How to beat loneliness

Loneliness is a subjective feeling. You may be surrounded by other people, friends, family, workmates — yet still feel emotionally or socially disconnected from those around you. Other people are not guaranteed to shield us against the raw emotional pain that loneliness inflicts.

But raw emotional pain is only the beginning of the damage loneliness can cause. It has a huge impact on our physical health as well. Loneliness activates our physical and psychological stress responses and suppresses the function of our immune systems. This puts us at increased risk for developing all kinds of illness and diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Shockingly, the longterm risk chronic loneliness poses to our health and longevity is so severe, it actually increases risk of an early death by 26%.

There are many paths to loneliness. Some enter loneliness gradually. A friend moves away, another has a child, a third works a seventy-hour work week, and before we know it our social circle, the one we had relied upon for years, ceases to exist. Others enter loneliness more suddenly, when they leave for college or the military, lose a partner to death or divorce, start a new job, or move to a new town or country. And for some, chronic illness, disability or other limiting conditions have made loneliness a lifelong companion.

Unfortunately, emerging from loneliness is far more challenging than we realize, as the psychological wounds it inflicts create a trap from which it is difficult to break free. Loneliness distorts our perceptions, making us believe the people around us care much less than they actually do, and it makes us view our existing relationships more negatively, such that we see them as less meaningful and important than we would if we were not lonely.

These distorted perceptions have a huge ripple effect, creating self-fulfilling prophecies that ensnare many. Feeling emotionally raw and convinced of our own undesirability and of the diminished caring of others, we hesitate to reach out even as we are likely to respond to overtures from others with hesitance, resentment, skepticism or desperation, effectively pushing away the very people who could alleviate our condition.

As a result, many lonely people withdraw and isolate themselves to avoid risking further rejection or disappointment. And when they do venture into the world, their hesitance and doubts are likely to create the very reaction they fear. They will force themselves to attend a party but feel so convinced others won’t talk to them, they spend the entire evening parked by the hummus and vegetable dip with a scowl on their face, and indeed, no one dares approach — which for them only verifies their fundamental undesirability. […] 

(Source: Guy Winch, at TED Ideas. Retrieved at: http://ideas.ted.com/how-tobeat-loneliness/) 

An interview with Paolo Kwan, 20, from Hong Kong, who is improving his English while studying Business Administration at Sierra College in northern California.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO STUDY IN THE USA?

It provides a nice education in a beautiful country. When I was younger I used to watch American movies and I wanted to visit the United States. They always talked about the American dream, and I wanted to come and see it.

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR INTENSIVE ENGLISH PROGRAM?

Sierra College is one of the biggest community colleges in northern California. It is in a quiet location but has a beautiful campus.

The college has a good business program. I can study for two years at Sierra College and then two years at my transfer school to earn my degree.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST?

I also enjoy the quality of the teaching at the college. There is a writing center where I can go at any time. The teachers can make suggestions to improve my essay, regarding grammar and my vocabulary. At the Math Center, they can explain in detail the problems.

WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST?

I miss the food and also my family.

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST SURPRISE?

I was surprised by the cultural difference. The taste and style of food is very different. The amount of food is a lot larger. A small portion in the USA is a large portion in Hong Kong. When people from America find out that I am from another country they ask a lot of questions. They are very interested in you and finding out about Hong Kong. 

... YOUR BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?

I have not had any since I came here. 

HOW HAVE YOU HANDLED:

... LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES?

It is important not to be shy, as that does not help you when you are trying to improve your language. I make sure that I study, practice and speak as often as I can—that is the only way to improve. ...

FINANCES?

I am being supported by my family.

... ADJUSTING TO A DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM?

The American system is much more open. In Hong Kong you just learn what the teacher writes on the board. In America, you discuss the issues and focus more on ideas

WHAT ARE YOUR ACTIVITIES?

I am interested in traveling around the USA. I have been to San Francisco, which you can reach by train from Sierra College. In my free time I go out with friends. 

HOW EASY OR DIFFICULT IS MAKING FRIENDS?

It has not been that hard to make friends in the USA. Other people at the college are friendly and want to make friends as well.

HOW IS YOUR U.S. EDUCATION RELEVANT TO YOUR PERSONAL GOALS AND TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR COUNTRY?

I think that the U.S. education system will provide me with good resources and skills to be able to support myself in order to get hired in my own country

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO OTHER STUDENTS?

An awesome life experience is waiting for you in the future. You will learn so much more than you think. Nothing is impossible, so go ahead and give it a try.

Adapted from: https://www.studyusa.com

How monks helped invent sign language

      For millennia people with hearing impairments encountered marginalization because it was believed that language could only be learned by hearing the spoken word. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, for example, asserted that “Men that are deaf are in all cases also dumb.” Under Roman law people who were born deaf were denied the right to sign a will as they were “presumed to understand nothing; because it is not possible that they have been able to learn to read or write.”

