Last Thursday (17th May
2012) I carried out the 1a Oficina de Introdução Ao Inglês
(first introduction to Learning English workshop) in Saracuruna, Duque de
Caxias. The workshop was really a taster class as way of finding out the level
of interest and main age groups of interested students ahead of a new project I
will be implementing in August this year.
Saracuruna, in a typically
Brazilian un-politically correct fashion, is classed as a “bairro pobre” (a
poor neighbourhood), which, although not affected by the same negative stereotypes
or dominated by drug trafficking, suffers similar social and financial problems
as the arguably more famous favelas. I will be working in partnership with ONG
Espaço
Cidadania & Cultura which provides free of charge school support (Maths and
Portuguese) for children and sewing and arts and crafts classes for women. The
NGO was opened five years ago by a local resident as a way of providing women-
many of whom have incomplete education and are financially dependent on their
husbands- with the tools to make a small income.
I am currently developing a
project for children which promotes citizenship through learning English as a
foreign language, as well as a Basic English course for adults with the objective of increasing their self-esteem and employability.
Despite little advertising
Thursday’s session attracted around 10 adults and 20 children. In the children’s
session I taught the numbers 1 to 10 and a few free time activities with I like
and I don’t like. I had been expecting children aged from seven to fifteen
years (quite a wide and complicated age range) but in the end the majority were
aged between seven and ten. This is a much easier range and meant I could play
a few childhood games, such as duck, duck, goose (though in this case “apple,
apple, chocolate” to fit with the vocabulary I had taught them!).
With the adults I did a very
simple explanation of basic greetings and introductions. The majority had only
completed “ensino fundamental” (up to around 13 years old) so I tried to make
it as communicative as possible, with lots of practice in pairs and repetition so
as not to overwhelm them with worksheets.
All in all I really enjoyed the
session and am looking forward to the next one in June which I hope will have
even more keen participants.
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