Mixing modal verbs with History. Can it be possible?

Hello, everyone! First of all, I would like to congratulate you women for your day.

Well, this day made me remember when I started my Letras course in UFPB because in my first period I studied a discipline named “Introduction to Sociology”. My teacher was Neide Miele and one of the first subjects she presented was about the importance of the woman in many moments of our history. She spoke, for example, about her “power of healing” and so she told us about a woman named Hildegard von Bingen.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a revolutionary person during her age and she’s still mentioned as a great example of woman. She was an abbess, but she wasn’t dedicated only to her religion, as we can imagine. She was also an artist, author, counselor, physician, herbalist, poet, activist, visionary and composer (!!!!!!).

But there was something that motivated me to make this text. As we could see, the art was predominant in von Bingen’s life. She made various paintings named “illuminations”, which had religious thematic and often had as illustrations Hildegard herself receiving visions from Heaven or a man “meditating” inside some circles, as we can see in the picture below:

Some months ago this last picture made me create an analogy with the modal verbs of necessity “have to” and “must” and made me wonder if it wouldn’t be nice to give a class about these modal verbs inspired in Hildegard von Bingen’s works.

Hmm… you may be confused with this analogy I made, right? But please let me explain. First of all, it would be necessary to explain the illumination. As we can see, there is a man in the picture and there are two circles evolving him. According to Hildegard, the “external circle” (in blue) and the “internal” one (in brown) are, respectively, the spirit and the soul, or the order we receive from god to live our lives and the way we live by ourselves. And according to what I know about the modal verbs “have to” and “must”, I could say that the first one corresponds to an external power while the last one can be an internal power of the speaker. So I compared the blue circle with the “have to” and the brown one to the “must” with the objective of facilitate the student to see what is this so-called “internal and external power” of the speaker and give informations which are not only related to grammar. By the way, the teacher can play some Gregorian Chants composed by Hildegard von Bingen during the activities or intervals.





And to finish this text, I would like to know your opinion about the analogy and the proposal of class I made. Did you like it? Do you have any suggestion?

See ya!

Links:


Do you want to know something else about Hildegard von Bingen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen


Do you want to download to download her music (Orkut)?
http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=39196195&tid=2558008240105239125

My comments on the painting of Diego Velazquez, Las meninas - 1656.

On the picture we can see nine people. The scene seems to be in a castle or in a cave. Some pictures are hung on the wall and they are old. The owner of this castle seems to be very interested on art and paintings.

The girl in the center of the drawing is well dressed and there is a servant in the corner that takes care about her.

The other girl quite near the servant seems to be also a rich girl like the little girl in the center. The other two ones in the right side of the painting are probably a priest and a nun, representing the Catholic Church. According to the drawing, the girls in the right side are pleased to be at that situation even in a servility moment because they are near rich people. This is proved by the dog figure that never rises his head. But the girl that annoys the dog, putting her shoe in its body.

The painter in the left side is very amazing and again very mysterious, because there is other painter behind him that observes everything. Is he the same one? What is he painting? What is he looking at? Behind the little tree girls are other scene shown in a mirror. Must be the exactly the scene in the main picture. The girls in white are well dressed. They seem to be happy indeed, but the others are in a minor situation.

In the very behind the drawing there is a man who is a paiter too. Is he Diogo himself, we must ourselves apply about the real meaning of the elements.

Interesting language learning narratives:

http://www.veramenezes.com/narrativas.htm

reflection #1

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He
argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best
option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:
"Those who can, do.. Those who can't, teach."
To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher,
Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You
want to know what I make?
(She paused for a second, then began...)
"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honour winner.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents
can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.
You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each
and every person at the table.)
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given
brain, not the man-made calculator.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to
know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were
given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life."
(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)
"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing
money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention
because they are ignorant.... You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?"
His jaw dropped, he went silent.