Book Challenge

In about a month, the movie "The Fault In Our Stars" (based on the book by John Green with the same title) will debut in Portugal. For those who have already read this amazing novel - as well as for those who still plan to do it before the movie come out - here's a quiz which may give you a PRIZE to be awarded in the beginning of June.
Disclaimer: I'm not the author of these questions, I simply created the form. The source will be disclosed along with the winner ;)

Good Luck!!!

The Fault in Our Stars - book & movie

»» Book Cover

I absolutely loved this book by American award-winning author John Green and am looking forward to watching the movie from June 26th onwards.
If you haven't read it yet, you should - either in the original version (please check this) or in Portuguese. This is a novel about 2 teens who meet in a cancer support group and fall in love. While it may sound a bit sad and heartbreaking - and it is - it is a beautiful story about being young and in love, about life and loss.


Here's a compilation of my favourite quotes from the book for you:

10 Inspirational Quotes from Alexandra Duarte
The book has also inspired others to bake cupcakes based on Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters's story as you can watch below (and a great idea for those who have vocational classes: instill reading and promoting their creativity by asking them to create cakes / cupcakes / tarts ... based on the books) :

Soon the movie will premiere and I am super excited to watch it.
Here's the trailer to whet your appetite for reading this novel while waiting for the movie.

 Only yesterday did I come across the official soundtrack and my favourite is the one by Ed Sheeran.  Listen:

Well, what are you waiting for? Read the book  :)

Happy Reading!

4+ Ideas for Mother's Day

Though the date differs in other countries, in Portugal we celebrate Mother's Day every year on the first Sunday of May - in a week's time. This has led me to collect some materials and gather ideas to mark this date in my classes, but without spending much time with it and using the few resources we have.
I would like to start by sharing here a very clever ad (maybe you've already come across it) that left me speechless the first time I watched it. I plan to use it as a lovely motivation in my classes to challenge kids to thank their Moms.
See for yourself! It is just awesome: a touching and heartelt tribute to all Moms who have the toughest job in the world.



Here is also a fab infographic on Mother's Day and Motherhood, definitely worth checking, and a video with the history of Mother's Day.
As for "Thank You" ideas for our students and classes, some tips would be ...

• to create and send a free Mother's Day Animoto video: students surely have pictures on their own and with their Moms and those photos can be used by themselves to create a 30sec free video or they can also share those pics with the teacher who will then very easily create a video;
• Students can also be challenged to (temporarily) swap their facebook covers to honour their moms using (the same) pics, whether with a simple photocollage or using a great free tool, Smilebox;
• As mentioned before, a photocollage is always an amazing choice and there is no shortage of free tools, even for mobile devices;
• The easiest, and also the most common, is to send a free ecard. There is no lack of alternatives here either, but sts can try 123greetings once it also includes some videos / songs.
• ...

My Sts are not into drawing and Ts don't have much time now. These ideas will therefore save us time in class, motivate Sts for something so personal and we will be including something they all love: technology. Even if their moms don't have FB accounts or email addresses, our students do and can show them; besides, there is always the possibility of printing, at home or at school. What do you think?

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!