Blackmail

Howdy! ( A colloquial greeting of "How do you do" in Texas)


Today I'll talk about blackmail and situations that you deal with people and when you have to persuade, convince or obtain something from someone.




Blackmail: When you obtain money, information, etc. through threat or intimidation.


Threat: ameaça


Did you have to blackmail him to buy the house?
Você teve que chantageá-lo pra comprar a casa?


In other situations, when you are concerned or you have to realize or pay attention about something you can say that you need a "wake-up call":


Wake-up call: se dar conta de; prestar atenção
Mary needed a wake up call to realize that she was wrong about her test.
Mary precisou se dar conta de que estava errada sobre o teste.


Usually when you are blackmailing someone, you are  jerking around:


Jerk around: Manipular, sacanear


John is always jerking around his co-workers in the office.
John está sempre sacaneando os seus colegas de trabalho no escritório.


That's it! :)

What do you know about wedding?

Do you have doubts about how to say a word related to wedding that you know in Portuguese, but not in English? Well, I'm going to try to put some wedding vocabulary here for you. :)



Bride: noiva
Veil: véu
Father of the bride: pai da noiva
flower girl: dama de honra
ring bearer: pagem
bridesmaid: dama de honra (madrinhas)
altar: altar (the same as in Portuguese)
priest: padre
groom: noivo
best man/groomsmen: padrinho(s)
bench: banco
cake table: mesa do bolo
wedding favors: lembrancinhas de casamento
wedding sweets: doces de casamento
to walk down the aisle: caminhar/passar pelo corredor da igreja
to exchange rings: trocar as alianças
to say his/her vowels: dizer os votos de casamento
to kiss the bride: beijar a noiva
to toss the bouquet: jogar o bouquet

Have a civil wedding: Casamento no civil
Have a church wedding: Casamento no religioso/igreja
Silver wedding (anniversary): Bodas de prata
Golden wedding (anniversary): Bodas de ouro
Diamond wedding (anniversary): Bodas de diamante

Kids and English

Hello buddies!

Do you have children?Do you want them to learn English, or improve it?

So here is the thing: I'm going to give some help with this issue, and also show some options for teachers and kids in how to improve their English through some resources on the internet.

PBS/Games

Here there are some games for children, but all in English. You can also choose some games by the topic as Math, reading, spelling, vocabulary and others. Even if your kid has just started learning the language, you can help him to play the games to motivate him in learning the idiom.

Learning Planet

This one is good as well for its games ans resources. You have the topics for each game as logic, math, memory game and others. The students can play according to his grade level: kindergarden, 1st to 3rd grades on.

LearnEnglishKids

This is such a good site, for both students and teachers. For students, they can practice with games, listening exercises, reading and videos but I think it's good for those ones who have already contact with the English language. There's a part of the site designated for the teachers explaining the options they have. But there are lots of printable activies with songs, videos and vocabulary.

That's all for now!See ya!

Are you nuts?

Hello buddies! (buddy = friend)

What's up? ( What's up = How are you?)

Well, this post is about some slangs about stress and crazy things or situations.

Nuts

Do you want to quit your job?Are you nuts?We need money!!

(Você quer se despedir?Você tá louco?Precisamos de dinheiro!)

quit: stop, abandon, leave an activity.

So, this expression is used when you disapprove a situation that you think it's insane or impossible.

Go nuts

If another mosquito bites me, I'll go nuts!

(Se outro mosquito me picar, eu vou enlouquecer!)

Go nuts refers also to get impressed or excited about something.

My sister is going nuts with her wedding on Saturday.

(Minha irmã tá muito ansiosa com o casamento dela no sábado).

Nutty

You can call somebody that is insane or crazy like an adjective.

He's nutty about going out with Jane.

(Ele é maluco em sair com a Jane).

Go crazy

Basically the same as go nuts. When you are getting stressed about something, or losing your mind.

If I stay one more minute close to her, I'll go crazy!

(Se eu ficar mais um minuto perto dela, eu vou enlouquecer!)

Go bananas

You go bananas when you have a crazy behavior, when you get very excited about something or very anxious.

Mary went bananas when she saw Brad Pitt at the hotel.

(Mary pirou quando ela viu o Brad Pitt no Hotel.)

