Following Isabel's motto (What a beautiful life!) and, as a homage to U2, it is delightful to watch our 1-year-old (and a few months) blog slowly growing with students' texts and creative work. I hope to see more of this in the next months, especially from the 1st year students and also in Spanish.
Another complementary activity would be to comment on these posts.
Come on people, loosen up!
CM
Friday, 20 May 2011
Poem on the five senses
It’s raining outside
And I’m in this bed thinking about you
Touching your white soft skin
Devouring your mouth
Smelling your essence
And hearing that you love me
Tonight we saw the stars together
When I woke up, you weren’t there
I felt empty
I’m walking on the street and smelling the wet earth after raining
And feel the fresh air in my face
I still remember last night
Kissing your lips and touching your body
Your beautiful eyes
Your sexy smile
And all the sunset together
But it’s time to move on
And forget about you
Poem done by Tânia Moutinho (in the Creative Writing Club)
And I’m in this bed thinking about you
Touching your white soft skin
Devouring your mouth
Smelling your essence
And hearing that you love me
Tonight we saw the stars together
When I woke up, you weren’t there
I felt empty
I’m walking on the street and smelling the wet earth after raining
And feel the fresh air in my face
I still remember last night
Kissing your lips and touching your body
Your beautiful eyes
Your sexy smile
And all the sunset together
But it’s time to move on
And forget about you
Poem done by Tânia Moutinho (in the Creative Writing Club)
A family affair
I was born on the 28th of June in 1990 at São Marcos Hospital in Braga. Since then I have been living with my parents in that northern Portuguese city called Braga. My family’s house is located in Navarra, a small village only 10 short minutes from the city center.
I belong to a simple and small family, constituted by three elements, Gorete and Pedro, my parents, and I. Since ever that we have a worthy relationship. However, as all families, we have got some tiny and easily-solved problems. My parents always support my decisions and let me have my space to grow up. Although sometimes their advice goes in a different direction from my own decisions, I have to respect that. I know that they only wish me the best.
My mother, Gorete, is always trying to protect me, she is an over-protective mom. I know that with her I can talk about everything, and when I say everything it’s really everything. In spite of that fact, I only do it with Pedro, my father. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we are both male and I feel more comfortable with him. He is constantly giving me advice and telling me stories about his youth, when he was my age.
In my opinion, despite the fact that we are a three-element family, I think that we are a normal and typical family when compared with the rest of my country. Most families in Portugal have between two and three children.
To be honest, I can say that my parents were and are one of the central pillars of the person that I’m today, without them I would be nothing.
João Antunes (2nd year FL: EN/SP)
I belong to a simple and small family, constituted by three elements, Gorete and Pedro, my parents, and I. Since ever that we have a worthy relationship. However, as all families, we have got some tiny and easily-solved problems. My parents always support my decisions and let me have my space to grow up. Although sometimes their advice goes in a different direction from my own decisions, I have to respect that. I know that they only wish me the best.
My mother, Gorete, is always trying to protect me, she is an over-protective mom. I know that with her I can talk about everything, and when I say everything it’s really everything. In spite of that fact, I only do it with Pedro, my father. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we are both male and I feel more comfortable with him. He is constantly giving me advice and telling me stories about his youth, when he was my age.
In my opinion, despite the fact that we are a three-element family, I think that we are a normal and typical family when compared with the rest of my country. Most families in Portugal have between two and three children.
To be honest, I can say that my parents were and are one of the central pillars of the person that I’m today, without them I would be nothing.
João Antunes (2nd year FL: EN/SP)
My family
Hello everybody!
I am married, with three children, two boys and a girl. I´m very happy, because we are so close, we have beautiful moments together. We live in a small town, which is very quiet and warm. My husband loves going to the farm when he has some free time, there he plants all type of greenery, he loves his work, but also our village. I love the village too, it´s a place where we can have peace, here we can “be free”, do what we like, walk, stay in the garden taking care of the flowers, among other things. It´s very important to our family to stay in contact with nature, the plants, the animals and all that beautiful picture of heaven that makes everyone feel like flying in the clouds.
We live moments of real magic. In my opinion we are the typical family in our country, because here we work in the city and then the weekends are spent in the village working the farm, feeding the farm animals and having a good time, enjoying the most important in our lives, the moments with our loved ones.
It´s a beautiful life!
Isabel Silva(2nd year student FL: EN/SP)
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Christina María Aguilera
I’m going to talk about a singer who for me was the best thing that came into my life. For me, it is not just a simple singer, is the one that makes me happy when I'm sad and gives me strength.
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island - New York, daughter of Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Ecuadorian sergeant of the Air Force and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a pianist and translator of Spanish and Irish descent. As her father was a soldier, her family was always changing. They lived in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and even in Japan, all this in her first 6 years of life, so Christina always had trouble in adapting. Around this time, her sister Rachel was born. When Christina was 7 years old, her parents got divorced and Shelly took them to her grandmother's house in Rochester, Pa. (Pennsylvania), a town outside Pittsburgh with the hope of rebuilding their lives. According to Christina and her sister, their father was controlling and abusive emotionally and psychologically. You can understand it when Christina sings about her childhood difficulties in songs like "I'm OK" from the album Stripped, and "Oh Mother" Back to Basics. She won four Grammy Awards and a Latin Grammy, Golden Globe nominee. She began her broadcasting career in 1990, appearing on U.S. TV talent show Star Search and later that year on The Mickey Mouse Club, where she met Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. She was hired by RCA Records in 1999, after singing "Reflection" song from the movie Mulan.
