Juliana+S.+M.



=//**TDC 2 - WRITING**//=


 * JUST FOR THE FUN! CALVIN IS THE BEST!**


 * __//MY E- PORTFOLIO//__**

Cover Letter

 The following portfolio aims at expressing my different points of about the specific topics discussed in class, as well as showing my writing development process on specific types of essays. Each essay has a specific purpose, which intends to improve several writing skills related to description, narrative, process analysis and argumentative styles.  By doing so, I could develop writing styles I was not confident writing about. I could also learn ways to improve my syntax and use of vocabulary and English expressions, connectors and transition words, which help the text to be well organized and written.  I surely believe that the writing process presented in this portfolio will help me guide students in the writing process. Also, I will be able to provide them with examples and good support when these different writing formats inside the classroom, which will facilitate my role as a teacher and their learning skills as students.

 Essay 1

What are the advantages of being bilingual nowadays?

 Can a foreign language really enrich your professional career? How does being bilingual truly affect the quality of your professional skills? These questions have already been asked several times. However, it is known that a second or even a third language bring a series of professional benefits such as job promotions, opportunities to work abroad and status among co-workers and your employers.

 The business market has advanced intensively, and employers have to hire and invest in professional excellence. Having an employee with many sorts of abilities, especially in the communication skills, brings positive results. In Addition, it is said that people who learn and communicate in other languages are much more comfortable interacting and relating with colleagues and bosses on a daily basis. Also, they do not feel embarrassed sharing ideas, positive and negative feedback in public. Consequently, promotions and prospect raises in salaries happen much more often for those with bilingual abilities.

 Once foreign communication is enhanced, opportunities such as representing your company or business in other countries frequently come into view. A bilingual staff can easily work as a “bridge”, connecting all financial affairs which the company might have as a goal. Furthermore, the market itself requires a lot of bilingual professionals, once companies have established a closer contact with other businesses around the world, forcing employees to be able to communicate effectively in those affairs. With this valuable aspect, companies have more chances to make deals, as well as achieve better profits.

 Last, it is important to mention that learning and being able to communicate in different languages arouses a feeling of personal satisfaction and fulfillment. People who are frequently praised and recognized by their bilingual skills are more likely to have success in performing tasks and put up with pressure and deadlines. This status will certainly result in more job opportunities, in addition to more chances to study other languages.

 For these reasons, it is certain to say that being able to communicate in a foreign language leads people to achieve several positive results in their professional life. Job promotions and raises, interaction with other foreign companies and the personal status at the work place are signs of a career of success and professional achievement.



Essay 2

How to prepare a involving class using songs in Teenage groups.

 Involving teenagers in the learning process can be challenging. Teaching Teens requires the teacher to be energetic and connected to what can be taught effectively to students as well as aware of what is interesting to them. One way to make these individuals interested in the learning environment is by using one of their favorite topics: Music. With that in mind, this article was planned to offer you a guide to help <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(on) with/in the selection, preparation and application of a song-based lesson for teenagers. <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> First of all, it is really important to know your audience. Teenagers can be very predictable <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(on) in their preferences, but at the same time they struggle to have their own opinion. That is reflected in the music styles and band they like to listen to. One way to get to know your students’ musical preferences is having students take a sort of questionnaire or quiz at the beginning of the semester. The questionnaire can be prepared with general likes and dislikes questions the music topic will be in one of these questions. By doing this, you will be able to identify which bands, singers, artists they like the most, as well as <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(comparing) compare their answers. There is always a student who shares other students’ opinion and that helps you to choose which song will surely please the majority of them. <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Once the music style and favorite bands are known by the teacher, the second step to think of is taking time to go over the content in your textbook. Bringing a song just for the fun of it is one way to please your students, but it is not as effective for their learning process. Knowing the grammar and/or the vocabulary focus of your lesson or unit and displaying them in a song<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> not only facilitates the learning process but also helps students to realize that what you are teaching is really applicable in everyday language. Students tend not to take that into account when they listen to their favorite songs and that is when the teacher plays her/her role, highlighting and helping students to see the language as something more practical. <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Last, but not least, a song must be prepared in a good format. There are many types of exercises you can create or adapt to challenge students, but above all, make them able to acquire and retain that new input presented in the song. If your students are more visual learners, you can play the song and the video clip as well, in a way to activate their interest. Other exercises like organizing verse orders are great ways to activate <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(students) students' listening abilities. Verbs, words, or clauses can be taken out of the music, so their job is to listen for specific information. One important thing to keep in mind is trying to avoid asking too many types of exercises in a single song. If you do so, make sure that these exercises are to be completed one after the other, in a general to specific focus. By doing that, students won’t feel lost and insecure when they cannot fulfill all the tasks, once they will be completed and corrected separately. <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Teenage students can be very hard to please. They have particular preferences and Music is perhaps the one you cannot go wrong with. When teachers have the right music style, the focus on the language or grammatical topics and the appropriate exercise to conduct and foster learning, students will be able to appreciate the learning process and enjoy a more interactive and enthusiastic class. The results on language acquisition and development will certainly be positive ones.