Go off like a frog in a sock

When someone is out of control, getting insane like a frog would be in a sock.

Jason is going off like a frog in a sock because somebody drank his last beer.

(Jason está "pirando como um sapo em uma meia" porque alguém tomou a sua última cerveja).

Freak out

When you are out of control, when you get excited or emotional disestablished, like in panic.

When he saw his mother in a car accident, he freaked out.

(Quando ele viu a sua mãe em um acidente de carro, ele pirou).

Drive somebody crazy/mad
Girl you drive me crazy!
Garota, você me deixa louco!
I hope you guys won't freak out reading it!hahaha :D

Verbs Make x Do

                  

The most common problem for the students from the English language is to define the differences between these verbs, mostly when both have the same meaning like make and do. The secret to understand these verbs is not to think of them as in Portuguese, but to memorize them as a word or expression that you learned before. When I say "memorize" I'm not suggesting you to decorate a list of expressions with them, it's just the contact with the language through magazines, books, songs, movies and etc that will make you assimilate these words.

Actually,there are no rules for the use of them, but usually do means to "perform" or "complete an action" and it is used with nouns referring to jobs connected with the home, while make generally means "to create, manufacture, prepare" and it is used with nouns referring to:

- plans: arrangement, choice, decision, plan

- traveling: journey, tour, trip, visit

- talking and sounds: comment, enquiry, noise, promise, remark, sound, speech, suggestion.

But remember that these nouns are not exactly a rule for the usage of make and do, but they are usually conected with them.

Well, that's all! ;)

Past Tense

 Simple Past

Hoje vou falar do passado nos pontos gramaticais aqui do blog. No último post sobre gramática expliquei um pouco sobre o presente, e hoje é sobre o  passado simples.

Today I'm going to talk about the past tense on the grammar points in the blog. At the last post, I explained a little bit about the simple present, so today It's about the past tense.

Usamos o passado simples para falar de ações e situações que vemos como completas no passado.

We use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past.

Podemos usá-lo para falar de um ponto específico no passado.
We can use it to talk about an specific point in time.

•She came back last Friday.

•I saw her on the street.

•They didn't agree to the deal.

Também pode ser usado para falar de um período de tempo.

It can also be used to talk about a period of time.

•She lived in Tokyo for seven years.

•They were in London from Monday to Thursday last week.

Você irá muitas vezes achar o passado simples em uso com expressões de tempo tais como:

You will often find the past simple used with time expressions such as these:

•Yesterday

•three weeks ago

•last year

•for a long time

•in the last century

•in the past


Here are some exercises about the past tense:


Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4

Talk to strangers!

 Have you ever used a chat room before?But in English?

Well, this is a good hint for those who want to improve their second language and also meet new people through the internet.

Actually, chat rooms are kind of weird today, specially if we say it here in Brazil that we have "Uol chat rooms, Terra, IG "and others that I don't even know. But there are some english chatrooms that they are a little bit different. You have people from almost all the places over the world and you can talk to them using your knowledge. You can increase your self confidence by talking to a stranger on the internet in English.

Well...Is this safe?

I recommend it if you don't take it so serious, if you know what I mean. There are bad people and bad things everywhere, and it depends on you to handle these communication tools correctly. But it's good to use as a pastime for yourself.

These are some sites to practice:

Omegle.com

This is a website where you don't need to registrate, use a nick name or anything else, you just go into a chat with a stranger without names or pictures, but if you want to have a little bit of contact you can choose a video chat if you have a webcam.

Chatroulette

To participate you must have a webcam. This chatroulette is more for fun, you'll talk with foreigners but through a webcam and a chat like messenger (MSN). You may find the brazilian version, but if you really want to use what you learn, I advise you to use the american version.

Facebook

This is such a good social networking website, and similar to Orkut. But what facebook provides, is more contact with English (if you use the English version) through news or informations about your favorite famous artists or writers, and you can have information about events, movies, TV shows and a lot of things in English and it gets more interesting if you have an American friend, or even a cousin or relatives abroad. You can post photos, have a profile and share things with everyone.

