Do you speak Portuguese and English? Would like to use your language skills to help refugees and humanitarian workers? You can become a translator volunteer through Tarjimly, an app that provides translation services for refugees. They are looking for people who can translate between Portuguese and English. #tarjimly #translatorvolunteer #portuguese You can sign up by clicking on the link below: https://tarjimly.org/invite/1VNSST

I am looking for a language partner. I want to practice English and I can teach Portuguese. Anyone interested? Estoy buscando a un compañero de idiomas. Quiero practicar español y puedo enseñar portugués. Algún interesado? #languagepartner #compañerodeidiomas

Looking for a language partner: Portuguese (native) -> English and Spanish #languagepartner #portuguese

Coffee I know a few people who grow coffee, but there is no fair trade for them. To give you an idea, only a few cents from the $1.75 that you pay for an espresso at Starbucks (which need about 70 roasted beans) gets to the hand of someone who harvests the coffee. After months harvesting and cleaning the coffee berries, a farmer sells a 132-pound bag for about $100.00. The companies buying the coffee separate the green beans size and quality, put them in bags again, and sell them abroad by twice or three times the price they had paid. Many people who grow coffee live a simple life, with no health insurance or extra money to travel. In the meantime, the owners of the companies exporting the coffee have their own private jet. What could be done to shorten the distance between the farmers and the final coffee consumers?

Feeling like a child One of my bosses once told me he felt like a child when he went abroad to study English. I always thought he was talking about having people assisting him on simple tasks: how to read street signs or how to use the ATM. Now that I have two children and also some experience overseas, I realize it is more than that. For my older daughter, when we are near strangers, I have to translate her speech because I am used to it. I remember one time when some monolingual English native speaker who got to know me well was translating my speech to his friends. I thought it was funny when it happened, not realizing what was going on. Sometimes, my daughters have to repeat a word or sentence over and over so I can understand it. I have had the same experience when in a foreign country. It was so frustrating for me! Not for my daughter, though. They deal with that in a good mood. It doesn’t bother them at all. Maybe, I just need to embrace the feeling of being treated like a child.

Why do we correct mistakes? Portuguese is my first language. I've spent the past month and half in an English speaking country. It is being my second time surrounded by native speakers all the time. One of my favorites "teachers" are the children. I learn a lot from them. I feel jealous by seeing them uttering complex and perfect sentences. Today, my niece who is an English native speaker invited me to play a game. Then, I asked: - "Which game?". She immediately corrected me: - "What game?". She is nine. My other nephews and nieces who are below seven never correct me, but they try to speak Portuguese when I challenge them. They think it is funny. My nine-year-old niece also tries to speak Portuguese, but it doesn't seem she is having fun. When I thought about that, I realized that our ability to experience the new diminishes at the same proportion that our capacity to correct others increase. By becoming confident about the "world" where they grew, people become less confident about different "worlds".

In New England, for the first time The sound that hits me right now comes from the ocean. Waves are moving faster and faster showing that the tide is coming up. From my room, I can see a lighthouse far away and the full moon shining. My first time ever in Maine. Amazed, I try to record my experience in words. They are not enough, however, to describe this awesome scenario. Even a perfect description misses the atmosphere which can only be totally enjoyed by being in it. It is from a cottage that I send these words. I look around trying to be as simple as the place where I am staying. That's easy, because I can't show off when I write. You have probably noticed why: English is not my first language.

A Day in the Life of an Election Clerk This is the first time since moving to Mato Grosso state that I’ve worked as a official on Election Day. The experience was unique and it deserves a text. Throughout Election Day, some striking characters enlivened our precinct. One mother, for example, left her son sitting on my lap and became very concerned when her son didn’t cry. She said, “Aren’t you going to cry, son?” Usually, it makes mothers happy when their children don’t cry. At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe. Election Day in our precinct seemed more like Children’s Day, and I loved it! Kids are not allowed to accompany their parents to the polling booth, so they had to wait with me. There was even a kid wearing a Batman costume! Only one little girl broke the rules, insisting, crying, and managing to stay plastered on to the back of her mother’s legs while she voted. Besides the kids, we also had a dog come to vote. Its name was Chinelo (“Flip-flop” in English). It followed its owner to the polling booth and, faithfully, left when the man finished voting. The dog’s owner took the dog with him but forgot his cell phone. Actually, two voters forgot their cell phones. They had had to leave them on a table (nobody could go the polling booth with their mobiles) and when they left, excited about the mission accomplished, they forgot their friend of all hours. It was just a matter of time though. Both returned to get them back. Unlike the dog, these little friends of theirs don’t have legs! Overall, the most striking character during Election Day was one of several drunk voters. They say that he was chanting the name of a particular candidate as he approached the official polling place. As he entered, he danced, spoke loudly and greeted everybody, handshakes all around. Perhaps because of the fact that he had shouted the name of a certain presidential candidate, someone called the police. The policeman got to the door of the precinct and said to the dancing man: “This is not a circus! Go and vote or I am going to handcuff you!” The man walked to the polling booth with his head down, grumbling, “You’d think we were in Rio de Janeiro. What persecution!” When the man left the booth, he made the rounds, shaking hands and hugging everybody again. When he got to the policeman and tried to shake hands, the only response from the cop was a second person possessive pronoun followed by the first letters of alphabet and two S’s.

Elections in Brazil I worked during the election in Brazil. I had a great experience and I want to write a text. This was my first time working as a volunteer during elections while living in Mato Grosso State. I didn't know during elections people follow Cuiabá timezone instead of Brasilia timezone. So I got to the place where I was suppose to work one hour before I should. During the day I saw a lot of kids, a dog following his owner to the place where he should vote and some drunk people. One of the guys who were drunk danced and yelled while waiting to vote. It was fun! But a policeman arrived at the moment the guy was having fun and said: "This is not a circus. Go and vote. If you don't stop, I will handcuff you!!" Then, the guy went to the place where he should vote and murmured something. When he left the policeman greeted him using a curse word. A lot of policemen in Brazil are not polite. Finally, I think the vote in Brazil should be optional. We don't have right to not vote! Well, if we do not vote in Brazil we have to pay a fee to the State.