<span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify;">

Essay 3 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Students’ benefits in Blended Courses

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> People started using computers and the Internet to perform all sorts of activities. In that sense, education has also been incorporated to this online invasion. One of the popular class formats nowadays is the blended course, a mix of face-to -face and online class, which has been intensively adopted among many knowledgeable educational institutes. Much has been said about this kind of learning environment, for the good and the bad. What not to deny is that the advantages are many, for both students and teachers.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> One aspect that helps blended courses to be so popular nowadays is the flexibility. Once blended classes are divided into class discussion and online work, students face another reality. This environment gives them the chance to adapt and create their own studying time. Some of them feel comfortable doing their tasks either in the morning or in the afternoon. It is a great way to arouse the sense of responsibility <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(on) in students, having them develop their own schedule. Personally, this flexibility helped adapt and manage my schedules, both at work and at school. With this flexible schedule, I could balance the class day with my other duties during the week. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Another positive aspect of this type of class is the task production in the sense that, from one class to the other, there will be certain time available to think over the topics discussed in class and do the tasks proposed by the teacher in the face-to-face meeting. Some assignments asked and performed in class may not be as thorough and complete as the ones researched, prepared and reviewed by the student at home. It is favorable to students, who will have time to prepare their assignments with more dedication, as well as for teachers, who can use the opportunity to demand more of their students, once they have more time to dedicate to these tasks.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Despite these points mentioned above, blended courses may favor the isolation and lack of interaction between students and teachers. According to SchooX, a website which contains many topics about E-learning environment, outgoing people can feel challenged to withdraw their personal characteristics, while thriving to adapt to this online experience. In contrast to that, introspective students, who have difficulties getting along with others, find in the blended courses a way to participate in discussions and expose themselves more due to this evident distant the computers (<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">put us ) <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(thru) impose on us. They may feel comfortable to take part in all the tasks proposed and be more open to express their opinion. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> Blended courses are here to stay. They were projected to facilitate people’s busy, demanding and tiring life style. These courses offer students the flexibility to attend <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(less) fewer face-to-face classes, which helps them insert this activity into their professional and personal life. Besides, blended courses facilitate the task<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(s ) performance, once students have more time to dedicate <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">to and enrich the quality of their assignments. They are a great tool for introspective people that can benefit from this physical distance to be more participative and express their point of view. The balance between face-to-face and online classes is a great way to promote education and reach students in and out of the classroom.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">


