San Francisco

Hello!
This is going to be a very special post...or maybe, a post to a very special person..no,no, let me rephrase: this post goes to a good imaginary reader...the one that is usually real, but that I can contact only virtually for the next months: Raphaella! Well, this is just to show you I don't think you're fiction at all...even though, sometimes...just kidding!
So, Raphaella is now working in San Francisco and...I envy her a lot! I wanted to be there, too...it doesn't need to be San Francisco, but somewhere in the US. Who doesn't dream of going there some day, right? Well, I must admit that my favourite destinations would be New Jersey, Michigan, New York and those states near there ...but I'd also love to go to Seattle! Raphaella, now that you work there and you're paid in dollars ($$$$), don't you want to buy my ticket? hehehe

Ok, this was just to say: Raphaella, take lots, lots, lots of pictures, ok? And keep visiting my blog...^.^

Now, a question to my other imaginary reader(s): if you could choose, what state would you like to visit in the US? why?

Harry Potter

Ok, calm down! My intention is not to spoil any surprise for anybody! Really...I hate when people tell me things about books and movies, so my intention is to keep the secret... So, there's a part in the book which is very sad because...just kidding, just kidding!

Well...I have been silent for a few days, haven't I? and the reason is Harry Potter! I got my hands on the 6th book, finally, and this time my dream came true: I read the English version! I will not say it is better than the Portuguese one, but it is different to read it in English...it seems more magical, more close to JK Rowling and her world. Yeah, because, you know, of course JK Rowling based her book on the British culture, so... Well, the fact is that this 6th book is great! I'm saying that because I didn't like all the books, and I found especially the 5th one very boring: Harry was boring, the story was quite still: nothing exciting happened! When the 6th came out I wasn't very eager to read it, but when I got hold of it, I just couldn't stop reading! This is the Harry Potter I like! So, this is just a bit of an advertisement to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince": read it and love it!

Well, since I was so busy reading the book and shopping for all those Xmas gifts, I really didn't have time to update my blog. Again, I don't know who I am apologizing to: maybe my imaginary reader? ok, just kidding (or maybe not)...

Let's focus: this post goes to Harry Potter! So, actually, I should talk about him/it! Well, we have the movies too, right? Here in Brazil the 4th has been released! Of course, I saw it! And this time I was very curious to see it, because...well, I personally didn't like the 1st and the 2nd, but I loved the 3rd...so I was curious: would be the 4th as good as the3rd? It turned out to be as good as or even better, so I was pleased and I walked out of the movies with the feeling that my money was well-spent. Which is good, isn't it? What about you, (imaginary) reader? Which movie did you like the best?

And what about the books? As I told you, I loved the 6th...but I still think the 3rd was the best book. Let me know your opinion, ok?

studying more

Well, as I told you, I'm on holiday now. I still keep addressing to an immaginary reader, and I'm really starting to think that my reader is an imaginary one...in fact, wasn't it so, probably I would gather more comments than I actually do. So, I stopped and thought: does anybody really read this that I'm writing? And, if nobody does, why do I keep writing? Is it a kind of selfreflection on my...uh...life? Is this thought too deep? Am I doing this for my English? Am I doing this for myself? Am I doing this for any reason at all? And WHAT is exactly this that I'm doing? Do you feel dizzy now? Don't tell me about it...Well, ok, I don't have any answer...as Eugenio Montale said: "non chiederci la parola che squadri da ogni lato l'animo nostro informe....etc etc... Codesto solo oggi possimo dirti, ciò che non siamo, ciò che non vogliamo". Ok, right, I know he was talking about poets and I'm not a poet at all...I'm not trying to put myself as a poet...I'm just trying out an analogy here, ok?

Anyways, does this really matter?

Let's talk of something else...what? My course!! Did I mention it? I'm taking a great course...why? Well, first of all because my curriculum doesn't have any worthy extrascholatic activity, and since I'm trying to make it look richer than it does, then I decided to include this course into my life. And it was a great decision! It's not easy to wake up early and spend 4 hours in a classroom, but I'm actually learning how to use games and understand the dynamic of a group. This will be incredibly helpful in my lessons (at least I hope) because:

1. I will include more games and practice activities

2. I'm learning so much about the roles of students and teachers, and the psychology behind their behaviour, that I'm really hoping to be a better teacher next semester.

I think the psychologic side of the coin is being particularly enlightening because I am such an emotional person, and I tend to take everything personally. For example, when a student misses a presentation and doesn't say anything, I think this is a lack of respect to me, so I get pretty mad at the student...now I'm learning that being emotional is not the case in the classroom...you have to be rational first of all, think of what you are going to say, the facial expression you are going to take, etc.

Ok, in short: I'm trying to become a better teacher, and this is something that is making me feel happy! It's good to try to improve ourselves, isn't it? Well, this is what I'm planning to do throughout my whole life...

holidays!

On holiday, at last! I couldn't stand this semester any more...but I can't complain much about it. The courses I attended at university were almost all great! My literature course was not as good as I expected, but I learned a lot from it too. My experience as Italian teacher was great! I'm not saying that everything was as good as I hoped it would be, but we always learn from our mistakes, don't we? I hope to learn from mine and keep on giving my best next semester. My private student...well, I have only one now and she gave me quite a lot of troubles. But her English and Italian are going well...she improved so much since when I started giving classes to her and I'm very proud of her. She keeps saying "I hate English", but I can see she doesn't mean it for real...! Of course, if she were more frequent, her improvement would be simply astonishing! Well, one big step in my semester was improving my computer skills...I hope I succeeded in my task...what would you say? Well, I do have a blog now, and a web narrative, and a webquest on the net, and a webpage (no recent updates, but the webpage is there)...
How did I spend my first "holiday hours"? Well, first I read the 4th manga of Fruits Basket (I told you I loved this manga, didn't I?)...I can't wait to read the 5th, but it's so expensive! Then, I checked all those fwd e-mails...hehehe...you know, I never read them because most of them finish like that "if you don't send this mail to at least 10 people, you will have bad luck for the rest of your life"...I really don't like these kind of messages! I only like those funny fwd messages. Why did I say all of this? Well, just to warn you: please, don't send me boring and annoying fwd messages: probably, I won't read them! hehehe ^.^ What else did I do? Well, I watched a little TV, I read an italian book, a very interesting one: "La donna della domenica". I didn't read it all, just a few chapters. This book is interesting but it's HUGE: 425 pages! It seems the endless story....hehehe. Ok, I'm being boring, aren't I? I'll keep you informed about my holidays later, ok? I hope to write more, and more interesting things in the next days...
bye
PS. I know I never put any real photo of mine in this blog...but it's because I don't like photos, specially when I'm in them...^.^ Anyways, for those who'd like to see some photos, here is my boyfriend's multiply address: http://alzivi.multiply.com/. There's no much yet, but there will be more photos as soon as he finds time to put on the web...now he's too busy playing World of Warcraft...hehe ^.^