A Mother's History

Recognisably I've been struggled against any kind of violence, racism, Zionists, anything who expresses discrimination. In particular I've been posted since next month a sad history about Ann-Oak who lost her son brutally assassinated, check it out this History and help to promote http://www.knifecrimes.org  

HANDS ACROSS THE SAND Part II, Audio

Source: Speak Up

Speakers: Jason Birmgham and Chuck Rolando

Standard: American Accent

INTERVIEW

IN DEEP WATER

      One of the most dramatic events this year has undoubtedly been the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, better known as the “BP oil disaster.”

      The spill lasted from April 20 to September 19. BP estimates its total cost to rectify the situation as $ 40 billion. According to Wikipedia, it is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.”

      Not surprisingly, the disaster has given great impetus to the environmental movement and has made people think again about alternative energy sources. On June 26^th a series of events called “Hands Across the Sand” took part. They linked hands across beaches around the country in order to protest against offshore drilling.

      One person who was closely involved in the organization was John Weber, of an environment group, the Surfrider Foundation. He met with Speak Up on a rather noisy beach. As he explained, the Deepwater Horizon Spill is just one of many in a long line of American oil disasters.

John Weber

Standard: American Accent

In  1969 there was an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and there were many dead seabirds and sea life and it was such that people in California could see the damage right in front of their eyes and many people think that that helped give rise to the modern environmental movement in the United State. So, after that, offshore oil drilling was questioned because in Santa Barbara that was a bad accident. So that was over 40 years ago and then. In 1989, we had the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An I haven’t been there myself, but people say you can go to Prince William Sound in Alaska and dig down a few inches in the dirt, or among the rocks, and there’s still oil there. And Exxon never properly cleaned up there, and they never properly compensated fishermen and people that made their living in such a way. Exxon neverspent more money fighting it in court, on lawyers, than it would have taken just to compensate people properly. 

Family album 67, USA

Source: FAMILY ALBUM USA.

We are the world

WHAT is “We are the world 25 for Haiti”?

It is a remake of the song "we are the world", recorded 25 years after theoriginal one to raise money to help reconstruction in Haiti after the 2010earthquake.

The Author of this posting is credit for Maria Helena Sabadini

Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4069

EXERCISE ONE: WH

AT DOES THE MESSAGE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO SAY?

READ THE FOLLOWING AND CHOOSE WHETHER THEY'RE RIGHT OR WRONG

1- it asks us to do more than just watch and to donate for Haiti truefalse

2- it says the original lyrics were by M Jackson alone truefalse

3- it says the original song was written by M Jackson and Lionel Ritchie truefalse

4- it says this video was made to remember M Jackson truefalse

5- it says this video was made to take action to help Haiti truefalse

6- it asks us to reach deep into our hearts and do something to help truefalse

7- it says you must donate big sums of money truefalse

8- it says this isn't a new version of the original song truefalse

9- it says 25 years have passed since the first version of the song was releasedtruefalse

EXERCISE TWO: LISTEN AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORDS TO FILL IN THE GAPS

[Justin Bieber]
There comecomes a time
When we heedneed a certain call
[Nicole Scherzinger & Jennifer Hudson]
When the world must come together as onewon

[Jennifer Hudson]
There are people dyingdoing

[Jennifer Nettles]
And it’s time to lend a hand to livelife

The greatest gift of all
[Josh Groban]
We can’t go on
Pretending day by dayevery day
[Tony Bennet]
That someone, somehow will soon make a changemake changes

[Mary J Blige]
We are all a part of
God’s great big family
And the truth, I knowyou know love is all we need


[Chorus]
[Michael Jackson]
We are the world
We are the children
[Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson]
We are the ones who make a brightbrighterday
So let’s start giving
[Barbra Streisand]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lifelives

It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[Miley Cyrus]
Well, send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
[Enrique Iglesias]
So their cries  for helpfor helping

 will not bewill be in vain
[Nicole Scherzinger]
We can’t let them suffer
No we cannot turn awayour way