 * __//NARRATIVE ESSAY//__**

__//FIRST DRAFT//__

A year to remember Many people travel abroad for several purposes, such as tourism, business, fun, professional, etc, and I have had this experience myself. My time spent in The US was some kind of a challenge, personal and professionally speaking. I decide to take an Exchange Program called Au pair in 2007, thinking on how great it would be to live and improve my speaking abilities. Living in that country, in an American family environment felt like the perfect setting to be 24 hours in contact with the language. But taking care of children and getting to know the family’s way of living would make me feel somehow proud. My first months living with Diane and Net, the host parents, weren’t always easy, most because the cultural shock was sometimes a bit of an issue. One difficult moment was getting to know the parent’s habits and accepting and trying to follow their rules concerning the daily routine with their kids. Values like giving children’s independence, developing their sense of individuality, eating habits, etc, were some of the personality features I could see them taking into consideration when raising their children. These values made me evaluate our own attitudes as Brazilian educators. And I had to cope with a stressful moment concerning these values of my own. The cultural test was dealing with the boys, Cody and Max. Cody, the older one, was 5 at the time and hit the phase of confronting and questioning adult’s authority. Not being his mother made our first contact a somehow difficult, mainly because it was difficult for him to understand the role of a foreign babysitter, living in his house and being the only grown up in charge when parents weren’t around. For me, it wasn’t easy as well. I notice this difficulty when Cody questioned my authority for the first time. We were playing outside, and he couldn’t hit the ball properly and the game required. He suddenly missed one of his tries and got little really fussy about that. Furiously, he hit me with his racket, trying to externalize his anger. I was completely caught by surprised. For 10 seconds, I felt petrified. I really know it isn’t right but for some seconds, I saw myself grabbing Cody by his arm in such an angry and trying to teach him a lesson in the Brazilian “methods”. At this moment I realized I was in a different country, handling different people with different backgrounds and beliefs. How would my correction happen using a foreign language? Would I permit my cultural upbringing to cause any damage to this child’s life, as well as taking away the chance of staying in the US longer? All those thoughts seemed to have taken forever to settle and the most difficult part was about to come: responding to his reaction in a grown up way. I was surprised to see how well I could take action towards Cody’s tantrum. I was also happy to realize I could send him to time out and make him stay in his room for some minutes, thinking about what he has done. I was happy to see my message was comprehended by a 5 year-old kid. This experience made me see how important it is to control and have a reasonable amount of language aptitude. Adding up knowledge with a bit of self control was extremely important to get Cody to like me and respect me and the girl in charge around the house. I ended up being more confident about my speaking skills, as well and improving the relationship with the Host Parents as well. Knowing the English language favored me to be more familiar with the American culture and also learn more about their values in the family unit. **//__QUESTIONS__//**
 * 1) **1.** **Is there a Thesis statement presented in the essay?**
 * 2) **2.** **Is the topic clear to be recognized?**
 * 3) **3.** **Did the author use connectors?**
 * 4) **4.** **Are there time clauses/ time sentences in the essay?**
 * 5) **5.** **Is the climax easy to be identified?**
 * 6) **6.** **What’s your opinion on the conclusion? Is it clear? Does it give the right idea?**


