The Diary Of John

Friday, February 18, 2005

Drills

I have been playing around with some ideas for livening up the drill part of the course and found a great idea for a poster that lets the students pass the drill sentences using a different emotion. It could be to use a happy voice, sad voice, terrible acent etc, i think the youngsters are really going to like this especially my Tn7 groups. I`m going to try it out though with some of the others and also Roberta has one that she will use with her groups. I think it`ll work well as the students sometimes get bored with the drills and stuff and anything that makes them more interesting and fun is bound to grab their attention. I have a few other ideas in the works as well for my other groups too, it depends how much time i get to try them all out. I got hold of another book full of ideas that i am going to flick through too, it gives alot of ideas for the classroom and for me as a teacher too. Hopefully ill get some good stuff from reading it.

Im just flicking through the news here as i type and it amazes me that people actualoly find J-Lo interesting enough to wanna know about her hubby trying to control her life and even following here into the womens toilet. I would have thought her life was about as interesting as watching paint dry and i guess Ben Afflec thought that too. Also Spears slagging off someones dog, man what kind of people wanna drag around for this kind of story? Obviously they dont have a real life i guess. The only really interesting thing is a list of crazy ways famous people have seperated from their partners, including:

In 1995, Daniel Day-Lewis sent a breakup fax to Isabelle Adjani, who was seven-months pregnant with his son at the time.
Phil Collins also chose to say it with a fax when he decided to divorce Jill Tavelman, his wife of 10 years. The "Sussudio" crooner later defended his actions, explaining, "Let's face it, a fax is just a letter except it gets there straight away."
Sylvester Stallone absolutely, positively had to end things with Jennifer Flavin in 1994, so he sent her a six-page handwritten note by FedEx. The couple later reconciled.
Matt Damon has denied it, but the rumor persists that he kicked Minnie Driver to the curb during a 1998 appearance on Oprah. "I care about her a lot," he said on the show. "We kind of decided it wasn't meant to be." Driver, who Damon insists knew it was over a few days before he opened his cakehole, later snipped to the Los Angeles Times, "It's unfortunate that Matt went on Oprah. It seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate."
Clint Eastwood allegedly let his lawyers do the dirty work when he ended his long-term affair with Sondra Locke. In her 1989 palimony suit against the squinty-eyed legend, the actress-director stated she received a letter from his legal eagles informing her the locks on their home had been changed and her clothes and belongings (including her pet parrot, Putty) had been removed.
Laura Dern discovered her engagement to Billy Bob Thornton was going less than swimmingly when he ran off to Las Vegas and tied the knot with Angelina Jolie. "I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away my boyfriend got married, and I've never heard from him again," a bitter Dern told Talk magazine in 2000.
Carson Daly got word that his romance with Jennifer Love Hewitt was kaput when he rolled over one morning and turned on the radio. "I woke up to Howard Stern telling me my relationship with [Jennifer] was over," Daly revealed to People mag, adding that he told Hewitt, "If we were going to break up officially like this, maybe we could have just talked about it. I don't see why you had to tell your publicist."
In 1991, Julia Roberts was all set to become Mrs. Keifer Sutherland in a glitzy, soundstage-set wedding when her feet suddenly turned ice cold. Rather than face her scorned groom, she purportedly had a mutual friend call to break the bad news. Roberts retreated from the resulting gossip storm by hopping a flight to Ireland with new squeeze Jason Patric.

Looks like these guys had more fun thinking of a way to break up than they did in their relationships hehehe. Still i guess rich people have to think of more exotic forms of entertainment than the rest of us, right? ;-)

I`ve been toying with the idea of making some kind of blog about this new city we`ve moved to but not exactly sure how to go about it. I was thinking of something like a blog about all the different places we go to, including supermarkets etc and then asking my students to comment about our observations and stuff. I`ll kick the idea around with Roberta and see what she thinks about it. Could be good for a laugh and seeing as the students all live here their comments would be more authentic than if they were commenting on a city they wouldnt know so well like Brasilia. I`ll think on it over the weekend..

Guess i`d better go get something to eat here as im starving..

posted at 2:51 PM by john |

Bullshit..

Well last nite i was still chasing fucking CCAA Planaltina for my final salary payment and after getting the run around from the owners idiot sister Roberta finally discovered that the reason its taking so long is because the owners donkey sister first bounced the cheque and now i have to wait another six days for my bank to accept it. You can probably tell from the problems im having that the school i left is having extreme problems right? Im sure this place is going to close and i will have no sympathy for them. After all Francisco has shown that he doesnt give a shit about anyone apart from hisself and his bank account. Its no wonder everyone is fleeing his schools, Wizard must be kicking its heels up and the problems springing out of the woodwork and knowing that this semester they will pick up more and more ex-students. Funny though, i didnt see all of these problems there when i was employed by them, guess that was because i was already dealing with enough problems then as it was. I`m going to call some of my students whom i know didnt have their groups form and see if they wanna study with me alot cheaper and then pay just the school to take their midterm and final exams. After all they were my students and to the boss just a cash cow.

posted at 9:32 AM by john |

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Brazilian Congress snubs Lula's man

Brazil's president has suffered a stunning defeat in a fight for the leadership of the lower house of Congress, a loss that could threaten reforms sought by businesses and investors.

