Online or face-to-face?

Todos sabemos como a tecnologia favorece a comunicação.

O online representa conveniência e flexibilidade.

De acordo com o Cambridge Dictionary:

ONLINE, adjetivo, UK  /ˈɒn.laɪn/ US  /ˈɑːn.laɪn/ , aquilo que está relacionado a um computador, ou está disponível através de um computador ou uma rede, sobretudo a Internet.

an online clothing store / uma loja de roupas on-line

ONLINE advérbio

You can book your tickets online. / Você pode reservar seus ingressos on-line.

FACE-TO-FACE advérbio, adjetivo, /ˌfeɪs.təˈfeɪs/ em pessoa, encontro cara a cara no mesmo lugar.

We’ve spoken on the phone but never face-to-face. / Falamos ao telefone, mas nunca cara a cara.

Mas a prática durante o recente período de pandemia, mostrou-nos e ainda nos tem mostrado, que a comunicação face a face, uma aula face-to-face, não precisa necessariamente ser feita por pessoas no mesmo espaço físico.

Os benefícios do face-to-face também podem ser alcançados através de um ambiente virtual, numa aula online.

Muitos têm compreendido o face-to-face, a comunicação face a face ou frente a frente, além do que o dicionário define, ou seja, apenas como poder ver a outra parte ou partes em uma conversa.

No entanto, devemos concordar, que a comunicação, a aula face-to-face no mesmo ambiente, permite uma troca ainda mais rica, quando tanto o falante quanto o ouvinte, são capazes de ver e interpretar linguagem corporal e expressões faciais, um do outro.

O encontro face-to-face presencial, envia uma mensagem antes mesmo da pessoa dizer uma palavra.

Ambos, falante e ouvinte, professor e aluno, que devem alternar-se nessas posições, se enriquecem, podendo calibrar suas entregas com o que percebem através de tom, inflexão de voz, emoção e linguagem corporal.

Cada um pode ver, perceber melhor, e assim responder melhor, às reações do outro.

Na minha experiência, observo que é mais fácil enfatizar as principais mensagens de uma fala ou explicação, reiterar e expandir ideias, incentivar feedback e engajamento contínuo, gerar e manter o foco, na aula face-to-face no mesmo ambiente.

O encontro, a aula, face-to-face no mesmo ambiente, pode ser o antídoto para nossa era digital de ritmo acelerado, e demasiada interferência de equipamentos entre nós, quando o grande número de canais de comunicação disponíveis nos leva à sobrecarga de mensagens ou desconexão.

Mantenhamos abertas as possibilidades e os esforços, para aproveitarmos o melhor que ambas as experiências, virtuais e presenciais, podem nos oferecer.

Governos, escolas, universidades, empresas, efetivamente sairam da pandemia com alguns modelos de encontros, que em inglês são:

  • fully virtual;
  • hybrid, blended model or schedule;
  • in-person teaching with remote students;
  • teaching online and in-person simultaneously.

A seguir, as muitas combinações possíveis, para nos referirmos aos seguintes temas relacionados à educação:

COURSE

  • in-person, face-to-face, in-class, classroom, classroom-based, traditionalpresential, on-campus onlineremote COURSE

CLASS

  • in-person, face-to-face, traditional / onlineremoteand remote live CLASS

CLASSROOM

  • in-person, traditional/virtual, remote, online CLASSROOM

EDUCATION

  • in-person / online, virtual school
  • online, distance EDUCATION

LEARNING AND TEACHING

  • in-person, face to face, classroom-based, *traditional / virtualonlineremotedistance / blended *LEARNING/TEACHING

STUDENT

  • in-person/ remote, virtual STUDENT

SCHEDULE

  • hybrid, blended MODEL or SCHEDULE (under)

INSTRUCTION

  • remote, online, and hybrid INSTRUCTION

FORMAT

  • being taught remotely, online or in a hybrid remote/online FORMAT

Veja também as lições Remote classesComputer problems, e A ‘dead’ battery?

The seasons

Do you know how to answer these questions?

What/which season is it now?

  • It is …
  • We are currently in …

What is your favorite season? Why?
My favorite season is _____ because _____.

The four seasons, as shown above, are:

  • spring
  • summer
  • autumn or fall
  • winter

Fall is used in American English.
Autumn is used in British English.

IN + Season

We use the preposition IN before a season.

  • People go to the beach in summer.
  • It rains a lot in winter.
  • There are many flowers in spring.
  • Leaves fall from the trees in autumn.

Listen to You’ve Got a Friend, sung by James Taylor, in which he mentions the seasons.

Work on the lyrics while playing the game, and have fun!

Blumenau’s birthday or anniversary?

Blumenau is a Brazilian city in the southern state of Santa Catarina, where it’s believed that 30% of the city’s 400,000 residents are of German descent.

Since 1984, Blumenau hosts an Oktoberfest which is seen as the second biggest beer festival in the world, surpassed only by the original festival in Munich.

September 2 was Blumenau’s 172 anniversary.

BUT, BIRTHDAY OR ANNIVERSARY?

Na língua inglesa, essas são as duas palavras a serem usadas quando queremos nos referir à aniversário.