 * __//NARRATIVE ESSAY//__**

__//SECOND DRAFT//__

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">A year to remember <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Many people travel abroad for several purposes, such as tourism, business, fun, etc, and I have had this experience myself. My time spent in The US a challenge, personal and professionally speaking. I decided to take part of an Exchange Program called Au pair in 2007, wondering how great it would be to live abroad and improve my speaking abilities. Living in that country, in an American family environment, felt like the perfect setting to be 24 hours in contact with the language. But taking care of children and getting to know the family’s way of living would make me feel proud of deciding to live away from my family, dealing with language and cultural barriers and above all, overcoming the biggest difficulties usually face in this type of experience. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My first months living with Diane and Net, the host parents, weren’t always easy, mostly because the cultural shock was sometimes a bit of an issue. One difficult moment was getting to know the parent’s habits and accepting and trying to follow their rules concerning the daily routine with their kids. Values like giving children’s independence, developing their sense of individuality, eating habits, etc, were some of the personality features I could see them taking into consideration when raising their children. These values made me evaluate our own attitudes as Brazilian educators. Besides, I had to cope with a stressful moment concerning my family values such as raising, teaching and educating children in Brazil. The cultural test was dealing with the boys, Cody and Max. Cody, the older one, was 5 at the time and hit the phase of confronting and questioning adults’ authority. The fact that I was not hs mother made our first contact difficult, mainly because it was difficult for him to understand the role of a foreign babysitter, living in his house and being the only grownup in charge when parents weren’t around. For me, it wasn’t easy as well. I noticed t <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">his difficulty when Cody questioned my authority for the first time. We were playing outside; he wouldn’t hit the ball properly as the game required. He suddenly missed one of his tries and got little really fussy about that. Furiously, he hit me with his racket, trying to externalize his anger. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">I was completely caught by surprise. For 10 seconds, I felt petrified. I really know it isn’t right but for some seconds, I saw myself grabbing Cody by his arm angrily and trying to teach him a lesson in the Brazilian “methods”. At this moment, I realized I was in a different country, handling different people with different backgrounds and beliefs. How would my correction happen using a foreign language? Would I permit my cultural upbringing to cause any damage to this child’s life, as well as taking away the chance of staying in the US longer? All those thoughts seemed to have taken forever to settle and the most difficult part was about to come: responding to his reaction in a grownup way. However, I was amazed to see how well I could take action towards Cody’s tantrum. I was also happy to realize I could send him to time out and make him stay in his room for some minutes, thinking about what he had done. I was happy to see my message was comprehended by a 5 year-old kid. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">This experience made me see how important it is to have a reasonable amount of language aptitude. Adding up knowledge with a bit of self control was extremely important to get Cody to like me and respect me and the girl in charge around the house. I ended up being more confident about my speaking skills. Moreover, I was able to improve my relationship with my host parants. Knowing the English language favored me to be more familiar with the American culture and also learn more about their values in the family unit.

__//**NARRATIVE ESSAY - REVISED**//__ <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many people travel abroad for several purposes, such as tourism, business, fun, etc, and I have had this experience myself. My time spent in The US a challenge, personal ly and professionally speaking. I decided to take part (of) in an Exchange Program called Au pair in 2007, wondering how great it would be to live abroad and improve my speaking abilities. Living in that country, in an American family environment, felt like the perfect setting to be 24 hours in contact with the language. But taking care of children and getting to know the family’s way of living would make me feel proud of deciding to live away from my family, dealing with language and cultural barriers and, above all, overcoming the biggest difficulties usually fac ed in this type of experience. //(I think your thesis statement can be more powerful if it is less wordy and yet transmits the same message. What about:// However, what led me to gain the most from this experience was taking care of children and becoming familiarized with the family’s way of living//)// <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My first months living with Diane and Net, the host parents, weren’t always easy, mostly because the cultural shock was sometimes a bit of an issue. One difficult moment was getting to know the parent ’s habits and accepting and trying to follow their rules concerning the daily routine with their kids. Values like giving children ’s independence, developing their sense of individuality, eating habits, etc, were some of the personality features I could see them taking into consideration when raising their children. These values made me evaluate our own attitudes as Brazilian educators. Besides, I had to cope with a stressful moment concerning my family values such as raising, teaching and educating children in Brazil. The cultural test was dealing with the boys, Cody and Max. Cody, the older one, was 5 at the time and hit the phase of confronting and questioning adults’ authority. The fact that I was not his mother made our first contact difficult, mainly because it was difficult for him to understand the role of a foreign babysitter, living in his house and being the only grownup in charge when parents weren’t around. For me, it wasn’t easy as well. I noticed t <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">his difficulty when Cody questioned my authority for the first time. We were playing outside; he wouldn’t hit the ball properly as the game required. He suddenly missed one of his tries and got a little really fussy about that. Furiously, he hit me with his racket, trying to externalize his anger. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I was completely caught by surprise. For 10 seconds, I felt petrified. I really know it isn’t right, but for some seconds, I saw myself grabbing Cody by his arm angrily and trying to teach him a lesson in the Brazilian “methods”. At this moment, I realized I was in a different country, handling different people with different backgrounds and beliefs. How would my correction happen using a foreign language? Would I permit my cultural upbringing to cause any damage to this child’s life, as well as taking away the chance of staying in the US longer? All those thoughts seemed to have taken forever to settle and the most difficult part was about to come: responding to his reaction in a grownup way. However, I was amazed to see how well I could take action towards Cody’s tantrum. I was also happy to realize I could send him to time out and make him stay in his room for some minutes, thinking about what he had done. I was happy to see my message was comprehended by a 5 year-old kid. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This experience made me see how important it is to have a reasonable amount of language aptitude. Adding up knowledge with a bit of self control was extremely important to get Cody to like me and respect me and as the girl in charge around the house. I ended up being more confident about my speaking skills. Moreover, I was able to improve my relationship with my host par a nts. Knowing the English language (favoured) allowed me to be more familiar with the American culture and also learn more about their values in the family unit. **<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I really liked to create my own questions and see the peer answering them. He/she gave me authentic comments and I could follow his/her suggestions in my essay. ** **<span style="color: #943634; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Juliana, you made great progress in your language use and in clarifying some aspects pointed out by your reviser and me. It’s a great story about a wonderful life experience. **


