Elections 2014

Last october, Brazilians voted for president and unlike previous elections, this one was marked by  fearce and really nasty comments of the candidates about their opponents' character. Instead of talking about their platform, they attacked each other trying to make them look unreliable to the voters (which explains the opening remark in the video). Thus,  I took this opportunity to assign a project for my teen students. Since they were learning the first conditional, they were supposed to pretend they were running for president and create a political platform in which they stated what they would do in case they won. They were supposed to use the possible starters below:

1) If you vote for me, I will...
2) If I win this election, I will...
3) If I have your vote/ support, I will...
4) If you give me a chance, I will...

When they finished writing their platforms, I proofread them and provided them with comments and suggestions. After that, the students used the school's IPads to design a poster, in which they would draw a symbol for their campaign, think of an "imaginary" party/number and come up with a catch phrase. The drawing app they used was DRAWP because it's super user friendly.

Once their posters were done, we filmed their platforms. I projected their posters on the data show screen and they stood before it. The videos are time consuming, therefore, I suggest that you assign this project to only one group of few students. I had 8 students In this class.

To wrap things up, we had an election in school. We set up a room with the video on, a ballot and voting slips displayed on a desk. Everyone going past the room was invited to go inside, watch the video and vote for one of the candidates.

My students enjoyed the project very much and took it very seriously every step of the way. In the end, the winner got a token.

Idioms 4

Super Duper still has feelings for that girl Melissa. 

Everyday, he rehearses to ask her out but every time he gets close to her, he has BUTTERFLIES IN HIS STOMACH.

He got sick and tired of keeping it to himself so one day after lunch he GOT IT OFF HIS CHEST.

They started seeing each other and Super Duper is fascinated because they SEE EYE TO EYE on almost everything. 

They went out one day and Super Duper GOT A LUMP IN HIS THROAT when Melissa told him she didn't like his cape.

Super Duper's cape has been a reason for mocking among his friends. They are always PULLING HIS LEG.

He screams AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS, so that they knock it off…

… and the next thing he knows they are AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS.

He GIVES them A COLD SHOULDER as well.

Eventually, the cape resulted in BAD BLOOD between Super Duper and Melissa, so they broke up.

At the end of the day, Super Duper realized he's better off alone. He'll KEEP HIS CHIN UP and LET HIS HAIR DOWN!

Downloadable Material

Resolutions

My teen students learned how to talk about resolutions by using GOING TO. To wrap things up, they were asked to illustrate a song. I apologize for the rough sketches, but this particular group was not very into drawing. However, I haven't showed them the video yet, so I hope that when I do, they feel motivated to finish them up, so I can edit it eventually. Nevertheless, I wanted to give you an idea of what the video could look like, so here's the result:

 

My Best Friend

After learning how to describe people´s physical characteristics, my students have been asked to draw, color and write about their best friends.

Brazil X Germany

" It was not a bad dream, because if it had been one, we would have woken up" (Tino Marcos). It is real. The chance to be champion for the sixth time has been postponed once again. However, I always try to see the bright side of everything. We cannot always win and everything in life, good or bad, is a lesson to be learned. 

How old are you?

Super simple activity for practicing HOW OLD ARE YOU? with elementary students. I usually draw first to demonstrate what I expect from them.

  Teacher´s                                 Student´s

1) Write the following on the board:

HOW OLD ARE YOU? I´m___________

2) Hand out sheets in blank;
3) Students draw and color their age (They draw a big number in the center of the sheet)
4) Students tape them on their chest;
5) Students walk around the classroom and practice Q/A;

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.