(Monday, April 25th)
I worked on my videos and read the Alchemist.
First Video Blog:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwAbUNNCNgsMcWVGRFVrVFBJM0k
Video of our Lesson:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwAbUNNCNgsMWHpydjlsbWE0QU0
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Senior Project: Day 15
(Friday, April 22nd)
Today was an interesting day for my senior project. I had one period in the morning to finish watching the movie "O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias" and get some reading done in the Alchemist and a couple Veja articles. I adde to my vocabulary list and reviewed my grammar work that I had not looked over in while. Then, last period I left school to drive to my Portuguese lesson. I arrived, sat down with Ana and we began talking. We went over the political research I did and had a conversation about Brazilian politics; what they were, what they have been, and what they will be like in the near future. We then talked about the movie and she had me answer comprehension questions.
Our lessons usually go over the hour by 15 or 20 minutes but I had to leave to go to my friend's Seder so I left after an hour but what felt like 5 minutes.
I filmed our entire lessons and pulled some of the clips out to show what a lesson is usually like. Hopefully I can upload the video today.
Today was an interesting day for my senior project. I had one period in the morning to finish watching the movie "O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias" and get some reading done in the Alchemist and a couple Veja articles. I adde to my vocabulary list and reviewed my grammar work that I had not looked over in while. Then, last period I left school to drive to my Portuguese lesson. I arrived, sat down with Ana and we began talking. We went over the political research I did and had a conversation about Brazilian politics; what they were, what they have been, and what they will be like in the near future. We then talked about the movie and she had me answer comprehension questions.
Our lessons usually go over the hour by 15 or 20 minutes but I had to leave to go to my friend's Seder so I left after an hour but what felt like 5 minutes.
I filmed our entire lessons and pulled some of the clips out to show what a lesson is usually like. Hopefully I can upload the video today.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Senior Project: Day 14
(Thursday, April 21st)
During my senior projects periods and at home I continued my research into Brazilian Politics. I looked into the recent impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rouseff. I discovered much about her past as she was involved in the revolution agains the military dictatorship and was detained and tortured for some time. I also researched the past and career of Lula, who was Brazil's President before Dilma Rouseff and the President when I lived in Brazil. His story is absolutely fascinating and he is seen as one of the best politicians in Brazil of all time. He instated many welfare programs that have resulted in a 27.7% reduction in poverty in Brazil. My research for that continued and I also finished the movie for Friday. I kept reading the Alchemist and varying articles in Portuguese.
During my senior projects periods and at home I continued my research into Brazilian Politics. I looked into the recent impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rouseff. I discovered much about her past as she was involved in the revolution agains the military dictatorship and was detained and tortured for some time. I also researched the past and career of Lula, who was Brazil's President before Dilma Rouseff and the President when I lived in Brazil. His story is absolutely fascinating and he is seen as one of the best politicians in Brazil of all time. He instated many welfare programs that have resulted in a 27.7% reduction in poverty in Brazil. My research for that continued and I also finished the movie for Friday. I kept reading the Alchemist and varying articles in Portuguese.
Senior Project: Day 13
(Wednesday, April 20th)
Ana and I moved our meeting from today to Thursday so I spent my senior project time watching a movie in Portuguese called, "O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias"or "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" set in Brazil into 1970. It is a Brazilian movie completely in Portuguese about a young boy in Brazil in 1970 when the military dictatorship was in power and his parents leave him with his grandfather as they go off to join the communist revolution agains the dictatorship. The movie was fantastic, intervening Brazilian culture and history into a touching story of a boy in love with soccer who just wants his parents to come back home from "vacation". Besides watching the movie I continued to read the Alchemist, and researched Brazilian politics.