In 1999, she edited her first album "Christina Aguilera", which became a success, winning several awards, including New Artist Grammy, beating singers like Britney Spears. In 2000, she published "Mi Reflejo" and in that same year she published the album "My Kind Christmas.” Christina sold over sixty million albums around the world, becoming one of the singers who sold the most in 2000. In 2001, she recorded "Lady Marmalade" for the film “Moulin Rouge” and also "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" with the singer Ricky Martin. In 2002, after three years of work, Aguilera released her second official album, “Stripped” – completely different from her first album. It is less pop, and with varied influences ranging from jazz to hip-hop, through gospel, soul and R & B. At first, the album was not as well received by the critics as the previous ones. And for many, the amazing vocal ability was overshadowed by Christina's sexy and provocative image that she began to grow with the debut single, "Dirrty". She denied that this change was an advertising problem, saying that the image reflected more her true personality than the image cultivated in 1999. At this time, she called herself Xtina, which she had tattooed on her neck and had a lot of body piercings.
In 2003, she was invited to present Europe Music Awards, the top award at MTV Europe, and became the host of the event, where she also won the award for Best Female Singer. The show presented by the singer was one of the most lucrative and had the biggest records of audience in the history of the awards. Christina Aguilera was entitled Artist of the Year by the Rolling Stones Magazine. Besides, her tour, Stripped Tour, has been voted the year's best and most lucrative tour of 2003. Aguilera has showed off a most controversial and sexy posture, a symbol of the greatest feminists of today. She has always defended the rights of women, as we can see on the song “Can´t hold us down”.
In 2004, Christina assumed a more mature attitude, leaving the bold image that she built with "Dirrty" and participated in important political movements and social campaigns like “Declare Yourself”, where she appeared with her mouth sewn, expressing the consequences of giving up on the vote.
In November 2005, she married Jordan Bratman a record executive. Strongly influenced by jazz and soul from the 20s, 30s and 40s, Aguilera worked on her third album, “Back To Basics”, released on August getting to no. 1 in over 15 countries. Her Greatest Hits Album "Keeps Gettin' Better - A Decade of Hits" contains the greatest hits since 1998, was released on November, 2008. In the same year, she was invited by the filmmaker Martin Scorsese for the film “Rolling Stones: Shine A Light”, in which Christina appeared in a duet with Mick Jagger on the song "Live With Me". Aguilera was also included in the list of "Hundred best singers of all time”, performed by the renowned magazine Rolling Stone, occupying the 58th position, being the youngest female to enter the list.
In 2009, she was considered one of 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine and Maxim magazine. In 2010, Christina released her 4th studio album. Aguilera said that this album is a forward look, with inspiration from sounds and types of alternative and futurist music, such as Electro. Christina Aguilera said she always wanted to innovate when making music, so while with Back to Basics she took us to the past, with "Bionic" wanted to do exactly the opposite.
On October 2010, Christina said that her marriage of five years with record producer Jordan Bratman was over. Also in 2010, Christina was nominated by ONU as the Ambassador Against Hunger and was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame. Currently, after the big success of her movie “Burlesque”, Christina is now concentrated on recording her 5th studio album. She also collaborated with rapper TI for his 7th album entitled “No Mercy.”
This is a bit of the Christina’s life.
Many people ask me why I like her so much, sometimes I don’t t know what to say, because there are so many things that make me like her so much that I can’t answer those things that have no explanation. What do I like about her? Her eyes, her mouth, her voice (of course), her personality and the way she moves.
When I got to know her work I was 11 years and it was through a friend. At that time, I was a fan of a Belgian singer called Lara Fabian and I didn’t care too much, I liked her music and voice, but never thought of myself as a fan and I didn’t even have an album of hers. At the time, Christina had an image and a very different behavior than she has today. Only on 21 August in 2003 did I buy my first album of her and that was her fourth one, but something always prevented me from buying an album of hers, I always ended up buying another one. When I heard her album “Stripped” (the first I bought), I am sincere I didn’t like it, just two or three songs, but with time I increasingly enjoyed the album and the singer, so I bought all her albums and that was when began my "passion" for this amazing woman called Christina Aguilera. It was this "new" Christina that made me like her, with her sexy and provocative way, the real Christina finally made herself known, and thus left an image also imposed by her manager and record. From that moment on, I never stopped being her fan, and due to that at school I am known as the "fanatic" for Aguilera, even an English teacher of mine calls me Christina.
Apart from this, she has been great help to me. When my mother was very ill, between life and death, that night when she was very ill at hospital, I went to my room and looked for a picture of her with tears in my eyes and thought what I would do if I lost my mother? The fact that she was not there and I just looked at her and listened to her music, gave me so much strength. Whenever I'm down, she’s the one person that fills me with so much strength to continue. Something that for me is also strange is that I seem to feel when she is ill, I feel a discomfort in the chest, it looks like I'll have an anxiety attack, besides the knowledge of knowing from memory the way she moves and what she will say in certain moments. If it is true that such a person exist, she is that one.
Tânia Mountinho
The Buddha statues of Afghanistan
Though I am not very supportive of pasting posts from other blogs into this one, I opened an exception because of the relevance of the issue, which deals with the Buddha statues from Afghanistan, a bit of general knowledge for everyone.
I first heard of the Buddha statues from Afghanistan when I attended the Museum Conference in Istanbul last June/July 2010. There I was supposed to hear a speaker in charge of the museum built in the vicinity of the statues, who for security reasons was prevented from coming and was otherwise given an enthraling perspective of their work by a member of the organising committee. Later today, I finally opened the same conference newsletter and found a piece of news about these statues on UNESCO's website.
