The Afro-American Music - "Oscar Williams and the band of Life" - May 3, 2018.

Our first Enhancement Activity this year was a Workshop offered by an American Band of Blues and Gospel Music - "Oscar Williams and the Band of Life." It's formed by a pianist and four female singers.

The pianist and band leader Oscar Williams started introducing and saying the origin of each member of the band. He also told us about each musician's musical story and background, and why they decided to pursue the musical career.

Then he started to explain how different genres of Afro-american music were created, specially the blues and gospel, during the slavery years in the USA. He explained about the history and then illustrated it with some music. Each music was sung by a different solo singer, exploring her own voice range and timbre. We could listen to Blues, Jazz, Gospel and Soul music.

The students found it really interesting to learn about the origin of Afro-American music and culture in the historical context of that time. specially the use of the universal musical language as a means of communicating their sorrows.

The band gave us the opportunity to ask questions and learn even more about the subject.

In the end, the whole band sang together some different songs showing their wonderful talent, technique, interpretation, beautiful lyrics and message to the world. Not only the students, but the whole audience were deeply moved.

They certainly touched our hearts !!

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MEMORIAL DAY

June 8th, 2018

Our Enhancement class was about 'Memorial Day'. First, the students watched a video about this holiday and then the teacher elicited what it was talking about. After they explained it, they were asked to compare this holiday to the Brazilian civic holidays, Independence day, Flag day, etc...

Then, the teacher presented the first part of a power point file explaining in details all the information about the holiday. After that, they drilled the vocabulary for pronunciation ( Memorial Day, last Monday of May, US Military, Men and Women, etc..).

The second part of this file was about the American Flag. They could review colors and key vocabulary ( Flag, red, blue, white, stars, stripes, states, flag day, June 14h).

The students formed 5 groups in order to create some decoration for the 4th of July, based on the concepts they learned, using colors, the flag, etc...

Each group presented what they've produced, reviewing the vocabulary, and then, the whole class decorated the room.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY

June, 29th,2018

We started our Independence Day Enhancement Class having a "hang-man" game with names of American Presidents as a warm-up activity.

The students remembered names like George Bush, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

After that, we had a power point presentation explaining about Independence day, when students drilled the new vocabullary, such as parades, barbecue, burgers, hot-dogs, Monarchy, Republic, liberty, freedom, persue of happiness, etc..

Then, a video was presented explaining the whole story of American Independence, also when and how the Americans celebrate this important Federal Holiday. The students could ask questions and learn more about the theme.

After that, a power point presentation containing a quiz about Brazilian Presidents was presented. The students could answer the questions in pairs, and while correcting it, we talked about the ex-Presidents of Brazil

Then, the students could do a quiz about the USA Presidents, presented through a power point, and using the 'walking paper USA Presidents' they talked about it.

As an illustration, I showed them many pictures of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota - USA, and who each President in the giant sculpture was: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. I also told them about the story of its construction between 1927 to 1941, planned by the painter and architect Gutzon Borglum. They enjoyed it very much!

After saying that American people love playing games, we started to play making a circle and remembering the colors of the American Flag. Then, each student would say the name of a red object, then, the next one would say a blue name, and then the next student would name a white one. They could revise all object vocabulary they already knew, and learn some new words as well.

A second game was played, and it was about guessing the number. I put a jar full of red, blue and white candies on the table. They had to try to guess the number of candies writing it on a paper. In the end, there were two winners who divided the jar's content prize - 34 candies.

As the students still needed to practice the alphabet, something which was quite recent in the course, a third game was played - Spelling Bee.

I started explaining about the American tradition of this national competition among the schools all around the USA.

Then, we divided the class in two teams, named by them BEARS X EAGLES. Each team would send each time a different representative to the front of the class to spell a word pronounced by the teacher. They practiced all 'Independence day' vocabulary and USA Presidents. They enjoyed this game very much besides having an effective way to reinforce the spelling. It was awesome!