Há um consenso entre os professores de inglês brasileiros, que se for o aniversário de uma pessoa, usamos o substantivo birthday pois, como o próprio nome já diz, refere-se ao dia do nascimento (birth significa “nascimento” e day significa “dia”).

E que usamos anniversary para referir-se à data em que um evento importante aconteceu, como aniversário de casamento, aniversário da cidade, ou a data da fundação de alguma empresa ou instituição. Veja:

Mas nas minhas pesquisas, encontrei diferentes resultados.

Instead of giving rules and exceptions, I’ll show you the result of my search. / Em vez de dar regras e exceções, lhe mostrarei o resultado dela.

Birthday

The anniversary of the birth of a person.

He was in New York to celebrate his 74th birthday.

The date on which someone is born or something is created, more commonly called birthdate or date of birth.

Anniversary

(especially) The date on which a couple married or the date on which a romance began. It also means the celebration which takes place on an anniversary day.

We are celebrating our tenth anniversary today.

Anniversary

A day that is an exact number of years (to the day) since a given significant event occurred. Often preceded by an ordinal number indicating the number of years.

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war.

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

WVU vigil, other remembrance events planned to mark 20th anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Birthday and anniversary

The anniversary of the day on which something is created.

Birthday and anniversary

The anniversary of something’s origin or foundation.

The holiday is to celebrate the city anniversary.

The City of Cleveland Orchestra is celebrating its 200th birthday.

Happy 10th birthday: UNU-CRIS – United Nations University

Hats off to Academia Sinica’s Institute of Law on its tenth birthday!

Interestingly, even though we don’t usually refer to birth dates as “anniversaries,” we use the death anniversary when referring to death dates. / Curiosamente, embora geralmente não nos refiramos a datas de nascimento como “anniversary”, usamos “aniversário” de morte quando nos referimos a datas de falecimento.

Remembering dad on his death anniversary is a great agony.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of composer Benjamin Britten.

However, unless you qualify the noun anniversary, it is generally taken to mean a wedding anniversary. If you say, Today is my anniversary, unless the context indicates otherwise, you would be speaking of your wedding anniversary.

For other anniversaries, use a qualifier as well. For your employment, you can say work anniversary.

For anniversaries, such as a nation’s birthday, we use a recognized proper name. For the United States, July 4 refers to as “Independence Day.”

These national anniversaries, celebrated in most countries, are called national days. These are the dates of independence or adoption of a new constitution or form of government. 

Well, I hope this information was of some help to you. At least I’m sure you have no doubts about how to greet someone on their birthday, right? 😉

Health Problems

The most common ways to ask about someone’s health are:

  • How do you feel (today)?
  • How are you feeling?
  • Is everything okay?

Some typical responses are:

  • I’m fine.
  • I feel sick.
  • Not so good.
  • Not very well.
  • I don’t feel well.
  • I’m sick.

When you see (or hear) that they are not well, then you can ask:

  • What’s the matter?
  • What’s wrong?

If the person wants to say what is wrong, they may give the reason they feel that way:

  • I have … (+ health condition)
  • I’ve got … (+ health condition)
  • I have a headache
  • I’ve got a sore throat.

Sick and ill

Sick and ill are often used interchangeably to refer to a state of poor health, but there can be subtle differences in usage depending on context, region, and speaker preference.

Some people might perceive ill as slightly more formal or literary than sick.

In general, sick is more commonly used in American English, while ill is often favored in British English. However, this is not a strict rule, and they are both understood in either dialect.

In British English, to be sick can mean to vomit.

Pain and ache

Pain is physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. It is usually a sharp sensation in a specific body part and hurts more than an ache.

Ache refers specifically to a dull or persistent discomfort. You can sometimes try and ignore an ache.

The two terms are often used interchangeably in colloquial language.

Especially vs specially

A Diferença entre Especially e Specially - Adir Ferreira Idiomas

Both especially and specially are adverbs. 

Especially means ‘in particular’, ‘particularly’, or ‘most of all’. We use especially to show that what you are saying applies more to one thing or situation than to others.

  • I like food, but I especially like sandwiches.
  • He’s often a little late, but he was especially late today.
  • She looked especially beautiful that night.
  • I like all of my friends, especially Mark.
  • All of the rooms are dirty, especially the bathroom.
  • Our baby cries a lot, especially when he is hungry.
  • Dave and Mark like football. Dave, especially, watches lots of matches on TV.
  • Mark: Do you want to live abroad? Jane: Yes, I would especially like to live in France.

When especially relates to the subject of a sentence, you put it immediately after the subject.

  • Young babies, especially, are vulnerable to colds.

You can also use especially in front of an adjective to emphasize a characteristic or quality.

  • I found her laugh especially annoying.

We use specially to say that something is done or made for a particular purpose.

  • This sandwich was specially made.
  • They had a chair specially designed for her size.
  • The animals are specially trained to locate the mushrooms.
  • I bought a bag specially for my computer.
  • The suit was specially made for me.
  • I went to New York specially to see the Statue of Liberty.

We can use both, especially and specially, when we refer to a ‘special purpose,’ or ‘specifically.’

  • I bought this milk especially / specially for you. 
  • The speech was written especially / specially for the occasion. 

Practice doing the mini-test at the end of the page.