Twitter

If you have twitter you may know that it's used not only for Americans but also for Brazilians, so it's a very good way to communicate with a native speaker and to know more about their "informal" way to speak, which is an important knowledge too. For those who don't know anything about it yet, this is a website where its aim is: sharing information in a very fast way and for everyone. If you want to be connected with your favorite artists and with what they are doing, you just need to create an account and you'll be able to see what the other people are doing and vice versa.

You can learn more about twitter and how to use it on the articles below. They are in Portuguese, by the way.

Twitter: What is it?How to use it?

Learn how to use more Twitter at the utmost

Another options

Well, if you want to talk in English with a friend, a relative or somebody else with a webcam of microphone through a program installed in your PC, I reccomend you:

MSN messenger

Skype
This one is similar to MSN messenger, and you can also create a free account (just to use with webcam,video and microphone) or you can pay it to make calls in a cheaper way. I've never tried to pay it before, but it seems trustworthy.

If you want to study but with a little help from other people, you should try:

Live Mocha
It's a good option for who wants to learn not only English, but also another languages by himself through the internet. This website is full of resources and very helpful even for the ones who are fluent or in an intermediate level. The website offers you free basic classes for beginner learners, a deepen content that is paid for a more completed course, and one of the most interesting resources, a community of users from the site where is possible to help the other students mutually. You have to create an account and indicate the language that you want to learn and you'll start with basic lessons, but to go further you need to pay a tax.

Travlang

This is a famous and old site that is focused on teaching expressions and vocabulary for those who want to travel, what can be helpful on your trip for another country. To use this website you need to pay attention because it's a kind of messy to look for an specific topic or something. If you find the language that you want, a guide will be opened for you with some expressions and vocabulary as money, numbers, time and dates etc.


Well, that's it!:D

Online dictionaries

Online dictionaries and Phrasal Verbs dictionaries

Helllo!

Well, I'm back now to give some more hints about online dictionaries and some about phrasal verbs.
I recently got a website about phrasal verbs that I thought as being very helpful for us (students) to look up for them when we're reading or even writting.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/

This website I found by chance when I was googling (a north american neologism to reseach using google site) and I got very curious so I started looking at it. After researching I realized that it's very useful. At the first page you have the explanation of what is a phrasal verb and you can also find them by typing only the verb (like "look") and the site will give you a list of phrasal verbs with this, or you can find by the preposition (like "up") or better, you can find by alphabetical order.

When you find the phrasal verb you want, you also have some examples and the explanation about the meaning.

If you don't feel confortable with an online dictionary, you can have a physical one, and you can find it in some bookstores close to you. This one in the link below is a good dictionary:

Livro - Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs

Well, about online dictionaries in general, I indicate you my favorite one, which is fast and simple. Check this out:

Word Reference online dictonary

The dictionary can translate the word to English-English (with the English definition), English-Portuguese or even to other languages. This is such a good dictionary to have a faster search.

Another one to have a faster search too:

Longman English Dictionary Online

For expressions and slangs, this is a good option, but it's English-English. It's a kind of wikipedia due the possibility that anyone can write there, but in a very informal way:

Urban Dictionary

Well, that's it. I hope that they'll be useful for you!

Are you listening?

Hello!What's up?Hoje vou falar um pouco sobre a importância de ouvir bem qualquer língua e treinar a habilidade de listening no aprendizado de qualquer língua.
As técnicas de aprendizagem variam muito, e geralmente torna-se quase individual a capacidade de cada um assimilar o conteúdo e de praticar o que absorveu. Muitos não precisam de muito treino, ou mesmo um processo de repetição, mas praticam de uma forma diferente, como por exemplo através de músicas, filmes e etc.
Entretanto, existem alguns fatores essenciais para novas palavras ou expressões fazerem parte do seu vocabulário, ou mesmo a aplicação das estruturas gramaticais aprendidas, e é certo que “decoreba” não é, nem de longe, o método mais eficaz de aprender qualquer coisa relacionada a línguas. Portanto, o que é realmente necessário na assimilação é:

Áudio, Contexto e Repetição

Estes três fatores são essenciais no aprendizado de qualquer língua.
Afinal...
Do que adianta aprender a ler e não saber falar?
Do que adianta ver palavras soltas, aprender muitas gírias e expressões mas não saber aplicá-las nos tempos verbais corretos, e não conseguir ligá-las ao contexto correto, com a realidade?
Ou ainda, ver uma palavra ou estrutura importante apenas uma vez e nunca mais lembrá-la ou utilizá-la?
Por isso vou postar daqui em diante na sessão post-it vários exercícios de áudio, além daqueles que vocês podem encontrar na lista de exercícios online aqui ao lado.


