A few thoughts from the Bloomington group

After two and a half months of exchanging thoughts on such topics as, the Brazilian and American education systems, food, dress and other cultural differences, holidays, history, and language, this blog provided a space for very lively and informative discussions.

Here are a few of the things that the American students felt stood out as memorable among the discussions:


• Brazilian foods, all the wonderful tropical products, and popular national drinks and dishes, such as capirinhas, feijoada, and pastel.

• The geography of the country through images and video and the influence of the Portuguese in language and culture, contrary to the common notion in North America
that Spanish is spoken in Brazil, as it is in Brazil’s neighboring countries.

•The difference between the two school systems, different kinds of classes hours
and shorter school days in Brazil than in the U.S.

•What it is like to teach and learn English in Brazil and the challenges they face.

•A comparison of holidays traditions and different celebrations such as Day of the
Dead (Finados) and Dia do Saci in Brazil, along with the different cultural influences behind them (Portuguese, African, and Brazilian indigenous)

•The history of Londrina and the story of Redfoot (Pé vermelho)

Thanks for participating everyone!

Happy holidays!!!!

Farewell!

Goodbye and thanks!

Hey there everyone,
Thanks so much for all the information about your ways of living and about your country and different cities! I really learned a lot from you guys! I guess this will be a long break for you guys and I hope that you enjoy it!!! I can't wait to be off from school for awhile! Hopefully you thought this was fun, I know I did, it's always fun to learn about a new place and new people! It's sad that this is our last post! So long!
- Taylor

FILO

Hey folks!! Today i'd like to share a little bit about the culture of our city.

The Londrina International Festival is the oldest on the continent and an important part of the cultural history of our country created in 1968.
Known for presenting shows of recognized artistic value, aesthetic and critical reflection, every year FILO transforms into a stage for great artists, ideas and expressions.
In addition to the great displays of the various trends of contemporary arts, the festival carries programming focused on vulnerable communities and excluded from the creative process to democratize the production, access and enjoyment of cultural services.
Inclusion of cultural communities and vulnerable and excluded groups is the proposal of the cultural projects developed since 2000 as a way to stimulate inventive potential and allow the expression of creativity of these groups, they become creators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_IvSr4fhK4&feature=fvst

Thanks for Teaching!!!

Hi! Everyone! In these times, thanks for teaching and sharing the informations. I have learned a lot from your blogs. I have learn that how is your country cultures looks like. The beautiful natural environment and forests of your country. The history of your country and some specific great cities. And the delicious foods of your country. I know you are going to have a long vacation. Have fun and enjoy your vacation. Take care! See you!

Sincerely,
Yinyin H.

Hey

It's been really nice talking to all of you guys and hope all of you have a great christmas

Sincerely , Aldair Gonzalez

ADDIOS !!!!!

-HOLA ! this is Danyell , it kinda sucks that it's our last blog enetry . :[
welll goodbye miss you already !

Goodbye

hope you enjoy your break from school. and thank you for writing back and teaching about Brazil culture. and again hope that you enjoy your break.

Destiny

Hi guys

It's been fun being connected with you guys for the last 2-3 month and now it's time to say goodbye. It was also fun making a video for you guys and you guys making one for us. You girls in that class were looking good. haha Well all I could wish for is for u guys to have a good summer vacation. Enjoy christmas.

Happy Holidays

Sincerely
Jason Dominguez

BYE!!

Well it was nice getting to know some of you guys and im dissapointed that we didnt have more time to get know eachother even more. I hope you guys have a great break! unfortunatly we still have to go to school for another 5 months :(... Have fun over break!!
Chet, calvin, and Foley

GOODBYE :)

It was nice having a project with you guys and getting to know about Brazil! I wish we could've chatted more. Thanks for taking your time and teaching us about you your culture and country. Thanks again ! Take care and enjoy your vacation ! ( :


; Roidely & Jossie

So long brazilians

I am very glad that we got the chance to talk to you guys even though you are so far away. I learned a lot from you guys and your ways of living. We hope you have a nice break from school, Hope you have a nice time and learn more about our ways and customs. Good bye from Luke and T.J. :)

dear brazilians,
it was a pleasure to get to meet you all
we have learned a lot from you about brazil.
we are interested in visiting someday.
i hope you guys learned some of the traditions and things that we do in the U.S.
i hope you guys have a nice vacation and enjoy the holidays.