Ana and I moved our meeting from today to Thursday so I spent my senior project time watching a movie in Portuguese called, "O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias"or "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" set in Brazil into 1970. It is a Brazilian movie completely in Portuguese about a young boy in Brazil in 1970 when the military dictatorship was in power and his parents leave him with his grandfather as they go off to join the communist revolution agains the dictatorship. The movie was fantastic, intervening Brazilian culture and history into a touching story of a boy in love with soccer who just wants his parents to come back home from "vacation". Besides watching the movie I continued to read the Alchemist, and researched Brazilian politics.
Senior Project: Day 12
(Tuesday, April 19th)
Swamped with school work and having a cumulative math test tomorrow, I did not work on my senior project today.
Swamped with school work and having a cumulative math test tomorrow, I did not work on my senior project today.
Senior Project: Day 11
(Monday, April 18th)
Today was an A day so I had a lot of time to work on my senior project. I got to school in time for assembly and then for 1st and 2nd period, 1.5 hours, I spent studying Portuguese. I completed the homework Ana had assigned - researching the Brazilian process of entry into university. They have exams called the vestibular, which is different exams that need to be taken for several different universities. Each school has their own exam and students take a year to study and take these exams to try and get into college. It is so stressful and competitive that it is very common for someone to have to do two years of vestibular before getting in somewhere. Aside from my research I continued to work on grammar, vocabulary, and kept reading the Alchemist.
Last period of the day I drove to my Portuguese lesson. As soon as I sat down with Ana we began conversing in Portuguese. Our lesson today was essentially just a conversation. We talked about my family, my school, my friends, my trip to UVA, her family, Brazil, Portugal, and more. During the conversation I would ask how to say things, practice my grammar, and she would occasionally correct my Portuguese. We ran over time as usual, had a great time, and I learned a lot.
Today was an A day so I had a lot of time to work on my senior project. I got to school in time for assembly and then for 1st and 2nd period, 1.5 hours, I spent studying Portuguese. I completed the homework Ana had assigned - researching the Brazilian process of entry into university. They have exams called the vestibular, which is different exams that need to be taken for several different universities. Each school has their own exam and students take a year to study and take these exams to try and get into college. It is so stressful and competitive that it is very common for someone to have to do two years of vestibular before getting in somewhere. Aside from my research I continued to work on grammar, vocabulary, and kept reading the Alchemist.
Last period of the day I drove to my Portuguese lesson. As soon as I sat down with Ana we began conversing in Portuguese. Our lesson today was essentially just a conversation. We talked about my family, my school, my friends, my trip to UVA, her family, Brazil, Portugal, and more. During the conversation I would ask how to say things, practice my grammar, and she would occasionally correct my Portuguese. We ran over time as usual, had a great time, and I learned a lot.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Senior Project: Day 10
(Friday, April 15)
Today I was busy all day with Days on the Lawn, UVA events and meeting up with people I know. So, I did not work on my project at all. Tomorrow, I will have more time and make up the hours.
Today I was busy all day with Days on the Lawn, UVA events and meeting up with people I know. So, I did not work on my project at all. Tomorrow, I will have more time and make up the hours.
Senior Project: Day 9
(Thursday, April 16)
Today I left for UVA so I did not have much time to work on my senior project. I went to school for one period to take my Physics test and then left to go home, pack, and get on the plane. I managed to read a good portion of the Alchemist and add some words to my vocabulary list during all the travel time. I also had time to download my first video blog from last week off of iMovie; however, the file is too big to upload onto my blog so I need to figure out what to do with that. I am planning to record my second video blog today.
Today I left for UVA so I did not have much time to work on my senior project. I went to school for one period to take my Physics test and then left to go home, pack, and get on the plane. I managed to read a good portion of the Alchemist and add some words to my vocabulary list during all the travel time. I also had time to download my first video blog from last week off of iMovie; however, the file is too big to upload onto my blog so I need to figure out what to do with that. I am planning to record my second video blog today.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Senior Project: Day 8
I absolutely LOVE my Portuguese lessons with Ana. As we get to know each other better it becomes more and more fun. Today I used my senior project period to revise the homework she assigned and then had to use the rest of the period to drive to my lesson at 3:15.