123listening.com


Este site contém vários exercícios de nível básico com vocabulário simples como roupas, comidas, materiais escolares, preposições, partes do corpo,etc. O site também dispõe de exercícios prontos, os quais você pode imprimir e fazer.


agendaweb.com


Esse site dispõe de várias "short stories" em que o aluno deverá ouvir e completar as "short stories" com os verbos ou palavras corretas. Bom para quem está no nível básico também.


http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/real-english-conversations.html


Também do mesmo site, porém um pouco mais difícil por envolver diálogos. Mas é muito bom para treinar pronúncia.


http://www.autoenglish.org/listenings.htm


Este é um bom site, tem artigos com áudio para você acompanhar e treinar pronúncia, muitos vídeos ou mesmo o arquivo em áudio como um diálogo ou entrevista e algumas questões que você pode baixar e responder sobre o mesmo. É dividido por níveis: básico e intermediário.


http://esl-lab.com/


Muito rico em estruturas e diálogos, o site dispõe de muitos arquivos de áudio e dividido por níveis desde o básico até um level mais intermediário nos temas gerais onde os assuntos é que determinam o nível do Inglês. Você escuta o diálogo e ao mesmo tempo treina sua compreensão auditiva e escrita, pois o site dispõe de exercícios de alternativas sobre o diálogo. Recomendo!


Well, that's all folks! I hope you enjoy it!

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs: What are they for?

Phrasal verbs are used with a huge frequency by all native English speakers, and it's very common. It’s impossible to speak or understand English without using them. Sometimes you can only express yourself through them. In many cases, there is a simple word that can describe the action, but a native English speaker will use a phrasal verb instead. For example, if you are studying Math with an American friend, and you are tired of trying to solve an exercise, you could say: I desist. Maybe there's a chance he won't understand you. The word desist exists in English but it is hardly used. Instead of saying desist, you must say: I give up. This phrasal verb expresses exactly what you want to say. Sometimes, there's an idea that can only be expressed by a phrasal verb and no other word can substitute it with the same meaning.



There are thousands of phrasal verbs, and it’s impossible to know and memorize all of them. But it's pretty sure that you will learn with the frequency that you use them. There are some listed below that you can find very often and everywhere.

- to look after: cuidar de;
- to look at: olhar para;
- to look for: procurar;
- to get away: fugir;
- to get away with: livrar-se;
- to get back: voltar;
- to get down: descer, baixar;
- to get off: descer (do trem, do ônibus);
- to get out: sair;
- to get over: recuperar-se (de doença, de um problema);
- to get to: chegar;
- to get up: levantar, subir
Well, that's it.Whatever you want to say there's a phrasal verb to translate it. And if you use them, you'll just sound more natural in your speech.
Well, it still doesn't make sense for you?
Watch this video for further information.It's a video class about Phrasal verbs. ;)

Learning through the internet

Learn English with Youtube!

O Youtube atualmente é uma ferramenta muito útil para aqueles que querem aprender Inglês usando a internet, e nada mais produtivo do que aprender coisas novas de uma forma mais interativa, certo?
Portanto postarei aqui algumas recomendações de vídeos engraçados, e colocarei um "level" como [intermediate level] no post para que você leitor, possa assistir de acordo com o seu nível de Inglês. É claro que quem está aprendendo agora e quer adquirir vocabulário também é uma ótima opção, mas o nível é exposto apenas para que saibam que o vocabulário dos vídeos postados não são básicos.


A minha primeira dica é um vídeo chamado Annoying Orange, muito famoso e já tem várias publicações no Youtube pelo seu criador. É um vídeo muito rico em vocabulário e exige um conhecimento intermediário na língua Inglesa devido à gramática utilizada.


[Intermediate level]

"Hey Apple!

A minha segunda recomendação é um outro vídeo muito famoso também, que na verdade é o trecho de um programa americano chamado "Robot Chicken" (Frango Robô) e para assistí-lo requer um nível intermediário, pois está sem legenda.