The Buddha statues of Bamiyan, in the Hazaraiat region of central Afghanistan, around 230km northwest of Kabul, were built around the 6th century AD and placed into two 2,500-metre-high niches where they stood untouched for 1.5 milennia until 2001. During the Afghanistan conflict, they were blown to pieces by the Taliban and the testimony of the region's rich Gandhara school of Buddhist art (active between the 1st and the 13th centuries) was lost in the debris.
UNESCO with Japan's s heavy sponsorship brought about a programme to preserve the Buddhas' niches, their wall paitings and also their fragments. Although there is some controvery about whether to rebuild the Buddha statues from their fragments, the most important issue is to call people and governments' attention to the protection and preservation of their material and imaterial heritage.
I first heard of the Buddha statues from Afghanistan when I attended the Museum Conference in Istanbul last June/July 2010. There I was supposed to hear a speaker in charge of the museum built in the vicinity of the statues, who for security reasons was prevented from coming and was otherwise given an enthraling perspective of their work by a member of the organising committee. Later today, I finally opened the same conference newsletter and found a piece of news about these statues on UNESCO's website.
The Buddha statues of Bamiyan, in the Hazaraiat region of central Afghanistan, around 230km northwest of Kabul, were built around the 6th century AD and placed into two 2,500-metre-high niches where they stood untouched for 1.5 milennia until 2001. During the Afghanistan conflict, they were blown to pieces by the Taliban and the testimony of the region's rich Gandhara school of Buddhist art (active between the 1st and the 13th centuries) was lost in the debris.
UNESCO with Japan's s heavy sponsorship brought about a programme to preserve the Buddhas' niches, their wall paitings and also their fragments. Although there is some controvery about whether to rebuild the Buddha statues from their fragments, the most important issue is to call people and governments' attention to the protection and preservation of their material and imaterial heritage.
(video taken from the YouTube)
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Interview to Asun Perez (English translation)
1. Is this the first time you work in Portugal?
Yes, it is my first teaching experience in Portugal. Up to the present moment, I would say yes.
2. What do you think about Portuguese education? Do you like it the way it is?
I cannot answer.
3. What is your opinion about the IPB? Do you consider it a good Polytechnic?
I cannot answer.
4. What is your viewpoint about our degree?
I didn’t know about the degrees in English/Spanish, German/Portuguese and so on. Right now, in my opinion, it is time the number of credits for English was balanced with those of Spanish, so that the bachelor degree can truly be called English/Spanish. I believe that both languages should have the same weight within the syllabus to achieve competent professionals on both languages, both of huge importance nowadays.
5. Would you like to continue in this Polytechnic for more years? Why?
I came for a year and, at least, I will be staying one more. Do I answer your question?
6. What led you to become a teacher?
When I was a child, I used to pretend I was a teacher, but I never really said that, “I want to be a teacher when I grow up.” I never thought I would really become one. In the last years of my career, I took a specific course on the teaching of Spanish to foreigners, following a teacher’s advice. However, until I actually started teaching, I hadn’t realised that was exactly what I enjoyed doing: helping people to communicate and understand each other, although I worked in many other fields. But what is better than teaching our own language and culture? Not only does a teacher teach, but also learn. In many other lines of work, one gets tired because of the routine, though in teaching, especially those of foreign languages, we “never” know what is going to happen in our classes.
7. Do you like this job?
See no. 6.
8. What do you feel about Portuguese students?
It is difficult to answer this question. I don’t like to generalise and I cannot compare them to those of other institutions, but I do dare say that it shocked me, from the very beginning, the lack of discipline (behaviour), work and motivation.
9. Do you enjoy living in Portugal?
Despite some cultural difference hard to understand, I took to Portugal like a duck to water. So, my answer is yes.
10. Do you think people around here are familiar with the Spanish language and culture?
When I first arrived, I was surprised to see that many students knew quite a few things about Spain, especially through the TV, even some who lived in my city, whereas I only knew a couple of things about Portugal. I know more about other countries, because they were closer to my home town, such as France, or because I studied those other languages.
11. How would you describe the relation between Spain and Portugal? Do you reckon there’s any type of animosity or rivalry?
I don’t feel any rivalry whatsoever, though there might be some on the border, but I don’t know. I think for the majority of Spanish you are here and that is that. However, many of us are interested in other cultures and, because of that, our attitude towards Portugal and other countries is very different.
(Translation into English by Cláudia Martins)
Yes, it is my first teaching experience in Portugal. Up to the present moment, I would say yes.
2. What do you think about Portuguese education? Do you like it the way it is?
I cannot answer.
3. What is your opinion about the IPB? Do you consider it a good Polytechnic?
I cannot answer.
4. What is your viewpoint about our degree?
I didn’t know about the degrees in English/Spanish, German/Portuguese and so on. Right now, in my opinion, it is time the number of credits for English was balanced with those of Spanish, so that the bachelor degree can truly be called English/Spanish. I believe that both languages should have the same weight within the syllabus to achieve competent professionals on both languages, both of huge importance nowadays.
5. Would you like to continue in this Polytechnic for more years? Why?
I came for a year and, at least, I will be staying one more. Do I answer your question?
6. What led you to become a teacher?
When I was a child, I used to pretend I was a teacher, but I never really said that, “I want to be a teacher when I grow up.” I never thought I would really become one. In the last years of my career, I took a specific course on the teaching of Spanish to foreigners, following a teacher’s advice. However, until I actually started teaching, I hadn’t realised that was exactly what I enjoyed doing: helping people to communicate and understand each other, although I worked in many other fields. But what is better than teaching our own language and culture? Not only does a teacher teach, but also learn. In many other lines of work, one gets tired because of the routine, though in teaching, especially those of foreign languages, we “never” know what is going to happen in our classes.
7. Do you like this job?
See no. 6.
