Questões de Inglês - Advérbios de: lugar, modo, tempo e freqüência | Adverbs of: place, manner, time and frequency para Concurso

1       We live in vulnerable energy times. The energy crisis, climate change and energy transition are all shaking and shaping the global future. “The energy realities of the world remind us that oil and gas will be here for decades to pivot a just, affordable and secure energy transition,” as John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation, mentioned during the International Energy Conference and Expo in Guyana in February 2023.

2       As someone said, vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation and technology is the driving force behind progressive changes. Nevertheless, how can Guyana play a vital role in reordering energy security? “By embedding innovation earlier in the process, Guyana can skip several steps and avoid what most economies went through” this idea was emphasized several times during the same conference. “If we integrate innovation into Guyana’s process today, there might be some accelerated success.”

3      Guyana can play an essential role in balancing the global energy supply and demand markets and address the energy crisis by becoming a top crude oil producer globally. The goal is to become competitive in the global oil and gas market and this can be achieved by attracting and establishing partnerships with companies that can bring increased efficiency and productivity to the local oil and gas operations, from exploration and production to storage and transportation. For Guyana, this means that improvements in regulations, a transparent, secure and competitive environment for foreign investment, and incentives from the government can serve as catalysts for technology and innovation.

4      Collaborating with universities and creating a business innovation hub mentality for young entrepreneurs with government support, like loan guarantees, grants, and tax credits, will also spur the industry.

5       Innovative technology will play a critical role in climate change. The oil and gas sector must reduce its emissions by at least 3.4 gigatons of CO2 equivalent a year by 2050 – a 90 % reduction in current emissions. Guyana today can become a world leader in setting a benchmark around flaring and it’s possible for the country to achieve zero-flare objective, because “from day one the right solutions and the right technologies were properly planned and properly positioned in order to enable the extraction and the production with almost zero carbon footprint”, as the Emissions Director at Schlumberger vocalized about a year ago.

6       Innovations and technologies are key to the energy transition, from floating wind farms to solar photovoltaic farm developments, waste-to-fuel projects and green hydrogen, shaping Guyana’s energy transition and future. All this requires not only massive financial support but an innovationoriented and technology-friendly environment, with a strong emphasis on education, training and research. Nevertheless, the decision in Guyana on what technologies to adopt and how much to innovate will have a big impact on results over the long term and the government should base it on a clear vision and roadmap.

It is not uncommon for English language lessons to favour communication over accuracy: real life is nothing like a classroom! In real-life situations, when you make a mistake in the language you are learning, context provides ample information as to what the intended message is. In fact, most of the time, impeccable accuracy is not needed at all! “Don’t worry about making mistakes,” I used to tell my English language students. “Communicating is the most important thing!”

While making mistakes when trying to master a language might seem counter-intuitive, letting learners freely communicate and negotiate meaning is key to success. A learner who communicates a lot while making a few mistakes is much more likely to develop confidence for dealing with real-life situations than a learner who communicates very little because they’re afraid of making any. In communicative language teaching, for example, the teacher is tasked with both encouraging the learner to express themselves and with providing corrective feedback in a way that is not obstructive to communication. 

This means that if a learner says, “I go swimming last night,” it is much more effective to respond with, “Oh, that’s nice, you went swimming. What did you do after?” rather than, “No! You went swimming! Use past simple for past events!” – the former encourages the learner to continue their narrative while the latter is much more likely to make the learner stop in their tracks, re-evaluate the context, and think twice before expressing themselves again in the future, for the fear of making a mistake again. Teachers need to be careful not to parrot back everything the students say in this manner, of course, but the technique can be an effective method of acknowledging the content of a student’s response, while also providing feedback on accuracy.

The importance of the freedom to make mistakes in language learning is also supported by research in psychology, which suggests that learners who try a task without having mastered it completely experience improved retention of new information. A similar experiment in the context of language learning also indicates that the process of making mistakes activates a greater network of related knowledge in the brain, which leads to superior learning outcomes.

It is believed that the key to help learners feel relaxed and ready for communicating freely in the classroom is authenticity. This means that there should be both a real communicative need for a learner to speak and the authentic reaction from those around to what the learner has said.

Here are a few ways of how such authentic communicative interactions can be practiced in the classroom: 

• surround learners with the English language – encourage them to speak to you and each other in English;

• don’t worry about diverging from topics that are not strictly covered in your lesson plan;

• model communication by telling your students stories and anecdotes about your own life and encourage them to do the same;

• let your learners have fun with English – give them colloquial expressions to try and ask them to share some expressions

; • do not overcorrect – make a note of errors and cover it in subsequent lessons;

• avoid the temptation to turn what was intended as speaking practice into a full-on grammar lesson.

While easier said than done, especially when the outcome of an exam is at stake, it is worth remembering that people that our learners might come to interact with outside of the classroom are driven by the natural desire to understand the people they communicate with. This is especially powerful when practiced in the context of a classroom. They set the learners up for success in real-life communication. In other words, when communication is the goal, mistakes are secondary, and that’s real life, isn’t it?

Adapted from: https://wwwcambridgeenglish.org/blog/mistakes-help-you-learnfreedom-to-fail-in-games-and-language-learning/