 * Rewriting your Process Analysis Essay**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">TDC 2 – Writing <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Juliana Mello <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Process Analysis Essay

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">Second Draft

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">How to prepare a involving class using songs in Teenage groups.

// Involving teenagers in the learning process can be challenging. Teaching Teens requires the teacher to be energetic and connected to what can be taught effectively to students as well as aware of what is interesting to them. One way to make these individuals interested in the learning environment is by using one of their favorite topics: Music. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> With that in mind, this article was planned to offer you a guide to help on the selection, preparation and application of a song-based lesson for teenagers. //

// First of all, it is really important to know your audience. Teenagers can be very predictable (on) in their preferences, but at the same time they struggle to have their own opinion. That is reflected in the music styles and band they like to listen to. One way to get to know your students’ musical preferences is having students take a sort of questionnaire or quiz at the beginning of the semester. The questionnaire can be prepared with general likes and dislikes questions and the music topic will be in one of these questions. By doing this, you will be able to identify which bands, singers, artists they like the most, as well as (comparing) compare their answers. There is always a student who shares other students’ opinion and that helps you to choose which song will surely please the majority of them. //

// Once the music style and favorite bands are known by the teacher, the second step to think of is taking time to go over the content in your textbook. Bringing a song just for the fun of it is one way to please your students, but it is not as effective for their learning process. Knowing the grammar and/or the vocabulary focus of your lesson or unit and displaying them in a song not only facilitates the learning process but also helps students to realize that what you are teaching is really applicable in everyday language. Students tend not to take that into account when they listen to their favorite songs and that is when the teacher plays her/her role, highlighting and helping students to see the language as something more practical. //

// Last, but not least, a song must be prepared in a good format. There are many types of exercises you can create or adapt to challenge students, but above all, make them able to acquire and retain that new input presented in the song. If your students are more visual learners, you can play the song and the video clip as well, in a way to activate their interest. Other exercises like organizing verse orders are great ways to activate (students) students' listening abilities. Verbs, words, or clauses can be taken out of the music, so their job is to listen for specific information. One important thing to keep in mind is trying to avoid asking too many types of exercises in a single song. If you do so, make sure that these exercises are to be completed one after the other, in a general to specific focus. By doing that, students won’t feel lost and insecure when they cannot fulfill all the tasks, once they will be completed and corrected separately. //

// Teenage students can be very hard to please. They have particular preferences and m usic is perhaps the one you cannot go wrong with. When teachers have the right music style, the focus on the language or grammatical topics and the appropriate exercise to conduct and foster learning, students will be able to appreciate the learning process and enjoy a more interactive and enthusiastic class. The results on language acquisition and development will certainly be positive ones. //

These are indeed very sound tips for teachers. I particularly like when you say it can't be just for fun, but rather, there needs to be a pedagogical goal, too. Good job with the revisions.