8. What do you feel about Portuguese students?
It is difficult to answer this question. I don’t like to generalise and I cannot compare them to those of other institutions, but I do dare say that it shocked me, from the very beginning, the lack of discipline (behaviour), work and motivation.
9. Do you enjoy living in Portugal?
Despite some cultural difference hard to understand, I took to Portugal like a duck to water. So, my answer is yes.
10. Do you think people around here are familiar with the Spanish language and culture?
When I first arrived, I was surprised to see that many students knew quite a few things about Spain, especially through the TV, even some who lived in my city, whereas I only knew a couple of things about Portugal. I know more about other countries, because they were closer to my home town, such as France, or because I studied those other languages.
11. How would you describe the relation between Spain and Portugal? Do you reckon there’s any type of animosity or rivalry?
I don’t feel any rivalry whatsoever, though there might be some on the border, but I don’t know. I think for the majority of Spanish you are here and that is that. However, many of us are interested in other cultures and, because of that, our attitude towards Portugal and other countries is very different.
(Translation into English by Cláudia Martins)
Entrevista a Asunción Perez
1. ¿Es la primera vez que enseña en Portugal? Si es así, ¿le gusta?
Sí, es mi primera experiencia en Portugal y hasta hoy, diría que sí.
2. ¿Qué piensa de la educación en Portugal?
No puedo contestar.
3. ¿Qué piensa del IPB? ¿Cree que es un buen politécnico?
No puedo contestar.
4. ¿Qué piensa de nuestra carrera?
No conocía estas carreras de Inglés/Español, Alemán/Portugués… Ahora mismo, en mi opinión, lo más urgente sería equiparar los créditos de español a los de inglés, para que la licenciatura pueda llamarse Inglés/Español. Considero que ambas lenguas deberían tener el mismo dentro del currículo para conseguir profesionales competentes en dos lenguas de gran relevancia hoy en día.
5. ¿Le gustaría quedarse más años en esta universidad? ¿Por qué?
Venía para un año y, como mínimo, me quedo otro año más. ¿Responde eso a la pregunta?
6. ¿Qué le llevo a ser profesora? ¿Siempre ha querido serlo?
De niña, solía jugar a ser maestra y tal, pero nunca llegué a decir eso de “de mayor quiero ser profesora”. Nunca pensé que llegaría a serlo.
En los últimos años de mi carrera, hice un curso propio paralelo sobre la enseñanza de español a extranjeros, siguiendo el consejo de una profesora. Pero, hasta que no empecé a enseñar, no me di cuenta de que era eso precisamente lo que me gustaba: ayudar a la gente a comunicarse y entenderse –y he trabajado en muchos otros sectores. ¿Y qué mejor que enseñando mi lengua y mi cultura? Un profesor no solo enseña, sino que también aprende. Además, en muchos trabajos, uno se cansa enseguida por la rutina, pero los profesores –sobre todo, los de lenguas extranjeras- “nunca” sabemos lo que va a pasar en nuestras clases.
7. ¿Qué le gusta más de esa profesión?
La 6.
8. ¿Qué piensa de los alumnos portugueses?
Es difícil contestar a esta pregunta. No me gusta generalizar y no puedo comparar con otras instituciones, pero sí que me atrevo a decir que me chocó, desde el principio, la falta de disciplina (comportamiento), de trabajo y de motivación.
9. ¿Le gusta vivir en Portugal?
A pesar de algunas diferencias culturales difíciles de entender, me siento como pez en el agua. Así que sí, mi respuesta es sí.
10. ¿Cree que las personas de aquí están muy familiarizadas con la lengua y la cultura españolas?
Cuando llegué me sorprendió que muchos alumnos sabían muchas cosas sobre España, sobre todo por la tele, –¡incluso algunos habían vivido en mi ciudad!- y yo apenas sabía cuatro cosas sobre Portugal. Quizá sepa más sobre otros países porque quedan más cerca de mi tierra (Francia) o por haber estudiado esos idiomas.
11. ¿Qué piensa de la relación entre España y Portugal? ¿Cree que existe algún tipo de rivalidad?
Yo no siento que haya rivalidad, quizá pueda haberlo en la frontera, no lo sé. Me parece que la mayoría de los españoles piensan que estáis ahí y ya está; sin embargo, muchos nos interesamos por otras culturas y, por lo tanto, nuestra actitud hacia Portugal u otros países es muy diferente.
(Entrevista realizada por Tânia Moutinho)
Sí, es mi primera experiencia en Portugal y hasta hoy, diría que sí.
2. ¿Qué piensa de la educación en Portugal?
No puedo contestar.
3. ¿Qué piensa del IPB? ¿Cree que es un buen politécnico?
No puedo contestar.
4. ¿Qué piensa de nuestra carrera?
No conocía estas carreras de Inglés/Español, Alemán/Portugués… Ahora mismo, en mi opinión, lo más urgente sería equiparar los créditos de español a los de inglés, para que la licenciatura pueda llamarse Inglés/Español. Considero que ambas lenguas deberían tener el mismo dentro del currículo para conseguir profesionales competentes en dos lenguas de gran relevancia hoy en día.
5. ¿Le gustaría quedarse más años en esta universidad? ¿Por qué?
Venía para un año y, como mínimo, me quedo otro año más. ¿Responde eso a la pregunta?
6. ¿Qué le llevo a ser profesora? ¿Siempre ha querido serlo?
De niña, solía jugar a ser maestra y tal, pero nunca llegué a decir eso de “de mayor quiero ser profesora”. Nunca pensé que llegaría a serlo.
