VIV'S ENGLISH NEWSLETTER

By Viv Quarry. Edition Number 31 The fourteenth of January 2003.

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

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Happy Birthday!

There are two birthdays in January: Beatriz (25th) and Ana Paula (26th), and two in February: Danusa (8th) and Patricia A (11th).

Congratulations!

All three students mentioned in the last edition passed their end of course tests.

Prices

Since calculating the cost of classes in Real instead of in Dollar, Viv has had to readjust the cost of classes at the end of every  year to cover inflation. The official rate of inflation for 2002 was over 10%, and the rate related to services directly connected to the cost of teaching at home (rent & electricity) was 20% and 30% respectively.

Therefore, from February I will be changing my price per hour from (Consult Viv for details) per hour.

I know that my price is still low when compared to similarly (and less) qualified and experienced native teachers, but for me, the most important factor is to be able to work with people I like and who are making good progress.

Parking

When I went to pay the parking fee last week, I was told that the monthly charge would be going  up from R$150 to R$180 per month. After this increase it's no longer viable for me to reserve a space for my students, as the reservation cost would be the same per student as the cost of each student paying individually.

Therefore, from the first of February I will no longer be able to stamp your parking tickets, and there won't be any extra charge for parking added to your bills.

Holidays

The twentieth of January and first of March are holidays in Rio for some people. Viv will be working for those of you who would like classes. Just send him a message letting him know what you want to do.

Student's Web Pages

Firstly, I will be removing the e-mail addresses from your personal web pages, so that there's less chance of you receiving junk mail. I'll pass on any messages to you. I will also be asking everyone who has a passport photo or one which is out of date, to give me a new photo for your web page (if not I can take a photo in class using the web cam).

Did you know that if you do a web search for your name using Google or Yahoo, your web page will show up in the results?

What's new on the web?

Around the middle of every month, for the next few months, I'll be putting a question on the home page of my web site. You may need to explore the site to find the answer. The first three of my students who send me the correct answer to the question (use my 'terra' e-mail address) will receive a free class.

Features

If you're interested how many people have been to visit your personal web page I've put the number of visits so far (until the 16th of January 2003 in the features section of this edition.

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