[Jamie Foxx]
Right now they need a helpful handhelping hand
[Wyclef Jean]
Nou se mond la
We are the Children
[Adam Levine]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Pink]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving ourour own lives
[BeBe Winans]
It’s true we make'll makea better day
Just you and me


[Michael Jackson]
When you’re down and out
There seems  no hopehope at all
[Usher]
But if you just believe
There’s no way we can fallfeel

[Celine Dion]
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change can only come
[Fergie]
When we stand together as one


[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Nick Jonas]
Got to start giving
[All]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
[Toni Braxton]
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me
[Mary Mary]
We are the world
We are the children
[Tony Bennet]

it's for the childrenit's for any children
[Isaac Slade]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
[Toni Braxton]
So let's start giving


[Lil Wayne]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Akon]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we'll make a better day
Just you and me


[T-Pain]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Jamie Foxx imitating Ray Charles]
Choice we're making
Saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[LL Cool J, Will-I-Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz]
1- We all need somebodysome that we can lean on
2- When you wake up look around and see that your dream's gogone
3- When the earth quakes we'll help youwe help you make it through the storm
4- When the floor breaks a magic carpetmagic car to stand on
5- We are the World unitunited by love so strong
6- When the radio isn’t on you can hear the songssoul

7- A guided light on the dark roarroad you'rewalking on
8- A sign post to find the dream you thought has gonewas gone
9- Someone to help you move the obstacles you stumbled on

10- someone that helps yousomeone to help you  rebuild after the rubble’s gone
11- We are the wordworld connected by a common bond
12- Love the whole planet sing alongsing it logsing it along


[Chorus - All]


[Kanye West]
Everyday citizens
Everybody pitching in


[Singing - Children & Wyclef Jean]
Nou se mond la
Nou se timoun yo


[Will-I-Am]
You and I
You and I
[Kanye West]
Uh, 12 days no water
Whats' your will to live?
[Will-I-Am]
We amplified the love we watching multiply
[Kanye West]
Feeling like the World's end
We can make the World win
[Will-I-Am]
Like Katrina, Africa, Indonesia
And now Haiti needs us, they need us, they need us


[Chorus - All]
[Wyclef Jean]
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha

EXERCISE THREE: THERE'S A PART OF THE SONG THAT IS RAPPED: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ABOUT IT

1- how many are the people singing?  345

2- what's the number of the line where the lyrics say that friends can help...

- to rebuild 

- to find a lost dream   

- to walk on a dark road 

- when you stumble on something, to remove those obstacles 

- to hear the music even when the radio isn't on 

Useful Sites and blogs, keep studying.

USEFUL SITES AND BLOGS IN ENGLISH

Actually today I’m going to talk about useful links on the internet, you find out a couple of them on my blog, for Brazilian and foreign people follow the list below:

Brazilian Blogs and sites:

http://www.denilsodelima.blogspot.com

http://www.teclasap.com.br

http://www.teachermanoelcarlos.blogspot.com

http://www.ingvip.com

http://www.ingvip.com/curso-de-conversacao.htm  (38 videos of Pro-Jovem) available on Inglês vip.

http://www.englishexperts.com.br  very useful for Self-Taught students as well as teachers.

http://www.maganews.com  it’s a Brazilian magazine I recommend for Students and Teachers visit the site, it’s not too expensive, great material.

There are many others, this is my favorite ones, of course due the Google Translator you may access without problem.

Blogs and English websites I recommend worldwide.

http://helpforyourenglish.wordpress.com/  I love this one.
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/  Excellent for Teachers great blog

http://www.englishexercises.org  (Excellent for Teachers and students)

http://www.real-english.com 

http://www.voanews.com  One of the best for beginners and all English learners must visit.

http://www.learningchocolate.com  Very useful for kids, and of course adults too, because I love games, once in a while I’m accessing there.

http://englishdailyworkout.blogspot.com/  Excellent ESL site for Teachers and students too.

http://www.elllo.org  ESL site

http://www.englishpractice.com/  great ESL site for Teachers and students.

http://www.idiomquest.com 

http://www.idiomsite.com

http://www.eslcafe.com/  Very useful too, ESL Site.

http://englishdailyworkout.blogspot.com/  this one is interesting ESL, by the way.

