VIV'S ENGLISH NEWSLETTER

By Viv Quarry. Edition Number 4 The eighth of March 1997.

Study English in England with Cicero International - See Viv for information & discount.

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Well, the carnival's finally over and I'm happy to say that my favourite samba school was one of the winners. Did you know that I was in the parade in the 1995 carnival? As proof, I've included a photo taken at the time. I was part of 'the humming bird samba school' (beija flor).

There is quite a lot of interest in the Rio carnival abroad, so I have decided to list some of the vocabulary you can use when telling foreigners about it.

Did you know...?

Desfile = Parade (V&N)

Fantasia = Costume

Carro alegórico = Float

Sambar = Dance the samba

Enredo = Story

Bateria = The drum section

Sambódromo = A huge arena

Arquibancada = The stands

Camarotes = Boxes

Welcome!

I'd like to welcome four new students :

Carlos Augusto at Shell and his wife Alcione.

Monica, who is a journalism student, and Rosiane from Anderson Consulting.

What's New?

Have you done your C.V. in English yet?

Is it possible that you will have an interview in English at some time in the future?

Be careful with the answer to this second question as an ex-student once told me that he had gone to what he thought would be an interview in Portuguese, and after giving the answer to the question "Do you speak English?", he was asked if he minded if the rest of the interview were in English!

If the answer to the first question was no, and the second yes, then don't despair.

I have done information sheets on both how to write your CV in English and on interview techniques. If you're interested ask me for a copy, try writing your CV, and when you have finished I will check through it carefully to make sure that there aren't any mistakes.

Learning tips

Has your television got the closed captions option? If it has, you are in luck! In many films or programmes made after 1995, it's possible to hear the text in English and see what they are saying simultaneously at the bottom of the screen. Even if there are subtitles in Portuguese, the captions often cover the Portuguese, forcing you to read the English.

I have a few films and programmes on video with closed captions recorded on tape, if you would like to experiment.

Always leave the closed captions enabled on your tv, you never know when a film may be shown with English subtitles.

Your contributions.

The composition of the month for March is a horror story by Paula, who works for Ipiranga and is also studying engineering at UFRJ. She is preparing to take the Cambridge First Certificate Exam this year.

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