Hekmat & Esra'a
xoxo

good bye

It has been so much fun blogging with you guys it's made class a little more bearable =). we have learned a lot from you guys. The things that surprised us most about it is how alike we are. we like to do the same things we eat a lot of the same foods. we also learned about what you guys think of us in America, ( witch by the way was a lot better then i thought it was going be=)) have a lot of fun with the rest of your summer =) good luck in life
Mandy and Jenna

GOODBYE!!!!!!

It has been nice getting to know you and learning from you about brazil. We have learned a lot and we will take most of this stuff with us. we hope you have a good break and i hoped you learned from us! goodbye from -Amanda and Steph! :)

Goodbye to our net friends

Today is the last time that I and my classmates are working on this blog. I want to say thank you that we are tied to each other and share our experiences. Hopefully, you guys really like this blog.

Have a success on your learning.

Student of JFK

Goodbye :)

I learned a lot about your culture in Brazil. Thank you for writing back to us, and taking the time to teach us your traditions. Hope to talk to you some other time, and maybe even come to Brazil.


Take Care,
Rancell & Heidi

GoodBye !

- I feel like it was really cool to know more about other countries education coming from people that actually are in school. I learned a lot and it was really nice to show people not from the U.S. how we live , it's a little different from yours but I don't think it's that big of a difference.
- Allegra!

Hey Whats up?

Its Bobby and Rafeal. We have learned that Brazil is a very fun place to live. We also learned that the education in Brazil is very delicate. Your culture is very interesting and creative. We have had fun blogging to you guys and hope to see you again later Thanks Bye.

cya

Its been fun blogging with you guys. Hope you have a awesome break!!!!!!!!!! good luck teaching in the future. We still have a couple weeks before we get off.



tyler ted knase

" I'm a Red Foot "

Yes, that's true! People who was born in Londrina are called "red foot", you know why? Because Londrina is located in Paraná, one of the three south states of Brazil. Our city is on north of Paraná and in this area the soil is very red, when mixed with water is like a paint. So, if you walk barefoot the soles of your feet will turn red as the soil; because of that it's very complicated to keep our clothes clean mainly the white ones. You can only be called red foot if you were born in Londrina. That's funny, isn't it?

HISTORY

I’ll talk a little about my city, Apucarana, which is neighbor of Londrina because many people here have already told you Guys about Londrina And Brazil. It’s a small city, but it a quite nice place to live. This city was colonized by an English Company called “Companhia Inglesa de Terras do Norte do Paraná”. It was built at the height of the coffee cycle from Northern Paraná, between 1940 and 1960, Apucarana had installation as a municipality in 1944. It is now one of the most important cities in developing of

the state of Paraná.

The city has 85% of the country's production of

cap and bears the title of "capital of cap". The industries in this segment generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

The peak for tourism in the city is in summer when the swallows coming from North America, the trees do Rui Barbosa Square their home. At dusk, the swallows are a beautiful flight over the city, turning the sky from the central area.

One of its main parties is the Cherry-tree Festival, sponsored by the local Japanese community.

And this is a bit about my city.

Mayara.

Swallows:

CULTURE

I love Brazilian culture.

Brazil was colonized mainly by Portuguese people, but, during the centuries, there were a lot of immigrants coming here, and living here. For this reason, the diversity of cultural manifestations is something very precious on our culture. In each region of Brazil you can find different styles of music, food, dances and all sort of cultural manifestations, and also, people accent, appearance, way of face the life, and thoughts are slightly different. That’s beautiful.

xoxo

Mayara.

Education in Brazil is a very delicate subject.

As we are teachers or future teachers, education is an important issue for all of us. We are aware about the problems that we’re going to face while teachers.

There are lots of things to change on our country when we talk about education, but there are some programs nowadays to prepare the teachers better, to help the students and encourage them to study. It seems to be a small change, but I hope it can be the beginning of a great transformation in here.

