Read the text about a tribute to Franz Kafka for the question

Google Doodle celebrates Franz Kafka’s 130th birthday with ‘The Metamorphosis’ tribute Google has created a ‘doodle’ in tribute to Franz Kafka on the 130th anniversary of the Germanlanguage novelist’s birth.

The doodle is based on Kafka’s 1915 novella ‘The Metamorphosis’ – considered by many to be one of the most important works of fiction of the 20th Century – and shows the character Gregor Samsa walking into a room in the guise of a large insect.

In the much-celebrated work, Samsa is a travelling salesman who transforms into an insect overnight. The rest of novella focuses on his struggle to come to terms with his new existence and the burden it places on his family.

Kafka was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family on 3 July 1883 in Prague, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He originally trained as a lawyer but began writing short stories in his spare time - eventually coming to consider it his calling – despite only a handful of his works being published during his lifetime.

Regarded as one of the 20th Century’s most influential authors, Kafka’s works are dominated by unreliable narrators who often tell dark tales of existentialist difficulties.

Kafka’s notoriously difficult relationship with his father Hermann is believed to have strongly influenced his work – with The Metamorphosis itself thought to be based upon Kafka’s own fears of insignificance and repulsiveness to his own family.

From: HALL, John. Available at:<http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-doodlecelebrates-franz-kafkas-130th-birthday-with-the-metamorphosis-tribute-8685557.html>.

TEXT III

Important reasons for teaching kindness in schools

Most people have heard the phrase random acts of kindness, which refers to a selfless act of giving

resulting in the happiness of another person. Terms like this are increasing in popularity around the

world, as more people identify a deficiency in their lives that can only be fulfilled by altruism.

It seems we just can't get enough of those addictive feel good emotions and with good reason.

5 Scientific studies have shown that kindness has a great number of physical and emotional benefits,

and that children require a healthy dose of the warm and fuzzies in order to flourish as health, happy,

well-rounded individuals.

Patty O'Grady, PhD, is an expert in the area of neuroscience, emotional learning, and positive

psychology with special attention to the educational arena. She believes that kindness changes the brain

10 by the experience of kindness. Children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and

talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it. Kindness is an emotion that

students feel and empathy is a strength that they share.

A great number of benefits have been reported to support the theory of teaching kindness in schools:

1. Happy Children

15 Science explains that the good feelings we experience when being kind are produced by endorphins

that activate areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure, social connection and trust, and it's

proven that these feelings of joyfulness are contagious, encouraging more kind behaviour by the giver

and recipient.

2. Increased Peer Acceptance

20 Research on the subject has determined that kindness increases our ability to form meaningful

connections with others. Studies show that kind, happy children enjoy greater peer acceptance

because they are well-liked and that better than average mental health is reported in classrooms that

practice more inclusive behaviour due to an even distribution of popularity.

3. Improved Health and Less Stress

25 It's widely documented that being kind can trigger a release of the hormone oxytocin which has a

number of physical and mental health benefits as it can significantly increase a person's level of

happiness and reduce stress. More recently though, it's been found it plays a significant role in the

cardiovascular system, helping protect the heart by lowering blood pressure and reducing free

radicals and inflammation, which incidentally speed up the aging process.

30 4. Greater Sense of Belonging and Improved Self Esteem

Studies show that people experience a 'helpers high' when they do a good deed, a rush of endorphins

that creates a lasting sense of pride, wellbeing and an enriched sense of belonging. Even small acts of

kindness are reported to heighten our sense of wellbeing, increase energy and give a wonderful

feeling of optimism and self worth.

35 5. Increased Feelings of Gratitude

When children are part of projects that help others less fortunate than themselves, it provides them

with a real sense of perspective and helps them appreciate the good things in their own lives.

6. Better Concentration and Improved Results

As it increases serotonin, which plays an important part in learning, memory, mood, sleep, health and

40 digestion, kindness is a key ingredient that helps children feel good. Having a positive outlook allows

them greater attentions spans and enables more creative thinking to produce better results at school.

7. Less Bullying

Two Penn State Harrisburg faculty researchers, Shanetia Clark and Barbara Marinak say, unlike

previous generations, today's adolescents are victimizing each other at alarming rates. They argue adolescent

45 bullying and youth violence can be confronted through in-school programs that integrate kindness the

antithesis of victimization.

Many traditional anti-bullying programs focus on the negative actions that cause children anxiety and

often with little impact. Teaching kindness and compassion in schools, not only fosters the positive

behaviour that creates warm and inclusive school environments, but helps children feel that they

50 belong. It's documented that the effects of bullying can be significantly reduced by integrating

kindness based programs in schools.

8. Reduced Depression

Dr. Wayne Dyer, internationally renowned author and speaker, says research has discovered that an

act of kindness increases levels of serotonin (a natural chemical responsible for improving mood) in

55 the brain. It's also found that serotonin levels are increased in both the giver and receiver of an act of

kindness, as well as anyone who witnesses that kindness, making it a wonderful natural

antidepressant.

