Friday, April 24, 2009

What makes Brazil a unique country?

I asked my students to think about the question "What makes Brazil a unique country?". Then they had to answer it using one word or phrase and two or three images. Here is the result:



Here is another one with some pictures from Brasília, our hometown, which I took in April, 2009:

49 comments:

  1. Wow, Ronaldo! Wonderful.. I completely agree with your students. A hug from Venezuela and Keep on shining Love and Peace!

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  2. Wow, that was speedy, Doris (the power of twitter, huh?).

    Thanks a lot!

    Hugs from Brazil!

    Ronaldo

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  3. Wow! Fantastic! Very effective presentation - tells so much in such a simple way. Congrats!

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  4. Thanks, Saša. I'm glad you liked it!

    Ronaldo

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  5. Wonderful! But none of the students mentioned the music?? or Pão de queijo (cheese bread or cheese rolls) --- when I think of my Brazilian friends, music, dancing and pao de quiejo (yummmmmmm!)coome to mind!
    I'm excited to see what your Australian friends share!
    Fun project; thanks for sharing.
    Holly from Charlottesville VA

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  6. Hello Ronaldo and students,

    Really fantastic. It shows so much about Brazil in such a nice way.

    Thanks for sharing

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  7. Hi Holly, thanks for the comments! How do you know about pao de queijo? (a colleague is eating one right now and it smells so good..).

    If I were to include my answers (come to think of it, don't really know why I didn't), I would have definitely included the music!

    Hi Jose! Thanks for visiting us, I'm glad you liked the video!

    Ronaldo

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  8. Dear Ronaldo!

    It's really a fantastic project! You and your students make it live and fabulous. You are a great teacher and full of wonderful ideas. My dream is to run such a project with my students when they have a good access to the Internet.
    Thanks a lot for sharing.

    The best,
    Nina

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  9. Hi Nina!

    Thanks a lot for the kind and encouraging words.

    Cheers from Brazil!

    Ronaldo

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  10. Hi Ronaldo and students...

    Great job indeed. Really inspiring and a fantastic way to promote our country.

    All the best,

    Gil(mar) Mattos

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  11. Hi Gilmar!

    Thanks for the comment!

    Ronaldo

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  12. Yes! The music! Caetano Veloso's sweet voice and Rita Lee's covers of The Beatles with that bossa nova touch...Awesome!

    And the beaches? I visited Florianopolis some years ago and also went to Mariscal. Unforgettable places. Your video brought back wonderful memories of those holidays.

    You have a wonderful country! And a very creative teacher. Congratulations!

    Mary from Argentina

    P.S. No comments about soccer. You always beat us, guys :-(

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  13. Hi Mary!

    Thanks for the comments! I didn't know you had already come to Brazil. That's great!
    And, it always good to hear an Argentinean saying good things about our soccer...
    =)

    Ronaldo

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  14. Congratulations! It's really a very nice video!

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  15. Dear Ronaldo and smart students,
    This is just fabulous! Your work makes me eager to jump into my screen and dive on these BEAUTIGUL beaches and visit your unique country, Brazil.
    Did I tell you that the Sudanese people are fans of your soccer team!
    Viva Brazil.
    Great project!
    Hala Fawzi, from very hot and dusty Khartoum, Sudan

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  16. What a nice project! I've never been to Brazil so I hope to visit your country some day .
    Veronica from Rosario, Argentina.

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  17. Hi Claudia, Hala and Veronica. Thank you very much for the comments!

    Hala, I didn't know Sudanese people enjoyed our soccer (well, but who doesn't? lol)

    Veronica, I'm sure you'll have a great time when you come and visit Brazil.

    Ronaldo

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  18. Wow! What an amazing presentation of your beautiful country!

    I'm going to show it to my students tomorrow to inspire them to reply to you with (hopefully) an equally impressive presentation of our region of Italy.

    Watch out though.. if you continue to create such incredible showcases of your country for my students, you might find a whole class of Italians turn up in your lessons to enjoy the country with you!!

    All the best from (a rainy) spring day in Italy.

    Seth.

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  19. Hi Seth!

    Thanks for the comments! I'll be anxiously looking forward to your students' presentations. I'm sure my students will have a good time learning more about Trentino through your students' voicethreads. Let us know when they are up.

    Ronaldo

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  20. Hello, Ronaldo and Students. Congrats on your project. Here in Argentina, we are developing a blog for teenagers http://jovenes4ma.motime.com
    We invite you to visit us and leave comments or participate in our activities. For example: Students are introducing themselves in voxpox.
    Let's keep in contact to develop projects together. Hugs from beautiful La Plata, Argentina!
    Nelba Quintana

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  21. Hi Nelba!
    Thanks for commenting! I really look forward to connecting our students!

