It's only Monday?
It sure feels like Friday. Today was the first day of teaching English to children at the Shade and Fresh Water Projects. It was officially decided last week that English classes should start this week at the two different community centers where I volunteer, São Gabriel and Liberdade. Thankfully, there is another American volunteer here for a few weeks, Chris from Portland, who is helping me get the classes started.
After we set a schedule last week, Chris & I talked about the different groups and what we would teach. Together this morning, we taught each of the three morning groups at São Gabriel in 40-minute shifts, teaching them the English alphabet and the ABC song. This also included a couple of segments of acting out the letters with our bodies, "YMCA"-style (the same way everybody starts to form the letters y, m, c & a whenever they play the song "YMCA" from the Village People).
We started by learning their names, which is not easy when you consider that Brazilian parents are just as creative if not more so than American parents in creating new and unusual names. The first two classes (6-7 and 8-9 years old) went pretty well. Then came the 10- & 11-year-olds...
It turns out that third, older group is known to be one of the most difficult in terms of discipline, and also that Monday is always their worst day for misbehaving, but we weren't told this until after the class was over. We could barely get through learning their names. Normally, you have one or two boys in any class that don't pay attention and are distracting, but even the majority of the girls were acting nuts. I think out of 11 kids, there were about 2 or 3 who were behaving reasonably. We asked who was not interested in learning English and if they would like to leave the class and allowed them to do so. After a while, I was so aggravated that Chris had to take over the alphabet portion, and even then, I walked out of the room a few minutes later in frustration. Thankfully, it turned out to be time for them to eat lunch, so I called them to go eat.
Tomorrow we have even older kids (up to 14) who have already been exposed to English, so we will see how it goes. We will also be teaching the staff at both places, who are eager to learn from native speakers. Although I brought a workbook of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) worksheets with me when I returned in April, we don't have a curriculum to use, so we're trying to do some research on the Internet, talk to people about what works, and do things "on the fly." We will be asking the older kids and the adults what they would like to learn and working from that list.
One of the really difficult things to adjust to here is the pace at which things actually get accomplished. On one hand, the slower pace is one of the things that makes living here so much more pleasant, but on the other hand, when you want or need to get something accomplished, it can really be a trial of one's patience. I've noticed (but am not sure yet if it is an actual trend) that there seem to be two extremes that are combined: a) either nobody has the information/resources/authority to do what you need to do, or b) there are too many people with information/authority who complicate the decision-making process, causing decisions to be reversed two or more times after they are made. Again, I'm not sure if this is part of the culture or not because I don't have enough data yet. I'll have to get back to you on that.
The autumn weather is pretty nice so far and reminds me a lot of Texas. It can get pretty chilly at night and in the early morning, but it gets up to 80F in the afternoon. So far, we haven't had a lot of rain. One big surprise for me was that it gets dark at 6 PM. Up to now, I'd never been in Brazil when they were not under daylight savings time.
Mother's Day is a pretty big deal here, which is not surprising, given the strength and importance of family ties in Brazil. The news reported that stores in Rio were open until midnight so people could do their last-minute shopping. Apparently, they don't have too much teenage rebellion, and the kids generally don't leave the house until they get married. If the children are able to go to college in a distant location, they will often live with family or friends in that place. Almost every single Brazilian I meet asks isn't my family worried to have me living away from them. They are often shocked when I tell them I have not lived with my parents for half of my life.
And speaking of the news, I'm not sure if the story has been featured in the U.S. news, but this weekend, there was a huge retaliatory attack by an organized crime syndicate based in São Paulo against the police in São Paulo and several other regions because several imprisoned crime bosses were transferred to a remote prison. More than 50 people have died. To my knowledge, this has not affected our area, but a lot of innocent people have been killed. Another story of concern here is Bolivia's nationalization of oil and gas fields owned by companies from Brazil and other countries.
Finally, a moment of thanks for something I've never had to personally experience. I live close to a medical clinic, and, especially on the weekends, I see people walking up the hill from the bus stop to take themselves or their sick children there for treatment. I am so thankful that I have never had to be sick and take one or more city buses to get to a place where I could receive medical care. And as I've previously mentioned, most people here don't have strollers, so this means they're carrying their sick children in their arms. I am in awe of the physical and emotional strength of the Brazilian people.