Talking about some practical things, here in Brazil we have the "Ensino Médio" that's similar to high school on US. At this period, many students dedicate themselves to pass the "Vestibular", which is a test that we have to do to go to University. It goes like this: If there are 20 vacancy for a course, like law for instance, and there are 100 students trying this vacancy, the first 20 one that have best grades can get the vacancy. These tests generally start with questions about general knowledge ( almost all the subjects we've learn at school), then, the second part is based on the subject related to the course you have chosen.

That's it.

Mayara.

About USA

Well...Most of the things I know about US come from movies that I have seen.

However, when I was 12, I read a collection of books about a girl who lived in Newport beach, California. Then, through these books I could see lots of things about American culture such as food, dressing, religion, opinions, traditions and etc...And these books were some of the things that stimulated me to study English.

I'd like to know more about your music, and folk things that are not very often shown on cinema.

Kisses,

Mayara.

My city

Adamantina is a Brazilian city located in the northwest of the state of São Paulo.

Founded: 1948
Elevation: 401 m
Population: 34,218 inhabitants (update: 2004 IBGE Census)
Area: 411.78 km²

As you guys could see, my city it's really small in relation with the others ones.
We don't have cool things to do there, but we try. The only thing that I still do when I go there is swim, because you guys dont have any ideia how hot is there.

It's really far from Sao Paulo the capital, like 593km to be more especific.
My gradpa was italian and I have the Italian passaport, he was one of the most italian the comes to Brasil when the WAR II, was happening. My family has until today coffee plantations and a coffee shop.

I hope you guys like it.
XOXO
ANA

watz good!!! (What's good)

yea, the holidays are coming up, christmas that is. We just get a tree and then buy presents for each other, and cook a big meal for breakfast and dinner. It's a fun holiday for a lot of people.



Jordan, J-will

What kind of automobile brands do you have in Brazil? Here in america we have Ford, GM, Dodge, Toyota, Honda, And imports like BMW and Mercedes Benz.

Sean

Londrina

Hey guys!! What's up i'm sending to you a video with some beutiful places in our city!!

I hope you enjoy it!!!!

xoxo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7k9vDqLOC8

This is the Mall Of America, its the second biggest mall in North America. The mall is the the teen hangout place you can shop you can watch a movie,eat also go on the roller coasters,People go there to find jobs



Roxanna R...Mariah T.

HELLO

Hi , this is Bobby and Rafeal. How is the weather in Brazil? In Minnesota it is freezing cold here. Does it snow in Brazil? In Minnesota it's fun to go skiing, snowboarding and sledding. In our class we are learning about Imperialism. What do you guys think about Imperialism? See you Later

The History of Bloomington, in Minnesota, USA

Hi! Everyone! How is it going?
As you were telling us the history of your cities. I also want to share the information that I know about Bloomington.

Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County, and the third core city of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern metro area.
Bloomington, considered by many to be a bedroom community, has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or St. Paul.Its economy includes headquarters of major companies such as Ceridian, Donaldson Company Inc., HealthPartners and Toro. The city is a hospitality and retail magnet, recognized nationally for the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, Mall of America. It is presently the only suburb in the south metro to be served by the Hiawatha Line.
In 1839, with renewed conflict with the Ojibwa nation, Chief Cloud Man relocated his band of the Mdewakanton Dakota from Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis to an area called Oak Grove in southern Bloomington.
In 1843, Peter and Louisa Quinn, the first European settlers to live in Bloomington, built a cabin along the Minnesota River. The government had sent them to teach farming methods to the Native Americans. Gideon Pond, a missionary, who had been following and recording the Dakota language from Cloud Man's band, relocated later that year, establishing Oak Grove Mission, his log cabin. Pond and his family held church services and taught the local Dakota school subjects and farming.
Following the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, the territory west of the Mississippi, including Bloomington, was opened to settlers. A group of pioneers settled Bloomington, including the Goodrich, Whalon, and Ames families. They named the area Bloomington after the city they were from, Bloomington, Illinois, which means "flowering field."

See you soon!!
World history 1st hour
Yinyin H.

