domingo, 28 de fevereiro de 2010

Earthquake (terremoto) in Chile!! .... Terremoto vocabulário!!

Although this is such shocking news, let´s learn some esrthquake words!

div style="width:425px" id="__ss_813521">Earthquake Vocabulary
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Earthquake Vocabulary

Crust - the top layer of the earth, which consists of solid rock. Both the continental crust (land masses) and oceanic crust (the land beneath the ocean) belong to the crust.
Epicenter - the point directly above the focus or source of the earthquake.
Fault - a break or separation in rock, usually between two or more tectonic plates.
Focus - the source of the earthquake inside the earth, where the rock first begins to break.
Intensity- the amount of shaking and type of damage at a particular location. Intensity can be greater or weaker depending on the distance from the epicenter.
Liquefaction - this happens when loose, moist soil or sand is shaken so hard that individual grains separate, turning the earth into a soft, fluid slurry that can swallow entire buildings.
Lithosphere - the uppermost layer of the earth, which consists of all solid rock. It includes both the crust and the upper mantle.
Magnitude - the amount of energy released from the earthquake. The size of the seismic waves at the epicenter, which can be determined by the size of the wavy lines on the seismogram.
Mantle - the layer beneath the crust. The upper mantle is solid rock; the lower mantle is molten rock.
Mercalli Scale - a subjective measure of the strength of an earthquake. It measures the degree of intensity.
Richter Scale - an objective measure of the strength of an earthquake. It measures the degree of magnitude.
Seismic Waves - vibrations that move through the earth in a way similar to waves moving in water. They can travel through solids and liquids.
Seismogram - written recording of the earth's vibrations, produced by a seismograph.
Seismograph - instrument that plots the intensity of earthquake waves on a roll of specially marked graph paper.
Seismologist - scientist who studies earthquakes.
Tectonic Plates - individual sections of the lithosphere of the earth. They fit together in a way similar to a jigsaw puzzle, but are always moving very slowly, floating on the molten rock of the lower mantle.

Here is more Earth science vocabulary list of key terms for learning about earthquakes.

Aftershock- a smaller earthquake that occurs after a larger earthquake
Earthquake- movement of the ground caused by the release of energy from a sudden shift of rocks in Earth's crust.
Epicenter- the point on Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake
Fault- a break in Earth's crust where movement of rock occurs
Focus- the point below Earth's surface where movement of rock produces an earthquake
Foreshock- a small earthquake that precedes a larger earthquake
Magnitude- the measurement of the total strength or amount of energy released by an earthquake
Mercalli scale- a measurement of an earthquake's intensity based on how much damage it causes. The Mercalli scale ranges from Level I (not felt except by very few under favorable conditions) to Level XII, (causing almost total destruction.)
Moment magnitude scale- a measurement of an earthquake's magnitude based on the amount of movement of the rock along a fault line.
Normal fault- a type of fault where forces of tension are pulling rock apart.
P (Primary) wave- the fastest moving type of seismic wave, which expands and compresses rock, like the movement of a slinky. Also known as pressure waves. P waves can travel through both liquids and solids.
Reverse fault- a type of fault where compression pushes rock together. Also known as a thrust fault.
Richter scale- a measurement of the magnitude of an earthquake based on the readings of a seismograph. The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale ranging from 0 to 9, with each number representing a 10-fold increase in ground motion, and a 30-fold increase in energy released.
S (Secondary) wave- the second-fastest moving type of seismic wave, which moves rock horizontally from side to side. Also known as shear waves. S waves cannot pass through liquids, and therefore cannot pass through Earth's liquid outer core.
Seismic wave- a vibration that travels through Earth carrying the energy released during an earthquake.
Seismograph- an instrument that records seismic waves.
Strike-slip fault- a type of fault where rocks slide horizontally past each other in opposite directions, with little up or down motion. The San Andreas fault in California and the North Anatolian fault in Turkey are examples of strike-slip faults.
Surface waves- seismic waves that move along Earth's surface. They can have an up-and-down motion or a horizontal motion. Surface waves travel slower than P or S waves and usually cause the most damage.
Tsunami- a giant, fast-moving wave that is caused by an undersea earthquake. Also known as a seismic sea wave.


Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/53594.aspx#ixzz0gqZCwpxU

sexta-feira, 26 de fevereiro de 2010

O que fazer para melhorar o meu "listening and speaking skills" em inglês?....Escutando muito!!!!!!!

Passarinho Cantando - ilustração: Maurício de Sousa


Nestes últimos dias tenho recebido novos alunos cuja maior ansiedade, como sempre, é ter um inglês fluente.

Como já mencionei no meu primeiro post sobre listening ,é crucial desenvolver esta habilidade ,pois, o conhecimento intelectual da língua , não significa que você irá falar fluentemente. Gostaria de fazer algumas perguntas para que você perceba como pode ser fácil aprender e falar inglês com bom senso e simplicidade, ou seja, sem se desesperar e sentir-se incapaz!!

Quanto tempo você passou ouvindo os seus pais se comunicando com você, até você começar a pronunciar as primeiras palavras?

