THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

Good evening guys!
Tonight I have prepared something really special for you...The majority of my students complain about listenings. They say they can't listen clearly, that the quality of the sound system is bad...Most of the times, the problem is that they simply don't have the habit of listening...Let's take a look at this brilliant video about it?

Fantastic wasn't it? People, let me remind you of something really important: Listening is something you have to work on a every day basis, it is impossible to expect improvement, development of listening skills if you don't practice regularly! So, don't miss the opportunity I'm giving you. Since we have the new series about VERB FORMS with CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT and CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN, let's explore the SIMPLE PRESENT & PRESENT CONTINUOUS in this videoclip:

Try to identify as many sentences in the SIMPLE PRESENT and PRESENT CONTINUOUS as you can...If they're in the affirmative, change them to negative and interrogative as a practice. Finally, select some of the phrases and create a dialogue, it will help you create CONTEXT!


Good luck,
Study harder if you think you study too much!
Never give up!


VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO MY FIANCÉE, NATALIA CALDAS, WHO GAVE ME THE TIP ABOUT www.ted.com
THANKS SWEETIE!!!


GUSTAVO CALDAS BRITO

CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT - Episode 7: VERB FORMS 1 & 2

What's up guys???
It's still monday night and we have a brand new BLOG SERIES for you, about VERB FORMS! From now on, GUSTAVO CALDAS BRITO and FRAN SARTOR will be exploring and explaining different verb forms, so students can understand better and practice! Today we have GUSTAVO and his CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT, talking about SIMPLE PRESENT & PRESENT CONTINUOUS! We hope you like it!!! Take a look:

Don't forget that Fran is also going to explore VERB FORMS in her CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN, so check our blog everyday, we want you to be our FOLLOWER!!!
Cheers!


PS: Did you guys find out who the hell is that kid next to our co-author SANNY???

WHAT's ON? OUR PROGRAM FOR THE WEEK!

Good Morning!
We don't post anything since last Friday, when we introduced our new co-author, Sann Wyll...Today we're back to present you the program we have prepared for you, take a look:


TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: We are going to post the first video of the NEW SERIES about the VERB FORMS, so get ready because the CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT (Gustavo Caldas Brito) and the CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN (Fran Sartor) will develop the topic and it might help you a lot!!! Also on tuesday, Gustavo is going to record the first interview with the very first guest of the CHRONICLES FROM MY EMPTY JACCUZZI, with Mr.Clóvis Langer!
THURSDAY & FRIDAY: We are going to post, late Thursday or early Friday, a song to help you practice verb forms in general and enrich your vocabulary! You just can't miss it!!!


So, are ready for this week? Remember, if you don't practice english, you might kill your abilities and previous knowledge!
See you next time!


GUSTAVO CALDAS BRITO
FRAN SARTOR
SANN WYLL 

OUR NEW CO-AUTHOR!!! SANN WYLL

Ladies and Gentlemen! THE TIME OUT PROJECT is extremelly proud to present our second CO-AUTHOR, SANN WYLL!
This young man has been teaching english for the last 3 years in different places, to different people, at different time! The classroom experience he's been gathering helps him build a huge network of fans and friends, so we hope he can contribute with his brilliant ideas and make us even stronger!
WELCOME SANNY!!! We are proud and happy to have you with us!


PS: Check the right side of our blog, now we will always have a new picture of an international celebrity when he/she was a kid...Your objective is to identify who is it! Have Fun with the first one!


GUSTAVO CALDAS BRITO
FRAN SARTOR

BEHOLD!!! THE CHRONICLES FROM MY EMPTY JACCUZZI IS ON!!!

Good evening people!!!
As we have promised, today we post the second video of the week and a very special one:
It is the PILOT of...CHRONICLES FROM MY EMPTY JACCUZZI!!!
I would like to remind you that it's the first episode of the series of interviews that we are going to shoot in my empty jaccuzzi, so you need to keep visiting us not to miss the second official episode.
Our objective with this new series is to interview a lot of people, from students to teachers and coordinators, friends and family, why not? 
We hope you enjoy the PILOT,  Take a look at this TEASER:

We hope you have fun with this first episode and send us an email with your list of favourite people to be interviewed by GUSTAVO!!!!
Cheers, have a blast!