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LEONARD BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL

PHILHARMONIC OF MINAS GERAIS

August 9th,2018

Our Access group had the immeasurable pleasure to hear the Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais in its hall, Sala Minas Gerais.

It was the last Concert of "Leonard Bernstein Festival" which celebrated 100 years of this North American Composer, Conducter and Professor.

Rachel Barton Pine, a violinist from Chicago, was the solist who played "Serenade After Plato's Symposium", and as an encore piece she dedicated to the composer "Happy Birthday to you" theme with many variations, showing her extraordinary technique and musicality.

Diomar Novaes, the President of "Instituto Filarmonica de Minas Gerais" visited our class the week before to make a presentation about the Philharmonic Project and invited the whole group to attend the Concert.

The students had a week to research about the Bernstein's Biography and his great contribution to the North American Music. They also learnt about 'West Side Story', which had been adapted for a Broadway musical in 1957, considered a "Romeo and Juliet" of the modern times and eventually was made into a film in 1961.

Afterwards he took us to the backstage to greet the musicians and to take a picture. It was a memorable night for all of us!

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LABOR DAY - September 14th

Our enhancement class was about Labor Day. The students watched a video about the history of the holiday in the USA.

Then, they had to compare the holiday celebration in the USA to the holiday in Brazil, including the dates.

After that, they watched a power point presentation on occupations. They had plenty of drilling practice of the new

vocabulary and the pronunciation. They could also think about other professions and learn other new words.

After that, each student had to practice the sentences :

"What do you want to be ? I want to be a _______ ".

After the practice they copied on a slip of paper the sentence:

Find someone who wants to be a doctor

wants to be a teacher

wants to be a lawyer, etc...

Then, they stood up and walked around the class asking their classmates what they wanted to be, until they could find

someone related to the sentences on their papers and wrote the names down.

After that, when everybody had finished, each student had to report orally to class who they could find in each occupation,

using the third person singular of the present simple.

Right after, the students were divided in groups of 3 or 4. Each group chose a profession in order to produce a poster.

The poster should have information about what those professionals do, how they help the community, what a good place to

work is, etc..., using the third person singular of the present simple. They should draw and decorate the posters as well.

When they finished doing this, each group presented its own poster to the rest of the class.

After that, they watched a power point presentation on how to make a resumée. They could take notes about each topic and step.

As the time didn´t allow them to create their resumé in class, they took the annotations home to do it as homework.

As Secretaria de Educação e Cultura de MG was having the Youth Ambassador Selection Process in Magistra, Katia Laura Borges , the

Education Analist, brought us unexpectedly the Youth Ambassador from the last year to visit the group. She explained about the

whole selection process and how the program was in the USA. It was very interesting because she could tell how the experience impacted

her life and how she is applying the new things she learnt in her community in Belo Horizonte.

The students were very interested and had time to ask questions about different things of her experience.

In the end, they became highly interested in enrolling themselves for the next year's program.

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COLUMBUS DAY

5th October, 2018

Our enhancement was about Columbus Day.

I elicited from the students what they know about Christopher Columbus, and after they talked, I could introduce the story by showing

a video. I explained the new vocabulary and then showed a powerpoint about the holiday in the U.S..

The students shared more information about the date, what they know from school related to history and also compared the day in the

U.S. and in Brazil.

The students were divided in pairs or trios and worked creating skits, the story as a comic strip, with short dialogues.

After, they finished they put the comics on the wall and then they walked around reading everybody's stories in order to vote the best one.

Then, they role played the story in front of the class.

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HALLOWEEN

26th October, 2018.

Our Enhancement class in Belo Horizonte was about Halloween. First, the students watched a powerpoint presentation

containing all vocabulary related to this American Holiday, such as ghost, black cat, vampire, zoombie, jack-o-lantern,

pumpkin, etc.

After having enough drilling practice, they watched a video about Halloween history, showing many aspects of its origin.