Do not forget to promote this sites and blogs, social media is excellent, you are promoting spammers but Education, not violence, unless knowledge. Thank you visiting, on my blog you will find out several links, no porn content or spam. You may have a wonderful weekend. 

http://www.eflnet.com ESL (English as Second Language), very useful site for Students and Teachers.

http://www.about.com ESL I love this one.

http://www.englishpage.com ESL site.

http://english-language-skills.com/  ESL site very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/hellochannelenglish Following up this one, there you can find out useful videos, check it out.

http://www.freeamericanenglish.com/ very interesting.

http://www.howtolearnenglish.co.uk/ Useful for both Students and Teachers.

Following up this websites and blogs and please, pass it on for friends twitting English tips, I really appreciate. Thank you for your help in advance. 

Fluency in English! How long does it take?

First of all a frequent question about how does it take to be fluent? What should you do to take it? Actually for those self-taughts it's a bit difficult to talking about it, I've been practise English for about 20 years or more I've been doing that, actually, nowadays in my viewpoint you can be fluent for about 1 and half years, it depends on to person to person.

Talking about for those practise English in private school no more than 6 months, of course it depends on how much time you dedicate to improve your English, I mean, not only in the classroom, but self-studying could be a useful tool, useful blogs, sites, videos, midia in general.

Fluency not necessarily means speaking as an American or British ones, or simply imitate a native ones, it sounds ridiculous. Be yourself. Be fluent means speaking without stop and practise makes your perfect. Good luck and go ahead.

Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939: Psychiatrist and Founder of Psychoanalysis

siSource: www.manythings.org/voa/people

Source of this pic: www.utopiacapital.blogspot.com

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.  I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Bob Doughty.

The work and theories of Sigmund Freud continue to influence many areas of modern culture.

Today, we explore Freud's influence on the treatment of mental disorders through psychotherapy.

(MUSIC)

Sigmund Freud was born May 6, 1856, in Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic.  He lived most of his life in Vienna, Austria.  Early in his adulthood, Freud studied medicine.  By the end of the 19th century, he was developing some exciting new ideas about the human mind.  But his first scientific publications dealt with sea animals, including the sexuality of eels.

Freud was one of the first scientists to make serious research of the mind.  The mind is the collection of activities based in the brain that involve how we act, think, feel and reason.

He used long talks with patients and the study of dreams to search for the causes of mental and emotional problems.  He also tried hypnosis.  He wanted to see if putting patients into a sleep-like condition would help ease troubled minds.  In most cases he found the effects only temporary.

Freud worked hard, although what he did might sound easy.  His method involved sitting with his patients and listening to them talk.  He had them talk about whatever they were thinking.  All ideas, thoughts and anything that entered their mind had to be expressed.  There could be no holding back because of fear or guilt.

Freud believed that all the painful memories of childhood lay buried in the unconscious self.   He said this part of the mind contains wishes, desires and experiences too frightening to recognize.

He thought that if these memories could somehow be brought into the conscious mind, the patient would again feel the pain.  But this time, the person would experience the memories as an adult.  The patient would feel them, be able to examine them and, if successful, finally understand them.

Using this method, Freud reasoned, the pain and emotional pressure of the past would be greatly weakened.  They would lose their power over the person's physical health.  Soon the patient would get better.

(MUSIC)

Sigmund Freud proposed that the mind was divided into three parts: the id, the ego and the superego.  Under this theory, the superego acts as a restraint.  It is governed by the values we learn from our parents and society.  The job of the superego is to help keep the id under control.

The id is completely unconscious.  It provides the energy for feelings that demand the immediate satisfaction of needs and desires.

The ego provides the immediate reaction to the events of reality.  The ego is the first line of defense between the self and the outside world.  It tries to balance the two extremes of the id and the superego.