Lawmakers on Tuesday chose Severino Cavalcanti of the small Progressive Party over ruling Workers' Party lawmaker Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh 300 to 195.

It is the first time that the lower house leader is someone other than the government's top pick. Cavalcanti, who was a member of a party that backed Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship, now wields great power in setting legislative priorities and is third in line to the presidency in Brazil.

Without a faithful ally there, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could struggle to pass legislation such as giving independence to the central bank, completing reforms of the tax and legal systems and streamlining regulatory agencies.

After the vote, Congress opened its legislative year with a message by Lula in which he urged lawmakers to pass reforms that are "absolutely necessary to our country's development."

Analysts predicted a struggle.

"The government will have to negotiate heavily with Congress and resort to horse trading in order to get legislation approved in Congress, especially since it -- the PT (Workers' Party) -- already faces stiff opposition in the Senate," Nuno Camara, an economist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said in a report.

STOCK EXCHANGE DIPS, RECOVERS

Investors see such reforms as key to improving credit-worthiness and reducing the risks of doing business in Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy and one of the world's top emerging markets.

The Sao Paulo Stock Exchange's Bovespa index fell more than 1 percent at the opening on the news but recovered by the end of trade. Brazil's bonds traded overseas also fell on Tuesday.

Even with a Workers' Party lawmaker heading the lower house during Lula's first two years in power, reforms of Brazil's indebted public pensions and bankruptcy laws were watered down.

Greenhalgh had been expected to win the post after a big push by the centre-left government. Analysts said its efforts had been undermined by divisions within the Workers' Party and by lawmakers' frustration with the administration.

He lost in a second-round vote in the early hours of Tuesday.

"This was the consequence of great dissatisfaction, of an inadequate electoral process and of a wrong strategy by the government," lawmaker Jose Mucio, head of the Workers' Party in Congress, told reporters.

Analyst Andre Cesar said lawmakers complained that the Lula administration had failed to deliver on promises, adding that they thought it "was the time to give the government a lesson, and they did it."

Cavalcanti, whose party is a member of the ruling coalition, has pledged to raise lawmakers' salaries and their budgets. He also promised not to work against the government while making efforts to increase the chamber's say.

"Congress' lower house will return to be the centre of national debates, recovering lost space, placing itself in symphony with the just aspirations of the Brazilian people," he said in a speech to Congress to mark its opening.

Cavalcanti will lead the house in the build-up to next year's presidential election, giving him clout in such matters as party political reforms that the administration has sought.

"This episode demands a prompt shift in the government's and, most important, in the Workers' Party's posture toward political negotiations in order to avoid another year without approving structural reforms," economist Adauto Lima of WestLB said in a report.

Poor Lula, his government just sputters and sputters with no real strength or conviction. When he was voted president i said that he would do alot and looks as though i was right. I think Brasil should have voted for experience in Jose Serra rather than in Lula`s terrible inexperience. Next year in the elections i dont think he is going todo so well, if he wins i`ll be amazed..

posted at 11:14 AM by john |

Promotion..

Just got back from a school here called Vision after doing some promo work for a new course on portugues composition thats starting up. Most of my students seem to study there so a big hi to Camila, Tiago, Iza, Carole, Ricardo, Danielle, Bianca, and everyone else whose names i cant remember (You guys know what my memory for names is like, right? hehehe) It was alot of fun, i think just being there i did more promotion work for English than portugues, i think lots of people like to meet a foreign person or at least like to say they met one :-) The school doesnt really allow people to promote english courses as they have their own classes but meeting a foreign person is the best way to promote i think as people are always curious when they meet people from other countries and its natural for them to wanna study english so they can communicate etc. We`ll see how many people come here..

Today i have just one class in the afternoon so i get to relax and basically do nothing. Maybe ill go to the videostore and see what they have, There is another big video store not too far from my house but i didnt get time to do make my membership there yet. Plus i am too lazy to walk there and back hahaha!! I could check on my baby tortoise, the ones next door laid eggs in my garden and one of them hatched the other day but i dont think it will live long as its deformed, i dont know how many other eggs there are but hopefully we will get quite a few of them. Roberta wants to take one of them for her mum at the farm hehehe!

Just reading a crazy story here about someone who pulled of her ex lovers testicles with her bare hands. Check this out:

British woman jailed for tearing off ex-lover's testicle with hand

A British woman who ripped off her ex-lover's testicle with her bare hands and then tried to swallow it was jailed for two and a half years.

Amanda Monti, 24, became enraged when 37-year-old Geoffrey Jones rejected her advances at the end of a party. She yanked off his left testicle before trying to swallow it, Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England was told.