LAZY MONDAY!!!

Hello guys, 

Isn't today one of those lazy days??? When you feel like doing nothing the whole day, with your pj's on watching  movie and eating popcorn?! Yep I think so! So, because of that I remembered this song in which our author GUSTAVO made a really clear participation! Why don't you guys check this song watch the video, find out where is GUSTAVO and learn some new vocabulary!

So did you guys find out who is GUSTAVO and what does he like to do on his free time with his classic inseparable shirt??????  

Why don't you check the lyrics of this song below? Send your doubts to thetimeoutproject2011@gmail.com


The Lazy Song
by Bruno Mars


Today I don't feel like
doing anything
I just wanna lay in my
bed
Don't feel like picking
up my phone
so leave a message at the tone

'Cause today I swear I'm
not doing anything
I'm gonna kick my feet up,
then stare at the fan
Turn the TV on, throw my
hand in my pants
Nobody is gonna tell me I can't
Nahh
I'll be lounging on a couch,
just chilling in my snuggie
Click to MTV so they can
teach me how to douggie,
'cause in my castle I'm
the freaking man
Ooohhh
Yes I said it
I said it
I said
I said it 'cause I can!
Today I don't feel like
doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
so leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm
not doing anything
(Nothing at all)
Huhull, Huuhul
Nothing at all
Huhull, Huuhul
Tomorrow I wake up
Do some p90x
Meet a really nice girl
Have some really nice sex
And she's gonna scream out
this is great, Oh my god this is great
Yeeeaaahh
I might mess around
and get my college degree,
I bet my old man will be
so proud of me.
But sorry paps you'll just
have to wait
Oooohhh
Yes I saidt it! I said it
I said it 'cause I can!
Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
so leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm not
doing anything
No ain't gonna comb 
my hair.
'Cause I ain't going anywhere
No, no, no, no, no
no, no, no, no, oooooh
I'll just strut in my birthday suit
and let everything hang loose
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeeeeyyyaaaahh
Oooh, today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
so leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything
Nothing at all
Huhul, Huhuuuul
Nothing at all
Huhul, Huhuuuul
Nothing at all

CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN!!! Episode 3: TO BE WILLING TO!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen!
To finish our series of MODAL VERBS & LEXICAL MODALITIES, we are very proud to present FRAN SARTOR and her new CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN!
She has finally decided to be in her kitchen, talking about "to be willing to".
This is your last chance to study a little bit more, so pay attention, take notes and practice, THE TIME OUT is ON FIRE!

We have currently 1937 visitors over the past 4 months! Help us get to 2000 before the end of AUGUST! Come on guys, we can do it!!!

See you next week with some nice surprises!!!!

GUSTAVO CALDAS BRITO

FRAN SARTOR

CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT - Episode 6: MAY & MIGHT

Hey there english students!!!

We are back after that amazing motivational video about AYRTON SENNA...We hope you have enjoyed! But now we are ready to post

the sixth episode of our beloved CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT with Gustavo Caldas Brito driving his powerful car and talking about MAY and MIGHT!

We expect you to watch carefully and keep track of our posts, the CHRONICLES are back for good! Have fun!

Remember MAY & MIGHT are not commonly used in real life situations, so, if you want to practice, it is vital to CREATE contexts in which they can be inserted!


DEDICATE, COMMIT, TAKE ENGLISH AS A VERB and ENGLISH YOURSELF!

DEDICATION & COMMITMENT: Learning with AYRTON SENNA

Good Afternoon everyone!!!
Today is FATHER's DAY and we have decided to take a short break from the CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT and CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN to post a little something personal...for me, GUSTAVO, the author of the TIME OUT. 
My father has passed on to me many things such as responsability, sense of commitment, honesty and freedom. He has also passed on to me two of my biggest passions, football and car races...So, to honnor him, today I'll post videos of my biggest car races driver: AYRTON SENNA!
My father had the chance to talk to him in Angra once, in the early years of his F1 career, when he was a promissing driver for Toleman. My father still remember him saying: I WILL BE A WORLD CHAMPION
Ayrton was such a commited person that his level of concentration was beyond normal levels. Not only because he was talented, but also because he had driven himself to that level, by practice and dedication.
Formula 1 racing and learning are completely different things, they have different levels and different complexities. However, both activities demand two common things: COMMITMENT & DEDICATION.
As Senna said: "making mistakes and learning with them is what made me faster".
Learning english, or anything else, demands self-correction abilities, self-awareness. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, take risks. IT's THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY LEARN.


