Is this a long weekend for you?

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Este será um feriadão, ou um feriado prolongado para você?

A palavra mais comum para dizermos “feriado” em inglês é holiday. Existe a expressão day off, cujo significado é “dia de folga”, mas, dependendo do contexto (sempre ele!), pode também ser usada com o sentido de “feriado”.

Se quiser falar “fim de semana prolongado” ou “feriadão”, você pode usar as expressões long weekend ou three-day weekend quando o feriado é na sexta ou na segunda, e four-day-weekend quando o feriado é na quinta, com recesso na sexta, ou na terça, com recesso na segunda. O termo bank holiday weekend é usado no inglês britânico.

E as perguntas mais comuns antes e depois de um feriado prolongado são a respeito de seus planos para ele: 

  • What are you going to do this long weekend? or What did you do this long weekend?
  • How is your long weekend going to be? or How was your long weekend?
  • How are you going to spend your three-day weekend? or How did you spend your three-day weekend?
  • Where are you going to spend your long weekend? or Where did you spend your long weekend?

Agora pratique, completando as frases com as palavras ou expressões que faltam:

1- Monday is a _____________________.

(Segunda-feira é feriado.)

2- It’ll be ____________________________________.

(Será um feriado de três dias.)

3- There are many ____________________in Brazil.

(Há muitos feriados cristãos no Brasil.)

4- Next long weekend, Christmas, ________________ a Friday this year.

(O próximo feriado prolongado, Natal, cai em uma sexta-feira esse ano.)

5- I’m in a _________________________.

(Estou em clima de feriado.)

7- I’ll _______________ the holiday at home.

(Passarei o feriado em casa.)

Agora confira suas respostas:

1 – holiday; 2 – a three-day weekend; 3 – Christian holidays; 4 – falls on; 5 – holiday mood; 6 – spend .

Saiba mais sobre feriado e feriado prolongado, e pratique esse vocabulário na primeira chance, que será em breve! ?

What’s your idea of a happy life?

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I always suggest my students that they go to TED, browse the library of talks, pick the one they like and listen to it, then work on the new vocabulary, and notice how words are combined.

So a student picked this moving and inspirational talk. Born with a rare genetic disorder called progeria, Sam Berns knew he’d be facing more obstacles in life than most. But this didn’t stop him from taking charge of his own happiness. Berns describes the three principles of the personal philosophy that allowed him to do so.

Before you watch it – watch and print the transcript here -, answer this question:

What is your idea of a happy life?

Can you list the three aspects to his philosophy? Do you agree with them?

Next, let’s look at some of the language we have been talking about in class, which we find in his talk.

“I’m Sam, and I just turned 17″.

turn verb (age/time) to become a particular age, or to reach a particular time

“So my family and I worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry”.

It is considered polite to mention oneself last in double subjects or objects.

Why don’t you and I go away for the weekend?

“I just want to give you some more information about Progeria”.

number or quantifier + more + noun

“When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an intense roller coaster, I know what I’m missing out on“.

miss out phrasal verb
1 to not have the chance to do something that you enjoy and that would be good for you:
Some children miss out because their parents can’t afford to pay for school trips.
miss out on
Prepare food in advance to ensure you don’t miss out on the fun!

“But instead, I choose to focus on the activities that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like scouting, or music, or comic books, or any of my favorite Boston sports teams”.

verbs + prepositions

“Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to”.

kind + of = kinda e sort + of = sorta. Essas palavras são usadas no geral para expressar a ideia de “um pouco” ou “meio”.

help out phrasal verb
to help someone because they are busy or have problems:
Do you need anyone to help out in the shop?

“So the bottom line here, is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, positive impact.” 

the bottom line used to tell someone what the most important part of a situation is, or what the most important thing to consider is:
In radio you have to keep the listener listening. That’s the bottom line.

“It could be anything from looking forward to the next comic book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game”.

come out phrasal verb
if a book, record etc comes out, it becomes publicly available:
When is the new edition coming out?

hang out phrasal verb
informal to spend a lot of time in a particular place or with particular people
hang out with
I don’t really know who she hangs out with.
Where do the children hang out?

“This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away“.

look up to somebody phrasal verb
to admire or respect someone:
I’ve always looked up to Bill for his courage and determination.

chat also chat away to talk in a friendly informal way, especially about things that are not important:
John and I sat up until the early hours chatting.

“About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called ‘Life According to Sam'”.

When the word in question is the object of a preposition and not the subject of a sentence or phrase, we should use the object pronoun.

“Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice” –- (Laughter)

hang on
used to ask or tell someone to wait [= hold on]:
Hang on! I’ll be back in a minute.

“So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself“. 

all in all

used for showing that you are considering every aspect of something

All in all, getting insufficient sleep is bad news.

All in all, I think it has been a successful conference.

We both thought that all in all it might not be a bad idea.

feel bad
to feel ashamed or sorry about something
feel bad about (doing) something
I felt bad about not being able to come last night.
feel bad for
I feel bad for Ann – she studied so hard for that test and she still didn’t pass.