As soon as I sat down with Ana we began talking (in Portuguese of course), but instead of starting into the lesson we simply conversed. Now, technically this was the lesson as it is a form of language education. This was how I learned at my Spanish school in Guatemala. I would sit down with my teacher and we would just talk for 3 hours and she would correct me along the way. I am a firm believer in this practice and I think it was what skyrocketed my Spanish fluency. So, I was happy when I could sense Ana was taking a similar approach.
We talked about everything: what we did since last time we saw each other, what I am going to do this weekend, Lovett, my friends, college, wearing a uniform, my family, and more. Along the way I would ask how to say something or she would correct me. She would also take notes as we were talking so she could remember what I should work on later. She had me practice a little with clothing vocabulary but that is basically the only drilling we did. We had a conversation all about the similarities and differences between the education system in Brazil and the U.S. Afterwards, we set the game plan for the next week and, unfortunately, time was up.
Tomorrow, I hope to post my video reflection that I made last week but have no uploaded and I will also upload a couple of photos to show exactly what I have been doing with Ana.
As soon as I sat down with Ana we began talking (in Portuguese of course), but instead of starting into the lesson we simply conversed. Now, technically this was the lesson as it is a form of language education. This was how I learned at my Spanish school in Guatemala. I would sit down with my teacher and we would just talk for 3 hours and she would correct me along the way. I am a firm believer in this practice and I think it was what skyrocketed my Spanish fluency. So, I was happy when I could sense Ana was taking a similar approach.
We talked about everything: what we did since last time we saw each other, what I am going to do this weekend, Lovett, my friends, college, wearing a uniform, my family, and more. Along the way I would ask how to say something or she would correct me. She would also take notes as we were talking so she could remember what I should work on later. She had me practice a little with clothing vocabulary but that is basically the only drilling we did. We had a conversation all about the similarities and differences between the education system in Brazil and the U.S. Afterwards, we set the game plan for the next week and, unfortunately, time was up.
Tomorrow, I hope to post my video reflection that I made last week but have no uploaded and I will also upload a couple of photos to show exactly what I have been doing with Ana.
Senior Project: Day 7
(Tuesday April 13)
These days in my rotation are by far the most productive. I have two periods during the day to dedicate to my project. With both periods I completed all the work assigned by my teacher, Ana. I added clothing vocabulary to my document, practiced writing sentences using superlatives, and practicing preterite and imperfect. I conjugated a couple verbs in imperfect for practice, and then learned the conjugations of the irregular verbs in the imperfect tense. I also filled out a paragraph from my text book "Ponto de Encontro" with either preterite or imperfect, whichever it should be.
Once at home I talked to both on my parents who speak enough Portuguese to converse casually. I had to ask them in what weather they like to do certain activities. I wrote down their answers and composed sentences summarizing what they like to do and at the same time practicing weather vocabulary. I also made leeway progress in The Alchemist, which is proven to be a great practice for my vocabulary.
I also have vowed to listen to music in Portuguese whenever I am in the car, when I do homework, and when I do Portuguese work.
These days in my rotation are by far the most productive. I have two periods during the day to dedicate to my project. With both periods I completed all the work assigned by my teacher, Ana. I added clothing vocabulary to my document, practiced writing sentences using superlatives, and practicing preterite and imperfect. I conjugated a couple verbs in imperfect for practice, and then learned the conjugations of the irregular verbs in the imperfect tense. I also filled out a paragraph from my text book "Ponto de Encontro" with either preterite or imperfect, whichever it should be.
Once at home I talked to both on my parents who speak enough Portuguese to converse casually. I had to ask them in what weather they like to do certain activities. I wrote down their answers and composed sentences summarizing what they like to do and at the same time practicing weather vocabulary. I also made leeway progress in The Alchemist, which is proven to be a great practice for my vocabulary.