The video also showed how the American people celebrate this holiday, by decorating their houses, wearing scary costumes,

trick or treating around their areas, and playing games related to the topic.

After having learnt a lot about this typical holiday, they started to make crafts in order to decorate the room.

They crafted ghosts, bats, pumpkins, vampires, spiders,using all sorts of materials, and then, they decorated the whole classroom.

Right after, we received the visit of two ETA students, Mary and Hayley Anderson, who invited the group to go to the garden

to play some of the typical halloween's games.

They started with a competition of transforming someone into a mummy by wrapping him/her with toillet paper.

The first group to finish was the winner!

The students learnt how to play "Human Knot". Two groups of ten students made two big separate circles and grabbed

their hands in a messy way. This was a good way to teach them the prepositions over and under while showing how to undo

the big human knot by moving the body keeping the hands together.

The first group to undo the knot was the winner, and each member got a prize.

Then, they "Trick or Treated" by having the three teachers ( including myself) in three different corners, pretending to be in

their houses, so the students would knock on the door, say the rhyme, and receive the sweets or play the trick.

Then, we had a wonderful pic nic with plenty of fruit, cakes, finger food and sweets. It was also time to take lots of pictures

to register the moment and the costumes some students wore. It was great fun!!

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THANKSGIVING

23rd November, 2018.

We started the class by giving some minutes for the students to find out an anagram on the board using the letters from

the word THANKSGIVING.

Right after they were introduced to this specific vocabulary through a powerpoint, having then plenty of drilling practice.

After being divided in two groups, they also could play Hangman with this vocabulary words. One group would be in charge of

the word on board, while the other would have to guess which word it was by spelling the possible letters.

Then, students compared the holiday in Brazil to the holiday in the USA.

Right after, students could build a trunk of a tree using brown paper and put it up on one of the walls in the classroom.

They cut out leaves in the format of maple leaves, and then wrote a complete sentence about themselves:

I'M THANKFUL FOR .... They used the leaves to decorate the tree on the wall.

Later, the students watched a video about the History of Thanksgiving. In order to check and practice the

historical facts. They worked in pairs retelling it with their own words to the colleague.

http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

After finishing the tree, the students presented to the class their sentences about what they are thankful for in their own lives.

Our final 40 minutes in the class were used by rehearsing two Christmas songs that the students will sing to the children in our visit to a

Nursery scholl in the outskirts of Belo Horizonte during our December Camp Week.

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ENVIRONMENT

March 22nd, 2019

As a warm up I played Hangman with the words 'Tiny Houses' to introduce our class topic.

Then, they watched a video about a Tiny House built in Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQelSAnTWxM

After explaining some new words, they watched the video a second time and listed the furniture mentioned.The students discussed why building a tiny house can cause less environment impact.

After that, they watched a second video explaining the use of There is/There are, revising the vocabulary of "pieces of furniture" and "rooms in the house".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7TZrvylUi8&feature=youtube

Then, each student described to his/her partner his/her own house using the target vocabulary and structure.

After that, students worked in pairs again designing their own version of a tiny house which caters to their needs. They described it to another pair of students and shared how their choices can help the environment.

The students received a card with a description of a house. They formed groups of three students and crafted the furniture of one specific room of the house, using play dough. After finishing their craft, they students a paragraph about their dream house. When they finished, they switched paragraphs with a classmate, who suggested corrections (peer correction).

I wrote the words What, Where, Why, Who, How, How many (on the board). The students asked each other questions about their dream house using the words from the board. Some volunteers presented their house to the class.

In the end, students explained how tidy houses can be a solution to reduce environment impact.

The students were describing their houses to partner, and then started to plan the furniture crafting.

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After watching two videos about the American Election System, the students compared the Brazilian to the American system. Then, each student said one sentence retelling each step of the election process in the USA, so that everybody in class would remember it.