Public Health System in Brazil

In Brazil, the public health system is called Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System) - SUS, which follow the principles of universality, that is, everyone can have access to healthy assistance; equity, more for those who have less, gratuity, that mean health care is a cost of the state.
This system is only 21 years old and its theoretical foundations are very solid and complex. However, due to the large and growing number of users of the system, the quality of care and the volume of financial resources are still insufficient and inconsistent with the ideal of the SUS.
Brazil is mapped in small regional health authorities and municipalities are primarily responsible for population health. The main focus is on prevention and health promotion, but also shares of medium and high complexity are developed through the SUS.
One example of high complexity is the national regulation system of transplants, which currently is developed and paied exclusively through this public system.
Silvia Karla

Cultural Aspects

Hey folks, here we have some typical festivals and food in Brazil, that are cultural aspects here. They are very different according to the region of the country.

In the Northeast we have dances, parties like the BUMBA MEU BOI, MARACATU, and FREVO CAPOEIRA. The typical features the SARAPATEL, a kind of stew, haggis, seafood, cassava cake, among others.

In the Midwest we have the CAVALHADAS. The cuisine is of indian origin such as chicken and fish as a PACU with PEQUI.

In the North the popular festivals are the NAZARETH’s TAPER, THE BOI BUMBÁ FESTIVAL OF PARATINS. The cuisine in this region is also of indian origin and brings cassava, fish, alligator meat and buffalo mozzarella.

In the Southeast there are festivals like the Divine’s Party and RODEOS. The cuisine brings cheese, bread, beans, bean stew and porridge.

In the south, the cultural origin comes from portuguese, spanish, german and italian immigrants. Some cities still celebrate the traditions of the ancestors in traditional festivals, like the Grape Festival (Italian culture) and Oktoberfest (German culture), the fandango of Portuguese influence and Spanish, and tape congada stick. In cooking are present: room mate, shrimp, fish porridge, roast duck and wine.
Silvia Karla

Weddings

Well, talking about weddings... In Brazil has happened phenomenon quite different from the recent decades. Young people increasingly have postponed the wedding. Sometimes, do not marry and continue living with their parents until they are 30-40 years old. Many do not wish to marry and have kids. Instead, intensive life of uncle/aunt or adopt dogs and cats.
I think this is an interesting cultural aspect to be studied.
Another interesting question is the celebration of marriage. In Brazil, most of these ceremonies take place in Christian churches on Saturdays. After the ceremony, it is common for the couple to receive their relatives and friends at a party that includes dinner, music and dance, throwing the bouquet, a tribute video and sometimes the party goes until breakfast.
Many couples formalize their union only through civil registration, others celebrate and receive their friends in a unique environment, a small ranch or something like this.
Silvia Karla.

USA Culture

Hello ! ( : I agree on with you about the whole culture perspective. I see soap operas in Brazil and they are actually very colorful and emotional like you say you guys are. And is samba a type of dance or is it a type of genre of music ? Carnaval seems really fun! I remember when I went to Mexico in the winter time, there was a lot of carnivals going on ! So many rides and games and people from different cities ! ( : SOO COOL! So you say Brazil is multi-cultured ? Is it multi cultured in food or in everything? Here in the USA its cute cultural. We have such a diversed country that Caucasions (White American) aren't really the main type of cultural here ! We have people from China to France to Egypt ! Quite crazy ! We can marry anyone we like but it also depends on the family blessing/opinion ! And some cultures don't let you marry out of your own ethnicity ! When I get married i want to move to a cool yet warm state... Winter is a no no sometimes. Did you know we have a China town in New York and here in minnesota there is a street with all Latin Culture, which is called Lake Street. Also, we have a Global Market. It's really big ! Well so I have heard from some friends. We also have a bunch of diversed stores throughout Minnesota especially in St. Paul and Minneapolis ! Well that's it ! Anymore questions ?! Feel free to ask ? I have one how are your government laws over there ? Are they fair or unjustified ? TALK TO YOU SOON! ( :


BYE NOW !!! ( :

About Londrina? Not!

Heey

I'm not going to talk about Londrina. I'm going to talk about Cambé... My city.

I think you read a lot of thing about Londrina and I decided to tell you about Cambé.

Cambé is a very small city and in the beggining it really depended of Londrina to survive.

It's something like traditional. Neighbors talk to each other on the sidewalks in the evening and share sugar and cakes and things we cook.

It's a calm city in fact and kind of beautiful too.

