quinta-feira, 24 de novembro de 2016

Using songs in the English class



Not an original idea, is it? After all, singing in the classroom must be as old the hills. But it’s fun, you have to agree to that. And you will also agree that you can use songs in various ways in order to teach several things, such as vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, poetry and history.
What I would like to suggest is perhaps a new approach. Well, not exactly ‘new’, since I myself included it in one of my first books published back in the past century.
Okay, this is the thing. It’s an activity intended for advanced students (preferably), which consists in listening to a pair of songs – one in English and one in Portuguese – and then comparing them in terms of cultural aspects. Students may surprise you with the differences or the similarities they can find.
Here is ‘my’ list:
1.   Chão de Estrelas (by Orestes Barbosa) and Yesterday
( Lennon and MacCartney)
2.   Canção da América (Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant) and You’ve got a friend (by Carole King)
3.   Apelo (Vinicius and Baden Powell) and If I fell (Lennon and MacCartney)
4.   Pais e filhos (Renato Russo) and Parents andchildren (Cat Stevens)
5.   O filho que eu quero ter (Toquinho and Vinicius) and For Mamma (Charles Aznavour and Robert Gall-Black)
6.   Maior Abandonado (Frejat and Cazuza) and Rehab (Amy Winehouse)

7.   Pra não dizer que eu não falei das flores (Geraldo Vandré) and Blowin’ in the wind (Bob Dylan) 

segunda-feira, 14 de novembro de 2016

ENEM -  Um ensaio para a vida? Fala sério!
http://blogdoenem.com.br/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2012/04/enem.png
O Enem foi instituído em 1998 para se contrapor aos vestibulares tradicionais. Em vez de questões que cobravam, principalmente, a memorização, a prova seria ‘interdisciplinar e contextualizada’. Até aí eu entendi. O que eu não entendi foi este trecho aqui, ó: “Seu objetivo principal é possibilitar uma referência para auto-avaliação, a partir das competências e habilidades que estruturam o Exame.” Tentei descobrir a diferença entre ‘habilidades e competências’. Confesso que embatuquei. Mas não dei muita bola para isso, porque, afinal, a prova de inglês só foi introduzida em 2010. Certa vez, durante uma palestra da Profa. Maria Inês Fini, criadora da primeira versão do Enem, perguntei-lhe por que não havia prova de língua estrangeira no Exame. Pena que eu não lembro da resposta.

De qualquer forma, a partir de 2010, passei a tentar ver em que medida esse blá-blá-blá pedagógico se aplicava às questões de língua inglesa. Deve ser ignorância minha, mas não percebi nada de especial. Pode ser que esta concepção do Enem diga respeito a outras disciplinas. No que se refere à ‘minha praia’, tenho lá minhas dúvidas.
O Enem é um ensaio para a vida, é? Na minha opinião, as questões de inglês são simples e sem nenhuma criatividade. ‘Sensaborona’, diria Machado de Assis, mesmo com a aplicação da Teoria da Resposta ao Item, TRI for those in the know. A TRI qualifica o item, isto é, a questão, segundo três critérios: poder de discriminação, grau de dificuldade e possibilidade de acerto na base do chute. Na prática, algo do tipo questões de nível fácil, médio e difícil.

 Comparem a questão nº 1, extraída do Enem – 2016, baseada numa manjadíssima canção de Paul McCartney, com as demais questões, ‘surrupiadas’ de várias fontes. As respostas (e as respectivas fontes) vêm no fim do post.

Ebony and ivory
Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?
We all know that people are the same wherever we go
There is good and bad in ev’ryone,
We learn to live, we learn to give
Each other what we need to survive together alive (Paul McCartney

1. Em diferentes épocas e lugares, compositores têm utilizado seu espaço de produção musical para expressar e problematizar perspectivas de mundo. Paul McCartney, na letra dessa canção, defende
A o aprendizado compartilhado.
B a necessidade de donativos.
C as manifestações culturais.
D o bem em relação ao mal.
E o respeito étnico.

No one will ever forget that the streets once ran with blood. The name is a constant reminder. O Pelourinho. The whipping post. It was set in the public square for all to see.

2. This excerpt has a meaningful argument that links the Pelourinho to
a) architecture.
b) businesses.
c) tourism.
d) history.
e) arts.

Political cartoon

3. The cartoon shows that a person can go out of prison if he
a) calls for man’s justice.
b) has money for bribery.
c) makes good friends.
d) proves his innocence.


Spike Lee
Some people see a job in advertising is a good way to break into film. Then there’s Spike Lee, whose film career has helped him break into advertising. Lee, who has been making commercials on the side since 1988, now has half his own advertising agency, Spike/DDB, a joint venture with DDB Needham. He’s going after the urban market, black and white. “I like to tell stories,” says the director. “In commercials I have 30 seconds, in music I have four minutes, and in movies like “Malcolm X” I have 3 hours and 15 minutes.” (Time. Dec. 16, 1996)

4. Responda em português às perguntas abaixo:
a) O que certas pessoas pensam a respeito da publicidade?
b) Por que Spike Lee é citado no texto?
c) O que é Spike/DDB?


