Lisbon is a city and cities are alive. They breathe, they grow, they die and they dream

City is a concept that is really hard to define. There is not a universal definition of city. In Portugal, the requirements to be a city are population over ten thousands, it needs to have certain number of facilities (like schools, hospitals, etc.) and it needs to have certain area. Lisbon fills these requirements so Lisbon is a city and cities are alive. They breathe, they grow, they die and they dream.

Firstly, they grow. People started living there, to live there people needed homes, food, services. So, Lisbon started growing with buildings replacing the desert. This process does not stop. Lisbon, now, is a city, but it is continuing to grow. Instead of small buildings, big buildings; the area will expand; more and more people go live in Lisbon. The cities grow day by day, minute by minute.

Secondly, they breathe. All the cities need to have green spaces, trees, better air quality. In Lisbon, we have Monsanto, it is called ´The lungs of Lisbon`, that is a thing that all the cities should have.

However, they die. People want to have more buildings and they want to grow, this is a big mistake. We cannot destroy our green areas, we need them. If we destroy those areas, the cities will die faster and sooner.

 Furthermore, they dream. All the cities dream to be a better city, to grow, to breathe, not to die, to be a model to the rest of the world; not to have crime, to be organized. These are some dreams that all the cities might have.

Concluding, Lisbon is alive because it grows, it breathes, it dies and it dreams. The population of the city are the ones who let this system flow. The people of the city are the ones who work for the growing of the city, who work for the breathing of a city, who work for the dying of the city and finally, but not least, who work for the dreaming of a better city.

A Crowded Class

A crowded class was having English with extra twenty students, two classes in one classroom. The students were doing a lot of noise, so the teacher ordered, ´Leave the classroom`. Everyone started clapping. Refusing to teach classes with noise, he threatened, ´If you don´t stop talking, many of you will go out. See students continue talking, so he invited six of them to go out. After begging for silence he ordered, ´More five go out`. Finally, there was silence in the classroom but only for a few minutes, then all the students started talking again. In the final ten minutes of the class only ten students stayed in the classroom. However, the complete silence was achieved when there was no one there.

Learning Journal #3

Last Thursday, we visited one of the oldest parts of Lisbon. Martim Moniz, Mouraria and Rossio were the most important places we have been to.

First, we went by train to Rossio, the people in the train were adults or old people, reading magazines or books, or just sleeping because it was really early. When we arrived to Rossio's station, we could see an amazing view, like São Jorge castle.

Second, we went to Rossio, where we would see the majestic statue of D.Pedro IV and the theatre of Dona Maria, there were many tourists, like Chinese and French people. Then, square of Figueira where we saw the statue of João das Regras, and we could smell the chestnuts, and some people have actually bought some.

Martim Moniz was our next stop, the square of Martim Moniz had a lot of homeless people, people sleeping in the benches, and the smell was not so good.

Then, the mall of Mouraria where we could see clothes in boxes on the floor; The majority of the people weren´t Portuguese, maybe immigrants, again the smell was not good. However, on the top floor there was a beautiful view of the old part of Lisbon.

After that, we climbed the stairs to Mouraria and we saw more traditional houses, with hanging laundry; the buildings were mostly yellow, while in Rossio and Martim Moniz they are mostly white.


To finish, we returned by metro, that was with old and adult people. Like in the train, people were reading magazines and books, or talking about work.

In my point of view, this trip was really great and nice because the most students have never been there, didn´t know so much about their city and this kind of visit is always useful, more we know a little more about our incredible and amazing city, Lisbon.

Learning Journal #2

Recently, we did a poster about the Multicultural World. Our group worked really well, we subdivided the work between the members of the group, and everybody worked equally.

I didn´t like the work because I don´t like to connect pictures with our text, like doing a poster; every image means something to our work and the place where the image is inserted means too.

However, this work helped our reading and understanding of the texts. After we read, we needed to share what we had learned with that, and that´s good for our speaking.

Concluding, although I didn´t like the work, it was good because with woks like these ones we work better in groups and our English skills improve.

"Os Gémeos"

Today we went on a school visit "Museu Colecção Berardo" where we saw the exhibition "Os Gémeos".

This exhibition had a lot of different paintings and very good ones. However, one particular painting kept my attention. It was a painting with yellow boy (very traditional in "Gémeos" paintings) with a very cute dog in his skinny arms. Both had sadness in their faces, but the pattern was green with flowers that represent hope. They hop their lives will be improved. He is holding the dog like it was his partner, this only friend. The skinny legs and shitless chest shows poverty.

To do this painting they used stencil and spray, those were the techniques used by them.

The exhibition was different but interesting, I am not a fan of artistic events so I am not able to interpret those paintings, and I find it difficult. Today, I learn a lot of different things. Therefore, I think it was a good school visit because all of us learned something about urban art.

Learning Journal #1

What I expect for this year? I expect like all my English years to improve something. Speaking and grammar are my main goals. One of the things that I will try to do better is the portfolio, last year I didn´t work enough to do a good portfolio .

This is my last year of english, at least at school, so I need to make an effort, to improve a lot this year, it is realy important to my future.

In the end of this year I expect that all the things i have just said are done.

Introduction

Name: João Cabral
Age: 16 years old
Date of Birth: 16/06/1994
Sex: Male.
Virtues: Friendly, Funny, Joyful, Loyal, Generous.
Flaws: Lazy, Being indifferent.
Likes: Footbal, Volleyball, playstation, be with my friends, watch tv and study English of course.
Dislikes: Have nothing to do, waste time, eat far away from home.
Favourite colour: Red
Favourite food: Filet Steak
Favourite book: Harry Potter
Favourite film: "Inside Man" by Spike Lee
Favourite song: Lonely day by System of a Down
Favourite city: Lisbon
Favourite country: Portugal
Favourite club: SL Benfica