I also have vowed to listen to music in Portuguese whenever I am in the car, when I do homework, and when I do Portuguese work.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Senior Project: Day 6
(Monday April 11)
Today was a turning point in my project. As I crank away at the verb conjugations, ever-growing vocabulary list, and reading The Alchemist my language fluency is growing at a exponential rate. However, my lessons with Ana is when I really feel myself learning.
Today I had one class period to work on Portuguese work. I started my vocabulary list on a word document so every time I learn a new word I enter it into my doc. By the end of the month I will have my own dictionary that tracks the new words I learned throughout my project. I do not add the words that I already can remember from my baseline fluency.
After school I rushed over to my lesson with Ana. From 4:00pm to 5:20pm we had our lesson speaking completely in Portuguese. I slowly feel more and more coming back to me. And quite honestly, neither of us feel an hour is long enough (probably why we ran over time). Ana had me read through all the conjugations I made to make sure I could pronounce everything correctly. This sometimes produces a problem for me because my initial reaction is to pronounce something with a Spanish accent. Afterwards, gave me a couple worksheets and I worked on them whilst reading out loud, working on the use of past tense preterite. We then reviewed how to describe weather, action vocab, and clothes vocabulary. Probably most importantly, we have an ongoing sheet of all the exceptions or especially tricky things when it comes to the Portuguese language and I need to familiarize myself with them.
I am enjoying my project and especially my lessons with Ana even more than I thought I was going to. I only wish my other classes that I did not drop did not require so much of my time and attention because I am finding it hard to do all that I want to do for my project when I have so much other work.
Today was a turning point in my project. As I crank away at the verb conjugations, ever-growing vocabulary list, and reading The Alchemist my language fluency is growing at a exponential rate. However, my lessons with Ana is when I really feel myself learning.
Today I had one class period to work on Portuguese work. I started my vocabulary list on a word document so every time I learn a new word I enter it into my doc. By the end of the month I will have my own dictionary that tracks the new words I learned throughout my project. I do not add the words that I already can remember from my baseline fluency.
After school I rushed over to my lesson with Ana. From 4:00pm to 5:20pm we had our lesson speaking completely in Portuguese. I slowly feel more and more coming back to me. And quite honestly, neither of us feel an hour is long enough (probably why we ran over time). Ana had me read through all the conjugations I made to make sure I could pronounce everything correctly. This sometimes produces a problem for me because my initial reaction is to pronounce something with a Spanish accent. Afterwards, gave me a couple worksheets and I worked on them whilst reading out loud, working on the use of past tense preterite. We then reviewed how to describe weather, action vocab, and clothes vocabulary. Probably most importantly, we have an ongoing sheet of all the exceptions or especially tricky things when it comes to the Portuguese language and I need to familiarize myself with them.
I am enjoying my project and especially my lessons with Ana even more than I thought I was going to. I only wish my other classes that I did not drop did not require so much of my time and attention because I am finding it hard to do all that I want to do for my project when I have so much other work.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Senior Project: Day 5
(Friday April 8)
So today was a hard day to get things done for my project. I had only one free period during the day and then, as it was a Friday, had things to get done after school. However, I managed to read a couple more articles in the magazine Veja and look up the words. I also found the book The Alchemist in Portuguese, as it was originally written, and began to read it. I have read the Alchemist in Spanish so I know and understand what happens in the novel, however, I thought that reading the book in its original language would be interesting. Also, reading a book in Portuguese that I originally read in Spanish reinforces my goal of learning Portuguese as Spanish-speaker instead of as an English-speaker - this strategy will make the language transition easier. Even more, I can continue to make connection between the languages of Spanish and Portuguese as I have found I am quite interested i their development. I am beginning to think I may do some research and write up a short composition or essay to go along with my final product about the two languages and their histories.