En los últimos años de mi carrera, hice un curso propio paralelo sobre la enseñanza de español a extranjeros, siguiendo el consejo de una profesora. Pero, hasta que no empecé a enseñar, no me di cuenta de que era eso precisamente lo que me gustaba: ayudar a la gente a comunicarse y entenderse –y he trabajado en muchos otros sectores. ¿Y qué mejor que enseñando mi lengua y mi cultura? Un profesor no solo enseña, sino que también aprende. Además, en muchos trabajos, uno se cansa enseguida por la rutina, pero los profesores –sobre todo, los de lenguas extranjeras- “nunca” sabemos lo que va a pasar en nuestras clases.
7. ¿Qué le gusta más de esa profesión?
La 6.
8. ¿Qué piensa de los alumnos portugueses?
Es difícil contestar a esta pregunta. No me gusta generalizar y no puedo comparar con otras instituciones, pero sí que me atrevo a decir que me chocó, desde el principio, la falta de disciplina (comportamiento), de trabajo y de motivación.
9. ¿Le gusta vivir en Portugal?
A pesar de algunas diferencias culturales difíciles de entender, me siento como pez en el agua. Así que sí, mi respuesta es sí.
10. ¿Cree que las personas de aquí están muy familiarizadas con la lengua y la cultura españolas?
Cuando llegué me sorprendió que muchos alumnos sabían muchas cosas sobre España, sobre todo por la tele, –¡incluso algunos habían vivido en mi ciudad!- y yo apenas sabía cuatro cosas sobre Portugal. Quizá sepa más sobre otros países porque quedan más cerca de mi tierra (Francia) o por haber estudiado esos idiomas.
11. ¿Qué piensa de la relación entre España y Portugal? ¿Cree que existe algún tipo de rivalidad?
Yo no siento que haya rivalidad, quizá pueda haberlo en la frontera, no lo sé. Me parece que la mayoría de los españoles piensan que estáis ahí y ya está; sin embargo, muchos nos interesamos por otras culturas y, por lo tanto, nuestra actitud hacia Portugal u otros países es muy diferente.
(Entrevista realizada por Tânia Moutinho)
Interview to Isabel Chumbo
1- Why have you chosen languages?
I have chosen languages because it gave me the opportunity to do the things I liked most when I was younger – I could read and write a lot. I also felt it was a way to communicate with other and as such to overcome some of my shyness.
2- How long have you worked in IPB and are you enjoying the experience? Do you plan on working here for the future?
I have been working for the IPB since 1997, which is a lot of time now. I had another job at that time and I chose to come to the IPB. I don’t regret it. I plan to stay for some years more, although I feel tired at times. For me the IPB has become a lifetime project, so I’ll be around.
3- Where else have you worked at and did you like the experience?
I worked at secondary schools and at private schools. I liked the first more than the latter. Private schools put a lot of pressure on teachers, constantly reminding them that their students are paying to be there, so I don’t remember that as a very rewarding experience. Nevertheless I remember my students and those I did like.
4- Back when you were a fresh graduate, did you imagine your life as it is now? And what are your expectations for your future?
When I graduated I always thought about coming back to Bragança and I always dreamt about working at the higher education system. In the future I imagine myself working longer hours and becoming too old too quickly (). Unfortunately I think that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a lot to prove in the Portuguese Educational system. Different educational policies in a short time span are not good for the country and the direct consequences at HEI are quite visible. Students seem to be less well prepared to survive in a demanding public system, as it should be. I also believe that the future will be very hard for students in general. They face a very competitive world, even in Portugal, where the economy is suffering, the career market is narrowing and expectations seem to be down.
5- Do you like your job, what are the pros and cons about it?
To be honest, I love my job. What I like more about it is the fact that I am constantly learning, even when I don’t notice it. Besides I like dealing with people. And with this job I will always have to deal with different kinds of people. One big disadvantage nowadays is that teachers have to worry a lot with paper trails and spend less time than they should in actually working on themselves and learning new teaching strategies, in recycling knowledge, in upgrading. Most of my non-teaching hours are spent in answering to e-mails, writing letters, filling in forms. And sometimes it’s only at the end of the day that I find the time to look at my classes and plan them thoroughly.
6- What advice would you give to future graduates of the English Spanish degree?
To go abroad. This would give them experience of a different culture and a different way of life. Portuguese graduates are used to go back home to their parents and live as unemployed in a comfy environment. They are trapped between a late childhood and a secret new adulthood which they don’t feel prepared to embrace. My advice would be to jump into the future. An Erasmus placement seems a good opportunity.
7- What do you think about Portugal's Education System and particularly the teaching of languages?
A lot of what I’ve said is about the Portuguese Educational System. I think one can feel my mood about what has been said so far. The teaching of languages could lead me to write a dissertation! My concern is mainly with English and with language policies in general. In fact, there seems to be a lot of investment in the teaching of English which doesn’t seem to get to the right end. When students get to the IPB we realize that their level at English is getting worse year after year. This seems to be a clear contradiction to what is happening nowadays. Primary schools provide English teaching from a tender age. When children get to the 2nd cycle they do the same all over again, and then again and again. There seems to be no coordination in these different levels of teaching, a lack of motivation among the teachers and a system that does not assess what is going on in fact.
I would also like to see the students’ interest focusing on other languages. For years it has been French, English, some German and now Spanish. Languages like Greek and Latin are long gone and don’t seem to be an option. But what about other languages? Why not learn Chinese? Arabic? Or Dutch?
(Interview made by Elizabeth Rocha)
I have chosen languages because it gave me the opportunity to do the things I liked most when I was younger – I could read and write a lot. I also felt it was a way to communicate with other and as such to overcome some of my shyness.
2- How long have you worked in IPB and are you enjoying the experience? Do you plan on working here for the future?
I have been working for the IPB since 1997, which is a lot of time now. I had another job at that time and I chose to come to the IPB. I don’t regret it. I plan to stay for some years more, although I feel tired at times. For me the IPB has become a lifetime project, so I’ll be around.