    Ronaldo

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  22. Hello I'm Annateresa from Trentino...
    I saw the video and I think it's great.
    I really like Brasil and I'd like to visit it in the future.
    The thing I like best in Brasil is the country and the statue of Christ!!!

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  23. Hi Annateresa!

    I'm glad you liked the video. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is really beautiful. Did you know it was voted one of the new 7 wonders of the world?

    Ronaldo

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  24. Hi Manuela,

    Jenny & May here , as you mentioned that Brazil has lot of beautiful places. I really wish to go there. We would like to know the places that you can recommend to visit..if there anywhere we can spend time like a day and a night like pubs, music places also...and the places i can't miss them.

    Thank you very much,

    Jenny & May

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  25. Derlly & Elena from AustraliaMay 11, 2009 at 11:49 PM

    Hi, Beatriz! Thank all of you for the great video about Brasil!!! We'd really like to know more about your country. You said that Brasil is unique because of the cities. Could you please tell us the names of the cities and why they make your country unique? See you next time.

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  26. Hi Matheus.
    Hi Matheus.
    You have written that the soccer makes Brazil unique,
    Can you please explain some more about soccer in your country?

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  27. Hi Bernado
    It's amazing to know more and more about Brazil.We'll be happy if you tell us more about the stadiums.
    How many stadiums are in Brazil?
    Can you name some important and famous stadium?
    Why are they famous?
    How big they are?
    What is the seating capacity of the stadiums
    Which is your favourite stadium?
    Have you ever seen a live match in any stadium?

    It's nice to see your answers.

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  28. Reena, Muayad, Ranjith.May 11, 2009 at 11:51 PM

    Hi Gabriel,
    We are group of three students at AMES , we want to know what do you mean by natural landscapes ,what are they and where it's located in Brazil?
    what landscapes do you like more in Brazil?
    we will be very happy to hear from you soon.

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  29. zhengruixia, RithyaMay 11, 2009 at 11:52 PM

    Hi Isabela,

    Today, we attend the English class and the teacher was asked us to read about why Brazil has an exotic beaches and food that written by you?

    So could you please tell us a bit detail on which points that you can say like we mentioned above?

    Thank you and appreciate for your time!
    We are looking to get some sharing ideas from you.

    Best regards,

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  30. thadshayini & valliMay 11, 2009 at 11:53 PM

    Hi carol,
    1.who are the amazing people in your country?
    2.who is your favourite amazing person?
    3.why is she/he amazed to you?wheather they are fat ,tall or anything else,and also send their pictures?

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  31. Hi Lucas,
    Can you please tell us what the most interesting things about Amazon are? We heard there are many kinds of animals and plants, can you share some photos with us. Is it very convenient for you guys to visit Amazon forest? What do you do in there? Can you BBQ there?

    Meli & Roselin

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  32. Hi Nathalia and Ryssa,
    Can you please give us some more examples about receptive people? What do you think the difference between your people and Australia’s is?

    Meli & Roselin

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  33. Hi Helena!

    I find Brazil as very fascinating country.
    I have questions according to people diversity.
    Can we find diversity of people in any particular Brazilian cities or the whole country is diversified?
    What are the major diverse communities in Brazil?

    Beata & Para

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  34. dear Derlly & Elena,
    the most famous cities in brazil are Rio de janeiro, sao paulo, brasilia, salvador, and many others. thank you for your interest in our country.

    by: beatriz and helena

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  35. Hey Meli and Roselin!
    Well, brazilian people are very outgoing and friendly with foreigners... no matter where people are from!
    And when you are down or upset about something, we try to make you feel better :)
    These are just some examples we can find! There are maany others!
    And I don't really know the difference between brazilian and australian people 'cause I have never met one australian! But I'm sure you are very receptive too! :)

    Rayssa Cruvinel

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  36. Matheus GonçalvesMay 13, 2009 at 3:19 PM

    Hello Hassan and Boyce,
    Here in Brazil, the Soccer league is divided by regions, since Brazil is one of the biggest countries of the world. The best players are called to play for the team that represents the country.

    Matheus G.

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  37. Hi Beata and Para,
    thank you for commenting!
    Well, the whole country is diversified, but in bigger cities, it's more visible. Here, in Brasilia, there are lots of foreign people, because it's the capital and lots of people from other states, too.


    by: Helena and Beatriz

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  38. Dear zhengruixia Rithya,
    Thanks for seeing the video:)!Here in Brazil we have a lot of places with beautiful beaches,some examples are:The most famous one,Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro,Forte beach in Salvador and French beach in Maceio.
    Here in Brazil some typical food are:feijoada,which is a soup of suine meat and black beans,and also pao de queijo,a little cheese bread.
    I hope you have learnt a little bit more of our country.
    Best regards.