Maurice Elias, a professor at Rutgers University Psychology Department says that as a citizen,

grandparent, father, and professional, it is clear to me that the mission of schools must include teaching kindness.

60 Without it, communities, families, schools, and classrooms become places of incivility where lasting learning is

unlikely to take place.

We need to be prepared to teach kindness, because it can be delayed due to maltreatment early in life. It can be

smothered under the weight of poverty, and it can be derailed by victimization later in life. Yet despite these and

other travails, the receipt of kindness and the ability to show kindness through service are both growth enhancing

65 and soul cleansing.

Kindness can be taught, and it is a defining aspect of civilized human life. It belongs in every home, school,

neighborhood, and society.

It's become quite clear that modern education must encompass more than just academics, that in order

for children to develop into happy, confident, well-rounded individuals, matters of the heart must be

70 taken seriously and nurtured as a matter of priority.

Disponível em: <http://edarticle.com/8-important-reasons-for-teaching-kindness-in-schools/>. Acesso em: 15 set. 2016.

Text I

JANUARY 18, 2015 - DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

“Let’s go, Open your eyes, Open your mind to her dream. Let’s go, fight for what’s right, fight for her life."

Carl & the Reda Mafia, a young, dynamic, award-winning Dubai band, wrote the song “Fight for Your Queen” as a direct call to men to fight for gender equality. As they told UN Women: “HeForShe is a movement we have looked up to since its inception. The idea of ____________’s rights is something we truly believe in and support.” Lead singer Carl Frenais, who is from India, introduced the campaign to the band. He has been very passionate about fighting against the horrifyingly violent crimes against women in his home country.

We got over 500 men to pledge to support the movement. Even those who were afraid told us they support it.

Adaptation from: http://www.heforshe.org/en/newsroom/safety/rock-voices-for-change. Access on: April 4, 2016. 

Read TEXT 3 and answer question.  

TEXT 3  

THE PAPERLESS CLASSROOM IS COMING  

Michael Scherer

Back-to-school night this year in Mr. G’s sixth-grade classroom felt a bit like an inquisition.

Teacher Matthew Gudenius, a boyish, 36-year-old computer whiz who runs his class like a preteen tech startup, had prepared 26 PowerPoint slides filled with facts and footnotes to deflect the concerns of parents. But time was short, the worries were many, and it didn’t take long for the venting to begin.

“I like a paper book. I don’t like an e-book,” one father told him, as about 30 adults squeezed into a room for 22 students. Another dad said he could no longer help his son with homework because all the assignments were online. “I’m now kind of taking out of the routine.”, he complained. Rushing to finish, Gudenius passed a slide about the debate over teaching cursive, mumbling, “We don’t care about handwriting.” In a flash a mother objected: “Yeah, we do.”

At issue was far more than penmanship. The future of K-12 education is arriving fast, and it looks a lot like Mr. G’s classroom in the northern foothills of California’s wine country. Last year, President Obama announced a federal effort to get a laptop, tablet or smartphone into the hands of every student in every school in the U.S. and to pipe in enough bandwidth to get all 49.8 million American kids online simultaneously by 2017. Bulky textbooks will be replaced by flat screens. Worksheets will be stored in the cloud, not clunky Trapper Keepers. The Dewey decimal system will give way to Google. “This one is a big, big deal,” says Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

It’s a deal Gudenius has been working to realize for years. He doesn’t just teach a computer on every student’s desk; he also tries to do it without any paper at all, saving, by his own estimate, 46,800 sheets a year, or about four trees. The paperless learning environment, while not the goals of most fledgling programs, represents the ultimate result of technology transforming classroom.

Gudenius started teaching as a computer-lab instructor, seeing students for just a few hours each month. That much time is still the norm for most kids. American schools have about 3.6 students for every classroom computing device, according to Education Market Research, and only 1 in 5 school buildings has the wiring to get all students online at once. But Gudenius always saw computers as a tool, not a subject. “We don’t have a paper-and-pencil lab, he says. When you are learning to be a mechanic, you don’t go to a wrench lab.”

Ask his students if they prefer the digital to the tree-based technology and everyone will say yes. It is not unusual for kids to groan when the bell rings because they don’t want to leave their work, which is often done in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. Instead of telling his students to show their work when they do an algebra equation, Gudenius asks them to create and narrate a video about the process, which can then be shown in class. History lessons are enlivened by brief videos that run on individual tablets. And spelling, grammar and vocabulary exercises have the feel of a game, with each student working at his own speed, until Gudenius – who tracks the kids’ progress on a smartphone – gives commands like “Spin it” to let the kids know to flip the screens of their devices around so that he can see their work and begin the next lesson.

Source: TIME- How to Eat Now. Education: The Paperless Classroom is Coming, p. 36-37; October 20, 2014