IS TIME REALLY PASSING FASTER THAN USUAL???

A year... just unbelievable. Last time I posted something here was over a year ago... it sounds really bizarre! If you also feel time is flying (more like a rocket, though) you might want to read this discussion forum about the topic: IS TIME REALLY PASSING FASTER THAN USUAL???

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So, it's about time I post something now... it's been a while, which is a good sign: in a country of thousands and thousands of unemployed, I've got WAY TOO MUCH WORK!!!
A good link of quizzes to practise English can be found here.

Certificates

Willing to take the IELTS examination? So check the dates on the British Council page (if you live in Brazil) or the IELTS international/official page is you live anywhere else!
But if you don't even know what the IELS is, I'll give you a hand: The IELTS is an internationally recognised certificate, which is good for:

- proving one's English skills

- allowing students to join certain universities in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, etc.

- allowing students to obtain a visa by Australian, NZ and Canadian governments.

Other important certificates for learners of English around the globe are the Cambridge, the TOEIC (Business English) and the TOEFL, for which you can practise here.

In the ETS page you can find a whole lot more of information concerning these tests, amongst others.

Listening resources

I've previously discussed about the importance of pronunciation when teaching/learning a language, and now it's time to provide you with some resources to practise listening - which, for sure, helps improving one's pronunciation once they've internalized the sounds of English language. What I'll provide here:

If you're a student: great resources for "studying Listening" systematically.

If you're a teacher: great resources for preparing amazing classes, especially if your student is going abroad and needs guidance and practise in topics such as: immigration/customs, airport talk, restaurant conversations, etc.

This is the page where you can find it all, for all levels! Another great page is the famous ELLLO, in which you can find great listening exercises (covering many kinds of accents) and games. You might also try this page, which brings "comprehension quizzes for listening skill improvement for beginner, intermediate and advanced ESL EFL English levels".
Off you go!

Brazilian Body language

If you're interested in learning a little about BRAZILIAN BODY LANGUAGE, check out this very interesting page. It brings pictures and explanations about what Brazilian gestures mean. It's really curious!
Check a few examples below:





And there's a lot more about Brazilian culture here and also here.

Some more on pronunciation

Having "native-like" spoken English is not a must. But being able to differenciate specific sounds is, though. The other day, a student of mine said he'll never /shit/ on his girlfriend. Well... I really hope not!
In the very same class another guy said it would be hard for him if he had to /shoes/ between his girlfriend and his carreer.
Yet another one said he was late because he had to /chop/ with his mom. I suppose she needed some help in the kitchen...

For that reason, being familiar with phonetics can help. A lot. Actually, more than students imagine. For you guys that don't have a clue of what I'm saying this page here is a good start.

However, the most amazing of all, in my humble opinion (I'm saying that as an English teacher and a former speech therapist) is this page, produced at the University of Iowa. I say amazing because it's instructive, clear and - overall - complete.
There are also pronunciation tips at this BBC page and a free phonetics course (for Portuguese speakers) here. It's really handy!

And if you feel like studying some more about pronunciation, there's pretty much everything in here, as well as all around the net. Just google around!

English around the world

Page with hundreds of links for students to explore and teachers to get lesson ideas from. Nicely divided into pages from different English Speaking countries as Canada, U.K, Australia or The U.S, this site provides from the American National Anthem, weather information, recipes and articles on science to books online and travel information.

No ideas for classes?

Have you ever felt so tired that you just had no creativity to prepare your next lesson? Huh huh. After all, we're mere earthlings, and sometimes we just can't help it, right? For those moments of total lack of imagination, you can count on OneStopEnglish's teachers support team. Suggestions from 9 especialists about teaching methodologies, teaching with minimal resources and others. You will come up with a brand new lesson after reading it, believe me.

"The EFL surgery for busy English teachers! Kick back, relax, and allow our panel of expert authors and teachers to help solve your teaching-related dilemmas! Either send us your questions or search our existing database of useful reference materials to help solve your problems."