__//**First Draft**//__

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">TDC 2 – Writing <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Juliana Mello <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Process Analysis Essay

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">How to prepare a involving class using songs in Teenage groups.

// Involving teenagers in the learning process can be challenging. Teaching Teens requires the teacher to be energetic and connected to what can be learned effectively for them as well as interesting and appealing to them. One way to make these individuals interested in the learning environment is by using one of their favorite topics: Music. //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> With that in mind, this article was planned to offer you // a guide to help on the selection, preparation and application of a song-based lesson for teenagers. // // First of all, it is really importance to know your audience. Teenagers can be very predictable on their preferences, bit at the same time they struggle to have their own opinion. That is reflected in the music styles and band they like to listen to. One way to get to know your students’ musical preferences is applying a sort of questionnaire or quiz at the beginning of the semester. The questionnaire can be prepared with general likes and dislikes questions the music topic will be in one of these questions. By doing this, you will be able to identify which bands, singers, artists they like the most, as well as comparing their answers. There is always a student who shares other student’s opinion and that helps you to choose which song will sure please the majority of them. // // Once the music style and favorite bands are know by the teacher, the second step to think of is taking time to set sights on your textbook. Bringing a song just for the fun of it is one way to please your students, but it is not as effective for their learning process. Knowing the grammar and/or the vocabulary focus of your lesson or unit and displaying them in a song, not only facilitates the learning process but also helps students to realize that what you are teaching is really applicable in everyday language. Students tend not to take that into account when they listen to their favorite songs and that is when the teacher’s role takes place, highlighting and helping students to see the language as something more practical. // // Last, but not least, a song must be prepared in a good format. There are many types of exercises you can create or adapt to challenge students, but above all, make them able to acquire and retain that new input presented in the song. If your students are more visual learners, you can play the song and the video clip as well, in a way to activate their interest. Other exercises like organizing verse orders are great ways to activate students listening abilities. Verbs, words, or clauses can be taken out of the music, so their job is to listen for specific information. One important thing to keep in mind is trying to avoid asking to many types of exercises in a single song. If you do so, make sure that these exercises are to be completed one after the other, in a general to specific focus. By doing that, students won’t feel lost and insecure when they cannot fulfill all the tasks, once they will be completed and corrected separately. // // Teenage students can be very hard to please. They have particular preferences and Music is by no means one and perhaps the one you cannot go wrong with it. When teachers have the right music style, the focus on the language or grammatical topics and the appropriate exercise to conduct and foster learning, students will be able to appreciate the learning process and enjoy a more interactive and enthusiastic in-class time. The results on language acquisition and development are sure to be positive ones. //

Task 4

<span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-align: center;">Juliana Mello

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1) Are the teacher's corrections and comments in keeping with yours? If not, in which ways do they differ? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">They were most of the time. In some way, I have focused on grammar mistakes more than on semantics. I guess because these synthetic mistakes are more visible in the text.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">2) Did the student do a good job rewriting? What still needs to be improved? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">I think it was well rewritten. What I still think that it is hard to know on what level is the student able to improve this writing on his/her own. The final draft still looks a bit unreal to me. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">3) What's the thesis statement? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">I have identified the following sentence as the thesis statement: “I never saw myself as a cat owner, but now that I am one, I realize that most of the stereotypes about cats and dogs are untrue” <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">4) What is the method of organization of the essay? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Point-by point <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">5) List 4 transitions or connectors used to show similarity and 2 used to show differences. Similarities: Also, Likewise, as well as; both

Differences: However; Even though.


