The Diary Of John

Friday, September 17, 2004

Films..

Just looking here at some brasilian sites for downloading films, they have all the latest ones but no ideas about how good the quality of them will be. I'll get my students to download some i think so we can watch them in class later in the semester. I watched most of them at the cinema but i can watch again with the guys, something different to do :-)

Apparently there is a guy coming to inspect the franchise here this year, november i think. It a certainty that i will get observed being a native speaker :-( I will just do an extra activity on this day just to see what the guy says to me hehehe! I dont think he will say alot though, if he does it will be just in portugues anyway so waste of time cause i dont really speak alot of that ;-) I am going to check out another methodology though later this afternoon if i get time. Some of my students are thinking of opening a small english school after they graduate and wanna find out about the many types of methodology they can use. Should be interesting. The company is called ALL, i am at the website now and asking them to send me some information and stuff. We will see what happens i guess, right?

Okay gotta go make some lunch for when Roberta arrives, i have no idea what to make though lol..

posted at 10:01 AM by john |

Politics..

I was roaming around the UK parliment site earlier on and amazed at the amount of idiotic jobs there are. A guy called Black Rod and the security is men in tights with swords, man we must be the laughing stock of the world hehehe. But us Brits know that the law in the UK is mainly traditional and passed down from before time began. In fact, only recently while Tony Blair has been in power has he tried to make our form of government there more modern and up to date. Alot of roles and jobs there are just ceremonial with people dressed up and covered in makeup looking like some 18th century pansy/fop. If a terrorist wanted to get intheir and kill people he would have no problems, mind you maybe the UK would be better off without all of these ceremonial hangers on. I tried to find a pic of the security people but there are no pics online, i guess they are trying to hide their shame ;-) Can you imagine them trying to tackle someone with an AK47 with a tin sword? What a joke!!

My new TV and dvd arrived and are now fully installed, i still have to get an antenna but not really going to rush for one. Here its just novellas on the tv, all boring, shitty actors/actresses, no story, people running around all of the time saying Meu Deus, not talent etc. I'm sure you get my meaning right? The dvd is an LG one, its excellent and has many useful functions as well as being to play just about any type of cd/dvd. The first film we watched was:

The life of David Gale. Its excellent and well worth watching. The story is about how far someone would go for something you believe in and centers on the death penalty in Texas, USA. The idea is really interesting with Kevin Spacey as the main character and telling the story of how he ended up on death row. Dont bother reading the film critics online, especially the ones from people who more than likely have never made or starred in a film. Just rent and watch, we liked it alot and i think my students will find it really interesting too.

My Formosa conversation class have started posting messages at their site, i visited today and saw a few comments etc, im have to email them about how to post with Blogger so they can add their own stuff too. The one in goias people are still being added but i have the basics of the site up and running now. We will see how much they use them as the semester continues.

Okay, i need Coca Cola now..

posted at 7:49 AM by john |

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Upgrade..

I asked the other day about upgrading the IE on this computer. They told me that because its such a shite computer it cant handle it. I asked them to take off the useless Win 2000 and then install something like Win88SE2 so there would be more resources but this was a little too difficult i guess and it didnt get done :-( How come we have to suffer this terrible IT problems? Well we dont have a full time person here to look after the computer systems so basically when things go wrong we are screwed until we can finally persuade someone to come here and then not alot gets done. Classic example, all of the files missing or deleted, computers with not enough memory to do simple things, the list is endless. They told me they have submitted a list of things that need doing but i cant see that getting done any time soon as it requires alot of money here to upgrade the computer systems. Of course it only really needs doing once but still i cant see this happening.

Can u believe i am still hungry? hahaha!! I have to go get something in a minute as my stomach is rumbling lol. When Roberta gets here i can have lunch though, not sure what we are going to have yet. Maybe just salad or something easy to make so Roberta can get some sleep this afternoon. Getting up at 5am each morning to go to the mental hospital to complete her training leaves her feeling very tired :-( Still its something that has to be done so she can get her certificates etc and graduate from her nursing course at the end of this year.

