Our blog will include fun and interesting activities, readings and exercises from the Internet that you can do at home when you feel like it (= quando te apetecer). You can also send me your suggestions of activities! I will publish them on this page.

So. . . when you have a suggestion, or something you would like to tell us, please click on the email icon on the right (the bottle). Don't forget to start your message with "Hello" or "Hi" and to include your name and class (7A, 7B, 7C) at the end! I will not publish anonymous messages!

Remember: We are in this together!

With your participation, this blog can be great fun!

Send in you first message right away and I will put it on this page immediately!

Let's blog!

Interesting pages

Jogo do 24 Photos: 1+2, 3+4, 5+6

Intriguing page

Student work

Student Recipes (9th grade, 2001-02)

Blog archives

first activity:

'Decode' my message!

Find the "mystery words" behind the symbols (top left)!

The first student to send me a message with the correct words

will get a prize next class! Get to work!! Hurry up!!!

Subject: this is beautiful

Hello...teacher..I'm Inês from 7ºB.
How are you??
our page is very interesting!
Congratulations..see you on monday!
kisses...bye :-)..

Re: this is beautiful

Hello, Inês!

What a nice surprise to see your message tonight! :-)

I'm fine, Inês. I spent a very pleasant one hour and a half this afternoon
having a 'voice and text chat' with students in Rosario (suburbs of Buenos
Aires), Argentina: Silvina, two Dani(ela)s, Antonela and Leandro. They study
English with my Argentinian friend and colleague, Rita Zeinstejer. But there
were also other English teacher friends from my Webheads group: Susanne
Nyrop in Denmark, Dafne González in Spain and Aiden Yeh in Taiwan. Can you
imagine the difference in time between South America and Asia? When we
finished the chat, it was 3 p.m. in Buenos Aires, 7 p.m. in Lisbon and 2
a.m. (the next day - Sunday!) in Taiwan!!!

It was very pleasant and interesting, and for the students and my friend
Susanne it was a first experience with voice chat. One of the Danielas said
it was a great way to learn and practise a language. We have to try it one
day!

Well, it's late and I'm going to sleep now. Tomorrow is another day and
there is another chat and more work.

See you on Monday. A kiss from

Your English teacher

31May03

Subject: ......

hi teacher,i´m impress for the teste be on monday....because never was on
monday.
the tests it´s difficult????bey bey i go sleep because tomorow it´s day of
class....

Catarina Menezes nº27 7ºc

Re: ......

Hi Catarina!

You are absolutely right about the test on Monday. It's because of the
holiday next Tuesday (June 10, Day of Portugal) and you know how I like to
hand back the tests the following lesson. Well, I wouldn't do that to 7. A!
That's why I changed the week day this time.

I don't think the test is hard, Catarina, but you need to study a little and
pay attention during the test!

Have a nice day at school!

Your English teacher

29May03

We have had a visiting student from Oslo, Norway, for the past month in 7. A. Last Thursday I asked Katarina to write about her school, what they do, her teachers and colleagues, etc, so that her Portuguese friends know what it is like to be a student in her country. She handed it to me today. Here is what she wrote (published here with her permission):

my school

In Norway, I attend the sixth grade A at Halsum School. We are 22 pupils in my class. Our teachers name is Ole Vidar. We have other teachers, but Ole Vidar is our main teacher.

We have a lot of out-door activity. In the Summer/Autum season, we often go on trips to the forest or herbarium (Arboreet) near by, and in the Winther we go on ski or we use ice skates in the school area.

Every year we have a book-week, were we are encouraged to read as much as possible. The seventeenth of May is Norways National Day, and in the morning we meet at school and there are lots of fun and activities for everybody such as parades, potato races, etc. And there are hot dogs and cakes and a lot of ice cream to eat.

My school has a fantastic view of the Oslo fjord. The pupils are from the first grade to the seventh. We are about five hundred pupils.

Our principals name is Randi G. I like my school very much, and I miss my class. We are good friends, and have a lot of fun.

Thank you, Katarina. We wish you all a great trip back home! Be sure to visit us again and write now and then. You can send email to our blog! :-)

BTW, Katarina read her text in class today and most of her Portuguese colleagues said they would like to study in Norway. Know why? Because of skiing, ice skating and the party with the hot dogs and ice cream!!! :-))

Subject:

Hi teacher! Your site is cute and interesting.

Pedro doens't have computer but Pité have computer.

You are doing a great job and I think you must continue this wonderful.

Goodbye

Pedro Fonseca and João Pité A

Re:

Hi Pedro and João!