In the final part of the class, students had to vote for the Access Representative, who will deliver a speech in the graduation ceremony at the end of the year. In order to decide possible candidates, the students discussed previously about necessary characteristics of this person, and selected three candicates. Then, they voted secretely and the winner was announced right after the votes were counted.

Congratulations to Maria Eduarda,who were elected the class representative in our graduation ceremony next December!

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May, 24th, 2019.

CIVIL SOCIETY & ETHNIC TOLERANCE

Our students started researching about important figures who made history in different areas in the world. After making a presentation to the class about those people achievements throughout their lives, they could reflect and discuss about the necessity of ethnic tolerance around the world.

They also watched a video about an immigrant story, and then they recorded another video with questions about possible difficulties she could have faced to adapt to the new country.

We could really make the most of both activities taking that they were driven to a deep reflection on the importance of ethnic tolerance.

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June 29, 2019. Civil Society / Means of Transportation - Disabilities and Accessbilities

Our students started by remembering all American Holidays Tradition and celebrations, and then comparing to the Brazilian holidays and ways of celebrating them.

At the second part of the class, they watched a video about disabilities and accessibilities, and then learned and practiced the related vocabulary.

After they discussed and explored the challenges and hassles which people with disabilities might face in big cities, they worked on a project creating comics ans drawings with a disabled fictional character showing the difficulties these people face and how we can help them.

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JULY CAMP WEEK

Belo Horizonte 2019

Day 1

We started our week by watching a video about The History of the American Education. After watching it, the students had a guided tour in Museu da Educaçao, and then, we had the opportunity to compare and discuss a little about the educational systems in Brazil and in the US.

Then, the students had a ”reader session”. They could choose one book that could be interesting to read and then to present to their colleagues.

Day 2

Today we received the visit of an ex-Youth Ambassador, Sabrina Oliveira Melo, who talked about how she applied to the program, what she could learn in the U.S., and how she applied her experience to her community back in Brazil. The students enjoyed it very much and could ask many questions afterwards.

After that they had a picnic in the gardens of Magistra, followed by a ball game under the trees. They had plenty of fun and ate a lot too !!

Day 3

The students started the afternoon by learning the vocabulary and the history related to “go bowling”, and then, we boarded on a bus to go bowling. While playing the game they could communicate in English all the time.

Day 4

As our students have already learned and discussed about Ethnic Tolerance, different Jobs, and immigration, today we visited “Museu de Artes e Ofícios”. They could learn about the importance of the Afro culture in Brazil, and also about “ women and the work”. The visit could enrich their view on the subject bringing back comments and discussion about the topics. They had a snack at the Museum’s backyard afterwards.

Day 5

Our students had a film session today in our classroom, with the film “Hidden Figures” which was followed by comments and plenty of discussion on Ethnic Tolerance. They enjoyed the film very much, also because of the Cold War history described along it.

Then, in order to finish this wonderful week with some more fun, they played different “ Activate the English language “ board games.

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ENVIRONMENT

October 4, 2019

Our students started revising the Weather vocabulary, and learnt the two different temperature scales.

Then, after watching a presentation on the Seasons in the USA, they could compare them with the Brazilian seasons and draw some posters about them.

They also watched different videos about the Forecast in the USA and Natural disasters around the world, which gave them subject for a discussion on some causes of the weather changes, the greenhouse effect, pollution, etc...

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October 25, 2019

COLUMBUS DAY - HALLOWEEN

We started our Enhancement Class with a video about the history of Christopher Columbus and America´s discovery.The students watched it a second time taking notes, and then created a skit, as a comic strip, to tell the story.

After that they could start working on crafts to decorate the classroom for Halloween celebration, which happen on next Friday.

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November 1, 2019

HALLOWEEN

Our Enhancement started with a power point presentation on the history of Halloween. The students could revise the vocabulary related, and also learn how this traditional date is celebrated in the U.S.

After that, it was time for them to Trick or treat, play games and have lots of fun together. In the end, it was time for a picnic with lots of candies, cakes, chocolates, etc ..

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