The sausage tree
Well-known in Africa south of the Sahara, the sausage tree is aply named for its pendulous fruit, a treat to such animals as elephants and baboons. When Nigerian scientist Dora Akunyili told her colleagues at King’s College of the University of London, pharmacological researcher Peter Houghton, that local healers used the tree’s bark to treat skin lesions, he took a scientific interest.
He alerted Spyros Tetsas, a cancer specialist at London’s Charing Cross Hospital, who tested extracts from the roots, bark, and fruit on cancerous cells in a lab dish. Indeed something in the tree – no one knows what – killed melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. “We are light-years away from potential human use,” Retsas warns, “but we’re seeing encouraging signs.” (National Geographic, 1995)

5. Julgue os itens e escreva entre parênteses (V) se for verdadeiro ou (F) se for falso:
a) (  ) Este texto é sobre uma salsicha com propriedades especiais.
b) ( ) Dora Akunyili foi quem levou a informação a Londres.
c) ( ) O remédio apresentado é usado por curandeiros no sul do Saara.
d) ( ) Os animais se tratam com a fruta.
e) ( ) Peter Houghton testou o remédio em pacientes cancerosos.

Nano what?
A tiny chip as small as a dime contains 55 million transistors , - well, that's a miracle of nano-engineering.

If you ask your friends 'What is nanotechnology?', most of them will probably say "No idea" and one or two may come up with varying definitions.  Even if they have never heard of the word, they will be familiar with at least one popular nano-engineering invention: the silicon microchip, with its 55 million transistors crammed into a tiny chip the size of a dime. Well, here is how nanotechnology can be explained.
Very broadly speaking, we can say that it deals with manipulating atoms and molecules to develop minute machines and new materials. We all know that everything that exists is made from atoms. The properties of those 'things' are based on how those atoms are arranged. (Chemical and Engineering News)

6. (Jelin ) Use o seguinte código para esta questão:
a) se apenas a 1ª afirmação estiver correta;
b) se apenas a 2ª afirmação estiver correta;
c) se apenas a 3ª afirmação estiver correta;
d) se todas as afirmações estiverem corretas;
e) se nenhuma afirmação estiver correta.

I. Poucas pessoas fazem ideia do que seja a nanotecnologia.
II. O prefixo 'nano' tem o mesmo significado do prefixo 'macro'.
III. Nós sabemos que os átomos estão praticamente em toda parte.

Respostas
1 E
2 D (UEFS - BA 2002)
3 B (UFMG)
4 (Jelin)
a) Acham que a publicidade abre as portas para a indústria cinematográfica.
b) Porque Spike Lee fez o caminho contrário: partiu do cinema para a publicidade.
c) Uma agência de publicidade que Spike Lee abriu em sociedade com a DDB Needham.
5 (UFMT)
a)   (F)
b)   (V)
c)   (F)
d)   (F)
e)   (F)
6 A (Jelin)
 







sábado, 5 de novembro de 2016

Some of the best (and the worst) things I ever said in class




When I come to think about the thousands of lessons I taught throughout my life, I find it difficult to mention anything worth remembering.

As a student I was lucky enough to have teachers who really made a difference and impressed me deeply, and I still think of them with affection. They did help me mold my personality both as a man and as a teacher. I pay my compliments to them and am very grateful for everything they taught me.

I wonder if any of my former students still remember anything good or bad, remarkable or embarrassing, or anything at all that I, either on purpose or unintentionally, said while teaching prepositions, phrasal verbs or relative pronouns. 

1.   Well, the very first thing that comes to my mind is what I once told my 3rd year students on their last day at school. When I got into the classroom, I saw that most of them were wearing costumes. Some boys were dressed as girls, some girls had fake moustaches on their faces, a couple of kids were in pyjamas. I looked at them silently for a few seconds, and calmy said, “In the twenty or so years that I’ve been working here, this school has changed a lot. Well, I haven’t. So I refuse to teach you while you guys look like that. Please leave the room, go to the toilets and change your clothes. You may come back here, if you feel like it.

2.   For about ten or twelve years I had the privilege of taking  groups of students for an English summer course in July in England. The first evening we went to a disco, I saw one of ‘my girls’ kissing a boy. So soon? Well, I went up to them, said “Excuse me” to the boy, took the girl aside and told her – in Portuguese -  she had come to England to practice the English language, not the English tongue, if you know what I mean. I felt awful after that. So did she. Sorry, girl.

3.   One Friday afternoon I was supposed to give a quiz to a 7th grade class. It was the last lesson of the day, and I would not be able to be there to watch the kids. Obviously, there was no one available to cover me. Well, on Wednesday I told them they would take the quiz without anyone watching them. The secretary would hand out the quiz to them, and when the bell rang the secretary would go back to the classroom and collect their quizzes. They all got excellent marks, which I accepted without any questioning. Not for one moment did I ever doubt their honesty. And I still believe they did not cheat.

4.   As far as cheating is concerned, this is what I used to say to my students: “Cheating offends me to the core. Cheating means the cheater despises me or my lessons so completely that he or she doesn’t bother to study hard for my tests. Well, if any of you cheat and I don’t see it, good for you. But if I ever catch you in the act, not only will you get a zero, but I can promise you I will never forget it.” It did sound like a threat, didn’t it? But it’s true. Even after so many years, I can still remember a few shameful faces.