 * TASK 3 - OUTLINING YOUR NARRATIVE ESSAY**


 * SETTING:** MY USA HOST FAMILY ENVIRONMENT


 * MAIN CHARACTERS:** NET (HOST DAD); DIANE (HOST MOM); CODY (OLDER SON) AND MAX ( YOUNGER SON)


 * PLOT:** WHEN LIVING IN THE USA, I WAS RESPONSABLE FOR MANY THINGS CONCERNING THE TWO BOYS I TOOK CARE OF. ACTING, COMMUNICATING AND BEING THE RESPONSABLE GROWN UP AROUDN THE HOUSE MADE ME LEARN ABOUT THE WAY AMERICAN FAMILIES RAISE THEIR CHILDREN. I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY THEIR WAYWITH MY HOST FAMILY'S CHILDREN.


 * CLIMAX:** In a particular moment, I had to play the mom and use my firm speech, trying to avoid letting my brasilian cultural style interfere on my host parents' instructions


 * ENDING:** WITH THIS EXPERIENCE I COULD UNDERSTAND HOW AMERICAN PARENTS RAISE THEIR CHILDREN AND WHAT VALUES THEY TRANSFERTHEIR KIDS. BEING ABLE TO TELL MY STUDENTS A BOUT THESE EXPERIENCES MAKE MY CLASSES MORE INTERESTING AS WELL


 * Task 1- Giving feedback on my peer's outline**
 * Maybe the climax is not so clear, but I think she will clarify better in the essay.**
 * As I sad before, the climax. I would suggest her to add more information in this part.**
 * I would like to know more about the way americans raise their children.**

__**TASK 2 - REWRITING YOUR ESSAY**__

What are the advantages of being bilingual nowadays?
 * __1ST DRAFT:__**

Speaking more than one language is a plus in anyone's curriculum nowadays. The fact that people in the world are more connected than ever, the population found ways to make communication easier and more effective.

One obvious advantage of a bilingual curriculum is the upgrade on your professional career. More and more employers now are looking for a professional who can express himself or herself in other languages. This benefits the whole company in the fact that it strenghtens business realtionships with other countries around the world. More over, it increases profits, among other benefits.

Another advantage concerns personal interests and activities. People felt the lower price of tickets in many getway routes and decided the language couldn't be a barrier on that matter. Visiting countries and sightseeing abroad makes one of the most frequent habbits among people. Also, being able to communicate with those native speakers transforms the trip into something fun and rewarding as well.

In conclusion, it is obvious that the bilingual person can get many benefits, which are going to affect his or her professional and personal lives positively. Once communications ins what moves the world around us, there is no harm in improving and learning as many languages as your brain can process.

__**2ND DRAFT:**__

What are the advantages of being bilingual nowadays?

Can a foreign language really brush up your professional career? How does being bilingual truly affect the quality of your professional skills? These questions may be overrated. However, it is known that a second or even a third language bring a series of professional benefits such as job promotions, opportunities to work abroad and status among co-workers and your employers. Nobody denies that the business market had advanced intensively, and employers had to hire and invest in professional excellence. Consequently, having an employee with many sorts of abilities will bring positive results, especially in the communication skills. In Addition, it is said that people who learn and communicate in other languages are much more comfortable interacting and relating with colleagues and bosses on a daily basis. Also, they do not feel embarrassed sharing ideas, positive and negative feedback in public. With this in mind, promotions and prospect raise in salaries happen much more often for those with bilingual abilities. Once foreign communication is enhanced, other opportunities frequently come into view. Another one involves representing your company or business in other countries. Bilingual staff can easily work as a “bridge”, connecting all financial affairs which the company might have as a goal. Furthermore, the market itself requires a lot of bilingual professionals, due to importation and exportations among the nations worldwide. At last, it is important to mention that learning and being able to communicate in different languages arouses a feeling of personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Moreover, people who are frequently praised and recognized on their bilingual skills are more likely to have success in performing tasks and put up with pressure and deadlines. This status will certainly result in more job opportunities, additionally with more chances to study other languages. For these reasons, we can not be mistaken to affirm that the list of positive results in studying and learning a second language are certain to be way extensive. Job promotions and raises, interaction with other foreign companies and the personal status at the work place are signs of a career of success and professional achievement. __**3RD DRAFT**__