3- Where else have you worked at and did you like the experience?
I worked at secondary schools and at private schools. I liked the first more than the latter. Private schools put a lot of pressure on teachers, constantly reminding them that their students are paying to be there, so I don’t remember that as a very rewarding experience. Nevertheless I remember my students and those I did like.
4- Back when you were a fresh graduate, did you imagine your life as it is now? And what are your expectations for your future?
When I graduated I always thought about coming back to Bragança and I always dreamt about working at the higher education system. In the future I imagine myself working longer hours and becoming too old too quickly (). Unfortunately I think that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a lot to prove in the Portuguese Educational system. Different educational policies in a short time span are not good for the country and the direct consequences at HEI are quite visible. Students seem to be less well prepared to survive in a demanding public system, as it should be. I also believe that the future will be very hard for students in general. They face a very competitive world, even in Portugal, where the economy is suffering, the career market is narrowing and expectations seem to be down.
5- Do you like your job, what are the pros and cons about it?
To be honest, I love my job. What I like more about it is the fact that I am constantly learning, even when I don’t notice it. Besides I like dealing with people. And with this job I will always have to deal with different kinds of people. One big disadvantage nowadays is that teachers have to worry a lot with paper trails and spend less time than they should in actually working on themselves and learning new teaching strategies, in recycling knowledge, in upgrading. Most of my non-teaching hours are spent in answering to e-mails, writing letters, filling in forms. And sometimes it’s only at the end of the day that I find the time to look at my classes and plan them thoroughly.
6- What advice would you give to future graduates of the English Spanish degree?
To go abroad. This would give them experience of a different culture and a different way of life. Portuguese graduates are used to go back home to their parents and live as unemployed in a comfy environment. They are trapped between a late childhood and a secret new adulthood which they don’t feel prepared to embrace. My advice would be to jump into the future. An Erasmus placement seems a good opportunity.
7- What do you think about Portugal's Education System and particularly the teaching of languages?
A lot of what I’ve said is about the Portuguese Educational System. I think one can feel my mood about what has been said so far. The teaching of languages could lead me to write a dissertation! My concern is mainly with English and with language policies in general. In fact, there seems to be a lot of investment in the teaching of English which doesn’t seem to get to the right end. When students get to the IPB we realize that their level at English is getting worse year after year. This seems to be a clear contradiction to what is happening nowadays. Primary schools provide English teaching from a tender age. When children get to the 2nd cycle they do the same all over again, and then again and again. There seems to be no coordination in these different levels of teaching, a lack of motivation among the teachers and a system that does not assess what is going on in fact.
I would also like to see the students’ interest focusing on other languages. For years it has been French, English, some German and now Spanish. Languages like Greek and Latin are long gone and don’t seem to be an option. But what about other languages? Why not learn Chinese? Arabic? Or Dutch?
(Interview made by Elizabeth Rocha)
Friday, 25 March 2011
Why is it so hard?
When I was browsing through the APPI (Associação Portuguesa de Professores de Inglês) Newsletter (year 25, no. 2 2010) some time ago, I came across this short article about a teacher in Anadia who set up an English club with her 3rd cycle students. I voraciously read the 2-page long text and felt both exhilarated and frustrated to feel that I was on the right path, no doubt about that, but I was struggling to get a simple English club up and running at higher education! Led by curiosity, I peeked at their blog and was amazed to see how many texts, videos, images and projects they had already posted.
Later this week, I found a podcast-interview with Dave Sterling (author of ESL's Café) and he was reporting his long-time relationship with computers and the web when he mentioned his first website, dating from 1995 (!!!), which he mainly used for posting his students' texts! Because of that, students started o get in contact with each other, exchanging emails and getting highly motivated. This happened back in 1995!
This is what I would like to see on our blog, as well as the typical childish engagement and enthusiasm that so strangely flows out of our young adults.
CM
Later this week, I found a podcast-interview with Dave Sterling (author of ESL's Café) and he was reporting his long-time relationship with computers and the web when he mentioned his first website, dating from 1995 (!!!), which he mainly used for posting his students' texts! Because of that, students started o get in contact with each other, exchanging emails and getting highly motivated. This happened back in 1995!
This is what I would like to see on our blog, as well as the typical childish engagement and enthusiasm that so strangely flows out of our young adults.
CM
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Sorry is the hardest word
Recently the new Australian government made the historic step of issuing an official apology to the Aboriginal people for the pain and suffering they experienced during the process of English colonialisation and especially for the treatment of Aboriginal children during the earlier part of last century, when they were forcibly removed from their families for “education” in mission schools. This raises several questions for us to consider, for example, “Is this a new chapter in history?” or “Will this make a real difference to the lives of Aborigines?” Recently, please note gentle reader, we have also had the apology by Angela Merkel to the Israelis for the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis. Do these apologies have any real effect or are they important for symbolic reasons? Should Portugal apologise for its acts of colonial oppression also? (There must be millions of descendents of negro slaves for example…).
In the case of the Aboriginal people of Australia, we may conclude that an apology has been well overdue for some decades. They were the indigenous inhabitants when the first white navigators arrived on those far-away shores, a nomadic people, living still at a Stone Age level of development. They had been there for up to 70,000 years, in perfect isolation from the rest of the world and even from each other on that vast continent, as we can see from the fact that they developed literally hundreds of different languages. In 1788, the English set up their first colony: a “penal colony”, where prisoners from England (and Ireland) were shipped to the other side of the world. The prisons in England were full. This was the equivalent in those days of moving them to the moon would be today. “Out of sight, out of mind”, as the proverb says.
