Dear Readers,
Welcome to English Black Friday. This blog has been created in order for you to learn more about African-American culture, music, history, and mainly PRONUNCIATION and other LANGUAGE ASPECTS.
You are very welcome and so are your your friends, so please make sure you share this page with them. Help us spread out this beautiful culture.
I’m Teacher Rodrigo Honorato, a professional, certified teacher of English born and raised in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I have been a teacher of English since 2005, and throughout these years I have taught in different schools in Brazil and online. Also, I had a chance to teach in Hong Kong back in 2014 and it was one of the most amazing experiences in my career.
There are hundreds of English institutes and schools in Brazil, but I have never seen any schools where different variants of Englishes have been taught. The main focus is on either General American English or British Received Pronunciation. That is why I decided to write this blog to share such an amazing content with y’all.
I started learning English on March 10, 2003 and as you might expect, only GAE and BRP varieties were taught, mostly focused on American English, though. However, I have always loved RAP and Hip-Hop. Back then, you would find me listening to 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac, Eminem, Ice Cube, Nas and some other artists, but there was a problem: I could not understand any of them whatsoever.
In 2005, I started tutoring to pay for my English course. I would help newbies after class and luckily my school would pay for my English studies. In 2006, I started studying Linguistics and Literature (Letras) at the Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC-MG), from where I got my degree in 2011. My academic life was interrupted twice – 2007 and 2008 – because I would go to the United States. Well, it was my greatest dream, so I did not really care about putting off a term or so. That was a fork in the road and ‘I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.’
While in the U.S, I lived in Houston, Katy, and Graford in Texas and in a predominately-black area called Alief, where I got to know much more about African American Vernacular English. I worked at the Alief Family YMCA during summer 2007. I learned a lot during that summer and it led me to studying even more about African-American history, culture, music, and PRONUNCIATION.
I had a chance to visit Harlem – uptown Manhattan – 4 times and I have experienced many interesting things: people talking in the streets, shopping from locals, going to Apollo Theater on 125th street, watching a Harlem Choir at a church event and talking to people on the subways. It was an enriching experience! So, from then on, I have been dedicating to learning more and more about English and African-American culture, and this website is where I can share what I have learned and experienced since 2003.
I used to teach English as a Foreign Language at UFMG, the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and trained teachers at both UFMG and Oxford University Press where I have presented workshops, lectures, and debates about Black English, Teaching Methodologies, Teaching Styles, Input and Output, Linguistic Systems, Affective Learning, and of course, PRONUNCIATION.
I am very thankful and happy for the opportunity I have had thus far. Because of them, many people know about my work and passions: African American Vernacular English and PRONUNCIATION.
Now I am on Instagram as well as YouTube: English Black Friday you are welcome to join me.
English Black Friday stands for:
“English” because this is the official language of the website,
“Black” because it is a celebration of Black Culture and Language
“Friday” because it is when this beautiful project started.
Make yourself at home,
Best regards,
Teacher Rodrigo Honorato
How about a “Brazilian little flag” icon for helping someone who is not able to read in English. Maybe you can get more fans to your site and, of course to Black Music (culture).
You can be sure there are a lot of people that don´t know English even though they love Black music.
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Hi Pet, I totally agree with you. We have been working on the translations already. Thank you very much for your comment. It is important for us and it will surely be taken into consideration.
Best,
Rodrigo P. Honorato
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That’s amazing! Have a good luck, Rodrigo!
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Thank you so much Maria Leticia. I hope you and others can enjoy it and join with me on the spreading of this beautiful culture.
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How you doing, man!? I just wanna say that i became ADDICTED TO the Black English and all that kind of stuff because of you and your videos on Youtube (of course, shared with Carina – btw, who is so cute.. joke). Actually, i always liked Hip Hop music/Black Culture and see an English teacher talking about slangs and expressions has been amazing. I really appreciate your tips bro!
Best regards.
Roberto
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Thank you very much for your feedback and your words. I really do hope I can keep up with your expectations. Holler at me if you have any questions.
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I really arppreciate what you’re doing for people..I’m trying to learn black english through the internet, but ain’t no information hardly..I hope We all are happy with your shares…
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Dear Rooney,
Thank you for your comment and for expressing your thoughts about the blog. It’s been quite a while since I last posted. It is because I’ve been really busy with school. I do hope people are enjoying it and learning from it.
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Rodrigo, my brother, this is Alisha your sister from Mo City, Tx USA. I remember when you came out here several years ago and lived with our family. You were so fascinated by our African American/Black culture and especially the rap music (Z-Ro to be exact). I am sooooo proud of you! Keep doing great work and following your passion my friend. I love the website and will be checking out your YouTube channel next. I will definitely spread the word. Peace and love to you!
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Hello Rodrigo, how are you doing? I am Brazilian like you and I’ve been living in Austin Tx two years. I would like to ask you some help. I work with sexual violence and doing my research about this in Brazil. Nowadays I am doing a translate from one Brazilian project about violence. This project is prevent violence at schools. There is one chapter about racism because is a type of violence, that’s right? In Brazil some people say many racial comments and I would like to know if you know some in English. I just asked for many Americans but… Do you know some them?
Tenho até vergonha de escrever essas coisas, mas tratam-se de dicas sobre expressões que não deveriam ser usadas, sim?
Você deve conhecer algumas dessas expressões: Hoje é dia de branco; Ele nasceu com o pé na cozinha; Serviço de preto; Denegrir; Da cor do pecado; Cabelo ruim/bombril; A coisa tá preta.
Eu agradeceria imensamente se você pudesse me ajudar, é muito delicado eu escrever essas coisas (horríveis) em inglês pois não se trata de uma tradução, trata-se de um profundo conhecimento da cultura americana que eu ainda não tenho. Acho muito bom seu canal, embora agora que estou conseguindo entender um pouco mais de slang language. Acho fantástico o seu caminho. Depois que a gente começa a entender um pouco da língua que nos damos conta da diversidade da língua inglesa. Realmente os US é como o Brasil, com diferentes línguas. Conheci seu em um video que vc fez com Carina Fragozo e vc explicou bem isso.
Tenho alguns amigos negros estudantes mas eles me falaram que essas expressões só quem convive mais com o pessoal do gueto que saberia me ajudar. Atenciosamente, Samanta
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OMG! This is what I’ve been looking for. Thank you for share all this with us.
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