Quantas palavras você conhecia, desde o seu nascimento até mais ou menos 1 ano de idade?

Você provavelmente entendia o significado das palavras por intuição e respondia com gestos e expressões , certo?

Por volta dos 3 anos, assim como muitas crianças, você estava falando fluentemente , mesmo possuindo um universo de palavras muito reduzido quando comparado a de um adulto, não é ?

Portanto, você passou quase 2 anos exercitando a sua escuta diariamente e acostumando-se com os sons da língua à medida que assimilava a sua musicalidade e entonação. Você também compreendia o sentido de algumas palavras como: "SIM", "NÃO", "SORRIA!!", "ME DÁ UM BEIJO!!", até que o seu maior desejo era CHORARRRRRR !!! Assim , desde cedo e por si só , você aprendeu o significado deste verbo. Aliás, você não tinha a menor idéia do que era um verbo!!!

Depois de 4 anos , você deve ter começado a aprender a gramática na escola, mas somente depois que já ENTENDIA e FALAVA muito! (lembrando que muitas pessoas nunca freqüentaram uma escola e falam fluentemente!!)

Então, vou dar uma dica para você aprender  a falar uma lígua estrangeira: fazça o que você fazia quando criança: não questionava e muito menos ficava querendo escrever uma palavra para saber pronunciá-la!!! Você era só ouvidos !!

COMPROMETA-SE a:

OUVIR textos e diálogos simples.... ASSISTIR filmes ,desenhos e programas que tenham uma linguagem acessível ao seu nível . E você sabe ..... ESCUTAR música é sempre bom demais!!!

Deixe a intuição fluir e o significado das palavras virão naturalmente através de sua percepção, sem estresse, sem horas e horas em cima de livros memorizando regras e conceitos que só irão contribuir para que você mais escreva do que fale em inglês!!

Sua mente vai ficar leve , solta e você vai falar inglês como qual um passarinho cantando de felicidade !!!rsrsrsrs....

Be happy!!!

quinta-feira, 25 de fevereiro de 2010

Terremoto no Chile by The Economist!!!!

Gosto muito da revista:"The Economist"por apresentar uma linguagem objetiva, concisa e rica em vocabulário em suas matérias. Para que os alunos aprendam um pouco mais desta linguagem de business, rica em conjunções(linking words) , adverbs and terms , leiam abaixo:

Chile's earthquake:In need of repair
Chile counts the cost of a devastating earthquake and makes plans for recovery
Mar 1st 2010 SANTIAGO From The Economist online

RELIEF was the initial reaction in Chile to what seemed relatively limited damage given the scale of the earthquake that shook the centre and south of the country in the early hours of Saturday February 27th. That picture has been replaced gradually by dismay as the full extent of the cost begins to emerge. By Sunday evening, the number of confirmed deaths had reached over 700 and is still likely to rise, according to President Michelle Bachelet. This is still a low toll, however, for a quake of 8.8magnitude, one of the largest in the world since 1900.
Felt throughout almost all the country, the quake hit most strongly in six central regions, from the capital, Santiago, and the nearby port of Valparaiso in central Chile to the city of Temuco in the Araucanía region of the south. These parts of the country are home to about 60% of Chile's 17m inhabitants and account for around 70% its GDP. An estimated 1.5m homes are thought to have been damaged and around a third may have to be demolished.

The greatest damage and loss of life, however, appears to have been caused not by the earthquake itself but by a subsequent tidal wave that washed over fishing towns on the coast of south-central Chile. In one such town, Constitución, rescue workers found over 300 bodies on Sunday. Much of the only town in the Juan Fernández archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, which belongs to Chile and is best-known as the place where Robinson Crusoe was marooned, was also destroyed.

Chile has developed an efficient disaster-response system to cope with what Ms Bachelet has described as “a history plagued with natural disasters”. However, looters, particularly in the southern city of Concepción and other nearby towns, have dented the image of a country swinging into action to relieve its suffering people. Though some looters may have merely been in search of scarce food and water others were out for what they could take. As a result, on Sunday, the government imposed a curfew in some of the worst-affected areas.

The earthquake struck just as the Chilean economy was beginning to recover after an estimated contraction of 0.9% in 2009. The after-effects will hamper the exports that drive the country's growth. Copper, Chile's biggest earner abroad, is produced mainly in the north of the country which was unscathed. But damage to ports further south may hamper shipments of forestry products, including wood pulp, while exports of fruit, now at the height of the harvest season in the southern hemisphere, will face delays as a result of damage to the main roads of central Chile.

Despite the earthquake’s likely impact on growth in the first and, possibly, the second quarter, it may actually provide a boost for the economy in the medium term as the government spends heavily to repair the damage. This is welcome news for the country’s president-elect, Sebastián Piñera, who is set to take office on March 11th and was voted in on an ambitious promise of average economic growth of 6% annually over his
four-year term.Until assessment of the damage is complete, it is hard to estimate the cost of reconstruction. Eqecat, an American catastrophe-management company, has suggested that it could total as much as $30 billion, equivalent to 20% of Chile’s GDP in 2009. Part of the cost can readily be financed out of the public purse, drawing on savings accumulated while copper price boomed between 2005 and 2008.

