The creation of the teacher

[Author Unknown]

    The Good Lord was creating teachers. It was His sixth day of 'overtime' and He knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children. An angel appeared to Him and said, "You are taking a long time to figure this one out."

    "Yes," said the Lord, " but have you read the specs on this order?"

TEACHER:

... must stand above all students, yet be on their level,

... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
... must run on coffee and leftovers
... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
... must have 6 pair of hands.
    "Six pair of hands, " said the angel, "that's impossible"

    "Well, " said the Lord, " it is not the hands that are the problem.  It is the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!"

    The angel looked incredulous, " Three pairs of eyes...on a standard model?"

    The Lord nodded His head, " One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, " I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."

    "Lord, " said the angel, " this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow".

    "I can't," said the Lord, " for I have come very close to creating something much like Myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick.....teaches a class of children that do not want to learn....has a special place in his/her heart for children who are not his/her own.....understands the struggles of those who have difficulty....never takes the students for granted..."

    The angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating. 

    "It is too soft-hearted, " said the angel.

    "Yes," said the Lord, " but also tough, You can not imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary".

    "Can this teacher think?" asked the angel.

    "Not only think," said the Lord,. "but reason and compromise."

    The angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger  over the teacher's cheek.

    "Well, Lord, " said the angel, your job looks fine but there is a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model.  You can not imagine the stress that will be placed upon the teacher."

    The Lord moved in closer and lifted the drop of moisture from the teacher's cheek.  It shone and glistened in the light.

    "It is not a leak," He said, "It is a tear."

    "A tear? What is that?" asked the angel, "What is a tear for?"

   The Lord replied with great thought, " It is for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task. It is for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it is for compassion for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."

    "My, " said the angel, " The tear thing is a great idea...You are a genius!!"

    The Lord looked somber, "I didn't put it there."

Soulmate and Twin Soul

(From: http://kuriakon00.tripod.com/soulmate/)

The bad kangaroo

There was a small Kangaroo who was bad in school. He put thumbtacks on the teacher’s chair. He threw spitballs across the classroom. He set off firecrackers in the lavatory and spread glue on the doorknobs.

“Your behavior is impossible!” said the school principal. “I am going to see your parents. I will tell them what a problem you are!”

The principal went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo. He sat down in a living-room chair.

“Yes, I know”, said Mr. Kangaroo. “I enjoy putting thumbtacks in chairs”.

A spitball hit the principal on his nose.

“Forgive me”, said Mrs. Kangaroo, “but I can never resist throwing those things”.

There was a loud booming sound from the bathroom.

“Keep calm”, said Mr. Kangaroo to the principal. “The firecrackers that we keep in the medicine chest have just exploded. We love the noise”.

The principal rushed for the front door. In an instant he was stuck to the doorknob.

“Pull hard”, said Mrs. Kangaroo. “There are little globs of glue on all of our doorknobs”.

The principal pulled himself free. He dashed out of the house and ran off down the street.

“Such a nice person”, said Mr. Kangaroo. “I wonder why he left so quickly”.

“No doubt he had another appointment“, said Mrs. Kangaroo. “Never mind, supper is ready”.

Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo and their son enjoyed their evening meal. After the dessert, they all threw spitballs at each other across the dining room table.

A child’s conduct will reflect the ways of his/her parents.

[By Arthur Lobel]

Técnicas de Leitura de Texto em Inglês

    As técnicas de leitura, como o próprio nome diz, vão nos ajudar a ler um texto. Existem técnicas variadas, mas veremos as mais utilizadas. Ao ler um texto em Inglês, lembre-se de usar as técnicas aprendidas, elas vão ajudá-lo. O uso da gramática vai ajudar também. As principais técnicas são: a identificação de cognatos, de palavras repetidas e de pistas tipográficas. Ao lermos um texto vamos, ainda, apurar a idéia geral do texto (general comprehension) e utilizar duas outras técnicas bastante úteis: skimming e scanning.

Cognatos Os cognatos são palavras muito parecidas com as palavras do Português. São as chamadas palavras transparentes. Existem também os falsos cognatos, que são palavras que achamos que é tal coisa, mas não é; os falsos cognatos são em menor número, estes nós veremos adiante.

Como cognatos podemos citar: school (escola), telephone (telefone), car (carro), question (questão, pergunta), activity (atividade), training (treinamento)... Você mesmo poderá criar sua própria lista de cognatos!

Palavras repetidas As palavras repetidas em um texto possuem um valor muito importante. Um autor não repete as palavras em vão. Se elas são repetidas, é porque são importantes dentro de texto.

Muitas vezes para não repetir o mesmo termo, o autor utiliza sinônimos das mesmas palavras para não tornar o texto cansativo.

Pistas tipográficas As pistas tipográficas são elementos visuais que nos auxiliam na compreensão do texto. Atenção com datas, números, tabelas, gráficas, figuras... São informações também contidas no texto.
Os recursos de escrita também são pistas tipográficas. Por exemplo:
• ... (três pontos) indicam a continuação de uma idéia que não está ali exposta;
• negrito dá destaque a algum termo ou palavra;
• itálico também destaca um termo, menos importante que o negrito;
• ‘’ ‘’ (aspas) salientam a importância de alguma palavra;
• ( ) (parênteses) introduzem uma idéia complementar ao texto.

General Comprehension A idéia geral de um texto é obtida com o emprego das técnicas anteriores. Selecionando-se criteriosamente algumas palavras, termos e expressões no texto, poderemos chegar à idéia geral do texto.