I must remember to pick up some more photocopies this afternoon too for my classes in Taguatinga. I am missing just one set now but didnt remember yesterday to get them as i was busy looking for a TV and dvd. They are to help my students with Superlative and Comparatives so they understand a little better. Hopefully the stuff i chose will make it easier for them all :-)

I picked up my copies of an activity book this morning, its excellent and has many great ideas for class. It suggests some kind of action activity for just about any form of grammar we use here at CCAA so it should help me to liven up my lessons even more than they already are :-) I think its nice to change from methodology every now and again, dont you?

Okay gotta go eat..

posted at 9:05 AM by john |

Talking..

Well im talking to someone here on messenger but im not sure who they are lol. Im guessing one of the teachers but here in Brasil people change their ids all the time so i just talk and give the impression that i know who they are hehe. Im sure i'll find out Sat who it is when i go over to the school.

I went and brought a new TV and dvd player yesterday. I dont really watch alot of TV but i felt like spending some money on something for me :-) I like watching dvds alot as i can change the language and practice my portugues a little or if i am watching a film with Roberta and Grasielle her cousin we can change to English with portugues subtitles. Now i just have to get an antenna for the house and get it setup. I was toying with the idea of getting sattilite but here its really expensive and i cant be bothered to spend all that money when i just watch TV a little. It'll be nice though to have the option of watching a film even when the school is closed (I usually use the dvd players in the school see hehe). They are going to deliver sometime today but they couldnt give me a time so i have to basically stay here until they come. I neglected to get a TV unit to stand it all on but i'll think of something ;-)

Had to get something to eat, i ate this morning but for some reason im still really hungry, wierd! I'll pig out on junk food later though so that'll take care of it but im going to go now and stuff cookies hahaha!

posted at 7:22 AM by john |

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Waiting..

Im waiting for my students to arrive, maybe they are still watching Powerpuff girls or something, Who knows hehe. This morning we are going to do a ranking game just to do something different, i think they will like it alot as they have never done this type of activity before :-) I'll be glad once the stuff is here for us to give class though as i am already behind schedule, actually alot behind but not to worry. With it being a small group i can soon catch up, I hope.

Man, i put R$10 on my cell phone the other day and its all gone already. Vivo is turning out to be as real expensive cell company :-( I must look around and see if i can get some sort of contract where i dont have to pay so much, if i cant get a good one from Vivo i will just change companies to Claro or one of the others.

Haha!! Students have arrived, gotta go..

posted at 6:59 AM by john |

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Blogsnob..

did you all notice that blogsnob had changed the format of its ads? I was curious about this as the vertical one wasnt really very nice but after going to the site they have a horizontal one that looks alot better so a quick copy of the code from the site and its looking alot better. I liked the one before with the single ad better though. At least it isnt annoying me like it was ten minutes ago hehehe!!

posted at 2:09 PM by john |

Longing for..

Im in desperate need of coffee hahaha!! Well actually just a little as i have no fruit juice made in the fridge now lol. Usually theres some home made juice but i was feeling a little lazy last night and didnt get around to making it before sleeping. I'll maybe get Roberta to make some for me ;-)

I'm having a few problems getting one of my students into the MEC conversation blogger. I send the invite but for some reason the link doesnt work and it says to contact blogger helpline. wierd aint it? I'll have to figure it out later on after ive looked through the help section

Also this morning i noticed that someone has deleted all of the teachers documents from My Documents, there must have been over 100 files there and they are all gone now. Luckily i had alot of mine saved onto diskettes but the rest are all gone. I dont understand why they dont just get a computer for the teachers to use here so this doesnt happen. Maybe its time for the boss here in Planaltina to get something done about this situation. Every semester this happens, usually because the teachers have no computers to use of their own or because we are using computers that are antiquated and break down all the time. The bosses reply.. 'I have no money'. Sad init? Funny thing, the other schools i work at give the teachers protected space to store files on the server or another computer but here we are still using computers that cant even be brought from a secondhand store in the UK. Of course the boss has a top of the range pc along with his huge house and imported American pick-up truck but still has no money. Hmmm what is that i smell? smells like Bullshit to me!!

