectedly burst. The following year they were redesigned with safety valves to allow them to float for a few days. Address labels were sewn into them, so that whoever found and mailed back the discarded balloon received a gift from Macy's.

Through the 1930s, the Parade continued to grow, with crowds of over 1 million lining the parade route in 1933. The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934. The annual festivities were broadcast on local New York radio from 1932 through 1941,and resumed in 1945 through 1951.

The parade was suspended 1942–1944 during World War II, owing to the need for rubber and helium in the war effort.The parade resumed in 1945 using the route that it followed until 2008. The parade became a permanent part of American culture after being prominently featured in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, which shows actual footage of the 1946 festivities. The event was first broadcast on network television in 1948.By this point the event, and Macy's sponsorship of it, were sufficiently well-known to give rise to the colloquialism "Macy's Day Parade".

New safety measures were incorporated in 2006 to prevent accidents and balloon related injuries. One measure taken was installation of wind measurement devices to alert parade organizers to any unsafe conditions that could cause the balloons to behave erratically. Also, parade officials implemented a measure to keep the balloons closer to the ground during windy conditions.

Listen Up! Tips to improve your listening skills in EFL

The fact that listening is one of the most difficult skills in a foreign language acquisition is undeniable. To me, at least it is. And I draw this conclusion after observing most of my students´ constant complaints when they have to face transcriptions or simply long or fast listening activities. So what can you do to overcome this obstacle? First of all, be aware that you´ll hardly understand a regular conversation 100%. An example of this is our own language. There´s always a couple of words we miss when we have a conversation with someone, isn´t there? So, relax and try to bear these hints in mind:

• Try to stick to your level most of the times. If your level is basic, don´t try to understand activities fit for intermediate students, but you can do so in an informal and entertaining way, I mean, you should watch all sorts of TV programs, movies (with the subtitles in the language you´re studying on), radio programs, podcasts, music (following the lyrics), audiobooks, etc. You can always find very useful stuff online, including exercises. This is a very good site: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/.
• Make an effort and try to speak to your teacher and classmates using the foreign language all the time. And, of course, listen to them! But it´s very important that you expand your horizons and look for foreign speakers as well, even if it´s not a personal conversation, but the one on TV, for instance.
• Try to understand the main idea of the topic. The others will be a consequence of the main ones and also a consequence of your vocabulary, so...
• Try to read a lot, about everything, from books to comics to increase your vocabulary.
• Have you come across a new word? Look it up and add it to your vocabulary! Be organized and have a notebook handy.
• Include the language in your everyday life: from your videogame to your favorite TV Show. There´s always a pleasant option.
• Watch your pronunciation! Try to repeat after the CD to memorize the right pronunciation, even if you have to write the proper spelling. By doing this, you´ll never mispronounce it and it will be a lot easier to recognize the word when you come across it.
• The CD that comes with your textbook is not a decorative item, so use it and abuse it!

Well, that´s all I have to say for now. Hope these hints can be helpful to all students of a foreign language. That´s what I try to do (and it´s been working all right so far), after all, even though I´m a teacher of a FL, I´m not a native speaker, so I must keep training so I can give my best in class.

Revista Hot English versus Revista Speak Up

Mês passado me deparei com a revista Hot English para ensino/ aprendizagem do idioma Inglês ao procurar pela Speak Up e pela versão em Espanhol, Habla. Enquanto a Speak Up custa em torno de R$ 21, a Hot custa R$ 14 e alguns centavos. Ela já circula há algum tempo, mas nunca tinha visto e nem sei se é vendida em qualquer banca, pois comprei em uma grande banca, no centro de S.P.
Pontos comuns entre as duas:

Ambas são mensais, ambas vêm com CD, ambas vêm com glossário traduzido para o Português, ambas trazem a indicação do sotaque e o nível de Inglês, ambas vêm com atividades para aula e em ambas as matérias são atuais e interessantes.

Thumbs up for Speak Up: o CD também pode ser usado como multimídia, ou seja, CD-Rom, tem sempre uma song e letras com informações sobre o cantor.


Thumbs up for Hot English: algumas matérias trazem vídeos complementares no site, tem mais variedade de sotaques (Australiano e Escocês, além do Britânico e do Americano), todas as matérias vêm com atividades, algumas só com as perguntas para Listening. O único demérito seria que nem todas as matérias indicam o nível de Inglês, aí fica a critério do professor para avaliar em o nível dos seus alunos se quiser utilizá-la em aula, além de não vir com uma música, claro.