Images heeere:

The Whole City hehehehe

Downtown

The Church.

It's a nice city to live. I was born here, and I grew up here.

Hope you could see it with your own eyes ^^

xoxo

Teaching English in Here

Well.

The english teachers here in Brazil are expected to be so exited and happy and talk a lot.

I've been teaching english to kids and they really love when you play games with them and bring they songs in English... in my opinion it's a very nice way to teach kid. With adults it's a little bit different. They expect to learn English as fast as they can.

It is important to learn a different language, not only in Brazil, but all around the world, so that you can make you horizons bigger and know much more than you could.

It is like if you are able to reach what want through learning more and more.

I really like teaching english in here.

Brazilian Culture

If there a thing I think it's completely different between Usa and Brazil... It's culture.

We are so expressive and emotional. i'm not telling you are kind of cold people, but here it's like.. too much.

We also have our own traditional culture, as you know... there the samba stuff and carnaval and Rio, but there is more here.

Brazil is a multicultural place.

It doesn't matter where you look at you see different people from different places doing different things. There is a city called Sao Paulo, where you can find almos the whole Brazil in it.

You can find a person from north married to a person from south growing their kids in a total different place.

We mixed everything together here. And our culture is changing as time goes on..

Well

What about yours? :]

Education In Brazil

In Brazil, the educational system differs from the American system.

Usually, we study about four hours a day at school but when I was a kid, I studied in a different institution. We studied in the morning, and in the afternoon we had different acitivities we could choose as ballet, arts, dance, karate and etc. The classes usually have about 35 to 40 students.

We need to study to passa a test ... the "vestibular" .. so we could go to university.

My clssmates and I study at night.. but there are different courses in other parts of the day.

Cya

Brazil x Usa

What do we know about Usa in here, uhn?

Well, I think the idea we have about your country is very brief. For example:

We know so many thing about your traditions as halloween or thanksgiving, but your daily stuff we are not thaaaat informed about.

We know what you like to eat on breakfast, because of movies and etc.

I really would like to know how do you spend your whole free day, for example.

Here in Brazil we like to go to the movies or have an ice cream with friends... or keep doing nothing all day long.

What about you?

Brazil, which we expect to have to show pride

In this first video we will show that Brazil is sold as a great destination for tourists.
Really a country the size of Brazil has many tourist attractions and an extraordinary cultural diversity.
Brazil for tourists - click

But Brazil has not only tourist attractions. Brazil is the largest economina Latin America, with major cities

Financial capital of Latin America - click

We are well aware of our social problems, but we hope that with the recent discoveries of oil in the layer called pre-salt, generate income that reaches the population through better education, health, housing and employment generation

Renewable energy and the future

National technology - overcoming challenges

As major countries in the world we are big producers of plant foods, meats, fish, fruits, minerals.

I hope that this contact arouse the curiosity in you search on youtube for more videos.

bye Young.

Back to school...

Young is a great pleasure to return to college and be able to study English because I believe this will provide a great intellectual expansion, not through language itself, but the enormous amount of production that are available in English this means is that modern Internet. The Internet allows us to interact through this blog, or if we had available through live chat / online. This project was very pleasant as possible the reading of impressions you have of our country and their own culture, for the next year our institutions could move forward with this project exchanges. I hope you will visit our country soon. Enjoy the world cup football.

What I know

I don't know much about the culture of the USA, but I like a lot of sitcoms and movies.
I really enjoy the songs and singers like Beyonce, Chris Brown, etc..
I think the really cool show "Everybody Hates Chris" is very interesting and funny.
I'm always updated, always seeking information about what is occurring outside of Brazil and always access the New York Times, is a great site that always has some information.
That's it.
xoxo
Mayara Melo

The importance of teaching english

Now I´d like to share a little bit of how important teaching english is to me.
I think teaching this language, from my own experiences, is something students expect to be cool and exciting and they expect to somehow use this language in their daily lives.
To reach their goals, they must feel intrested in learning the language, so we try our best to make that happen so they will feel more and more comfortable in using the language. I think teachers must know how important it is to teach these students in a way they´ll get more easily inserted in a world where they find english everywhere. It is important for us teachers to know and have always in mind the fact that we play much important roles on that when teaching these students so we can contribute for the goals both us and the students have set in teaching and learning the language.