So today was a hard day to get things done for my project. I had only one free period during the day and then, as it was a Friday, had things to get done after school. However, I managed to read a couple more articles in the magazine Veja and look up the words. I also found the book The Alchemist in Portuguese, as it was originally written, and began to read it. I have read the Alchemist in Spanish so I know and understand what happens in the novel, however, I thought that reading the book in its original language would be interesting. Also, reading a book in Portuguese that I originally read in Spanish reinforces my goal of learning Portuguese as Spanish-speaker instead of as an English-speaker - this strategy will make the language transition easier. Even more, I can continue to make connection between the languages of Spanish and Portuguese as I have found I am quite interested i their development. I am beginning to think I may do some research and write up a short composition or essay to go along with my final product about the two languages and their histories.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Senior Project: Day 4
Today I had two free periods during the day to work on more Portuguese work. The first period I had I finished my physics webassign as it was due at 4pm and I did not have time the day before. After, I added a couple of verbs to my conjugation sheets and read another article in Veja. Afterwards, I began scripting what I was going to say for my first video blog and then it was class time.
Last period of the day I had off again and I finished the article I was reading in Veja and translated every word I did not understand - my list of words is growing rapidly. Afterwards I filmed my first video blog, which predictably, was a mix of Portuguese and English - I will post it soon. For the last 15 minutes of the class period I started to watch a movie in Portuguese which has proved to be one of the hardest exercises I have done so far because of all the words I did not know and how fast they were talking.
Last period of the day I had off again and I finished the article I was reading in Veja and translated every word I did not understand - my list of words is growing rapidly. Afterwards I filmed my first video blog, which predictably, was a mix of Portuguese and English - I will post it soon. For the last 15 minutes of the class period I started to watch a movie in Portuguese which has proved to be one of the hardest exercises I have done so far because of all the words I did not know and how fast they were talking.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Senior Project: Day 3
I prepared to take full advantage of our day off today. In the morning, before even completing my other class homework, I started my Portuguese homework. I was working for about 1.5 hours on Portuguese before moving on to school work. I started and finished the composition on sports my teacher assigned. All in Portuguese, I had to write a half-page composition on the sports I like to play, watch, and sports I wish I had been able to play. A couple of times I had to refer to the conjugations I made yesterday to make sure my grammar was correct and sometimes would check Google Translate for help with a word or two. But all in all, once I got in the flow of writing, words and sentences would come out of nowhere - I could not explain how I knew how to say something, but I guess some of it is just coming back from the time that I could. I then read a couple articles in the Brazilian magazine Veja and tried to make as much sense of it as I could. Finally, I listened to the song "Pra Rua Me Levar" by Ana Carolina and Seu Jorge a couple of times. I read along with the lyrics, which helped with the understand and reminded me how to spell certain words I had forgotten.
The plan originally was to meet Ana today at 4pm but she had something come up and we are trying to reschedule. So this reflection would have been more interesting and I would have gotten in more hours today but they will be made up next time we meet. Tomorrow will be a good day as I have two class periods to work.
The plan originally was to meet Ana today at 4pm but she had something come up and we are trying to reschedule. So this reflection would have been more interesting and I would have gotten in more hours today but they will be made up next time we meet. Tomorrow will be a good day as I have two class periods to work.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Senior Project: Day 2
Today was not as of an exciting day for my senior project - but I got some important work done. I had the first period of the day off and used the 20 minute advisory, so for 85 minutes I worked on the homework my teacher gave me. I started with the conjugations, which to other language students may seem like mindless drilling, but for me was really interesting. I not only remembered how to conjugate in the present, preterite past, and imperfect past but I became comfortable again with the conjugations. I jumped straight into the irregular verbs because the same verbs are irregular in Spanish. I also reviewed my notes from yesterday's class.
