Curiosities

I was looking for an interesting subject to write this week, so I found curiosities about American women and men.
In the past, it was usually the woman of the family who did the housework. Now, because more women are working at outside jobs, the men started helping out more at home. Many American men believe that they do 50% of the work at home, and perhaps some of them actually do. However, the report shows that women, when they work full time, spend twice as much time as men doing housework and taking care of the kids.
About the free time, people have about 40 free hours each week. Americans think that is less free time than what they had twenty years ago, but they are mistaken because actually it is more. The report still shows that people are working fewer hours now and have more time to play just for fun.

Can you guess what they do with 1/3 of their 40 hours of free time each week??
If you guessed watching TV, you are right. Americans spend 15 hours of the week in front of the TV set. They spend the half of time getting together with their friend and only 4 hours reading or doing outside activities. In most American homes, the television is curreny turned on for many more hour a day, even while people are doing other things. Besides other reports say that children in the United States are exposed to more than 25,000 hours of television before they are 18 years old.
I thought it was interesting. Today women and men need to work, because it is very difficult to support all "despesas" with one salary. About housework it is very nice women and men do. I think we have to lose the mentality: men work and women do the housework and take care of child. we live in the 21st century and we want equality. About free time, I think they should give more attention for their families, because the time pass very fast, beside our live is very fragile.

what do you think?? would you like to live this way???

By Aline

FREEDOM WRITERS

Today, I am going to talk about a movie which I watched a few times; Freedom Writers. This movie is based in a true history which happened in USA. I do not know why but I like movies based in true histories, maybe because it is reality, it happened and if it worked in that movie and it was real, it can work with us. What I want to say is that, sometimes someone says “it is impossible” but than, someone apears and does it. So, the story.

Erin Growel is a young teacher who starts teaching to a class which is cosider very problematic. They are consider losers and dangerous because of their social conditions and because some of them belong to gangs. Anyother teacher wants to teach them. The students are from different ethnic groups: Jews, Negros, Easterns and Latins. This difference apears in class because each one just talks and stays near a person who is from the same ethnic group. Some times a person from one group offends another group’s person and they argue or fight and Erin sees that it can becomes a real problem. So, she decides using literature to work on it. She chooses a book which talks about prejudices and racism; Anne Frank’s diary. She also buys a notebook to each one to write their own experiences. The students start reading this book, and they start writing their own diaries too. Reading this book and their diaries, they can compare their lives with Anne Frank’s life. When they start to realize it, their lives inside the classroom starts to change. They get more understanding and tolerants of each other.

Well, I won’t tell you all the movie because Rafael will be mad with me, he does not like to know the end of the stories. I just want to say that this movie shows us how lives can be changed in school if we can see our students as people who are able to do something. If we believe in our students, they will believe in themselves.
But, we are not heros. Erin got divorced and started working in a shop and in a hotel to pay the books and diaries which she bought to the students. Not everyone wants to leave their families. I think that it happened to Erin because she was alone, she was the only one teacher who was helping the students. By Evelise

Limit: Who have to impose?

I begin my text making two questions. What do you understand for limit and impunidade? and Who is responsible to impose the first and don’t tolerate that the other happen?When I think in limit comes a question in my mind: Where does it begin? I think that the limit, without doubt, begins in the family with the parents, through a structure based on: respect, affection and responsibility. So the parents have to teach their children that their right goes until the other’s right starts. Do you understand this?Giving limits to the children isn’t rigidez and repression, but affection and protection. Some times is necessary you to say the word “no” with a good explanation, even when it seems to be easier to say “yes” for it doesn’t frustrate the children or to prevent possible disputes. Children that don't or didn’t have frustrations and do what to want, don’t know limits and mainly the respect. So it is necessary to give limits, if you don’t give it is possible that they believe that there are not rules and obligations. Probably they will be people that don’t accept the “no” that the life can impose. So they have big changes to break the social rules and come future alcoholics, drug addicts, corrupts or dangerous people.Apart from home there is other place that has the role to educate: the school. Do you agree with this? According to studies the teachers must demand respect of students with all the people and don’t accept any way of discrimination and violence. Besides in both places, we need to have punidades for mistakes made.I think that freedom can’t be mixed with liberalidade.Parents and teachers are responsible to raise and to educate individuals that will go to exert the citizenship with responsibility and respect.Do you agree with this union to educate young people and children?

By Aline

THE GLOBAL HEATING

The global heating is a meteorological phenomena which is occuring in the last 150 years. Natural and human are pointed as the main causes of global heating. Natural causes or internal causes are the ones which are associated to the complex climate sistem which is not linear. Human causes or external cause are the ones caused by human or nature. The main external natural cause is the solar radiation, it means, the internal sun’s temperature. The main human cause is the pollution. Some scientists blame the human as the main cause of the global heating and others blame natural causes.
I do not know very much about the causes or “guiltied”. What I know is that something is happening in Earth. The glacier’s ice is thawing and some polar bears are dieing of hungry , our rivers are durtier, our air is more polluted and what can we say about the weather? I think some human actions, even when they do not afect the global heating, can let our lives better. Do not throw the garbage into the rivers, on the roads or streets, the factorie’s pollution has to be under control so as the pollution caused by cars. To save water is another positive action which we can do. I know that sometimes is difficult to change some habits, but it is not impossible. Some weeks ago, I watched a movie called “ The day after tomorrow”. It is about the climate but, of course, it is very radical because the climate changes very fast and the Earth gets into a new ice age.If you got curious, I recommend you to watch it. By Evelise