Many of Freud's theories about how the mind works also had strong sexual connections.  These ideas included what he saw as the repressed feelings of sons toward their mothers and daughters toward their fathers.

If nothing else, Freud's ideas were revolutionary.  Some people rejected them.  Others came to accept them.  But no one disputes his great influence on the science of mental health.

Professor James Gray at American University in Washington, D.C. says three of Freud's major ideas are still part of modern thinking about the mind.

One is the idea of the unconscious mind.  Another is that we do not necessarily know what drives us to do the things we do.  And the third is that we are formed more than we think in the first five years, but not necessarily the way Freud thought.

(MUSIC)

Dr. Freud was trained as a neurologist.  He treated disorders of the nervous system.  But physical sickness can hide deeper problems.  His studies on the causes and treatment of mental disorders helped form many ideas in psychiatry.  Psychiatry is the area of medicine that treats mental and emotional conditions.

Freud would come to be called the father of psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy.  It includes discussion and investigation of hidden fears and conflicts.

Sigmund Freud used free association.  He would try to get his patients to free their minds and say whatever they were thinking.  He also had them talk about their dreams to try to explore their unconscious fears and desires.

His version of psychoanalysis remained the one most widely used until at least the 1950s.

Psychoanalysis is rarely used in the United States anymore.  One reason is that it takes a long time; the average length of treatment is about five years.  Patients usually have to pay for the treatment themselves.  Health insurance plans rarely pay for this form of therapy.

Psychoanalysis has its supporters as well as its critics.  Success rates are difficult to measure.  Psychoanalysts say this is because each individual case is different.

More recently, a number of shortened versions of psychological therapy have been developed.  Some examples are behavior therapy, cognitive therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy.  Behavior is actions; cognition is knowing and judging.

Some patients in therapy want to learn to find satisfaction in what they do.  Others want to unlearn behaviors that only add to their problems.

In these therapies, patients might talk with a therapist about the past.  Or patients might be advised to think less about the past and more about the present and the future.

(MUSIC)

Other kinds of therapy involve movement, dance, art, music or play.  These are used to help patients who have trouble talking about their emotions.

In many cases, therapy today costs less than it used to.  But the length of treatment depends on the problem.  Some therapies, for example, call for 20 or 30 visits with a therapist.

How long people continue their therapy can also depend on the cost.  People find that health insurance plans are often more willing to pay for short-term therapies than for longer-term treatments.

Mental health experts say therapy can often help patients suffering from depression, severe stress or other conditions.

For some patients, they say, a combination of talk therapy and medication works best.  There are many different drugs for depression, anxiety and other mental and emotional disorders.

Critics, however, say doctors are sometimes too quick to give medicine instead of more time for talk therapy.  Again, cost pressures are often blamed.

Mental health problems can affect work, school, marriage, and life in general.  Yet they often go untreated.  In many cases, people do not want others to know they have a problem.

Mental disorders are common in all countries.  The World Health Organization says hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are affected by mental, behavioral, neurological or substance use disorders.

The W.H.O. says these disorders have major economic and social costs.  Yet governments face difficult choices about health care spending.  The W.H.O. says most poor countries spend less than one percent of their health budgets on mental health.

There are treatments for most conditions.  Still, the W.H.O. says there are two major barriers.  One is lack of recognition of the seriousness of the problem.  The other is lack of understanding of the services that exist.

More About Sigmund Freud

The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, left Vienna soon after troops from Nazi Germany entered Austria in 1938.  The Nazis had a plan to kill all the Jews of Europe, but they permitted Freud to go to England.  His four sisters remained in Vienna and were all killed in Nazi concentration camps.

Freud was eighty-three years old when he died of cancer in London on September 23, 1939.  Anna Freud, the youngest of his six children, became a noted psychoanalyst herself.

Before Sigmund Freud, no modern scientist had looked so deeply into the human mind.

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written and produced by Brianna Blake.  I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Bob Doughty.  You can download transcripts and audio archives of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com.  Listen again next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America. (This was also broadcast in 2008.)