After we set a schedule last week, Chris & I talked about the different groups and what we would teach. Together this morning, we taught each of the three morning groups at São Gabriel in 40-minute shifts, teaching them the English alphabet and the ABC song. This also included a couple of segments of acting out the letters with our bodies, "YMCA"-style (the same way everybody starts to form the letters y, m, c & a whenever they play the song "YMCA" from the Village People).
We started by learning their names, which is not easy when you consider that Brazilian parents are just as creative if not more so than American parents in creating new and unusual names. The first two classes (6-7 and 8-9 years old) went pretty well. Then came the 10- & 11-year-olds...
It turns out that third, older group is known to be one of the most difficult in terms of discipline, and also that Monday is always their worst day for misbehaving, but we weren't told this until after the class was over. We could barely get through learning their names. Normally, you have one or two boys in any class that don't pay attention and are distracting, but even the majority of the girls were acting nuts. I think out of 11 kids, there were about 2 or 3 who were behaving reasonably. We asked who was not interested in learning English and if they would like to leave the class and allowed them to do so. After a while, I was so aggravated that Chris had to take over the alphabet portion, and even then, I walked out of the room a few minutes later in frustration. Thankfully, it turned out to be time for them to eat lunch, so I called them to go eat.
Tomorrow we have even older kids (up to 14) who have already been exposed to English, so we will see how it goes. We will also be teaching the staff at both places, who are eager to learn from native speakers. Although I brought a workbook of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) worksheets with me when I returned in April, we don't have a curriculum to use, so we're trying to do some research on the Internet, talk to people about what works, and do things "on the fly." We will be asking the older kids and the adults what they would like to learn and working from that list.
One of the really difficult things to adjust to here is the pace at which things actually get accomplished. On one hand, the slower pace is one of the things that makes living here so much more pleasant, but on the other hand, when you want or need to get something accomplished, it can really be a trial of one's patience. I've noticed (but am not sure yet if it is an actual trend) that there seem to be two extremes that are combined: a) either nobody has the information/resources/authority to do what you need to do, or b) there are too many people with information/authority who complicate the decision-making process, causing decisions to be reversed two or more times after they are made. Again, I'm not sure if this is part of the culture or not because I don't have enough data yet. I'll have to get back to you on that.
The autumn weather is pretty nice so far and reminds me a lot of Texas. It can get pretty chilly at night and in the early morning, but it gets up to 80F in the afternoon. So far, we haven't had a lot of rain. One big surprise for me was that it gets dark at 6 PM. Up to now, I'd never been in Brazil when they were not under daylight savings time.
Mother's Day is a pretty big deal here, which is not surprising, given the strength and importance of family ties in Brazil. The news reported that stores in Rio were open until midnight so people could do their last-minute shopping. Apparently, they don't have too much teenage rebellion, and the kids generally don't leave the house until they get married. If the children are able to go to college in a distant location, they will often live with family or friends in that place. Almost every single Brazilian I meet asks isn't my family worried to have me living away from them. They are often shocked when I tell them I have not lived with my parents for half of my life.
And speaking of the news, I'm not sure if the story has been featured in the U.S. news, but this weekend, there was a huge retaliatory attack by an organized crime syndicate based in São Paulo against the police in São Paulo and several other regions because several imprisoned crime bosses were transferred to a remote prison. More than 50 people have died. To my knowledge, this has not affected our area, but a lot of innocent people have been killed. Another story of concern here is Bolivia's nationalization of oil and gas fields owned by companies from Brazil and other countries.
Finally, a moment of thanks for something I've never had to personally experience. I live close to a medical clinic, and, especially on the weekends, I see people walking up the hill from the bus stop to take themselves or their sick children there for treatment. I am so thankful that I have never had to be sick and take one or more city buses to get to a place where I could receive medical care. And as I've previously mentioned, most people here don't have strollers, so this means they're carrying their sick children in their arms. I am in awe of the physical and emotional strength of the Brazilian people.
posted by Christine Piggee at
8:03 PM
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