      Pushback against such ideas began in the 16th-century, with the creation of the first formal sign language for the hearing impaired, by Pedro Ponce de León, a Spanish Benedictine monk. His idea to use sign language was not a completely new one. Native Americans used hand gestures to communicate with other tribes and to facilitate trade with Europeans. Benedictine monks had used them to convey messages during their daily periods of silence. Inspired by the latter practice, Ponce de León adapted the gestures used in his monastery to create a method for teaching the deaf to communicate, paving the way for systems now used all over the world.

      Building on Ponce de León’s work, another Spanish cleric and linguist, Juan Pablo Bonet, proposed that deaf people learn to pronounce words and progressively construct meaningful phrases. Bonet’s approach combined oralism – using sounds to communicate – with sign language. The system had its challenges, especially when learning the words for abstract terms, or intangible forms such as conjunctions like “for,” “nor,” or “yet.”

      In 1755 the French Catholic priest Charles-Michel de l’Épée established a more comprehensive method for educating the deaf, which culminated in the founding of the first public school for deaf children, in Paris. Students came to the institute from all over France, bringing signs they had used to communicate with at home. Insistent that sign language needed to be a complete language, his system was complex enough to express prepositions, conjunctions, and other grammatical elements.

      Épée’s standardized sign language quickly spread across Europe and to the United States. In 1814 Thomas Gallaudet went to France to learn Épée’s language system. Three years later, Gallaudet established the American School for the Deaf in his hometown in Connecticut. Students from across the United States attended, and they brought signs they used to communicate with at home.American Sign Language became a combination of these signs and those from French Sign Language.

      Thanks to the development of formal sign languages, people with hearing impairment can access spoken language in all its variety. The world’s many modern signing systems have different rules for pronunciation, word order, and grammar. New visual languages can even express regional accents to reflect the complexity and richness of local speech.

(Ines Anton Rayas. www.nationalgeographic.com. 28.05.2019. Adaptado)

Australia fires: What's being done to fight the flames?

Large parts of Australia __________ (devastate) by the worst wildfires the country __________ (see) in decades, with huge blazes tearing through bush, woodland and national parks. Record-breaking temperatures and months of drought __________ (help) the fires burn an estimated 10 million hectares (100,000 sq km) of land since 1 July.

Bushfire conditions EASED over the weekend, giving fire crews a period of temporary respite. But authorities __________ (say) the huge fires will persist until there is substantial rainfall. More hot weather is __________ (expect) next week and the risk was far from over, they said. Thousands of firefighters are still battling blazes across large swathes of Australia - ranging in size from small fires to infernos burning across hectares of land. Entire towns have been engulfed and residents across several states have lost their homes. At least 28 people have died.

State and federal authorities have been working together to try to stem the spread. While they have managed to contain some within a matter of days, the biggest blazes have been burning for months.

At least 3,700 firefighters are on the ground at any one time across the country during the worst periods, according to the country's state fire services. Most are in the worst-hit states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. When fires have been at their worst, about 2,700 firefighters have been battling the blazes at any one time in NSW alone. Ben Shepherd, of the NSW Rural Fire Service, said his colleagues had dealt with 4.2m hectares of burning land this season, compared with the typical 300,000 hectares. "It's been an incredibly long campaign," he said.

Fire crews across the country have been joined by 3,000 army, navy and air force reservists who are assisting with search and rescue and clean-up efforts. Further support coming from the US, Canada, and New Zealand, who have sent additional teams and equipment to help.

                                         (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51008051 )

Para responder a questão, leia o artigo de jornal a seguir.

Trial with migrants

        The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is against migration there. He says that the EU risks losing another country if the migration is not stopped. Nine men were sentenced to nearly a year in jail; however, they were released at the judge’s discretion due to time already served. One of the group was kept behind bars after receiving a three-year sentence for issuing instructions to the rioters through a loudspeaker. After the trial, a United Nations spokesman said that he was worried that a country would criminalize people who are fleeing war zones.

(www.ondemandnews.com – Adaptado)

Text II

                               Reading Comprehension Instruction

      There are widespread and erroneous perceptions that children must know all of the words before they can comprehend a text and that they must comprehend it at the literal level before advancing to comprehension at the inferential level.

      Recognizing some words is clearly necessary and central to reading. It is important for children to acquire a set of strategies for figuring out the meanings of words and apply these strategies so that words are recognized automatically. Four groups of strategies exist: (1) common graphophonic patterns (e.g., at in cat, hat, bat), (2) high‐frequency or common words used in sentences (e.g., the, a, or), (3) word building (e.g., morphemes, as play in plays, played, playing, playful), and (4) contextual supports gathered through the meanings of sentences, texts, and illustrations. These word recognition strategies are taught as children are engaged in reading and are considered effective in fluency instruction.

