Say it better: focus on

Hi,

Here's something to help you improve your vocabulary:

How to say it better: Focus on

You can improve your English by simply using the correct verbs, such as "focus on".

Watch out for the correct pronunciation and appropriate use of the preposition: on.

Always look up the dictionary when you don't know what preposition to use or how to pronounce a word correctly.

Focus on improving your English speaking skills.

Best,

Mari

A little bit about me

Personal info

My name is Marialva Lima, but my friends and students call me Mari.
I'm originally from Belo Horizonte and I've been living in the east area of São Paulo city since 1996.

Professional info
I'm and experienced teacher with CELTA
On my Linkedin profile you can see the schools I've already collaborated with and my professional background.

How I learned English

I started studying English when I was 12 years old at a small school named Highbrow. The owner of this school was my public school English teacher and she gave me a scholarship to study there because my parents couldn't afford the course. I am greatful for this opportunity so I do my best to help other people achieve their goals, this way I can give back what I've been given.

My first job as an English teacher

In 2000, I went to study at another school named CETEF and there I started working as an apprentice. A very small school, but during the 3 years I worked there, I made great friends for life and I learned the basic skills necessary to be a teacher.

For instance, I learned how to sequence a lesson and how to use the physical space of the classroom to play games. There, we had a simple whiteboard, a VCR and a TV set on the wall, Disney video tapes, Oxford dictionaries and and a booklet the teachers created together. It was my first job and we were already designing course materials, but I didn't know it at that time. Making the best of what we have is a very importante skill for any teacher and I learned this during that period.

I used the money from my first job to pay for my English course at Wizard. My friends and I loved Wizard materials and the school space. It was a really nice environment with lovely teachers and staff. All the cleaning ladies, secretaries and teachers were awesome and incredibly helpful.

The best memories I have of that time is the enthusiasm of learning English and realizing that I could actually express my ideas in a second language. That’s a beautiful feeling of accomplishment.

After that, I took my Cambridge First certificate and went to college to study translation and interpretation. That’s where I polished my language skills and learned how to make technical term glossaries, which are very important for a business English teacher. Then, I started attending national and international events in the area of education and meeting people from different countries and educational and professional background.

Learning English is a dream

Speaking English fluently is a dream, that's why I believe many people feel frustrated moving from one school to another, studying English for many years, spending money and never making their dream come true. I hear many stories like that and I feel sad. So I make it my priority to use the best approaches and tools to help my students make their dreams come true.

Likes & dislikes
I can't cook very well, except for pasta and stir-fry recipes, there aren't many things I can prepare and the one dessert I can make is cheesecase, my version, of course. Reading and preparing new recipes is a way of improving English and your culinary skills.

I enjoy playing video game, specially RPGs like Skyrim, Fall Out and Final Fantasy. Gaming is also a great way of learning English. I'm also a bookwork so I read a lot. Some authors I admire are: Eduardo Galeano, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, Andrezj Sapkowski, Leo Tolstoy among many others.

Well, I guess it's all for now.

If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask me.

Cheers,

Mari

Teste seu inglês através de Cambridge Assessment - for students

Quer testar seu inglês?

Take the official Cambridge Assessment Test.

Uma coisa bem legal também, para entender melhor os níveis do curso de inglês é conhecer o Quadro Comum Europeu de Referência para Línguas (CEFR)

Existem 6 níveis oficiais, como você pode conferir nesta matéria bem bacana publicada na revista Exame.

A1, A2 = básico
B1, B2 = intermediário
C1, C2 = avançado

Profissionais sérios trabalham seguindo os padrões internacionais.

Uma maneira de se proteger de charlatães é conhecendo melhor as instituições oficiais. Desta forma,  você economiza tempo e protege seu suado dinheirinho.

Interactive activities using padlet - for teachers

Virtual classes offer us other ways to interact with our students.

I like to use padlet.

I first used padlet while working for CNA because of the interactive board.

You can check my padlet here.

I use it for discussions and to play games during class and after class, the students can create their own padlets and share them with their friends.

Online classes are fun! :)

Tips on how to improve writing - for learners of English

Writing

Many students complain that writing is difficult, but a simple way to improve writing is by reading. Reading and writing are interconnected. The more you read, the better you'll write.