What are the advantages of being bilingual nowadays? Can a foreign language really enrich your professional career? How does being bilingual truly affect the quality of your professional skills? These questions have already been asked several times. However, it is known that a second or even a third language bring a series of professional benefits such as job promotions, opportunities to work abroad and status among co-workers and your employers.

The business market has advanced intensively, and employers have to hire and invest in professional excellence. Having an employee with many sorts of abilities, especially in the communication skills, bring s positive results. In Addition, it is said that people who learn and communicate in other languages are much more comfortable interacting and relating with colleagues and bosses on a daily basis. (Also) In fact, they do not feel embarrassed sharing ideas, and positive and negative feedback in public. Consequently, promotions and prospect ive raise s in salaries happen much more often for those with bilingual abilities.

Once foreign communication is enhanced, opportunities such as representing your company or business in other countries frequently come into view. A bilingual staff can easily work as a “bridge”, connecting all financial affairs which the company might have as a goal. Furthermore, the market itself requires a lot of bilingual professionals, once companies have established a closer contact with other businesses around the world, forcing employees to be able to communicate effectively in those affairs. With this valuable aspect, companies have more chances to make deals, as well as achieve better profits.

Last, it is important to mention that learning and being able to communicate in different languages arouses a feeling of personal satisfaction and fulfillment. People who are frequently praised and recognized by their bilingual skills are more likely to have success in performing tasks and put up with pressure and deadlines. This status will certainly result in more job opportunities, in addition to more chances to study other languages.

For these reasons, (it is certain to say that) being able to communicate in a foreign language certainly leads people to achieve several positive results in their professional life. Job promotions and raises, interaction with other foreign companies and the personal status at the work place are signs of a career of success and professional achievement.

You did a great job with your revisions, Juliana. Your second and third paragraphs in the development have improved substantially. Congratulations on the progress you've made and the effective end result.



Teaching Technique 24 : **Using guided writing activities to help ELLs see the connection between grammar and writing.**

In this section, the author highlights some of showing students hw grammar is important when develping a composition.

One option to make this clear to students would be to select a paragraph which contains some of the grammar points wanted to be taught or emphazised. After that, the teacher prepares a serios of itens, containing the changes he/she expects the SS to make.

The link above shows the text suggested in the book to be rewritten by the students. The red marks represent parts of the text SS should adapt. The blue ones are the corrections SS are supposed to make after the text is done.

The author suggests teachers to sellect short paragraphs, so that SS keep motivated. This type of exercise helps students to developed the monitor, once they will be able to see problems or mistakes when writing compositions.

http://voicethread.com/share/2511263/

<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMjMwMzE2MzEwNjgmcHQ9MTMyMzAzMTYzNDA*NCZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWIyNTExMjYzJmc9MiZvPTMyZWM3NjY1MDdi/ZDQ2ZTk4NWMxODNjMDY2YTM3N2I4Jm9mPTA=.gif" /><object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2511263"> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"> <embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2511263" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360">

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Dear Patty,

I am uploading a new version of the voice thread with the last slide, which contains the reference. Hope this is ok!

Thanks

Juliana <img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMjMyODY4MDU*MDAmcHQ9MTMyMzI4NjgwODQ1OSZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWIyNTI2OTU*Jmc9MiZvPTMyZWM3NjY1MDdi/ZDQ2ZTk4NWMxODNjMDY2YTM3N2I4Jm9mPTA=.gif" /><object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2526954"> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"> <embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2526954" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360">

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