The Diary Of John
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? - Gandhi
Thursday, October 02, 2003

The Zephyr Song

Can I get your hand to write on
Just a piece of lead to bite on
What am I to fly my kite on
Do you want to flash your light on
Take a look its on display - for you
Coming down no not today

Did you meet your fortune teller
Get it off with no propellor
Do it up it's always stellar
What a way to finally smell her
Pick it up it's not to strong - for you
Take a piece and pass it on

Fly away on my Zephyr
I feel it more then ever
And in this perfect weather
We'll find a place together
Fly on my wing

Riddlin on liberator
Find a way to be a skater
Rev it up to levitator
Super mainly aviator
Take a look its on display - for you
Coming down no not today

Fly away on my Zephyr
I feel it more then ever
And in this perfect weather
We'll find a place together
In the water where the scent of my emotion
All the world will pass me by
Fly away on my Zephyr
We'll find a place together

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa - do you
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa - won't you
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Fly away on my Zephyr
I feel it more then ever
And in this perfect weather
We'll find a place together

In the water where the scent of my emotion
All the world will pass me by
Fly away on my Zephyr
We're gonna live forever
Forever



for some of my students who love listening to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers

posted at 1:11 PM by john |  

Im still here lol

no i didnt excape yet from this mad house lol. I went home and then had lunch and came back early to the school so i could use the printer to do some stuff for class later next week.

I found some nice stuff online for some games and activities, im going to test some of these out after the exams are done with so i can see which ones work well and which dont. I want to find some stuff to use with beginner and childrens groups as well, fun stuff you know thats good for motivating and making the students want to do more english stuff :-) Ill work on it over the weekend if i dont go out anywhere.

Time to hit the printer here, ill have to get offline as the computer is too slow to do any decent multi-tasking lol

posted at 12:32 PM by john |  

Just discovered something wierd here lol

I just found out that i write in slang, and also that i use internet slang too lol. I have no idea what this expression internet slang means but im curious to find this out now lol. hopefully they will email me about this and tell me lol. I think its because people at the schools use just this formal versions of english they are taught and when they encounter real english it throws them a little off track. It'll be interesting though to see what exactly they call slang right? :-)

I've got my cup of coffee and just wasting time here looking up some stuff for my students classes. I have some nice material that i am going to try out on them after the mid-term exams just to make classes a little more fun and a little less methodology lol. Roleplay, hotseat games and stuff like that. I think it will be really good for the students and also there are some things that i want to test out with a captive group before i unleash the new material on conversation classes lol. I got some ideas from a couple of sites that my students told me about as well, i have yet to print the info off and go through it but i hope i will come up with some more new stuff. Its nice to have a stock of things on hand so i can always pull something out of the bag if the students get a little bored or need to do something a little different to wake them up :-) finding some stuff for mixed level groups is a priority for me as some of my intermediate groups have a mix of levels so it will be good if i can find a few things that i can try out on these groups as well. Its all in good fun right? lol

This afternoon i have review classes, as you can guess they are bloody boring lol. Hopefully though the time will pass quickly or they wont have many questions and i can do some of my ideas of review instead lol. I have a couple of games that might be fun to do revision with so i can see how the group likes them :-).. My spice Girls love to try out new things so should be good for a laugh :-)

Oh i should have the new scans of the photos by the weekend so i will upload them and shove some links to them here okay? Theres just four or five of them and they are of some of my students :-)

Time to get something done here and i have loads of stuff to copy and print too.. Later okay? :-)

posted at 8:59 AM by john |  

I cant belive that its 6.30am lol

Im awake early this morning, i have stuff to correct and also some stuff to type out too for my students. A sort of home study thing to help my students with remembering vocabulary and stuff. I'll get the secretary to print it off for me when i get to the school in a while and pass a few copies around :-)

Yesterday i found out that the cleaner at the school has complained about me yet again to the directors of the school. I have no idea why this person doesnt like me, probably because i am the only guy that she hasnt managed to get in to the mens bathroom yet (Think im kidding here?) Its strange though, when i spoke to the director she didnt seem to know anything about it.. hmmm not that i let the ravings of a crazy wierd cleaner bother me lol. My students though probably wont be too pleased as they like to bring cakes and stuff to class on birthdays and there is a ban on food or something now. I have to be honest though, i am wondering whether this isnt just some lie from the cleaner but ill let the students deal with it,. After all they pay right? ;-)

