The Concept of Time

Time is a cultural, personal, and above all relevant. This interesting article on time looks at how our minds perceive time no matter where we are from. We have all had those experiences where a moment seems to last forever, or time seems to ‘fly.’ Read about how our minds warp our conception of time.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2011/06/10-ways-our-minds-warp-time.php

Think you have some spare time? Why not contact us at Praxis International to use your time wisely. Take a language course, participate in a cultural event, or volunteer! For more information contact info@gcpraxis.com

The Language of Movement

Language is not just about speaking. Many of the important messages that we convey can be seen in our body language, in fact maybe even as much as 50% of what we communicate is done via body language.
Different non-verbal cues give us impressions of a person. The importance of body language can make the difference in establishing a contact or not. It can be the difference between a good impression or a bad impression.
People who master their body language can present move confident, reliable, and social images of themselves. You can read more about body language in this article.

http://www.jinxiboo.com/blog/2009/12/15/what-does-your-body-language-say-about-you-how-to-read-signs.html

Miss Universe Pageant 2011 arrives in Sao Paulo

This year Sao Paulo will host 89 candidates who will participate in the Miss Universe 2011 Pageant at the Credicard Hall on September 12.  The Miss Universe contest is meant to be more than just a beauty pageant: women aspiring to become Miss Universe should be intelligent, well-mannered, and cultured. The contestants compete in swimsuit and evening gown competitions but the most important rounds for judging tend to be based on the question response rounds; where contestants must answer various questions.

The winner is assigned a one-year contract with the Miss Universe Organization, going overseas to spread messages about the disease control, peace, and public awareness of AIDS. Since Donald Trump took over the pageant in 2002, the winner has been given the use of a Trump Tower apartment in New York City during her one year reign.

Check out their itinerary.

http://www.missuniverse.com/events/index/2011/09/pageant

Restaurant Week is Coming to Sao Paulo

Participating in the week are more than 150 restaurants throughout the city of Sao Paulo with a variety of cuisines. The restaurants prepare a special menu for the event with starter, main course and dessert at a fixed price - which is a fixed price for all the restaurants participating - and lower than the standard menu options.

This August’s event celebrates the Year of France in Brazil, and the challenge for the chefs is to recreate or add a bit of French-inspired dishes or food to their menu. An estimated 500, 000 people are expected to participate.

São Paulo Restaurant Week  starts the 5^th of September and goes until the 13^th of September. Unless you have a MasterCard Platinum or Black and then you can get a sneak peek and go starting August 31.

Check it out at www.restaurantweek.com.br

Booming Brazil

People from around the world are flocking to Brazil. Brazil right now is thriving with economic development in preparation for the World Cup, the Olympics, and many new companies are bringing their business to Brazil where the economy is doing well and steady. In Sao Paulo it’s not difficult to be out one night and hear at least 4 or 5 languages in popular locations. Portuguese of course is the dominant language, but there are large communities of English, French, Spanish, and German speakers as well in Sao Paulo.

The New York Times wrote an interesting article about this migration here in Sao Paulo.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/world/americas/13brazil.html?_r=1&ref=americas

The world is becoming more global. Languages are now becoming international business tools. Why not increase your language skills, and your professional appeal? Contact us at Praxis International and we can arrange a teacher for you in the language of your choice!  www.gcpraxis.com

Teach A Class

Teach A Class is an online non-profit that is trying to bring education to orphans around the world. Using modern technology, including skype and virtual classrooms, they are creating a team of everyday people with something to share; a guitar lesson, language classes, a bit about a new culture, or anything else to connect children that normally wouldn’t have these opportunities to the world.

Those lucky enough to have internet access regularly are saturated with learning possibilities; from learning new cultures to learning things via the internet. What if you can share basic knowledge with someone that normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn it?

http://www.teachaclass.org/

Wordle

This is a wonderful site that allows you to be creative while showing what you have learned. Wordle is a tool 
for generating “word clouds” from texts that you provide.The clouds give greater prominence to words that 
appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, 
layouts, and color schemes. See learning from another perspective.

(Image:  Techlearning)

A Trip of a Life Time

Wonderful trilogy of short films celebrating travel. '3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food'.

 If you just moved to Brazil and need some tips about pretty much anything - from language to cultural habits, 
places to go, entertainment guide, please contact us at info@gcpraxis.com or visit www.gcpraxis.com  
We are ready to do all this and much more.

Socio-Economical Differences in Brazil

Art Director Daniel Bronfen created images that represent the socio-economical differences between 
Brazilian regions. His work is based on the 2010 Brazilian Census.  If you just landed in Brazil, it´s worth
taking a look for a quick understanding of the expression ‘We have 5 different countries in Brazil'.

(Image: Maps of Net)

Visualy

Love infographics? Then you will probably adore this new infographic search engine.
Over 2000 infographics, all in one place.