February in Brazil

In Brazil, the number one holiday in February is Carnaval, which is deemed the largest collective party in the entire world. It´s a five-day holiday, that´s right, a five-day holiday in which people go away, relax and have fun. A traditional activity during this period is getting together to sing and dance. In different parts of Brazil, the musical style during carnaval ranges from regional folk music to the carioca samba.  " Foliões", which is how the people who participate in the celebration are called, either travel to the coast or go to Rio and Sao Paulo to see the samba schools´ parades. Each school presents a theme and parade accordingly and during the parade, a group of jurors analyse and grade every aspect of it, from the clothes they wear to the music they play. The parades officially start out in São Paulo on Friday and Saturday. The two parades take place in Anhembi and are broadcast live to all viewers. On Sunday and Monday, it´s Rio´s schools' turn to astonish the viewers with their costumes, props and ornamented cars. Sapucaí is the place chosen for such monumental event, which is also broadcast live to anyone who´s willing to see it. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the results come out and Rio and Sao Paulo´s winning schools celebrate their victory with the Winners´ Parade, also broadcast live. Every year, carnaval is held in February. However, this year it´s from March 1st to March 5th, which is pretty unusual. Still, brazilians love it because any reason is a reason to sing and dance, even when the date is not right.   

Happy New Year!!!

"The year is finally coming to an end and I'm super duper excited about the festivities tonight."

In Brazil, we celebrate New Year's by wearing white clothes and having a delicious meal at the strike of midnight. At midnight, we also gather to see the fireworks on the street and the fireworks the mainstream TV stations broadcast from different parts of the world. We stay up until the crack of dawn playing games, talking, drinking and eating a lot. The next day, we wake up very late and eat the left overs for lunch. 

November in Brazil

On November 2nd, we honor our late family members by visiting cemeteries all over the country. We take flowers to decorate the graves of beloved ones and candles to be lit. We also pray and reflect about life and its shortness. On November 15th, we celebrate the Proclamation of the Republic. Schools don´t open and we don´t work either. We don't do anything special on this day. It´s a day to rest and have fun with family and friends.

October in Brazil

Super Duper 

People in Brazil celebrate Children's Day on October 12th. On this day, they post their baby photos on Facebook. They also buy children presents and play games with them. On the same day, they also celebrate a catholic holiday called Nossa Senhora Aparecida's Day, in honor to Jesus's mother. In Brasília, the capital of Brazil, faithful catholics gather at Esplanada (a place where outdoor events and concerts take place) for a Mass. On October 15th, they also have Teacher's Day, when schools don't open. On this five-day holiday (it starts on the 12th and it is extended to the 15th), teachers have some time to rest and some of them even travel. 

Brazil in the World Cup Finals in 1994

The activity below was designed as a final project for a course I took in 2009 called "WEBTOOLS FOR EDUCATORS" and conducted by Carla Arena. The goal was to make an advanced group of students interested and prepared to talk about the topic, which was soccer. In order to make that happen, they were presented vocabulary related to soccer and a video with drawings I had made. The ultimate task was to write about a soccer game they had watched, using the vocabulary learned.