De maneira geral, é uma revista bem legal. Aprovei e quero comprar mais vezes. Já usei em aula uma matéria sobre o Facebook e redes sociais. Muito boa tanto para alunos quanto para professores, pois aumenta o leque de opções para atividades complementares.

How can you learn a foreign language and have fun at the same time?

The answer to the title question is really simple. It´s proved that you can actually learn new words, slangs, expressions and even grammar, improve your pronunciation and your listening skills with pretty simple things such as reading books (or listening to the audio ones), magazines, websites, watching movies, series, tv channels, etc. In my case, I really love sitcoms, so it´s a real pleasure to watch them and write down all the new words. I watch them with the subtitles in the language I want to learn/ practice (Spanish and English for me). I have some notebooks I use only for this purpose and it really works!

I´m gonna give a few examples to ilustrate this. Once a student asked me how to say "meu cachorro solta muito pelo". After putting some thought into the sentence and almost giving up, I caught myself saying "my dog sheds a lot". I was amazed at my own answer! Another recent case was when a student asked how to say "cofrinho (da bunda)". I was a little faster to answer this one. Without hesitation I said "buttcrack"! I looked it up just to make sure and there it was! The other case was in Spanish. I was in my Spanish class and I wanted to say the word "audition", so I asked the teacher if the word "audición" was ok. He didn´t know, so he looked it up. Even being a native speaker of Spanish, he said he had never heard this word before. I told him I had heard it when I was watching "Friends" in Spanish. It´s surprising to see how this simple and yet extremelly pleasant technique works so well. I guess the knowledge is stored somewhere in your brain. It´s like watching tv while your´re falling asleep (or vice-versa) and you end up dreaming about the show or the movie. Or also when you listen to a song only once and you start singing it along the next time you listen to it again. I think this has a lot to do with language aquisition when we´re babies. We start speaking by repeating the words we hear most often. It´s amazing, but it´s true, so why not give it a chance?

English Proverbs and sayings and their translations in Portuguese...

Absence makes the heart grow fonder: Longe dos olhos, perto do coração

All cats are grey in the dark:  À noite todos os gatos são pardos.

A cat can look at a king: Olhar não tira pedaço

All that glitters is not gold: Nem tudo que reluz é ouro.

All is fair in love and war: Tudo vale no amor e na guerra

An apple a day keeps the doctor away: Se uma maçã por dia comer, o dentista não precisa ir ver.

An idle brain is the devil's workshop: Mente vazia é oficina do diabo.

A bird in hand is worth two in a bush: É melhor um pássaro na mão que 2 voando.

A friend in need is a friend indeed: É nas horas ruins que conhecemos os amigos. 

A leopard cannot change its spots: Pau que nasce torto nunca se endireita.

A man is as old as he feels himself to be: A idade é um estado de mente.

A man is known by the company he keeps: Diz-me com quem andas que direi quem és.

A rotten apple spoils the barrel: Uma maçã podre estraga todas as outras.

A stitch in time saves nine: É melhor prevenir que remediar. 

A swallow does not make the summer: Uma andorinha só não faz verão.  

A watched pot never boils: As coisas acontecem quando a gente menos espera.

As you sow, so shall you reap: A gente colhe o que planta.

Bad news travels fast: Notícia ruim chega rápido.

Beauty is only skin deep: Beleza não se põe à mesa/ Beleza não é tudo. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: A beleza está nos olhos de quem vê.

Be swift to hear, slow to speak: Ouvir é prata, calar é ouro.

Better be alone than in bad company: Antes só do que mal acompanhado.

Better late than never: Antes tarde do que nunca.

Better lose the saddle than the horse: Vão-se os anéis, ficam os dedos.

Birds of a feather flock together: Cada ovelha com a sua parelha.

Blood is thicker than water: (Os parentes valem mais que os amigos)

Clothes don't make the man: Não julgue pelas aparências./ O hábito não faz o monge.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched: Não conte com o ovo antes da galinha botá-lo. 

Don't judge a book by its cover: Não julgue pelas aparências.

Don´t look a gifted horse in the mouth: Cavalo dado não se olha os dentes.

Easier said than done: Falar é mais fácil que fazer.

Every cloud has a silver lining: Sempre há uma luz no fim do túnel.

Every man for himself: Cada um por sí. 

Every rose has its thorn: Toda rosa tem seu espinho.

Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade/ No pain no gain: Não há glória sem sacrifício.

Give someone an inch and they will take a mile (or yard): (Vc dá uma mão e logo eles querem o pé).

