Welcome to

I am your online teacher this semester. My name is Alexandre Oliveira, but I go by ‘Alex.’ I am the guy in the black shirt above, and these are two of my dearest friends in the world.

I am sending this message just to welcome everyone to our class this semester, to tell you a little about myself, and to get everyone started thinking about the topics for the week.

Something about meI live in Wareham, Massachusetts, about one hour south of Boston. I live on a lake, and there are lots of woods and cranberry bogs around my house. Right now, we are getting a lot of snow here, and it is very cold.

I was born and raised in Brasilia, though. I was also a student at Casa Thomas Jefferson for many years. I love that place.

In addition to teaching, I am part of the EducationUSA Advising Office (EAO) team at CTJ. Have you ever heard of the EAO?

It is all about helping people who would like to study in the USA. We offer official information about universities and programs, we advise students on admissions and financial aid, and we organize workshops, fairs and other events.

Feira EducationUSA 2012 - Brasilia

EAO on Facebook

Topics of the weekOur class is dealing with the topic of “Problem Solving” this week: how to get things done, how to do thing for yourself to save money and such.

As I was brainstorming about this topic, I got to thinking about the problem of procrastination, i.e., putting things off that you have to do. Anyone who has taken an online class knows what that is all about, right? hehehe (joke)

So I got to thinking about how to solve the problem of procrastination…

I went looking online, and I found three videos to get us to start thinking about solving problems and getting things done. As you watch these, remember that real life English can be a challenge. Focus on getting the general idea and think about the things you can understand, not on what you cannot. It is also a good idea to listen more than one time.

Will you also let everybody in our class know your reactions to the videos and what they made you think about?

OK, Folks.

That’s it for now.

Let me know what you thought, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions

about getting started with your class activities.

Talk to you soon,Alex.