Next, I listened to the song Dona Canô by Daniela Mercury. My homework with the song was to identify all the famous people referenced. So from the song I wrote down Caetano Veloso, his mom, and Gil Gilberto. Caetano Veloso is a composer, singer-songwriter, write, and political activist. Gil Gilberto had the same profile and Caetano and Gil collaborated. I think Ana is going to explain some of Brazilian history in the 1960s because Caetano Veloso was a political activist during the start of Brazilian dictatorship in the 1960s.
I have some more homework to complete before tomorrow's class but already am enjoying my project. I love making connections between Spanish and Portuguese - seeing where the languages are still similar and where they have diverged.
Next, I listened to the song Dona Canô by Daniela Mercury. My homework with the song was to identify all the famous people referenced. So from the song I wrote down Caetano Veloso, his mom, and Gil Gilberto. Caetano Veloso is a composer, singer-songwriter, write, and political activist. Gil Gilberto had the same profile and Caetano and Gil collaborated. I think Ana is going to explain some of Brazilian history in the 1960s because Caetano Veloso was a political activist during the start of Brazilian dictatorship in the 1960s.
I have some more homework to complete before tomorrow's class but already am enjoying my project. I love making connections between Spanish and Portuguese - seeing where the languages are still similar and where they have diverged.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Senior Project: Day 1
I kicked off my senior project with school. Having AP Chemistry, AP Calculus and AP Microeconomics did not exactly make me feel like I was "home free" as some senior project members do. But I know that it's what I get for only dropping two classes. Finally, when the bell rang at 1:10 I could switch to senior project mode. After having lunch with my friends I spend most of my next period driving to meet my Portuguese tutor. Prior to this week I began reviewing some Portuguese, trying to bring forth my since-forgotten fluency from the depths of my brain. But, as the end of senior year goes, I was very busy and did not review as much as I would have liked. So I arrived at the Starbucks 30 minutes before I was supposed to meet my teacher, Ana, to complete some work in my workbook.
When she arrived we jumped straight into Portuguese - no English spoken whatsoever. I believe, and language education professionals seem to agree, that total immersion is the most productive way of learning a language. So from the beginning, not allowing me the crutch of English forces me to learn Portuguese much faster. We started by reviewing the basics because my case is particularly interesting. By that I mean I remember a good amount of what I could speak when I was younger. Thus, I remember things beginners would never know but lack in some other areas. So we went over introductions, pronouns, colors, family members, sports, descriptions, and some grammar structure. I would have to describe myself, then practice describing a couple of celebrities. We mainly focused on conversation and I would ask how to say things and she would correct me along the way.
For homework I am moving on to past tense conjugations, going to write a short paragraph, I have to look up a couple of songs, and I am going to watch a movie and discuss it with her.
The good news is that I am far ahead of where Ana thought my abilities were going to be. She is a college professor said that I would be placed in her intermediate Portuguese class she teaches. So that means I remember more than I thought and this month will be even more fun than I originally thought, as I can really start speaking.
When she arrived we jumped straight into Portuguese - no English spoken whatsoever. I believe, and language education professionals seem to agree, that total immersion is the most productive way of learning a language. So from the beginning, not allowing me the crutch of English forces me to learn Portuguese much faster. We started by reviewing the basics because my case is particularly interesting. By that I mean I remember a good amount of what I could speak when I was younger. Thus, I remember things beginners would never know but lack in some other areas. So we went over introductions, pronouns, colors, family members, sports, descriptions, and some grammar structure. I would have to describe myself, then practice describing a couple of celebrities. We mainly focused on conversation and I would ask how to say things and she would correct me along the way.
For homework I am moving on to past tense conjugations, going to write a short paragraph, I have to look up a couple of songs, and I am going to watch a movie and discuss it with her.
The good news is that I am far ahead of where Ana thought my abilities were going to be. She is a college professor said that I would be placed in her intermediate Portuguese class she teaches. So that means I remember more than I thought and this month will be even more fun than I originally thought, as I can really start speaking.
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