Half a loaf is better than none: Pouco é melhor que nada.

Haste makes waste: A pressa é inimiga da perfeição.

He can who believes he can: Aquele que acredita pode tudo.

He who plays with fire gets burnt: Quem brinca com fogo se queima.

He laughs best who laughs last: Quem ri por último ri melhor.

Health is better than wealth: Saúde é a melhor riqueza.

Home is where the heart is: (Lar é onde mora o coração)

However long the night, the dawn will  break: Não há mal que sempre dure.

Ignorance is bliss: (Às vezes é melhor não saber das coisas)

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king: Em terra de cego, quem tem um olho é rei.

It never rains but it pours: Desgraça pouca é bobagem.

It's no use crying over spilt milk: Não adianta chorar sobre o leite derramado.

Laughter is the best medicine: O riso é o melhor remédio

Let bygones be bygones/ Forgive and forget: Coloque uma pedra no assunto/ Perdoe e esqueça.

Let´s bury the hatchet: Vamos esquecer as diferenças

Lightning never strikes in the same place twice: Um raio nunca cai 2 vezes no mesmo lugar.

Like father, like son: Tal pai, tal filho.

Losers weepers, finders keepers: Achado não é roubado.

Love is blind: O amor é cego.

Many hands make light work: A união faz a força. 

Money doesn't grow on trees: Dinheiro não dá em árvores.

Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today: Não deixe para amanhã o que vc pode fazer hoje.

Never say die: Nunca entregue os pontos.

Nobody is perfect: Ninguém é perfeito.

No smoke without fire/  No wind, no waves: Onde há fumaça há fogo.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: Quem não arrisca não petisca.

Once bitten, twice shy: Gato escaldado tem medo de água fria.

One good turn deserves another/ You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours: Uma mão lava a outra.

Opportunity seldom knocks twice: A oportunidade não bate 2 vezes à porta.

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings: (As crianças sempre dizem a verdade)

Out of sight, out of mind: Longe dos olhos, longe do coração.

Patience is a virtue: A paciência é uma virtude.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones: Quem não tem teto de vidro que atire a primeira pedra.

Practice makes perfect: A prática é amiga da perfeição.

Prevention is better than cure: Prevenir é melhor que remediar.

Rome was not built in a day: Roma não foi construída em um dia.

Silence gives consent: Quem cala consente.

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me: Paus e pedras podem quebrar meus ossos, mas insultos nunca me atingirão.

Still waters run deep: As aparências enganam

The best advice is found on the pillow: (O travesseiro é o melhor conselheiro)

The best things in life are free: As melhores coisas na vida são de graça.

The die is cast: A sorte está lançada.

The early bird catches the worm: Deus ajuda quem cedo madruga.

The end justifies the means: Os fins justificam os meios.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions: O inferno está cheio de boas intenções.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach: O melhor jeito de chegar ao coração de um homem é pelo estômago.

There is a black sheep in every flock: Toda família tem sua ovelha negra.

Time is money: Tempo é dinheiro.

To err is human, to forgive divine: Errar é humano, perdoar é divino.

Too many cooks spoil the broth: Muito cacique para pouco índio.

Union is strength: A união faz a força.

Variety is the spice of life: A diversidade é o tempero da vida.

Walls have ears: As paredes têm ouvidos.

What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over: O que os olhos não veem o coração não sente.

What a man says drunk, he thinks sober/ What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals: (As pessoas sempre dizem o que pensam sob influência do álcool).

When the cat's away, the mice play: Quando o gato sai, os ratos fazem a festa.

When poverty come in the door, love goes out the window: Quando a pobreza chega, o amor sai pela janela.

Where there's life there's hope: Enquanto há vida, há esperança.

Where there's a will, there's a way: Querer é poder.

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow: (Preocupar-se só deixa as coisas piores)

You are what you eat: Vc é o que vc come.

You are never too old to learn: Nunca é tarde para aprender.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't  make it drink: (Vc pode dar a vara, mas não pode ensinar a pescar).

You can't teach an old dog new tricks:  Papagaio velho não aprende a falar.

Save a penny for a rainy day: Guarde dinheiro para as horas de necessidade. 

Pennies make dollars: De grão em grão a galinha enche o papo.

The squeaky wheel gets the most grease: Quem não chora não mama.

There´s no account for taste: Gosto não se discute.

What´s good for the goose is good for the gander: O que é bom para um, é bom para todos.

(Main sorce: http://www.learn-english-today.com/Proverbs/proverbs_L-Z.html)