So, if you want to improve writing, here are some tips.

Read sophisticated texts

I like to read articles from the New York Times. If it's too complex for your level of English, start small, read just the headlines. Every day, until you're confident enough to read the first paragraph or the second.

A cool website to notice the difference between levels of sophistication in texts is newsinlevels

In the website newsinlevels, you'll see 3 labels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3
A good way to use this site is to start from level 1 and read the text and watch the video for level 1. If you think it was easy, on the following day, you read the text and watch the video for level 2. And move on to level 3 on the following day as well.

Why 1 level a day?
Because it will probalby take you 20 minutes to do this exercise.

If you spend 20 minutes on level 1 on Monday, 20 minutes on level 2 on Tuesday and 20 minutes on level 3 on Wednesday, you will have practiced 60 minutes of reading during the week.

The secret to improve your reading and writing skills is = FREQUENCY.


Read texts in your area of expertise

Your company's website is a great way to start. Read their page in English. This way you can learn more about the organization you work for and also improve your English.

Write

Every day before you go to bed, take 10 minutes to write 50 words about anything. It can be about an interesting article you've read during the day or something about how you feel. Send it to a nice friend you trust who speaks English. Tell them you want to practice more and ask them to give you some constructive feedback.

Read and write e-mails in English

Observe the e-mails you've received and check how the person started and finished the message or how they’ve presented their ideas, problems or requests.

Magic words

There are some simple magic words that can help us better express our ideas. They’re called ‘conjunctions’ and are used to link ideas.

Some of these magic words are:

in addition (add more info)

therefore (show a result)

however (show a contrast). 

Examples about the trendy topic of 2020 covid-19 using conjunctions:
Examples found on the website: Symptomate

"In addition, other symptoms may occur, such as muscle pain, fatigue, increased phlegm production, headache, sore throat (at the beginning of the disease), chest pain, or coughing up blood (5% of cases). Some patients (10% of cases) also present gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea."

"Social distancing of a meter away from an infected person is key to preventing infection. The virus has been found to survive on surfaces for several hours, even up to several days. Therefore, practicing frequent handwashing upon coming into contact with these surfaces, i.e., door handles, railings, elevator buttons, etc. may help to prevent yourself from getting the virus.”

“Catching COVID-19 from someone with no symptoms is not very likely. However, many people with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms. This is especially true at the early stages of the disease. It is, therefore, possible to catch COVID-19 from someone who has, for example, just a mild cough and does not feel ill. Some reports suggest transmission of the disease may occur before symptoms are evident. However, this is not believed to be the main way the virus spreads”.

What I have learned while working from home

Working from home has taught me many things, but there are three skills we all need to have in order to self-manage. And self-management is key when working from home.

• Organization: 

We are responsible for getting up on time, so binge-watching on Netflix on weekdays is probably not a good idea. And we must stick to the schedule. Taking notes or having a journal is nice too.

• Initiative:

We can't expect people to tell us what to do or to help us, not because they won't, but we might not be able to contact them as fast as we need. We've got to deliver the task and figure out how to do it by ourselves.

• Accountability:

A lot depends on us, we have to put effort and care, otherwise things won't work. It's that simple. The key word here is "care".

These skills are not so different from what is usually expected from any professional at anytime. However, these self-management skills are a must when working from home. 

Our high tech equipment matter as long as we make good use of it.

Memorizar vocabulário usando post-it

Alguns alunos têm dificuldade em memorizar palavras, principalmente palavras complexas, uma dica simples é usar um post-it.

1.Em um post-it, escreva uma palavra nova, que você aprendeu recentemente ou que tem muita dificuldade em lembrar como se escreve.

2.Embaixo desta palavra, você pode escrever a tradução, a definição do dicionário, uma frase utilizando esta palavra, ou, ainda, um desenho que vc associe a ela.

3.Escolha um lugar na sua casa em que vc sempre olhe, pode ser a porta da geladeira, a porta do guarda-roupa, a janela ou até o computador.

4.Coloque seu post-it no lugar escolhido e deixe por uma semana. Todas as vezes em que você olhar naquela direção, vai ver sua palavra.