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  39. Dear Meli & Roselin,
    In Brazil almost everybody is receptive,but I can say that the people of the northeast are the most ones.
    I think that the Australian people are similar than us.You all seems to be really cool.

    bye,bye.

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  40. Dear valli,
    Almost everyone, here in Brazil, is amazing! People use to be kind and sociable, you know? The kind of people who always have interesting thing to say and never make you feel bored...
    I really admire Pelé, the soccer player. He is considered the best soccer player in the world, but he is really humble! He is always kind and smilling to everybody.
    Here goes a link of his picture: http://www.algosobre.com.br/images/stories/assuntos/biografias/Pele.jpg

    bye bye =D

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  41. Dear Meli & Roselin

    The most interesting things in the Amazon are the biodiversity that is the largest in the world, the Amazon river that is the one with the most water volumn.
    You can find many photos of the amazon on the internet, just go to google and search for amazon rainforest or "animais da amazonia".
    It isn't so convenient for us to go to there.
    There you can go for guide tours in the forest and in the river and I don't know if you can BBQ in there.

    Atenciously,
    Lucas :)

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  42. Hi Sunita and Rupa
    In Brazil are many stadiums but the importants stadiums it´s located in Rio, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Minas Gerais and Nordeste.
    Maracanã and Engenhão are the most famous in Rio.
    Beira Rio and Olimpico are the most famous in Porto Alegre.
    Pacaembu, Morumbi,Palestra Itália and Vila Belmiro are the most famous in São Paulo
    Castelão and Ilha do Retiro are the most famous in Nordeste.
    Minerão is the most famous in Minas Gerais
    These stadiums are famous just because the soccer teams are the owner because they don´t have a good structure.
    My favorite stadium is Maracanã because is the bigger one, have more history and is the best structure in Brazil,I think there capacity is 85.000, and Morumbi is the second one, the capacity is 70.000 and Engenhão is the third one and the capacity is 60.000.
    The others stadiums like Vila Belmiro have a good structure but there capacity is only 20.000 and Castelão for example have a good capacity, I think there capacity is 65.000 but have a bad structure.
    The capacity of Palestra Itália is 25.000
    The capacity of Olimpico is 45.000
    The capacity of Beira Rio is 60.000
    The capacity of Ilha do Retiro is 50.000
    The capacity of Minerão is 75.000
    The capacity of Pacaembu is 25.000

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  43. Hi Reena, Muayad and Ranjith

    It is hard to difine the landscapes here in brazil or to choose my favorite one. The fact is that there are many amazing landscapes here, especially those related to nature. Here we can find a great diversity of biomes, as Brazil is a big country; in this sense there are very unique places, showing unforggetable views.
    It is kind of hard for me to talk about it but I hop I helped. If you want to check some pictures you coud find a lot on the internet. I would suggest you a good site but my computer is not working well =]


    Gabriel

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  44. Hi Ronaldo,
    I showed my students in the Homestay English class these videos. I made one of my own and showed it to them too. They were very impressed and they want to make one of their own. I've set up a flickr photostream and an animoto account for the class. I'm hoping to get the students to post a comment here too.
    You can get an idea of what we did last cladss by checking out this post on my blog:http://mrstoutsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/toyo-gakuen-university-homestay-english.html
    I'll be in touch again soon.
    Cheers!

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  45. Hello again,
    Thanks for the comment on my blog. If you ever want to visit Toronto, let me know and I'll try to set you up with a place to stay.
    In the mean time, I have posted a couple of Animoto videos using my students words and pictures. Here's the link: http://mrstoutsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/toyo-gakuen-university-homestay-english_7990.html
    I showed them how to make a video using Animoto in class today and asked them to make their own for homework. We'll see how it goes next week.
    Obrigado!!!

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  46. Hi again students and Ronaldo!
    inspired by your wonderful example, my class created a video response from the other side of the globe - http://rostilj.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-makes-slovenia-unique.html - check it out and let us know what you think :-)))
    Warmly,
    Saša

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  47. Hi, Ronaldo!
    Very cool stuff from your students! Congrats to them and you!!! The presentation could even be used for promotion of Brazil. :-)
    Your presentation about Brasilia took me back to Aug 1980 and brought back great memories of when I was there for about a week with family and friends. It was a very futuristic city then and still is.
    Beijinhos, Teresa

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  48. Excellent videos Ronaldo! COngratulations to you and to your students!

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  49. Hi, Ronaldo!

    The idea is great and the video too! Will show it to my students! I'm sure they will wan tot make one about Argentina.
    Best,
    Vicky S.

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