Thank you for your message and your compliment on my work. I will gladly continue, but I would like your help. Think about it!

Bye! Your English teacher

28May03

Subject: :)))

hello,how are you? I saw the texts...Now I understand how difficult was the
life of my "grandparents"....
    CONGRATS!!!....The site is.....EXCELLENT !!!!
            SEE YOU TOMORROW !!

    Ariana Carvalho 7ºC

Re: :)))

Hi, Ariana!

Yes, life wasn't easy a few generations back. I wonder what interesting
things your grandmother/father will have to tell you.

I'm glad you really like the blog! :-) Thanks for your message.

See you tomorrow!

Your English teacher

A week ago today I asked 7. A to write about 3-4 lines (just for 5 mins.) about 'My weekend'. It was personalized practice of the simple past. Then each student read their short text. Here are two texts that I really enjoyed, because they talked about different activities. Hope you enjoy them! :-)

My weekend was wonderful!!!

On Friday evening, my mom brought Spyke - a rotweiller puppie, very, very funny.

Have a dog is very difficult. At night, he yelped very much. Now he is better.On Saturday, I went to the vet to learn how to deal with puppies. She gave him a vaccin. He behaved well.

On Sunday, my parents, my uncle Ana and me, we did a barbecue in my garage. At the night, we went to my uncle's house in Moscavide.

When we arrived at home, Spyke was insuportable, and my father sleep with him in the sofa.

Miguel

On Saturday I went to Sunday school at morning. At afternoon I wnet to JUVENTOUR. I played football, I played bowling (but the pieces were big) and I went to other things. On Sunday I went to Quinta da Marinha to learn to ride with my teacher João. I rode a horse called Mozart. Later I went to church.

João Pité

27May03

Subject: Hi

Hello teacher!!

How are you? I'm fine!

I'm sending this e-mail to answer at those texts about school in the old days.

I like, particularly, the text of Nicole, about her granny, Nicky. I love Greece. If I wasn't portuguese I want to be Greek (but I'm very proud in my country, of course)!!! I like Mythologyu very much, too!!! The stories about the gods, Zeus, Afrodite, Atena. . . The twelve jobs of Hercules, the semi-god, son of Zeus!!!

The animals very spookie!!! The things wich save the peoples!!!

One kiss to Nicky and with wishes wich one day we can talk.

Bye and kisses, teacher.

Miguel, 7.A

Re: Hi

Dear Miguel:

What a fantastic message you sent! I have learned something new about you: your love for Greece and Greek mythology!

I studied Mythology at junior high school (equivalent to our 3. ciclo) in the United States and really liked it, especially, Greek mythology. I still have the book we used. I will try to find it and show you in class before the end of the school year.

After reading your message, I tried to find Nicky's email, but I wasn't lucky. I will continue to try!

See you in class on Thursday.

A kiss from your English teacher

26May03

Subject: blog

Hi teacher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are you????? Sorry i can write very well english but i
try!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The blog is very coollllll. I don't have (ideias) for the blog.

see you on Thursday!!!!!!!!!

Sandra 7ºc

Re: blog

Hello Sandra!

Nice to hear from you! :-) Well, you don't have to write English well to
send messages. Trying is very important. And this is a great way to
practice.

I'm glad you think the blog is cool. Now there are links to blogs from
Brazilian students (25 May) that you can look at and read. And you can make
comments, if you like. Read my friend's message about it. She is their
teacher and they started the blogs as school work.

See you on Thursday. Have a nice week.

Your English teacher

Subject: project work

Hi again, teacher!!!
On the project work, can I interview my grandmother and grandfather, or
just one???
Sara Silva 7ºC

Re: project work

Hi Sara!

Sure, you can interview your grandmother and grandfather, if you like. And
if both had a different childhood, it will make your text even more
interesting! And why not ask them how they met?

See you!

Your English teacher

Ana Cláudia, here is Barbara Dieu's answer. This is for all students, not just Ana!

Hello Teresa!
I am sorry I am only answering now but on Thursday I went away to the country for the weekend ( I do not work on Fridays....)...so only got your mail now.
Thanks for mentioning my site to your students. I am glad they enjoyed it and I am open to suggestions.

Perhaps to motivate yours...you might give them some addresses of mine to have a look and discuss ... I do not correct them (there are 27 students...each one with a blogger they have to write in twice a week)...so there are many mistakes...I might do something about it later...