My students in my MEC classes were passing me their email addresses last night so they can email me any interesting things they find surfing the internet. They tend to read alot online to practice their english and come up sometimes with really good sites with loads of stuff for english such as Global English. This site has ten free days access and has many activities for people to do and they have been messing around there :-) It sometimes amuses me though the strange email addresses they have lol. What happened to just having our normal names for the addy? lol Im going to need a book for just email addresses soon lol

I guess i had better get showered and get my arse down to the bus stop to go to work. Have a nice day guys and gals :-)

posted at 5:32 AM by john |  

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Coffee.. Coffee.. Coffee lol

Wow been busy this morning preparing some stuff that i am going to use at the conversation classes over at yet another school im going to work at. Yeah sucker for punishment right? lol. Actually i like conversation classes alot and i have some new stuff to use with them that i havent tried out yet with my other group so it should be interesting to see how well this stuff goes down when we do in the classroom. Maybe ill test some out on other groups though just to see where improvements are going to be needed. I have some stuff still to do but its just photocopies etc so it wont take too long. Friday i get to visit the school to find out where it is for a start and to meet some people too.. students and teachers and the boss lol.. I think its going to be alot of fun as there i just give conversation classes so itll be more relaxed than having to stay on schedule etc :-) I think i might plan roleplay this time too as i havent done a roleplay class yet. I think that the group will enjoy this alot especially if its a teenager group as they usually love to try out different things. I have already decided on the topics and amde some cards for this idea too so just got to see how it goes and then take them with me. I think the first class i will give though will be the Quiz Card Game as students seem to love this game alot lol. Throw in a few embarassing questions and they have loads and loads of fun :-) This is always my first game as it sets people at ease and they get to have fun especially if its their first conversation class :-)

I have to start giving review classes this week for the midterm exams, i hate review as its so boring lol. Luckily though with the advanced groups generally they always have their questions ready so once i have explained anything they dont know we will do some other sort of revision. Time to get the cheesebread and cola again i think lol, its becoming a sort of tradition now to have cheesebread etc in my MEC group at night lol. Its good though as i am usually starving by this time of night :-) I have to give some fast lessons to one of my groups too so we have time to get on schedule with excercises again. I think once extra class will be good enough to get everything back on track. The one good thing is that the exams are easier to correct than the excercises lol its wierd but true lol

Crikey.. i have more junk spread across this table than a little lol. I cant find any elastic bands though. Ill have to dig around in the other sets of drawers later on and see if there are any there instead. I think im going to need a bigger workbag soon for all this extra stuff i am going to lug about all over the place as my other one is already at its limit. The seams are busting open lol, probably cause i brought it from the fair ;-)

Hmm i just thought of something.... they didnt give me any address to find that other school by. OMG lol.. ill give them a buzz later on and find out where exactly it is. I think though i have a lift to the place on friday which will be good as i have never been to this CCAA school before lol. Thinking about it, soon i will have a school for every day of the week lol

Id better go get something done here and eat too as i have only an hour or so and then ill be gone... :-)

posted at 10:57 AM by john |  

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Well now i work at three schools lol

I got some emails this morning asking me if i want to work at yet another school giving just conversation clases so on fridays i will be working in a school in another city :-). This is nice as i will get experience to pass onto my groups in the other schools and also take somethings i use there to this place too.. i think it will be good for both places and me and students as well. I?ve got to visit the school on friday to meet everyone and the boss too, i think we will get along just fine :-)

At the moment i am resting a little at home before i have to go and give class in the school. I have to prepare some stuff to be photcopied as well and will sort them out when i go over to the school later on. Its mostly extra stuff that i use with my groups to give more vocabualry and expressions and also to give something extra to break up the methodology a little to stop things getting boring. Its going to take them a while i think to photocopy them all but the students enjoy alot getting new material to read or play around with :-) Of course some of the stuff is too big to copy so i upload it to the other website where they can read it online or download it to their own computers. I have to find some lyrics too as i think ill do a lyrics part of some of my classes just for a bit of fun too. I will hunt around and see what clips we have at the school that are somewhere near new and then download and copy up the lyrics and work on any new words they wont know yet. Should brighten up the class a bit, i will aim for the end of next week i think if they havent started their exams

