Sharing problems and solutions!

Hello Everybody!
I am curious to know about your PCC Research Project. Have you managed to create the task-based activity?
Talking about activities, I had to observe classes for my course... and I became really sad with the reality I faced. I went to a school where the classrooms have serious structural problems. And the worst part is that these problems are interfering in the way the teachers conduct their classes. What did I do about the situation? I sent an e-mail to the principal. Have you ever faced this kind of problem? What did you do about it? Would you like to share it with us?

Welcome! :D

Hey, dear Students!

How are you? I missed you all during the vacations! It’s nice to be here sharing experiences with you again! :) I wish you all a wonderful semester! And let me know if you need some help or if you want to share something. By the way, as you have to write a short story about an unusual classroom event, I remembered that last year I received an e-mail with a funny story from a friend of mine. Here it goes... I hope you enjoy it!

"Marlon asked the teacher to help him get his shoes on at the end of a busy day. After quite a struggle with the shoes, which were a little tight, Tessa [the teacher] finally got them on.
'They're on the wrong way round, Miss,' mumbled Marlon.
She realizes that he is right; they are on the wrong feet. Staying calm she swaps them over for him.
'They're not my shoes, Miss,' Marlon murmurs again.
Tessa fights hard to keep her cool and asks Marlon why he hadn't told her before. She then kneels down again and helps him pull the shoes off.
'These aren't my shoes, they're my brother's and Mum told me not to tell anyone.'
At this point Tessa can feel tears coming. She helps him back into his shoes. She gets him into his coat and wraps his scarf round his neck.
'Where are your gloves, Marlon?' asks Tessa quietly.
'Oh, Miss, I always put them in my shoes!'
(http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/stories/story_teacher.htm)

Floripa Through New Eyes

Hey everyone! This is the third and last installment about my terrific vacation.

THE CALLING
I have just gotten home from my amazing trip to Gramado when my phone rang:
- Hello.
- Hi Lily. This is Cristiane.
- Hi! How's life?
- Just fine. I'm calling to ask if you are doing anything next weekend.
- (I had been traveling too much and was about to give an excuse but I had a second thought when I remembered that I hadn't met the distance tutor Cristiane yet). I'm available. Why?
- Mike, my Bostonian friend, is visiting me and we would like to invite you to join us for a hike next Saturday.
- That's cool. I'm in! Can you pick me up?
- Sure. Saturday at 8am I will be there at your place.
- Great. See you then.
- Bye!

THE MEETING
Saturday arrived and I finally met Cristiane, Mike and Eduardo - another friend of hers who joined us for the hike. Everybody was nice and friendly and we spoke in English all the time because Mike couldn't speak Portuguese. Well, he could say some words like 'oi', 'tudo bem?', 'obrigado', 'por favor' and 'que vista linda!'. He learnt all these words from a tourist book he bought at the airport. His Portuguese accent was very cute!

Before starting our hiking we made a stop downtown to show him the Public Market, the former Customs'building, and the Fig Square. Mike loved everything, specially the graffiti that we hadn't noticed before! He thought they were very unique. Then we went to Costa da Lagoa. It was a 7 km hiking but it lasted longer than we expected because Mike wanted to take a lot of pictures. He is a biology master's student at Harvard University and he was very impressed with every single plant here. For me that was amazing because when we live in the same city for a long time we just get accustomed to everything. I thanked Mike because I could see my own city through new eyes.

THE RESTAURANT
Later that day we went to the south part of the island and Mike fell in love with Matadeiro beach. But I told him that they used to kill whales there in the past and that was the origin of the name. Then he changed his mind and said that Matadeiro beach was not that nice anymore! Then the funny part happened. We were in a restaurant and Mike went to the restroom. He took a while there then came back and said nothing. A little later the cleaning lady started to clean the bathroom and kept the door open. When she pulled the cord to flush the toilet, Mike enthusiastically said: 'Oh, so this is how it works!!!' Then he told us that he hadn't understood that he should have pulled the cord to flush! Cristiane, Eduardo and I laughed a lot. But now I think we were kind of cruel. Mike was in a new country and didn't have to know how some toilet flushes work in Brazil. What would you have done if you were in our shoes? Would you have just laughed like we did? Or would you have explained the different ways we use to flush in Brazil? But how could that be since we flush the toilet every day without thinking about it? How can you explain something like that?