I have enthusiastic bloggers like Françoise:

http://www.franbati.blogger.com.br

reflective students like Felipe, who teases me a lot

http://www.jawsisgood.blogspot.com

some very brief comments like François

http://www.francid.blogspot.com

or a bit more talkative like Caroline

http://www.catoque.blogspot.com

or Maeva

http://www.maeva.blogspot.com

I have recently invited my students to join my blog so we can hold weekly discussions there. It might interest some of your students to join as well... and exchange ideas with mine.
http://www.beeonline.blogspot.com

Let's do something together on these blogs...

We could perhaps think of something for Eurolang for the Summer Carnival as well...

Abraços,

Bee

25May03

Subject: Hello teacher!

Hello teacher, how are you?
We are fine!
We like very much of this page, our sugestions are:
put games in this page about english and more photos
about the famous.
Bye teacher.

P.S. just one more thing this page is very interesting.
Alexandra and Sofia (7ºB)

Re: Hello teacher!

Hello, Alexandra and Sofia!

It was nice to get your very nice message. Thank you! :-)

I will try and look for games or links to games about English. Have you seen
some of the exercises that I included? They are fun. You have to match
things and drag (arrastar) them. Take a look. And they are also good
practice.

What famous people would you like to see?

I'm glad you find the page interesting.

See you in class tomorrow!

Your English teacher

project work

school in the old days

Interview your grandmother, grandfather or the oldest person in your family. Ask:

where and when s/he was born
if s/he lived in the city or in the country when s/he was young
how many brothers and sisters s/he had
where s/he went to school
how the school was
how many students and teachers there were
how s/he learned to write
what subjects s/he studied
how s/he went to school
how far school was or how long it took
if s/he had to work and study at the same time
at what age s/he stopped studying and why
how life was in those days
what s/he did in her/his free time

You can ask any other questions that you think are interesting!

Interview your relative in Portuguese, but write your text in English!

You should read Reggie's story again (SB p. 38) and also the stories in our blog (17May03) for a better idea of how you can write your text. You can include a drawing, if you like.

Write it on a separate piece of paper. Give your text a title. When you finish, write your name, class and date. Everybody will do this project. The deadline (prazo) to hand it in is June 12.

I hope to have many interesting descriptions of your grandmother/father's childhood to include in our blog! :-))

Enjoy yourselves!

24May03

Subject: our page is beautifull...

Hi teachear..!
I'm Sara from 7ºC.
How are you??
Sorry,I can't came before...but I'm here now, and
your, I mean, our page is very cool and interesting..congratulations!!!!!
well,I don't have more things to tell you..so..see you on monday..!
kisses..

Re: our page is beautifull...

Hi, Sara!

You know the saying "Better late than never"? Well, it's always a good time
to visit our blog!

I'm really glad that you like it and found it interesting. Maybe that will
make you go back and look for new things. BTW, did you read the short texts
about 'school in the old days'? What did you think?

Thanks for your message. I enjoyed it! :-)

Have a nice weekend and see you on Monday!

x x x from your English teacher

23May03

Ana Cláudia, I sent my friend, Barbara Dieu, this message. Please see her answer on May 25.

Hi, Bee!

One of my students visited your site and has a short comment in my school blog (22 May). If you'd like to take a look, it's at

http://www.malhatlantica.pt/teresadeca/school/blog7.htm

I decided to include some texts about 'School in the Old Days' as prepapration for a composition they will have to write next. But it's all in the blog. It's the only way to make them visit it. And they also have to make a comment.

I hate to have to resort to this strategy, but I also feel it's "malhar em ferro frio" to update it every week and they just don't care less.

There is an interesting comment by Jing, a Chinese student (21 May), about the usefulness of the blog.

Um beijo,

Teresa

22May03

Subject: Hi again!

Teacher, hi again!

Oh!!! I haven't got ideas about "fun" sites. . :-(

I looked Barbara Dieu's page. It's interesting an I like it!!! :-)

Se you in class

Ana Cláudia 7. C

Re: Hi again!

Ana Cláudia,

There is no problem about not having ideas! Some other time you may have them and you can let me know. :-)

Thanks for visiting my friend Barbara Dieu's site. I am going to send her a message to tell her about your nice comment here.

Have a great hot weekend!

Your English teacher

Subject: Hello

Hi!!! Teacher, I'm sorry it's so late write the letter to you. I'm very
happy, "our" page is better than better, I very like "Your Work", because
it's very interesting. I can read "our" composition, this can help me for
learning English.
And I have a suggest for "our" page, we can have a page, if we have
problem, can write these in this page and teacher answers these problem for
us. It's useful for studying English.
Best wishes for you!

Your Jing

Re: hello

Hi, Jing!

