LINGUA DIRETA - Teacher Luiz Sarti

Last class, I showed a group of advanced students a video of a Korean boy and a Spanish girl going through an oral exam for the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English. They found it difficult to understand those students because, according to my students, they had strong accent. Then I asked them: “Don’t we also have interference of Portuguese in our accent?” As students are used to listening to each other during English classes, they tend to get used to it, and therefore, do not realise that they speak English with a typical Brazilian accent. One characteristic of it is the intrusive vowel sound in the end of words. So, many of them tend to pronounce like as /laiki/, hot dog as /hoti dogi/, because as /bicósi/. Generally, they tend to stress the last letter or syllable in the end of the word when in English they tend to be weak. They should pronounce them as /laik/, /hat dag/, /bec^z/. One way of solving this problem is to print a text from the internet, cross out the vowels in the...

How many times I meant to say the three little words, but they always get in the way. So hard as to say them, hard is also to listen to them! As for when they are said you may feel awkward and weird: Is it true? Do you mean it? I might change my mind as well, feel strange and unable to look into your eyes. Regret it I would though! How much do I want to say these words when you are around! Would that be so strange? If between us an agreement was set, I mean, when we felt like saying it say that we would, afterwards forget what was said we should. Next time we met; we would act as if these words had never been said. Nothing would get on the way and then, again the three little words warmheartedly, we would say. What are the three little words?

About: I am here, in this blog, to write things I believe to be interesting. Things I can share with others. What I am going to write, I am not quite sure, but they will be in English. I do not know much but what I know I am willing to share. I will talk about the books I read, the films I watch, the songs I like. I will share some of my personal ideas through articles, poems, and chronicles. Anyone is welcome to share your views with comments.