Im going to make lunch for Roberta today, ive got no idea what to cook though hehe. I think chicken with something, salad and stuff, or maybe i'll just go the the restaraunt and get something from there and serve it up just for speed. Roberta is training at a mental hospital miles away this week and gets back really tired. Its really stressful for her to be there too as you have to spend every minute watching over your shoulder because the patients are just wandering around and not all of them are non-violent. she said one tried to attack her and kick her yesterday just because she didnt have any food to give to her. Thankfully its just four days there and she wont have to go back. Some of the trainees were in tears at the conditions here so you can imagine what it must be like right? These people trained in the hospitals so they are used to seeing terrible things but there was nothing like this mental hospital they are at now. Sadly i dont think i can get any pics of this place for you guys to see with it being a hospital, patient confidentiality etc. But after seeing the hospitals myself and the conditions of them i can tell you that the mental facility must be really really bad. Roberta was saying that they are going to spend some money on the place to try to upgrade it so they can try to offer a better service to the patients, good news but they have to get the money from Gov. Roriz and he prefers to take money from public facilities to build things for the rich people who pay his campaign contributions, like that crazy bridge that is over the lake in Brasilia where he took money from the hospitals to finish it after he ran out of money. We'll see what happens i guess..

Beautiful bridge, just for rich people to use to cross the lake. Built at the expense of how many people and childrens lives though. Do you think the people of Brasilia care? They dont give a shit, trust me on this. After all if they did they wouldnt have let their Governor take money from the public hospitals to build it right? Those childrens deaths are their fault as much as the fault of the governor they all voted for to protect their greed.

I'm just reading here about a group called fathers 4 Justice. They are a group of fathers campaigning for rights to see their kids etc in the UK. We have a terrible system there and no equal rights for both parents. Organizations like CAFFCASS and the court system fail fathers all of the time, trust me Caffcass is nothing short of a joke and i know this from dealing with them. These guys are exposing the system for what it is though through very public demonstrations and getting alot of attention and support from the British people. Please visit their site to show your support for equal rights for fathers as well as grandparents etc too. Please go to http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/

Okay better go get some coffee as i'm getting withdrawal symptoms lol

posted at 8:02 AM by john |

Monday, September 13, 2004

More sites..

Well both of the sites i wanna try out with my groups are now up and running, they are a little basic but for what i need them to do they will be just fine i think. I had to get one of the students to go through the invite process so i could see how it all works and now i just have to spend a day or so just getting everyone registered and explaining to them how it will all work. I think once its up and running we should be able to have alot of fun. Im not sure how many students will use it at first as some of them tend to be a little shy but i am sure once they get into it they will be just fine. It's all about fun, if theres no fun i think its very hard for students to feel motivated and remember things. We will see how it goes i guess right?

The monitor just went a weird sort of reddish pink, interesting i guess if you like those colors haha. I think that the monitor is on its last legs and they will soon be needing a new one. Something lcd would be really cool ;-) Dont think they are going to buy one of those here as they are really expensive in Brasil.

Okay time for lunch..

posted at 10:09 AM by john |

Busy..

Ive been a little busy the last few days setting up stuff for my other students to use. the biggest problem with working with many groups is the amount of time that i have to give to organize things for the week. Still most things are up and running now, i have a couple of team blogs that i wanna use with my conversation classes and with a bit of luck they should soon get up and running. I have to explain how it will all work first but i think it'll be a lot of fun once they start posting and stuff. Hopefully they wont post in any other language other than english or i will have to suffer listening to them singing xuxa songs (It's the punishment i decided they would have for using a foreign language hehe). Trust me this is a real bad punishment, if you have heard her sing or seenthis transvestite singer from Brasil you will understand ;-)

Roberta is training at a hopsital for people with mental illnesses this week, to be honest this has me very concerned as i have seen how the patients wander around the streets when they arent getting treatment and some of them are completely crazy. I will be happy once this week is over for her. In the bus station in Planaltina many homeless people with mental problems hang around and i never let Roberta go there to get on or off the buss without me. Sad but true, mental health isnt top of the list for Gov Roriz, he just likes money, lots of money, other peoples money :-(

Okay, time to go prepare my class, if my material has arrived yet that it :-)

posted at 7:13 AM by john |