Okay time to eat and shower and then im ooutta here lol

posted at 11:31 AM by john |  

Monday, September 29, 2003

Im having a little trouble waking up lol

Its 10am here now in Brasil and I am still half asleep, I had loads of sleep last night but still feel groggy this morning. Need MORE coffee I think lol. Im just checking my email here at the same time as posting so excuse spelling mistakes okay? Awwww a nice email from one of my students, hmm saying she is looking for a boyfriend... Is this a hint do you think? ;-) Anyway I'll reply to it later on after this posting. Junk email too, how come I get so much junk email? Lol. Some of them are quite amusing but what would I do with a penis the size they are advertising at my age? Lol

Last night I went to the cinema to see the film Identity which is actually quite good. There is a bit of a different twist on things at the end which made it more interesting than the usual murder mystery film too.. and no I wont tell you what happens. You will have to go and watch it or read about it on the net lol. Id like to see the film Below as well. I was told its supposed to be quite good too so maybe I will go see it at the weekend as I only ever have time sat or sun to go there. Maybe some of my students would like to go and watch it too. I will ask them in the week but its getting near to exam time here now at the schools so maybe they will shy off to do some revision.

I have some stuff to get copied this morning too, I dread to think how much it will cost to get a few copies of this as its around 20 pages long and I want at least three copies. Maybe I can get just once copy and then just stick it online so that I can just tell the students to visit the web site instead. I will think on it lol. I usually have loads of photocopies done in a week but now its getting near the end of the month with just a few days till payday so as you can imagine I don't want to have to pay for loads of copies of everything. I have a few to do at the school too, gender and stuff for my MEC3 group, I only need a few copies of this though so I think one of the secretaries will run them off for me. I like to try out different things with the master groups such as extra vocabulary and stuff. I think they like this too as they have amazing curiosity for new expressions and words and stuff. I might hunt around the internet later on to see what stuff there is I can use thats new. A visit to learningenglish I think as they sometimes have some new material at their site

I love messing around with new stuff, especially seeing if I can find something different to do with the groups such as the Phobia activity last week, just something thats a little different for the classes so that its not always just methodology. Its fun not only for me but the students too, I like listening to see what new things the students like the idea of trying out. Hopefully this week I will join my MEC group with another group that are a little shy of speaking just for fun and also to try to encourage this other group to speak a little more at the same time. They know the words etc just need a nudge or two I think. Itll be good fuin for them and also for my group too as they are friends :-). Last semester i did the same with one of my other MEC groups by joining a kids group with them just for a bit of fun :-) I like to do things a little different sometimes just for fun and a laugh lol.

**Listening to 'The Calling' - Thank You**

I really have to get around to getting some more cds lol, some new ones from england definately as it takes ages to get a hold of anything new here as they protect brasilian music to stop it being wiped out by the better and more popular american singers and groups. Its not that Brasilian music is really bad just that it never changes. There are singers here still singing the same song that they released two years ago when i arrived here lol. Can you see how boring this is becoming? lol Trust me some of these songs werent good when they released tham and time hasnt improved them either lol. I will have to get hold of some WASP cds as they will liven up the place a little lol. I wonder if the people here in Estancia would appreciate such classic songs as Mean Man or Fuck Like A Beast?? Somehow i doubt it lol

Okay time go go email young Camilla here to see what her email is all about and then off to the copy store if i get time afterwards :-)

posted at 8:44 AM by john |  

Sunday, September 28, 2003

Finally getting somewhere lol

Im finally getting on top of everything here now lol. I thought it wouldnt take long but it took longer than i thought :-) I thought i had finally managed to get the Link stuff setup for my students site but unfortunately Blogrolling have a few bugs still to sort out so hopefully next week and then i can update the website again :-). I cant find any other site that does the same as Blogrolling either, hmm i am suprised that no one else has tried to copy it but then its better for me as i know the Blogrolling one works really well as i use it here on this site :-)

I have all the files sorted out too, i got some great ideas and stuff now so i can print some stuff off and see how it looks so i can alter any bits i dont like before i try them out on students. The only problem was that everything came on Adobe files which cant be copied and pasted, i cant find how to alter the size of the fonts too so they are biggere when i print them off. I wonder if its because i am using an older version of Adobe? I will have to try them on the version that i downloaded at the school and see if they can be changed in anyway there :-). Still its all good stuff and i can always retype in into a word document i guess if i really have to lol.