It is estimated that there were about 750,000 Aboriginals at that time. By the late 19th century, their numbers were decimated. Even today there are only about half of that number. It is along story, typical of the process of colonialisation, which began with smallpox (varíola) outbreaks in 1789 which caused many deaths among the resistance-free locals and grew worse when, in 1791, land began to be given to the settlers for them to farm. The ownership by local tribes of the land was usually not considered. The resulting clashes between Aboriginals and white settlers resulted in many deaths on both sides. The total “elimination” (i.e. killing) of the Aboriginal tribes in Tasmania was perhaps the height of this invasion and conquest. But the dispossession of the other Aboriginal people had begun. By the 1910s, the people were seen as having no future. Governments, welfare agencies and, in particular, the church saw the solution as “assimilation” – the children were forcibly removed from their parents and taken to mission schools and orphanages to educate them into the culture of the white man. The movie “Rabbit Proof Fence” is a moving testimony to this process. This forced removal of children from their families continued right up to 1970.
“They would not let us kiss our father goodbye; I will never forget the sad look on his face. He was unwell and he worked very hard all his life… That was the last time I saw my father, he died within two years after”. – Jennifer.
Often the schools where they were kept did not have the means to care for them properly and treated them not unlike prisoners. A very high proportion of the children, these “Stolen Generations”, ended up as criminals or alcoholics. The net effect was the almost complete destruction of the Aboriginal way of life. Today the Aboriginals still struggle with huge problems of alcoholism and sheer hopelessness. They often live in degraded conditions; violence and despair haunt their world. Their life expectancy is a full 17 years less than other Australians. Illiteracy and rates of incarceration are much higher. There has been an incalculable price to pay for being Aboriginal in Australia. White Australia does indeed have a black history.
Given this horrendous history, the apology of the government for “… the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind…” is at least a symbolic admission of guilt. Decades of turning their back and hoping that the problem will go away, joined to the flat denial of the former government of John Howard to apologise have not worked. Now a first step has been made. And it is one which most Australians seem to agree with. Howard’s fear was that massive legal claims for compensation would follow an apology. But this is the same cowardly refusal to face up to the wrong acts of our ancestors that left other indigenous peoples such as the Red Indians of the USA or Canada out in the cold for many years. It would seem that Australia under its new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is finally courageous enough to face up to its debt towards the native peoples of their land. If compensation claims follow, that should be a part of the process of reconciliation. We should have the courage of our convictions and be prepared to pay up. Then, perhaps, a real difference in the lives of Aboriginals could one day be seen to occur. Ethnic minority under-privilege is a common problem in many societies, including Portugal. It is a difficult problem in all cases, but turning our backs on it won’t make it go away. In the end, we can say, “Good on yer, Ozzies!"
Kevin Charles Rowe
2007 Nobel Prizes Goes to Doris Lessing
11 Days after her 88th birthday the author of The Golden Notebook and The Grass is Singing is rewarded for a lifetime of writing of great power and insight into the human condition.
This is the second time in three years that the Nobel Prize for Literature has gone to a British author, following the win of playwright Harold Pinter in 2005.
Lessing was born in Persia (now Iran) in 1919 to British parents and grew up in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). She moved to England in 1949 and has lived there ever since. Her first novel, The Grass is Singing came out in 1950. The novel is set in the Rhodesia of her youth and explores the relationship of the white man to the country he has taken over and to the native people of that country. The key relationship is that between a married white woman and her black servant. The sharp analysis of the power and fear on both sides of the divide and the devastating portrait of a colonial society which neither cares for nor understands the country it has taken over made the book an instant and continuing success.
Doris Lessing has never stopped writing since and has produced a wide range of books in many various styles, including postmodern feminist fiction (The Golden Notebook), science fiction (the Canopus in Argos series), short stories and non-fiction, including two volumes of autobiography.
In recent years Lessing has, however, shown her iconoclastic side even more, as she has moved away from the praise of her as a classically feminist icon. She has described the critical celebration and public fame that she won for her feminist and socially realist works of the 60s and 70s (such as The Golden Notebook) as “her albatross” and is now more given to depicting women, especially elements of the 21st century feminist culture, as lazy and unadventurous. She recently claimed to be “increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so much of our culture”.
Her reaction to winning the Nobel? “I’ve won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one… It’s a royal flush!” And so, might we add, are we, her devoted readers, who have so enjoyed and been stimulated by her keenly intelligent writing. Justice, one cannot help but feel, has been done. Next Lobo Antunes? (And one great day – surely – Salman Rushdie?)
Kevin Charles Rowe
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Lecture on Different Spanishes
The lecture on the different Spanishes was done by María Asunción Pérez Pajares on Wednesday, 2nd March 2011 at 10h30 am.
In my opinion, this lecture was one of the most interesting of the week, because, for people who really love the Spanish language, it was fascinating to know about the history of the language, in which countries it is spoken and the many “Spanishes” in relation to the original Spanish (Spain).
During the lecture, Asun talked about the several languages spoken in Spain besides Spanish and how the accent changes from community to community. For example, in Andalucia, they don’t pronounce the “z” and “c” before “e” and “i” as the Castellanos do; they pronounce both consonants as /s/, known as lisp (“seseo” in Spanish). We can also see this “way” of pronouncing the words in Latin America, where the majority of countries speak Spanish, due to the fact that most of the colonisers came from Andalucia.
She also talked about the difference between “Spanish” and “Castellano”. According to the Spanish Real Academia, the terms Spanish and Castellano are synonyms but appeared in differents periods. The term “Castellano” comes from reino of Castilla in the Medieval times, when “Spain” didn’t exist. The term “Spanish” came from the Medieval latin Hispaniolus.