Sam Berns died in 2014. He was a musician, Eagle Scout and junior at Foxboro High School in Massachusetts. Diagnosed at the age of two with a rare rapid-aging disease called Progeria, he spent much of his life raising awareness about the condition, eventually doing so on a national stage in the HBO documentary, “Life According to Sam.”

Okay…

So now, after having listened to this talk, has your idea of a happy life changed?

Your questions answered: bother

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I like to put together blog posts or lessons based on students’ needs to express themselves.

So a student meant to say, “Estou me incomodando muito com minha família.” Then he said, “I’m bothering a lot with my family.”

Okay! Let’s look at this! First the meaning:

bother (noun):  trouble or annoyance

(verb): a. to annoy especially by trivial provocation

b. to cause to be somewhat anxious or concerned, or to become concerned.

Next, how it is used with verbs:

“I don’t want to be a bother, but could you help me?“
(be, cause)

“Please do not go to any bother just for me.“
(go to)

“Cleaning the house would save me the bother.“
(save)

“He is becoming a bother to many people.“
(be + becoming)

Preposition:

“Helping you is not a bother to me.“
(to)

Used with nouns:

“My head is really bothering me today.“
(head, back, eyes, leg, arm, injury)

“Lying bothers my conscience.“
(conscience)

Used as a verb:

“Stop bothering me!“
(stop, quit)

“He keeps bothering his older sister.“
(keeps, continuing to)

“You are bothering me. Go away.“
(be: is/am/are)

Used as a verb with adverbs:

“He always bothers people.“
(always, constantly, continuously, never, hardly)

Now watch this video.

So now how would you say, “Estou me incomodando muito com minha família.”

Remember, sometimes we can’t say something using the words that the dictionary shows as the translation of the words we want. We say it in a different way. And how do we know that? Well, with…

time

exposure

practice and

consistent correction

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bother

Everyday problems

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Have you ever had one of those days or even a week where everything seems to go wrong all at once? What do you do when this happens?

You’ll hear a story of a bad day, and see different phrases you can use to describe everyday problems.

  • I slept horribly.
  • I was tossing and turning all night.
  • I had insomnia.
  • I finally got to sleep around five in the morning. But then…
  • I overslept.
  • I missed my alarm.
  • I slept through my alarm.
  • On the way to work, the traffic was awful.
  • I was sitting in traffic for an hour.
  • My car broke down.
  • I had to wait for an hour for the tow truck, and I was late for work.
  • At work, I got in a huge argument with one of my colleagues.
  • We have a big deadline coming up, so we’re all under a lot of pressure.
  • I was working late, and I spilled coffee all over some important papers.
  • I had to stay really late to finish everything.
  • I couldn’t concentrate and I got frustrated.
  • On the way home, I missed the last train.
  • I couldn’t find my keys.
  • I was locked out.
  • I finally got home, and saw that my flatmate had eaten my leftovers.
  • There was nothing to eat for dinner, and it was too late to buy anything.
  • Finally, to cap it all, I dropped my phone in the toilet.

Now practice by completing the quiz for everyday problems.

Have these things happened to you recently?

Can you think of other everyday problems?

What are your solutions?

A long weekend is coming!

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Our Lady Aparecida

Neste final de semana, haverá um feriadão, ou seja, será um fim de semana prolongado. Você sabe como dizer “feriado prolongado” em inglês?

Sempre que um feriado cai próximo ao final de semana e algumas empresas ou escolas fazem um recesso na quinta e sexta, ou segunda e terça, chamamos em inglês de “long weekend”.
Você pode dizer também, a “three-day weekend”, quando o feriado é na sexta ou na segunda, ou então se o feriado é na quinta, com recesso na sexta, ou na terça, com recesso na segunda, podemos chamar de “four-day weekend”.

No inglês britânico o termo mais comum, que corresponde a “feriado prolongado” é “bank holiday weekend”.

E as perguntas mais comuns antes de um feriado prolongado são: Como será seu feriado? Com você passará o feriado? O que você fará neste feriado? Em inglês, você pode dizer:

  • How is your long weekend going to be?
  • How are you going to spend your three-day weekend?
  • Where are you going to spend your long weekend?
  • What are you going to do this long weekend?

Ah! E respondendo a pergunta acima, “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” é considerada a santa padroeira do Brasil.

Complete as frases com as palavras ou expressões que faltam:

1- Monday is a _____________________.

(Segunda-feira é feriado.)

2- It’ll be ____________________________________.

(Será um feriado de três dias.)

3- There are many ____________________in Brazil.

(Há muitos feriados cristãos no Brasil.)

Long weekend 2

4- Next long weekend, All Souls’ Day, ________________ a Friday this year.

(O próximo feriado prolongado, Finados, cai em uma segunda esse ano.)

5- I’m in a _________________________.

(Estou em clima de feriado.)

7- I’ll _______________ the holiday at home.

(Passarei o feriado em casa.)

Agora confira suas respostas:

1 – holiday; 2 – a three-day weekend; 3 – Christian holidays; 4 – falls on; 5 – holiday mood; 6 – spend .

Saiba mais sobre feriado, e não esqueça de escutar as perguntas que sua teacher lhe fará após o feriado prolongado. 😉