Monti choked and spat the testicle out, before a friend handed it back to Jones with the words: "That's yours."

Monti was jailed on Thursday after pleading guilty to wounding, with judge Charles James noting that the "very serious injury" was not even the result of self defence.

In a statement read to the court, Jones, a bodybuilder, said the attack had "ruined my life".

The incident happened following a party last May, shortly after Jones had ended the couple's relationship, prosecutors told the court.

At a friend's house, Jones rebuffed Monti's advances and she was forced outside following a struggle, only to smash a window and storm back in.

"Suddenly I found Amanda standing in front of me," the victim's statement said, saying the pair grappled on the ground, and after she ripped off his short trousers he stood up.

"She was still on the ground and she grabbed my genitals and pulled hard. That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain," he said.

After trying to swallow the organ, she handed it to Jones's friend. Doctors were unable to re-attach it.

Omg, hehehe, what kind of person would do something like this? Not the sort of person you`d wanna take home to meet your mum i guess.

At the moment im in messenger chatting with the secretary from Planaltina and they said they have been told it will be friday before they get paid. Only two weeks late but Francisco wont care about that. After all i was told all hes thinking about now is his new girlfriend and how much money he can skank from all the students and how much money not to invest in his employees and schools. I think it must be his new blonde hairlights that are doing it, probably the dye was toxic and its posioning his mind, well what little bit of mind he seems to have hehehe. Maybe hes going through some sort of sexual trauma and with his blonde streaks he thinks hes bisexual or some sort of elder member of that gay boy band here (KLB). Man im glad to be outta there.

Time to go prepare some lyrics for one of my students, tomorrow she is going to present a song in the class and i wanna print the lyrics so i can read them before hand..

posted at 8:07 AM by john |

Sinking..

Well it looks like my old school is starting to slowly sink, ive been hearing that teachers are refusing to give classes now as their payment is seven days or more late. Man im glad i got out when i did.

On the other hand though, here things are going great at the other school and this morning im off visiting some of the other schools in the city to promote our school. I did this last weeek too and it was a good laugh. I think students like meeting foreign people as for some of them its their only opportunity to do so. Its alot of fun and last time i found it really relaxing too, strange but true hehehe.

I was sort of hoping that Roberta was going to arrive this morning but with the problems in Planaltina she has taken over some groups there but just for this semester only as i wouldnt want her to teach there full time. That wouldnt be a good career move ;-) Still at the weekend if we get time i think we will check out some of the places around Formosa, maybe the waterfalls and take my cam to get some piccies for my parents. I will have to pick the students brains and see what other places are good to visit around here. I didnt check out the movies here yet but must try to get over and see if its any good. They have Chuckies Son i think this week and also some shitty Xuxa film too that is just a rip off of the Nicolas Cage - National Treasure film. I must also find a good place to rent dvds as well, the one near our house has a few films but man its really expensive compared to the one we went to before. Still there are always plenty of people selling pirate dvds so i can also get 4 or 5 films from those guys for around R$20. you have to ignore peoples heads walking in front of the pic but for R$5 i dont mind hehehe.

Okay i guess we're getting ready to go..

posted at 6:31 AM by john |

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Update..

Finally i have moved cities and am just in one school in Formosa now. Planaltina Df is history although iam having some problems getting my payment from the owner of the school. He hasnt payed anyone yet this month, now i am beginning to see a very different side to this guy Francisco, hes not the smiling like a chesire cat and squeeky clean person he like everyone to think he is but more of a lets treat my employees like shit while raking in a much money from the school as i can type of person. We were talking with someone at planaltina yesterday and they told us he is now 6 days late with their salary and some of the teachers are running up debts as they cant meet their payments. Somehow i doubt that Francisco is going to pay their interest payments for any of them. Now everyone there has decided they have to get out of their and find better places to work. I have emailed some of them to give me copies of their cv's so i can pass them around here as their are many private schools in Formosa. I think they will struggle next semester to keep my old place of employment open as they are losing students and the director just doesnt seem to give a shite about the school too. Roberta and i have this feeling that i got out sort of just in time, but its still sad for the others left there on the sinking ship.

I have managed to find a house thats not too far from the school or everything else in the city which is great. We didnt find a cheap supermarket yet though, there seems to be just one biggish supermarket in the city and we will check it out this weekend. Compared to Pl DF here the city is alot calmer, at night for example we have been out all the time enjoying being able to walk around the citywithout getting robbed or shot. We still have to find the interesting places here but i have a few places in mind to visit with my students, waterfalls etc. Plus there should be many places for Roberta and I to visit too.

At the moment im just settling my new groups in, i got quite a few youngsters which is great as i love teens as they are always animated and ready to try out something new or different. I have some new stuff all ready to go and also a couple of new books on order from SBS that should be full of ideas too. I have a good feeling about this new semester here, i think it'll be alot of fun and i think the guys and i will get to experiment alot with many activities.

posted at 10:21 AM by john |