5.Nas semanas seguintes, repita esse processo com outras palavras.

Após um mês, revise as 4 palavras que aprendeu durante o mês e veja como elas parecem muito mais fáceis.

Happy Easter!

Have a lovely day and enjoy it with your loved ones.

May your basket always be filled with love!

Activities outside the virtual classroom

There are many many resources teachers can use to engage students in activities outside the classroom.

Check out my activity on Padlet :)

Question: "What do you enjoy doing at home?"
Students can see the teacher's examples, give their own answers in class and after class, they can create their own padlet using their own pics. :)

Dicas para melhorar "Listening"

Dicas para melhorar "Listening":

1.Escolha um vídeo de sua preferência em inglês. Este vídeo deve ter no máximo 5 minutos.

2.Assista ao vídeo pela primeira vez, sem legenda, para entender o assunto sobre o qual a pessoa está falando.

3.Assista pela segunda vez, sem legenda. Ao assistir ao vídeo, escreva 10 palavras aleatórias que ouvir durante o vídeo.

4.Assista ao vídeo pela terceira vez para conferir sua lista de 10 palavras.

5.Agora, se o vídeo tiver legenda, você pode assistir com a legenda uma quarta vez para verificar se as 10 palavras que ouviu realmente apareceram no vídeo.

Após fazer este exercício, você terá ouvido 4 vezes o mesmo áudio. Em um vídeo de 5 minutos, você terá utilizado 20 minutos de 'listening'.

Ao realizar este exercício diariamente, com vídeos diferentes, você aumentará sua exposição ao idioma e irá treinar seu ouvido para reconhecer melhor as palavras da língua inglesa e consequentemente, irá melhorar sua pronúncia, uma vez que 'listening' está diretamente ligado à pronúncia.

Faça o exercício por uma semana e depois me conte se percebeu uma melhora na sua compreensão auditiva.

Cheers,

Mari

Aulas de Inglês online - contato

Aula de inglês online

Algumas pessoas têm dúvidas sobre a aprendizagem de forma virtual.

Será que eu vou aprender?
Será que a experiência vai ser a mesma?
Será que o custo benefício vale a pena?

Sou professora de inglês com bastante experiência em sala de aula presencial e comecei a dar aulas de inglês online em 2012. cv 

Não vejo muita diferença na experiência de aprendizagem para adultos, no sentido de atingir resultados. Podemos compartilhar vídeos, áudios, imagens, arquivos e fazer interações diferentes das que fazemos nas aulas presenciais.

As vantagens são principalmente o conforto e a otimização do tempo.

Para ir até uma escola ou receber um professor em casa, você precisa se preparar e preparar o ambiente para a aula. Nas reuniões virtuais, você só precisa de um local em que você possa se sentar por uma hora sem ser interrompido, pode ser a mesa de jantar, a varanda.

É bom para pais e mães que têm pouco tempo e também para profissionais que não têm tempo a perder.

É bom também para quem mora em uma cidade pequena ou longe de centros urbanos também. Hoje, temos empresas que levam conexão à fazendas via rádio, por exemplo.

Outra vantagem é que 1 hora virtual é imensamente mais produtiva do que 1 hora presencial, justamente por não ser necessário muitas formalidades e ajustes de equipamento e ambientação.

Quando você paga por uma aula virtual, esta aula é realmente sua, sem interrupções, sem desperdício de tempo. Ao vivo e personalizada de verdade.

Algumas questões importantes para manter a qualidade das aulas virtuais são principalmente relacionadas ao equipamento e a conexão. É importante ter conexão de internet estável e utilizar um headset para que o som saia com qualidade.

Existem várias plataformas e maneiras de utilizar os recursos virtuais, inclusive o celular e as mídias socias para otimizar recursos. Nas aulas online, tudo vira oportunidade de aprendizagem.

Caso você se interesse ou conheça alguém que sempre sonhou em falar um segundo idioma, mas nunca teve muito dinheiro ou tempo, essa pode ser a oportunidade que faltava.

A primeira aula demonstrativa é gratuita.

marialvalima@gmail.com
Whatsapp: 55 11 980659305