Email is a fabulous way to communicate, because it is never too late or too
early to send a message. We check it when we want to or have time! :-)

Thank you for such nice comments on 'our' page, especially the fact that it
can 'help' you learn English. That is my main idea with this blog, so I
certainly hope that it can be useful for learning English in a different and
pleasant way.

Your suggestion of asking for help through the blog is great! Of course you
can ask me for help at any time. I will answer as soon as I see the message.
BTW (by the way), I check mail every day, sometimes twice a day.

Have a nice weekend, Jing! And don't go to bed too late!

Your English teacher

21May03

Subject: hello

hi my mother allow's that i respond to you,and the blong its good,and i
don't say nothing because i say everything in the last mail...bye

Catarina Menezes
7ºc

Re: hello

Hi, Catarina!

Long time no see!!! Since class this morning! ;-)

I'm glad that your mother allowed you to visit the blog, read my message and
the short texts about "School in the Old Days". Please 'thank' you mother
for me.

Yes, your previous (= anterior) message was great and 'said everything'!!! I
loved it and I won't forget it. :-)

Have a nice weekend and be good!

Your English teacher

Subject: teacher hello

Hi!!!HoW aRe YoU tEaChEr?!?!...I sEe "OuR" pAgE aNd I lIkE tO tHe SeE tHe
StUdEnT wOrKs....I dOn.T nOw HoW dId YoU aRe PaTiEnCe FoR mAkE tHaT.s
PaGe...I dOn.T hAd...=)
                    //////////
                  ( O O )
       _,,,, __ ( (_) )__,,,,_ .....gOoD bEy!***** aSs:CaTaRiNa MeNeZeS 7ºc

Re: teacher hello

Hi, Catarina!

Well, I'm a very patient teacher, aren't I? And I like to work for my
students when I think it can help them. And I feel that this blog can!

It's great that you enjoyed seeing some of the work you did in class and at
home. And I'm glad that you have a short text in the blog. :-)

Don't forget to read the texts (17 May)!

See you on Thursday!

Your English teacher

19May03

Subject: Blog

Hello teacher. I am Tiago Gomes of 7º C. The blog it's very cool and nice,
and I like the pictures too. Good Bye teacher and until Thursday.

Re: Blog

Hi, Tiago!

I'm glad that you visited our blog and liked it. Did you like the texts that
you had to read (17 May)?

Don't forget to send any suggestions of things that you would like to see in
the blog. In English, of course. :-)

See you in class on Thursday!

Your English teacher

school in the old days

In units 6 and 7 we have read about 'generations' and how school was in your grandparents' times. Before you start working on your project work for mid-June, click here and read some short texts that tell you about school experiences of other grandparents in other parts of the world.

VIP(oint): This is a very nice opportunity for you all to look carefully at our blog and send your comments. You don't need to write a long text. And. . . don't worry about mistakes: we all make them! Know what? The good thing is that we learn from them. :-)

prepare your fingers for keyboarding (= teclar) or get a piece of paper and a pen! but don't forget to write a message!

Next week I will teel you about your project work.

17May03

Hey, kids! This is a message about our blog from Barbara Dieu, a teacher and friend in São Paulo, Brazil. Exciting, isn't it? Why don't you send her a message through our blog? And why don't you visit her page, The English Department?

Subject: your blogger

Hi again!
I have just visited your blogger. It's wonderful! Did you create it
yourself or is it a blogger you can find online?
How do I write in it?
Abraços do Brasil,
Bee

Re: your blogger

Hi, Bee!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

I created this blog myself as an experiment (after reading an interesting
paper I referred on our list) and only I can write on it and update it. Any
message sent to this email address is copied into the blog by me and then
uploaded. I will do so with your message and my reply this evening after I
come back home from a meeting at school.

If things work well, I may use a different approach next year: a blogger.

Though only very few students have commented on it through email, quite a
few have visited the page, so I'm keeping a positive attitude! :-)

Um beijo de Portugal,

Teresa

7May03

Hi, kids! Just to confirm the good news: I'll be back at school tomorrow! Aren't you happy? ;-)

And to start things off with good humor, here's a joke that a teacher friend of mine, Rita Zeinstejer, sent me from Argentina today just for you!

A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have this killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it
started."

Her boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"

The blonde says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger."

Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in
and shows him to where she has the puzzle spread all over the table.

He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger". "

Second, I'd advise you to relax. Let's have a cup of coffee, then put all
these Frosted Flakes back in the box.

4May03

Created on 11Feb2003

Teresa Almeida d'Eça

Visitor no.