I believe that it was an excellent lecture, especially for being out of the ordinary and allowing interaction among participants.
Tânia Moutinho
Lecture on "Different Englishes"
Kevin’s lecture was very entertaining. He explored the different varieties within the English language from English-speaking countries from the Southern hemisphere, like Australia and New Zealand, up to Europe with England, Scotland and Ireland with a few references to the American English for comparisons. Of course, there is wide range of different accents worldwide: we have South African, Jamaican, Indian and Canadian English, among others.
He talked about his own experiences, being born in New Zealand and travelling to other places such as Australia and Ireland. So, he showed very peculiar examples from those countries and others concerning the way they spoke, their vocabulary and their ways of treating and interacting with the language. Hearing the way he talked using different accents made us, speakers of English, question “And I thought I knew English”. Laughs and giggles aside, I think it was a very productive lecture not only to those who are studying English in their degrees, but also to the ones who love this language or are at least somewhat curious. We learned a little about how different and diverse one language can be.
Elizabeth Rocha
He talked about his own experiences, being born in New Zealand and travelling to other places such as Australia and Ireland. So, he showed very peculiar examples from those countries and others concerning the way they spoke, their vocabulary and their ways of treating and interacting with the language. Hearing the way he talked using different accents made us, speakers of English, question “And I thought I knew English”. Laughs and giggles aside, I think it was a very productive lecture not only to those who are studying English in their degrees, but also to the ones who love this language or are at least somewhat curious. We learned a little about how different and diverse one language can be.
Elizabeth Rocha
Lecture on Mirandês
The 2011 edition of the Intercultural Week of Languages at the ESEB focused on the issue of multilinguism, at a time in which the “Conselho da Europa” recognized multilinguism as an important matter in Europe. And as a consequence of that, ESEB highlighted minority languages. So, on the 28th February, Dr. Amadeu Ferreira presented us with a very interesting lecture about “The role played by the Mirandês language in a diversifying Portugal and Europe”. Dr. Amadeu Ferreira is a Professor at the Faculdade Direito da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, author of original works in Mirandês, and also translator of books, like the “Lusíadas” and “Asterix I Goulês e L Galator”. From my point of view, the most enthusiastic part of the lecture was when he started to talk in Mirandês , and we all, or part of us, recognized some expressions like “cachico”, that means “a little bit”, and other similar ones to the Portuguese language.
Maria José Mesquita
Maria José Mesquita
2011 Intercultural Week of Languages
The School of Education has organised several cultural weeks, from 2001 to the current year. This year, the Intercultural Week of Languages was held between the 28th February and the 3rd March on Multilingualism. It opened with Dr. Amadeu Ferreira's lecture on Mirandês and ended with our food exhibition, with food from different nationalities, and a concert by "Reobot". Among several other lectures, we also had an exhibition on poetry and books of different languages.
Therefore, the students involved in the Creative Writing will be posting texts on various moments of this week both in English and in Spanish.
CM
Therefore, the students involved in the Creative Writing will be posting texts on various moments of this week both in English and in Spanish.
CM
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Books of the year 2010
Bookdepository (a commercial electronic bookstore) has this great page where you can click on a coloured picture and have a quick look at one of its 1,000 best-sellers.
Have fun!
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/2010?utm_source=NL-Body&utm_medium=email-Newsletter&utm_term=Books-of-the-year-2010_Banner&utm_content=Block2&utm_campaign=Newsletter-January-11
CM
Have fun!
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/2010?utm_source=NL-Body&utm_medium=email-Newsletter&utm_term=Books-of-the-year-2010_Banner&utm_content=Block2&utm_campaign=Newsletter-January-11
CM
Friday, 4 February 2011
A Creative Writing Exercise
This exercise was done in the Creative Writing Club. The underlined text is what I wrote.
This time you are given a passage from which the descriptive prose has been omitted. Can you fill the blanks, choosing one of the following possibilities:
- The dialogue is part of the realistic description of the scene
- The dialogue is part of a macabre story, or of a thriller
- Other.
Read the whole passage and the title given below before attempting to fill in the blanks.
(The narrator, who has been looking for a hotel, has just seen a 'Bed and breakfast' sign outside the a house.)
It was getting late and Darth Vader was driving in search of a place called 'The Bell and Dragon' to spend the night. He found an Hotel that was closer and decided to check it out.
'Please come in,' the fat lady with a wart said behind the counter but, he just stayed by the entrance.
'I saw the notice in the window,' Darth said pointing to the window and holding the door with the other hand.
'Yes, I know.'
'I was wondering about a room.'
'It's all ready for you, my dear,' she said swinging the keys trying to make a starved, craving look.
'I was on my way to The Bell and Dragon,' he said avoiding her dirty looks, 'But the notice in your window just happened to catch my eye.'
'My dear boy,' she replied, getting away from the counter and approaching him, 'why don't you come in out of the cold?'
'How much do you charge?'
'Five and sixpence a night, including breakfast.'
Darth gave her an awkward look.
'If that's too much,' she added, concerned about losing a customer, 'then perhaps I can reduce it just a tiny bit. Do you desire an egg for breakfast? Eggs are expensive at the moment. It would be sixpence less without the egg.'
'Five and sixpence is fine,' he said happily, 'I should like very much to stay here.'
'I knew you would. Do come in.'
She offered him open-handed to take a look at the room. He nodded pleasently at her in silence. He loosed the belt which was holding his lightsaber and searched for a place to hand it.
'Just hang it there,' she said, 'and let me help you with your coat.'
She offered as she removed his long, dark coat.
'We have it all to ourselves,' the woman said with a creepy look rubbing his chest.
(From Roald Dahl, The Landlady)
Elizabeth Rocha
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