I ran up a new file for my students to access too on their site, questions and answers about English just for a bit of fun and for information too. Hopefully they will like it at least a little. It will be better once the others start posting on there and they are passing around more interesting stuff because students love surfing the net and they will turn up alot more stuff than i can :-)

I am hoping that its not going to chuck it down with rain too, the sky looks a little gloomy but once i am on the way i dont care if it rains on the way back from the cinema. Sitting watching a film soaking wet though itsnt my idea of a fun time, well unless its the back row of the cinema with some nice young lady helping me to take off my wet clothes hahahaha!! The chances of this happening though are past being remote i think :-)

anyway time to get lunch and check the website of the cinema to see what time the films start.. god i didnt realise how hungry i was lol

posted at 10:20 AM by john |  

Taking a coffee break lol

Here i am this wonderful sunday morning taking a break from perparing some stuff to take to show a couple of people from a school i am going to work at giving conversation classes. I have some things already but i wanted to get some extra stuff just in case as Arllena, the person from the CCAA school in Formosa was telling me they have loads and loads of people who want conversation classes. Luckily though there are quite a few good english sites for teachers online so a quick visit to them for a few new ideas or ways to turn things i already have into something a little different. now i have loads of files downloaded to read through over the next few days and then ill probably go over and visit the other school just to say hi etc. Luckily i dont do alot on fridays so i can teach at this other school too and swap ideas to use with my classes at Planaltina and Sobradinho. I think itll be alot of fun having contact with all these different schools and the students as well. :-)

The other day, i visited a uni not too far from my city to sit in on classes with some of my students and was a little wierd as they gave an english class in portugues lol. Yeah i know, it sounds strange right? lol. apparently it was a sort of presentation but was good fun and there i got to meet some teachers from other CCAA schools as well which was nice. More people to swap ideas with, ill go back to the uni when my students have room in the car as some of the students from the group i joined asked if maybe i would give a class or two for them :-) Could be something fun involved there i think and the experience would be good too. I told them to look into it and get back to me. Opportunities everywhere lol

This afternoon i think ill visit the cinema if it doesnt rain too much, a little rain i dont mind as im british and we have rain all the time in the uk but i dont wanna get a cold or the flu lol. There are a couple of new films showing so maybe ill go watch one of those and also try to ring a couple of friends or students to see if they want to go as well. For me though going on my own is just as good lol, i just love to see films on the big screen and need to find someone with the same passion lol

Wow i didnt realise how much stuff i had downloaded here, ill have to sort it into some different folders so i can keep track of all of it. I think there will be alot of stuff here that i can use, some interesting lesson plans too for conversation classes about all sorts of things. Its a shame that i cant download the mp3 files to use as well... ill ask one of the teachers who has dsl and a burner if they can copy from online and put it onto a cd for me as it would be fun to have some extra stuff to use.. I wonder if i can convert some of this to powerpoint as well. I love using anything different in the class to get people interested such as music or clips sometimes. Rosana lent me a clips cd the other day and i think when i give it back to her in class on monday maybe we will pass a few clips just to liven things up a little. Nothing like G'N'R to get the afternoon going :-) Ill ring around and see who i can find with dsl and see if i can get them to download and burn the sound files for me to use with this stuff

Let me hunt around for a music cd here okay? I must get around to getting my brother to send me some more music cds or download some stuff from the internet and get it burned to a cd instead. The RIAA doesnt really do alot here in Brasil lol

**Got some Bon Jovi going here now**

I have a few things to add to the students weblog as well, i am hoping that i can get some of the MEC students from the other CCAA school to join it as well so that they can practice their english and share websites etc with one another too. Ill have to get the photos scanned and maybe the teachers from the other school can scan some as well :-) I have to give my students a hand to get signed up and started, some of them still have problems joining the weblog too. I will have to sit infront of the computer and watch to see if a can figure out why its not letting people join as some of them signed yesterday with no problems... Wierd init? lol

Okay im off to alter the other site and then clear my desktop here of files to make it look as though they are in some sort of order lol.


Newsletter

Enter your email address below to subscribe to Johns Weblog!