Brazilian Movie Não se pode viver sem amor

Our exciting visit to Gramado ended with an interesting movie we watched at Palácio dos Festivais, where annually the best of Brazilian movies are awarded. We watched the movie Não se pode viver sem amor. This a fascinating movie which narrates a story about a mother and son who arrive in Rio de Janeiro in a December 23th in order to look for the boy's father. This journey reveals that we cannot live without love. I appreciated the movie because it is always good to see Rio de Janeiro. Besides, I believe we should trust the quality of movies produced in Brazil. I was fascinated with Cauã Raymond's acting. He is an actor who incorporates the character.

My visit to Gramado!

Dear Followers,

I am sure you noticed that my last vacation was busy! I spent some time with all UFSC Tutors, which is why now I am going to tell you about the time I have spent with Rossana and her family in Gramado. To begin with, we visited three traditional chocolate factories: Dolcemonte, Lugano, and Prawer. There you can taste several kinds of chocolate for free. I liked it! (http://www.feriasbrasil.com.br/rs/gramado/chocolate.cfm) With full energy we went to Lago Negro (http://www.feriasbrasil.com.br/rs/gramado/lagonegro.cfm). I was afraid with the fact of being in the middle of a lake, but Rossana and her family were brave and rode the swan shaped "pedalinho". However, they had to wear life vests and they weren't allowed to feed the fish. In addition, there was a sign indicating that you can't step on the grass! Would you agree with that rule? Come on... it is a park!

Curiosities of my last vacation!

Hi there! I visited Amsterdam during my last vocation and I would like to share with you my impressions about some interesting places. I was reading the City Guide of Amsterdam when, surprisingly, I found a couple of unusual museums. One of them is the Museum of Bags and Purses (http://www.tassenmuseum.nl/en), the largest in the world. It offers a collection dating from the 16th century until now. All those shapes, colors, and sizes are amazing! Sadly, a wonderful collection of bags is offered at the museum shop, however I did not had money to buy any! The other curious museum is the Diamond Museum (http://www.diamantmuseumamsterdam.nl/). Besides all the history of diamonds in the world (even in Brazil), the museum exhibits famous diamonds, crowns, and jewelry. In addition, the museum shows how the industrialization of diamond works, that is, we can see workers polishing diamonds in front of us! Really cool! Finally, I was leaving the museum when, unexpectedly, I found a computer which allows us to take picture of ourselves and, then, we can choose pictures of crowns and jewelry to add to our picture! Nice toy! Of course I chose a fancy crown to add to my picture! Besides, Amsterdam has lots of other fantastic places, such as: the Rijks Museum (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/), Madame Tussaud (http://www.madametussauds.com/Amsterdam/en/Default.aspx), Nemo Science Center (http://www.e-nemo.nl/en/?id=1), and the Van Gogh Museum (http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp). Above, you can see a picture I took of tutor Kátia at the Madame Tussaud and another at the Rijks Museum. We traveled together! What an adventure!

Best part of my last vacation!

Wow, wow, wow, people! You can't imagine how I missed you all! I did lots of amazing things on my last vacation. However, my favorite, was my visit to my dear grandma Tereza. She lives at the countryside and she is already on her 90s. So, she has lots of stories to tell and it is very interesting to spend the afternoons eating cake and listening to grandma. Late in the afternoon we sat and she told me that people of the town where she lives, seventy years ago, only drank herbal tea for illness. She was complaining that nowadays people have pills and, in the future, people are going to get vaccines! That's grandma: she's afraid of the flu vaccine! I don't mind having vaccines! Anyway, I want to know about your vacation. Please, please, tell me a little bit about it? Could leave a short note here at the blog? I would be so glad!!!!