Monday, November 20, 2006

Mrs. Johnson´s class


Hello Ana Maria-

I just wanted to thank you and let you know how much the third graders are enjoying the blog. I have attached pictures of Mrs. Hron's class and my class. I have also included a picture of our carnaval masks we made while we studied Brazil. I am not sure how to or even if I am able to upload the pictures to the blog, so I thought I would just send them to you. If you want to put them on the blog that would be great! All of the kids can be on the internet.
Thanks,
Jessi Johnson

Mrs. Johnson´s class

Mrs. Hron´s class

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A warm hello!

These are the Brazilian students who answered your questions.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Uberlândia- Brazil


What part of Brazil is your city located in?
Janaína and Pedro answer- Our city, called Uberlândia, is located in Minas Gerais, a state in the south-east of Brazil.It has a population of about 600,000 people. In our state there are no beaches but the weather is quite hot.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Answering questions - MRS Hron´s class


How many schools are there in your city?
Anaisa and Luiza answer- In Uberlandia, there are many, many schools, approximately sixty, being private and state schools. Anaisa´s school is private and is a technical school of administration, she´s in the last year in high school. Luiza´s school is private too. It has many students and it´s very big.


What kinds of restaurants are there in your city?
Lauriane, Diogo and Fabio answer- There are a lot of kinds of restaurants here, there´s Grand China which is a chinese restaurant, Habib´s has arabic food, Mac Donald´s has american fast food, and many other restaurants which have Brazilian food. Ana Maria says-Brazilian people also love Italian food! This picture is from a typical restaurant which serves food from Minas Gerais, our state.


What is a common favorite food of Brazilian children?
Luiza Menezes and Luna answer- The favorite common food of Brazilian children is the dessert "Brigadeiro". Brigadeiro is a sweet made of powder chocolate, butter and condensed milk. It´s delicious and children eat it at birthday parties.


Does it ever snow in Brazil?
Marta and Nathália answer- It snows in very few parts of Brazil and most Brazilians have never seen snow. The average temperature in the summer is 30°C and in the winter it is about 15°C because Brazil is a tropical country.
CLICK HERE to see some pictures Ana Maria took at a beach in Brazil.

Answers to Mrs Johnson´s class


You asked me where I usually go shopping. Well, we have wonderful open markets in Uberlândia, the city where I live, but I usually go to supermarkets which are very similar to the ones you have in the States. The open market is more lively and full of smells and colors, but I end up going to the supermarket because of time.


BRAZILIAN FOOD
Like I said before, students don´t have lunch at school. They study in the morning and go home to have lunch (the main meal in Brazil)with the family. We normally have rice, beans, a salad and meat.
These are the regular meals in Brazil:
1- Breakfast: milk, chocolate, bread with butter or jam, a fruit.
2- Lunch: rice, beans, salad and meat or pasta.
3- Snack: a fruit or a sandwich.
4- Dinner: the same as lunch or a snack.

3rd Graders - Mrs Hron´s group

Greetings to Our Brazil Friends:

Our 3rd graders in Mrs. Johnson's classroom enjoyed your answers to their questions and absolutely LOVED hearing your voice!! You have helped to make your country come to life for them.

I have some other questions for you from the 3rd graders in Mrs. Hron's room:

1. How many schools are in your city?

2. What kinds of restaurants do you have in your city?

3. What is a common favorite food of Brazilian children?

4. Does it ever snow in Brazil?

5. What part of Brazil is your city located in? Is it near a coast?

6. Have you ever been to Peru?

They had so many questions for our Brazilian friends that I had to write very quickly to get them all written down!

Thank you Ana for enriching their learning!

Jolene

3:31 PM

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Answering questions- Mrs Johnson´s class

In Brazil, our school year starts in February and ends in the second week of December. We have two weeks off in July and our vacation from school is at the end of December and during the month of January when most of us travel to the beach. You see, the seasons are different here, it´s summer in January.

Students attend school either in the morning or the afternoon. They use the rest of their time to go to private institutes (to learn foreign languages, to learn how to play musical instruments) or sports centers (to learn to play sports). I work at a private institute where we teach English. Students come here to study English for about one hour and a half twice a week . These are some pictures I took yesterday at a Halloween celebration at our school.


Question: How do you say "mashed potatoes" in Portuguese?
Listen to the recording and I´ll answer that question and much more.

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Questions from 3rd Graders

Hi Ana,
I was chatting today with some of our 3rd graders about you and your country. Here are some questions that they asked:


1. How long is your school year? How many hours a day do students attend school?

2. What is the age of your students?

3. How do you teach them English?

4. Do you study the rain forest?

5. What do students eat for lunch?

6. How do you say "mashed potatoes" in Portuguese? (Ha ha)

7. Do you shop at market or at a grocery store?

8. Can you buy toys at market?

9. What kind of things do your kids like to play with?

10. Is market big?

11. What kind of transportation does your family use?


Thanks for your help! The children thought it was really neat that I actually knew someone from Brazil ... made what their learning about seem more realistic rather than just words in a book.

Take care!
Jolene

INTRODUCING MYSELF

Hello, everyone. It´s really nice to be able to have friends at the other side of the world, don´t you think? Well, we can use this space to share information about our countries, customs,culture and so on.
First of all, my name is Ana Maria and I teach English to people of all ages. I lived in Wisconsin in 1981 as an exchage student when I got to know Jolene, who became a dear friend. Hope you enjoy our exchange using the blog.