USA-Brazil

Hey Guys!
I´d like to tell you now something I love about USA.
First of all, I´ve known some people from US and they´re real nice people, i´m realy glad to have met them all because i´ve learned a lot with them!
Secondly, US series and music are famous all around the world and it´s not any different down here, so yes, most of my favorite songs series and tv shows are american ones.
I think that doesn´t happen with me only, but to a large percentage of people here in Brazil. I tihnk US has a huge connection with Brazil when it comes to entertainment and I believe also causes a huge imapact in Brazil´s economy when it comes to importing products and when it comes to commercializing between the two countries.

why I decided study english

hello people!
So, when I entered in a language institute I was 11. The classes of english at school had started and I coldn´t understand nothin and my teacher was the worst!I cryed every time that I tried do my hw because I was afraid of just have zeros in my english grades!
I learnt that is very important that the teacher knows how teach, it isn´t just enter in class , write in the board, give hw and whatever! Is necessary knows wath are the dificulties of the students, be paciente and comprehensive..
That´s all!
kisses

Jundiaí! A nice city to grow up in.

Okay, since everybody wrote about Londrina I have decided to write about the city I grew up in, Jundiaí. Jundiaí is close to São Paulo city (about 37 miles), the population is about 350.000 and overall it's a nice place to live! It is mainly an industrial city so there are lots and lots of multinationals there.

To be honest I'm not very good at descring it, so I'll post some photos so you can get a better idea of Jundiaí!

Take care!
=)



a view of one of the busiest avenues in Jundiaí



a view of part of the city



the oldest catholic church, which is downtown



'serra do Japi' a small forest that surounds part of the city. It's protected by the Brazilian government.

History of our city - Londrina

Hey friends, I'll post some data of our history, ok?


Londrina
State of Paraná - Brazil

General data of Londrina:
Altitude: 610 meters
Main economic activities: trade, industry, finance and services.
Relief: Slightly rolling
Vegetation: Mixed Forest
Climate: Subtropical humid
Average Annual Temperature: 20 degrees Celsius


History:
Brazil has freed itself from Portugal in 1822. Portugal owed money to bankers of England and to accept our Independence, we were forced to pay that debt. Since then England has received a lot of our natural resources as part of the debt.
We’ve never get rid of these debts because they were always made new loans or even because Brazil used to send raw-material for cheaper prices and buying British manufactured goods far more expensive.
In 1924, Brazil's foreign debt with the bankers was huge and we were late with their payments. That same year, as a result of delayed debts we had to receive in Brazil a group of experts sent by the British Bankers creditors. These technicians were led by Lord Lovat and had came to study our land and how to best take advantage of them. With his experience farming and forestry, Lord Lovat became very interested in buying our land because the soil was fertile and the vegetation was very rich in natural woods.
In 1925 he founded the Northern Land Company of Parana. This company divided the land in parcels, overturned part of the forest, opened roads and organized the division of space in urban and rural lots that were sold. Antonio Moraes de Barros, João Sampaio and Arthur Thomas were some people who participated in the organization's Land Company North of Paraná to the starting of work.
In early, London was called GOLD MINE OF BRAZIL, CITY PROGRESS, MIRACLE CITY, ELDORADO, among others.
This propaganda, coupled with other reasons such as poverty and the hope of better life, have prevented many people from all over Brazil come to buy land or seek work in London. Besides the Brazilians also came Germans, Italians, Japanese and others.
So on December 10, 1934 was created the city of Londrina, which could mean Little London, or Daughter of London, as more recently have preferred to call the experts.
Along with the disappearance of the forest over the years, also the inhabitants of these lands, the Kaingangs indians were exterminated. Today there are just tens of Indians and they’re living in poverty in isolated areas.
London was once known as "capital of coffee." Today is the second largest city of Paraná State and Third of South of Brazil.

Tourism: (I'll post the photos)
Igapo Lake
Public Square Mata dos Godoy
Art Museum of Londrina
Salto Apucaraninha
Historical Museum of Londrina
Acoustic Shell
Monument: The Passenger
Public Square Arthur Thomas

Thanksgiving in America