powered by Bloglet
Contributors
John
Roberta

Archives
  • 03/16/2003 - 03/22/2003
  • 03/23/2003 - 03/29/2003
  • 03/30/2003 - 04/05/2003
  • 04/06/2003 - 04/12/2003
  • 04/13/2003 - 04/19/2003
  • 04/20/2003 - 04/26/2003
  • 04/27/2003 - 05/03/2003
  • 05/04/2003 - 05/10/2003
  • 05/11/2003 - 05/17/2003
  • 05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003
  • 05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003
  • 06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003
  • 06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003
  • 06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003
  • 06/29/2003 - 07/05/2003
  • 07/06/2003 - 07/12/2003
  • 07/13/2003 - 07/19/2003
  • 07/20/2003 - 07/26/2003
  • 07/27/2003 - 08/02/2003
  • 08/03/2003 - 08/09/2003
  • 08/10/2003 - 08/16/2003
  • 08/17/2003 - 08/23/2003
  • 08/24/2003 - 08/30/2003
  • 08/31/2003 - 09/06/2003
  • 09/07/2003 - 09/13/2003
  • 09/14/2003 - 09/20/2003
  • 09/21/2003 - 09/27/2003
  • 09/28/2003 - 10/04/2003
  • 10/05/2003 - 10/11/2003
  • 10/12/2003 - 10/18/2003
  • 10/19/2003 - 10/25/2003
  • 10/26/2003 - 11/01/2003
  • 11/09/2003 - 11/15/2003
  • 11/16/2003 - 11/22/2003
  • 11/23/2003 - 11/29/2003
  • 11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
  • 12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
  • 12/14/2003 - 12/20/2003
  • 12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
  • 12/28/2003 - 01/03/2004
  • 01/04/2004 - 01/10/2004
  • 01/11/2004 - 01/17/2004
  • 01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
  • 01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
  • 02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
  • 02/08/2004 - 02/14/2004
  • 02/15/2004 - 02/21/2004
  • 02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
  • 02/29/2004 - 03/06/2004
  • 03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
  • 03/14/2004 - 03/20/2004
  • 03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
  • 03/28/2004 - 04/03/2004
  • 04/04/2004 - 04/10/2004
  • 04/11/2004 - 04/17/2004
  • 04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
  • 04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
  • 05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
  • 05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
  • 05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
  • 05/23/2004 - 05/29/2004
  • 05/30/2004 - 06/05/2004
  • 06/06/2004 - 06/12/2004
  • 06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004
  • 06/20/2004 - 06/26/2004
  • 06/27/2004 - 07/03/2004
  • 07/04/2004 - 07/10/2004
  • 07/11/2004 - 07/17/2004
  • 07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004
  • 07/25/2004 - 07/31/2004
  • 08/01/2004 - 08/07/2004
  • 08/08/2004 - 08/14/2004
  • 08/15/2004 - 08/21/2004
  • 08/22/2004 - 08/28/2004
  • 08/29/2004 - 09/04/2004
  • 09/05/2004 - 09/11/2004
  • 09/12/2004 - 09/18/2004
  • 09/19/2004 - 09/25/2004
  • 09/26/2004 - 10/02/2004
  • 10/03/2004 - 10/09/2004
  • 10/10/2004 - 10/16/2004
  • 10/17/2004 - 10/23/2004
  • 10/24/2004 - 10/30/2004
  • 10/31/2004 - 11/06/2004
  • 11/07/2004 - 11/13/2004
  • 11/14/2004 - 11/20/2004
  • 11/21/2004 - 11/27/2004
  • 11/28/2004 - 12/04/2004
  • 12/05/2004 - 12/11/2004
  • 12/12/2004 - 12/18/2004
  • 12/19/2004 - 12/25/2004
  • 12/26/2004 - 01/01/2005
  • 01/02/2005 - 01/08/2005
  • 01/09/2005 - 01/15/2005
  • 01/16/2005 - 01/22/2005
  • 01/23/2005 - 01/29/2005
  • 02/13/2005 - 02/19/2005
  • 02/20/2005 - 02/26/2005
  • 03/06/2005 - 03/12/2005
  • 03/13/2005 - 03/19/2005
  • 03/20/2005 - 03/26/2005
  • 03/27/2005 - 04/02/2005
  • 04/03/2005 - 04/09/2005
  • 04/10/2005 - 04/16/2005
  • 05/01/2005 - 05/07/2005
  • 05/08/2005 - 05/14/2005
  • 05/15/2005 - 05/21/2005
  • 05/22/2005 - 05/28/2005
  • 05/29/2005 - 06/04/2005



  • Links

    Atom Xml Feed

    Search

    Search term:
    Case-sensitive? yes
    exact fuzzy

    Weather In Brasil

    The WeatherPixie


    Crazy stuff

    Rate Me on BlogHop.com!
    the best pretty good okay pretty bad the worst help?

    There is on this site right now


    Credits


    Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com

    Blizg - The blog resource.

    john. Lives in Brasilia/Brasil, speaks English and A little Portuguese.
    This is my blogchalk:
    Brazil, Brasilia, English, Portuguese, john.