Let's be inspired now by this short video and never forget the importance of AWARENESS to your personal growth! Thank you SENNA for the lesson of humility and passion, Thanks DAD for making me learn from him and F1 races!

See you on TUESDAY with a new episode from one of our CHRONICLES!!!

CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN!!! Episode 2: TO BE SUPPOSED TO!

Good morning guys!!!
After a short break without new videos, FRAN SARTOR comes back with her second episode of CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN...Notice that she REFUSES to record the videos in her kitchen, I believe it's because she doesn't want to be stereotyped as a housewife...hehehehe!
Anyway...the topic of the new episode is about the LEXICAL MODALITY TO BE SUPPOSED TO. We hope you can take advantage of this new post to reinforce your english skills and to practice at home!

Remember that if you want to contact us, you can always leave a comment here on the blog or send us an email: thetimeoutproject2011@gmail.com
Have fun and study!!!


Video credits:
Recorded by Fran Sartor and Paulo Herédia
Edited by Gustavo Caldas Brito

Just a little break from the videos!

Good afternoon guys,
today we're going to interrupt the sequence of videos we have been posting for a quick exercise with comics!
We are currently editing and shooting the next episodes of CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT & CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN, so don't worry, we have a lot of videos still to be posted, and a new one will be posted very soon!!!
But now let's go back to the comic strips: To celebrate the big number of visitors we have, we're going to post a strip from CYANIDE and HAPPINESS, the first comic ever to appear here!!!


Take a look at this new strip:

This comic strip is very funny and it gives us the nice opportunity to explore an interesting characteristic of MODAL VERBS + PERFECT...If you pay attention, you can see the combination of the modal verb MUST plus HAVE BEEN (present perfect). What does it mean? 
Guys, MUST is a modal verb for OBLIGATION and ASSUMPTION remember? in this case here, MUST + Perfect expresses a past assumption: "it must have been my good twin"means = I believe, I have the impression, it was my good brother, my good twin. 
When we associate MUST + Perfect, we always have a PAST ASSUMPTION, something you're not sure, not 100% certain that has happenend, but you believe it has...got it? If you have doubts, please, send  us emails: thetimeoutproject2011@gmail.com


Cheers, see you next post with a new video,
if not mine (Gustavo), hers (Fran).

THE CHRONICLES FROM HER KITCHEN are ON! Episode 1: TO BE ABLE TO

Good evening guys!!!
Tonight you're in for a special gift! After posting 5 episodes of the CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT, by GUSTAVO BRITO, we are proud to post the first episode of CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN, by FRAN SARTOR! This first of many will be about a specific lexical modality, so you should watch it and practice!
You will be able to feel all the drama of FRAN, our Co-Author/Teacher/Photographer/Housewife, who didn't have water!!! It's brilliant, hilarious, tragic!!! Take a look:

Have fun and stick around, the CHRONICLES FROM MY COCKPIT & THE CHRONICLES FROM MY KITCHEN will be posted every week, with nice chances for you to study!!!
Cheers!


GUSTAVO BRITO
FRAN SARTOR

THE BEATLES AND THE MODAL VERBS!!!

Hello guys!!!
Here we are again with a new post, celebrating the 1045 visitors over 3 months!!! I don't need to say how proud we are here and how much we expect you to keep visiting us, so let's just get to work! 
We expect to post Fran's video about LEXICAL MODALITIES very SOON. It will be the first episode of her CHRONICLES FROM THE KITCHEN...But while we prepare it, We've decided to post a short videoclip of PAPERBACK WRITER...This song is full of modal verbs, try to count how many you identify! Send it to us by email (thetimeoutproject2011@gmail.com) or leave a comment here! Check it out:

Try to understand what the modal verbs selected stand for and try to replace them for similar ones! It's an excellent exercise, We hope you practice!! See you next time!