However, Mr Piñera, who has indentified increased private investment as one of the most important components of higher growth, has indicated that the government will not do all the work. He expects Chilean companies to play an important role in the reconstruction through a “Lift Chile” plan, which he outlined on Sunday. This may well include a revival of a public-works-concession scheme that Chile successfully launched in the mid-1990s precisely to build many of the motorways that were damaged by Saturday’s earthquake

domingo, 7 de fevereiro de 2010

Olimpíadas de Vancouver!!! Copa do Mundo!!! Esportes at AVZM!!!

Este ano começou com muita energia no Ar e na Terra!! Olimpíadas de Inverno em Vancouver e Copa do Mundo no Brazil!! Vamos nos divertir muito!!!
Let´s have fun and enjoy ourselves to the fullest!!
Você pode melhorar o seu inglês e hospedar-se com nossos professores do Programa de Imersão http://www.viplli.com/ enquanto pratica o seu inglês e desfruta do clima de muito excitment de Vancouver e Whistler!!!




Os XXI Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno (também conhecidos como Olimpíadas de Inverno de 2010) serão realizados entre 12 a 28 de Fevereiro em Vancouver, Colúmbia Britânica, no Canadá, com eventos sendo realizados também em Whistler, uma cidade próxima. Os Jogos Paraolímpicos estão sendo organizados pelo mesmo comitê organizador (VANOC).

Esta será a terceira vez que o Canadá sediará as Olimpíadas e a primeira vez que a província da Colúmbia Britânica será a sede dos Jogos. Anteriormente,o Canadá foi sede dos Jogos em Jogos Olímpicos de 1976 em Montreal e os Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno de 1988 em Calgary. Essa também será a primeira que os Olimpíadas de Inverno serão realizados num mercado da National Hockey League (NHL) desde que houve a autorização dos jogadores profissionais para competirem nos Jogos desde Nagano 1998 e esta também será a mais quente da história dos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno.[1] O evento será oficialmente aberto pela Governadora Geral Michaëlle Jean.[2]

Estão previstos para participar nestes Jogos 5 500 atletas, representando 80 países em 86 eventos de 15 modalidades de sete esportes. Na medida em que os Jogos se aproximam, mais atletas e equipes garantem classificação.

sábado, 6 de fevereiro de 2010

Skiing Vocabulary!!! Aprenda a esquiar!!!

Para você que está planejando ir para uma estação de ski, talvez Whistler no Canadá, Aspen or Vail, nos Estados Unidos, que tal aprender a little bit about the ski terms :

Skiing vocabulary

aerial In the aerial competition, the skier does flips in the air. (freestyle ski jumping that involves flipping in the air )
Alpine The Alpine events will take place on the local mountain ranges. (downhill ski events )
biathlon Target shooting is an important component of the biathlon event. (a ski race that involves cross-country skiing and shooting at targets )
binding If your binding breaks, your boot will fall off your ski. (holds the ski boot onto the ski )
combined The combined events require both types of skills. (a competition that mixes two events)
freestyle Aerials and moguls are the two main types of freestyle event. (acrobatics on skis also a type of "cross-country")
gates When the gates are placed closer together it is difficult to gain speed.( two sets of poles that skiers must go through in certain events )
goggles Goggles protect your eyes from wind and ice. (eye protection for skiers )
hot-dogging Doing stunts on skis is sometimes called hot-dogging. (another word for flipping in the air on skis )
incline When a hill has a steep incline the skier goes faster.( the angle of a slope )
IOC The IOC decides which new sports will be introduced each year. (International Olympic Committee )
loop Skiers have to do an extra loop if they receive a penalty. (a circular track )
moguls Skiers with bad knees should avoid trails with moguls. (snow bumps that are groomed into a ski run for a freestyle challenge)
Nordic The Nordic skiers train for long-distance races. (cross-country)
peaks Gondolas and lifts take skiers to the mountain peaks. (mountain tops and cliffs )
penalty Adding seconds to a racer's score is one form of penalty. (a time or score punishment for making an error or breaking a rule )
relay The fastest member of the relay team will do the last section of the race.( an event where members of a team take turns to complete a race or task )
rifle The biathlon skier wears a rifle close to his body.( a gun with a long barrel )
sharp (turns) It is difficult to go fast on a course with many sharp turns. (very tight (not wide)
slalom The slalom event requires amazing precision. (a downhill event with sharp turns )
slopes Cross-country skiers gain speed when they reach sections with slopes. (downgrade sections on a piece of terrain; hills )
stride The kick and glide is a type of ski stride. one step or pace on skis
target If he misses another target, he won't win the race. the object you are aiming for
terrain The steep and icy terrain is for advanced skiers only. ground that you pass over
www.englishclub.com

Nomes dos esportes olímpicos de inverno!! Winter olympic sports names !!

Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 Events List

Vancouver Winter Paralympics 2010 Events List