      Vocabulary and reading comprehension growth occurs side by side even for beginning readers. They each require explicit instruction and lots of reading of stories including repeated readings to teach phonics, to develop sight vocabulary, and to teach children how to decode words; guided retelling using questions that prompt children to name the characters, identify the setting (place and time), speak to the problem, tell what happened, and how the story ended; repeated checking for information; and drawing conclusions. Teaching strategies to children early, explicitly, and sequentially are three key characteristics of effective vocabulary and reading comprehension instruction.

      For those who are learning English as second or foreign language, take advantage of their first language knowledge to identify cognate pairs, which are words with similar spellings, pronunciations, and meanings in English. To identify the degree of overlap between the two languages is a strategy that has been demonstrated to be effective for Spanish‐ literate children: learn the words for basic objects (e.g., dog, cat, house, car) that English‐only children already know; review and practice passages and stories through read‐alouds in order to accelerate the rate at which words can be identified and read; and engage in basic reading skills including spelling.

(PHILLIPS, L.M, NORRIS, S. P. & VAVRA, K.L. Reading Comprehension Instruction (pp. 1‐10). Faculty of Education, University of Alberta.   Posted online on 2007‐11‐20 in: http://www.literacyencyclopedia.ca)

How can you stop your kids viewing harmful web content?

As concerns grow about the effect of harmful social media content on our children, we look at what tools are available for parents to regulate what kids see and how long they spend online.  

The struggle to prise them away from a life spent online is a familiar one for many beleaguered parents. Our youngsters spend hours on Instagram chasing "likes" - and often coming up against cyber-bullying - or playing games, obsessing about YouTube influencers or surfing between different "friendship groups" on WhatsApp. 

So how can we keep them safe from harmful content?

Content filtering software has been around for many years, but parents have often been too tech-shy to work it properly. And it often required children to hand over their passwords - a potential cause of family rows. 

 But now a new generation of digital parental controls has arrived on the market, promising to help parents take back control more easily.

• • UK plans social media and internet watchdog 

Circle with Disney, Koala Safe and Ikydz, for example, are systems that claim to be able to control every digital device in your home with a few taps on a smartphone app. use, but is ? 

The new products work by connecting to your existing household wi-fi router. In the case of Circle you plug in the white cube - clearly inspired by the Apple school of design - and it immediately lists every connected phone, laptop, tablet, and so on in your home, and offers a variety of ways to control them. (…) 

 (…) Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England, thinks it is good parenting to set limits.

"The internet can be a great resource, but it can also be the wild west for children. We wouldn't think it was OK to drop our children off in the park at night if they were younger," she says. 

"In the same way we shouldn't think it is OK for them to roam the internet without any guidance or restrictions." 

There are disadvantages with these latest filtering devices, though. Some don't work once your child's phone leaves the home and is no longer on home wi-fi. And they won't all work if the wi-fi is switched off and the internet is accessed via mobile data. Other products are also incompatible with some UK routers.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47853554(adapted) Access: APRIL 18th,,2019 

TEXT II

What to Know About the Controversy Surrounding the Movie Green Book

Depending on who you ask, Green Book is either the pinnacle of movie magic or a whitewashing sham. 

The film, which took home the prize for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards, as well as honors for Mahershala Ali as Best Supporting Actor and Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly for Best Original Screenplay, depicts the burgeoning friendship between a black classical pianist and his ItalianAmerican driver as they travel the 1960s segregated South on a concert tour. But while Green Book was an awards frontrunner all season, its road to Oscar night was riddled with missteps and controversies over its authenticity and racial politics. 

Green Book is about the relationship between two real-life people: Donald Shirley and Tony “Lip” Vallelonga. Shirley was born in 1927 and grew up in a well-off black family in Florida, where he emerged as a classical piano prodigy: he possessed virtuosic technique and a firm grasp of both classical and pop repertoire. He went on to perform regularly at Carnegie Hall— right below his regal apartment—and work with many prestigious orchestras, like the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. But at a time when prominent black classical musicians were few and far between due to racist power structures, he never secured a spot in the upper echelons of the classical world. (African Americans still only make up 1.8 percent of musicians playing in orchestras nationwide, according to a recent study.) 

Vallelonga was born in 1930 to working-class Italian parents and grew up in the Bronx. As an adult he worked as a bouncer, a maître d’ and a chauffeur, and he was hired in 1962 to drive Shirley on a concert tour through the Jim Crow South. The mismatched pair spent one and a half years together on the road — though it’s condensed to just a couple of months in the film — wriggling out of perilous situations and learning about each other’s worlds. Vallelonga would later become an actor and land a recurring role on The Sopranos. 

In the 1980s, Vallelonga’s son, Nick, approached his father and Shirley about making a movie about their friendship. For reasons that are now contested, Shirley rebuffed these requests at the time. […]

(Source: from http://time.com/5527806/green-book-movie-controversy/)