To have a taste of specialist's ideas of teaching with minimum resources, click here.

Working with pronunciation

Nice and complete article on ESL teaching pronunciation. Read about the importance of teaching pronunciation, how to teach it and not to teach it and different approaches to do so. Still on pronunciation, Antimoon presents lists of phonetic symbols with printable version and recordings of American and British pronunciation in MP3 format.
ESLGold offers pronunciation exercises and pratising using audio resources. Here you can have a good idea of the different sounds in English, listen and repeat the sounds of vowels, consonants, etc. It also presents a list of other links on pronunciation. The site - that is visually very clear and uses easy language to understand - also presents Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Vocabulary, Business and Idioms sections.

Top 1

TESl journal is just a must for English teachers. All the information you can get about teaching techniques, ideas for zero classes, free reading, writing and conversation lessons (really great ones by the way), culture, games, videos, articles, etc. The list just goes on and on. It's my "top 1" page when searching for information to increment my classes.

Breathe books!

We're living the technology era. Computers, cell phones, dvds, Ipods and so on. I hardly hear of students that actually read books anymore. "Oh, yeah, I read some stuff on the net". "I read newspapers and magazines", they say.
To me, they don't know what they're missing. Is there anything greater than the feeling we get from being in a book store? Uuuhh... okay, okay, sleeping, eating chocolate, kissing, Sunday morning lie-in... whatever, you know what I mean!

It's a reality we face. What can we do as teachers? Not letting their reading habit vanish! If students don't pay a visit to the book shops anymore, let's take the books to them!
This amazing site brings interviews with renown authors, as you can check here. Students can listen to poems online, and if they're just way too lazy, they can listen to whole literature books. Wanna listen to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" online? Here you go! All you need is real audio for that.

Yep, it's true. Have fun!

Your post

I never meant to make a personal blog out of this. Actually, I promised myself I never would. But taking the circumstances under consideration, I just jave to say it's well-deserved.

I've been listening to Elton John more than ever lately and it was quite odd to find out that you, a guy who'd never liked him much, was doing the same. Call it a coincidence, I call it sintonia, which cannot be expressed in English in the same intensity by any word, as well as saudade. You know we have sintonia, and you know that what we had can never be taken away from us.

"It's a little bit funny this feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. I don't have much money but boy if I did, I'd buy a big house where we both could live. If I was a sculptor, but then again, no, or a man who makes potions in a travelling show, I know it's not much but it's the best I can do. My gift is my song and this one's for you. And you can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done. I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... how wonderful life is while you're in the world" Elton John

--------

Buy a trumpet. Keep on jazzin'. Open the windows and paint the walls yellow. Good day sunshine. Do it for no one. Here comes the sun and soon there'll be dear Prudence, Martha, Michelle, Anna, Carol, Clarabella, Julia... and I'll have to act naturally... you'll get a taste of a different honey. Because of another girl I will cry, baby, cry. In spite of all the danger I'll carry that weight and drive my car. I'll follow the sun and maybe get some rain on the way. Free as a bird! I miss the old days when we'd say "Why don't we do it in the road?". It hurts to think back of the "We can work it out" moments. We should have fixed the hole earlier. We should have made a revolution because we knew it was real love. And now here we are, the two of us. Trying to let it be. Getting better, finding our ways along the long and winding road of life with a little help from our friends. I can no longer say "Don't let me down". In fact, I think you never did. Feel not guilty. All you need is love and I'm just too aquarian to provide you that. I've got a ticket to ride, you won't see me no more. The end. Tell me why? Don't know, I've just gotta find my inner light... like dreamers do.

P.S: I love you

Maria Elisa

Spelling

Can you raed tihs? Olny srmat poelpe can.
Hhu, not rlaely... alutlcay eodervyby can. It wlil olny dneped if you can raed Einlsgh, ousbvoily.

"I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!"

Of couse spelling is important. Indeed it is. But for other purposes, let's not mess things up.