The Diary Of John

Saturday, April 26, 2003

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God" - George Bush

As you can see from this George Bush is definately starting to lose it big time... If he hasnt already lost if of course

posted at 5:27 PM by john |

I'm too shy to express my sexual needs except over the phone to people I don't know.
Garry Shandling

Just finished correcting exams here and found that all my students did really well so they will be very happy next week when they come to class :-). Mind you there were only 6 students in this group so its nice and fast to correct most of the exam apart from the written stuff which took a little longer. Any way congrats guys okay? :-)

**Shoves a mexican music cd in the player**

**Choses track called Vivir Sin Aire**

I dont really understand the words but the music is pretty good and i like it better than some of the Brasilian popular music :-). Im waiting for a friend to call me about a place he found that builds computers that is supposed to be quite cheap so if it is we will go there tomorrow and see what sort of deal we can get from them. Usually though in the small cities such as the one i live in there is very little chance of haggling the prices as the city is very poor but in the bigger places some store owners will :-). I have already got the parts list drawn up just need to see what they can do for me :-)

I got the film Panic 2 to watch later on, i saw the first one and thought it was very funny even of it was stupid so i hope the new version is funny too. I will watch it instead of the late film here as this film is in english so the jokes will be funny. when they translate to portugues the jokes cease to be funny anymore as Brasilian people can sometimes be a little conservative when they add the legends or dubbing to a film.... We will see if its any good right??

Okay im off to get some stuff done here, i have things still to correct and some stuff to print off as well for my conversation classes and want to get it all done so i can watch the video :-)

posted at 5:09 PM by john |

Friday, April 25, 2003

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish

Hey today was a great day :-), i found out that if you open a new weblog you can try out the beta test version of the new blogger software :-). At first glance i thought it looked a little strange but after messing around for a few minutes it started to grow on me and after setting up a new weblog and trying it all out i was well pleased with it. I will have a good play with it over the weekend if i get time but i know it may be a little buggy but will be good to get used to it before they release it full time :-)

Also today i did a great conversation class too lol, so a BIG hi to my students Roberta leonardo and Juliana. It was a lyrics class with us listening to various songs by U2 and Guns and roses and seeing what they thought of the lyrics and what the singers were trying to say with them. I will try to get more students to come though as more students will get more conversation going and will increase their vocabulary skills quite alot :-) Also the students can suggest things for the classes which gives them input into how the conversation classes develop and they will be involved alot more too which will be really good for them and the school itself too i think :-). Gotta think of some expressions for the next class lol I cant forget lol

Okay time to go eat quick before the film starts in a few minutes as i hate to miss the start of a film

posted at 8:00 PM by john |

Thursday, April 24, 2003

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts

Its a nice sunny evening here at the moment, ive got my coffee and just relaxing before i go to work later on. The day i spent out in Planaltina but theres not really anything exciting to do here so i was over at work correcting exams and stuff and getting some feedback too from another one of the teachers about conversation classes and other stuff lol. The lunch in the city was okay too which plenty of different things for me to try out :-)

The rest of the afternoon i have been working on some stuff for my conversation classes, i have another group of them starting on Friday so have come up with a couple of things for them to do. I think the lyric game to start off and then i will maybe do the question game after i spent an hour adapting some stuff from TEFL for the intermediate groups. I got a few good ideas from a book i lent too and from the internet so things look good for these classes at the moment :-). I´ll have to get some ideas from the students as well, well the master students because they usually want to try out different things all the time but the others well i will ask a few of them to see if they have anything they would like to have in their conversation class

Have you ever tried to make a roll of card go flat? lol its a pain in the arse. I had to find somewhere in my little estancia that sold colored card first and there is a little place a few minutes up the road that had loads of it so i will have to remember this place for the next time :-). Im going to make some cards i think, quiz cards for the students to use and have to think of about 40 different questions or so to make the activity last around half a lesson or more. I was toying with making a couple of these packs of cards for both advanced and intermediate as well but i will wait and see how these classes take off first. I will have to visit that paper store again to see if i get any other ideas walking around looking at the shelves (Searching for inspiration see lol) Of course i have the video lessons too but will use them for special occasions i think :-)

Okay time for me to go and eat or i will be late getting off to work and i have to get some stuff together to take with me... So see ya later guys lol

posted at 3:11 PM by john |

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

The wisest mind has something yet to learn.

Its been a few days since i last published anything, i have been really busy over the easter time and been out quite alot to friends houses and bbqs too. I even got some nice young lady inquiring about my availability too which was nice :-). Then another young lady even went so far as to give me her name and adrress and asked me to go visit her family and i think i will later in the week just for fun lol. Her house isnt in Planaltina but sobradinho so i will definately go as i dont get much chance to visit alot of this city :-). I will try to get over there at the weekend i reckon :-)

I have some exams to correct tonite but i think i iwll leave them until tomorrow and do them at work instead. I borrowed a new book from a friend too about news headlines so i can use some of it with my conversation classes. The one in Sobradinho is a master class so they can easily handle this stuff and maybe i can water it down for the other groups in planaltina as well. We will have to wait and see how advanced it is first. I ran off a nice con lesson this afternoon about Pet Hates which will be fun to do with the students and also have a video lesson set up for them as well which they will really enjoy :-). For the intermediate group i havent really settled on anything yet, i have until friday night though to think about how i will do their conversation classes so plenty of time yet right? :-) I might do something with lyrics i think as music always goes down well with teenagers :-). Lets see i can use Guns And Roses lol

Anyway time to get off and have something to eat as i am ravenous, smells like beef too yummy lol

posted at 6:43 PM by john |