Por exemplo, vamos ler o trecho abaixo e tentar obter a “general comprehension” deste parágrafo:

“Distance education takes place when a teacher and students are separated by physical distance, and technology (i.e., voice, video and data), often in concert with face-to-face communication, is used to bridge the instructional gap.” From: Engineering Outreach College of Engineering – University of Idaho 

A partir das palavras parecidas com o português (em negrito) podemos ter um a idéia geral do que se trata; vamos enumerar as palavras conhecidas (pelo menos as que são semelhantes ao Português):

• distance education = educação a distancia
• students = estudantes, alunos
• separeted = separado
• physical distance = distância física
• technology = tecnologia
• voice, video, data = voz, vídeo e dados (atenção: “data” não é data)
• face-to-face communication = comunicação face-a-face
• used = usado (a)
• instructional = instrucional

Então você poderia dizer que o texto trata sobre educação a distância; que esta ocorre quando os alunos estão separados fisicamente do professor; a tecnologia (voz, vídeo, dados) podem ser usados de forma instrucional. Você poderia ter esta conclusão sobre o texto mesmo sem ter muito conhecimento de Inglês. É claro que à medida que você for aprendendo, a sua percepção sobre o texto também aumentará. Há muitas informações que não são tão óbvias assim.

Skimming “skim” em inglês é deslizar à superfície, desnatar (daí skimmed milk = leite desnatado), passar os olhos por. A técnica de “skimming” nos leva a ler um texto superficialmente. Utilizar esta técnica significa que precisamos ler cada sentença, mas sim passarmos os olhos por sobre o texto, lendo algumas frases aqui e ali, procurando reconhecer certas palavras e expressões que sirvam como ‘dicas’ na obtenção de informações sobre o texto.

Às vezes não é necessário ler o texto em detalhes. Para usar esta técnica, precisamos nos valer dos nossos conhecimentos de Inglês também. Observe este trecho:

“Using this integrated approach, the educator’s task is to carefully select among the technological options. The goal is to build a mix of instructional media, meeting the needs of the learner in a manner that is instructionally effective and economically prudent.” From: Engineering Outreach College of Engineering – University of Idaho

Selecionando algumas expressões teremos:
• integrated approach = abordagem (approach = abordagem, enfoque) integrada
• educator’s task = tarefa (task = tarefa) do educador – ‘s significa posse = do
• tecnological options = opções tecnológicas (tecnological é adjetivo)
• goal = objetivo
• a mix instrucional media = uma mistura de mídia instrucional.

Com a técnica do “skimming” podemos dizer que este trecho afirma que a tarefa do educador é selecionar as opções tecnológicas; o objetivo é ter uma mistura de mídias instrucionais de uma maneira instrucionalmente efetiva e economicamente prudente.

Scanning “Scan” em Inglês quer dizer examinar, sondar, explorar. O que faz um scanner? Uma varredura, não é?! Logo, com a técnica de “scanning” você irá fazer uma varredura do texto, procurando detalhes e idéias objetivas.

Aqui é importante que você utilize os conhecimentos de Inglês; por isso, nós vamos ver detalhadamente alguns itens gramaticais no ser “ Estudo da Língua Inglesa”. Olhe este trecho:

“ Teaching and learning at a distance is demanding. However, learning will be more meaningful and “deeper” for distant students, if students and their instructor share responsibility for developing learning goals: actively interacting with class members; promoting reflection on experience; relating new information to examples that make sense to learners. This is the challenge and the opportunity provided by distance education.”

Poderíamos perguntar qual o referente do pronome “ their” em negrito no trecho? Utilizando a técnica de skimming, seria necessário retornar ao texto e entender a sentença na qual o pronome está sendo empregado. “Their “ é um pronome possessivo (e como tal, sempre vem acompanhado de um substantivo) da terceira pessoa do plural (o seu referente é um substantivo no plural).

A tradução de “their instructor” seria seu instrutor . Seu de quem? Lendo um pouco para trás, vemos que há “students”; logo concluímos que “their” refere-se a “students, ou seja, instrutor dos alunos”.

(Adaptado do original da ETB - Escola Técnica de Brasíla)

Hurricanes

Hurricane Katrina Satellite Image

A hurricane is an area of low pressure, with wind speeds of 300 kilometers per hour and very heavy rain. Hurricanes can cause a great deal of damage to the areas they pass over and, if you live in a hurricane area, it is important to be ready for them. Hurricanes begin in areas of low pressure in all the tropical areas of the world. In America and the Caribbean they are called “hurricanes” and the word “hurricane” comes from the Spanish and Caribbean Indian words for “evil spirits” and “big winds.” In southeast Asia and the Pacific, they are called “typhoons” or “cyclones” and in Australia they are called “willy-willies.”

Hurricanes do not stay in one place, but move very quickly across the ocean, getting stronger and stronger. The hurricane continues to travel until it reaches an area of cool sea or land. When the hurricane reaches land, it becomes less powerful, but can still cause a great deal of damage to towns and villages in the area.

Superstition

There is evidence of superstition among ancient civilizations. But this is not something of the past. Superstition is part of our modern world, too.

Some very old beliefs are among us today: a broken mirror, for example, means seven years of bad luck. A black cat brings you bad luck when it crosses your way. Some people never walk under a ladder because it also means bad luck. There is a very curious belief among New Yorkers: 13 is a sign of bad luck and many buildings have no thirteenth floor.

There is also a place for good luck in superstition. Some charms and beliefs are popular because they bring good luck. A horseshoe, for example, or a four-leaf clover are popular good luck charms around the world. In Brazil, it is very difficult to find a ticket of the Federal Lottery with a final 13 – this is the lucky number. There is another curious belief in Brazil: three kisses on the face of a single girl bring marriage.

Superstition is certainly part of the past, present and future life of man. For some people, it is ignorance; for others, it is an important part of their lives.