This past weekend two fellow students
from my graduate class invited me to visit their hometown, Arapiraca. Arapiraca is the second biggest city in
the state of Alagoas with about 250,000 inhabitants. Not yet enough of a tourist attraction to make it in Lonely
Planet; if they did have anything to say about the city I imagine it would
sound something like this: Arapiraca
possesses that unexplainable small-town charm. Known for its plazas, many people choose relax on the
romantic park benches shaded by vine-covered awnings. While it is by no means has the draw of a big city, there
are some attractions that visitors might want to check out while in town. For example the Women’s Museum (Memorial Da Mulher), which
was largely built in honor of Ceci Cunha, a politician who fought for social
justice until she was murdered 14 years ago. There is also a water park open on weekends with several
pools, snack bars, and even some decent waterslides. At night there are often free concerts in the various town
squares.
The students in my graduate class aka
my tour guides for the weekend, Rodolfo and Rosangela, are English teachers in
Arapiraca. They thought it would
be a good opportunity for their students to meet a native speaker and for me to
see a little bit more of Alagoas. They live in Arapiraca and just drive the two-hour commute
(each way) to Maceio 1-2 days a week to pursue their master’s degree. After our class on Thursday Rodolfo
drove me to Arapiraca. That night
I went with him to the institute where he works. There he acts as a teaching assistant offering extra
assistance to students who need it.
The students are all English teachers in the area though most of them
rarely speak English. In their
classes they primarily teach grammar.
This is in part due to their fairly basic level of English and in part
due to the large unruly class (classes usually average 40-50 students). In the past English teachers were not
required to actually know English.
Thankfully, though this is now starting to change.
Though to change takes time and this
problem is even more evident in Igaci, one of the small towns a mere 15-minute
drive from Arapiraca. Rodolfo’s
family lives on a farm there and he is involved in a project to get the English
teachers in the area to use more interactive strategies in the classroom. So they focus on speaking and
listening, rather than solely reading and writing. I met with the English teachers there and many of them spoke
limited English and explained that they struggled with speaking and listening
as well. I suggested some
resources to help them improve their English and some English teaching
strategies that I found successful when I taught in Colombia with my students
who primarily had very basic levels of English. Mainly I encouraged them to speak as much English as they
could in and out of the classroom.
I definitely understand the challenges of learning a foreign language
(as anyone who has heard me speak Portuguese can attest to), but practice makes
perfect, right?
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My Tour Guides for the Weekend
I also visited the university UNEAL where Rosangela works. Students from all the different English classes and levels gathered to ask me questions. Shy at first, after a few minutes, students opened up and asked me a slew of questions. After almost 2 hours I felt as though I covered every topic imaginable. I talked about everything from American food, to text message abbreviations, to education in the U.S. I think I was the first American most of them have met. It’s quite a daunting task to represent an entire country and culture (which is made of many other cultures) in the span of a few hours. I tried to emphasize that I am no expert and my knowledge is of course limited to my experiences and my education. I definitely don’t know everything, even something as seemingly simple as text message abbreviations. Actually especially text message abbreviations; I think I was one of the last people of my generation to know what ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing, in case you were wondering). So this year I have found myself learning about U.S. culture and the English language alongside students.
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At UNEAL- after the Q&A session the cameras were busted
out and after the group shot many students requested individual pictures with
me
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