Escola de Aplicacao da University Sao Paulo (USP)

The first stop of the day was visiting University of São Paulo Pedagogy Course and Escola de Aplicação. University of São Paulo is a public institute and Brazil’s most prestigious university. The University has four campuses thorough out the city. We attended the main campus, called Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira. The campus is extremely huge, so we bus tour majority of the campus. (We got to see some capybaras, which are the largest rodents in the world!)

Escola de Aplicação, was located towards the back of the university. We were greeted by one of their English teachers. The teacher gave a presentation on what educational system they follow and how it will change, as a new system will be added. A tour of the school was given out by the students. The students that I tour with were Isabella and Fernanda. As they gave us a tour of the school, they also shared their own experiences and insight of the school. Although the school did seem to lack some materials, it seemed very diverse. Since we were able to engage and interact with the students, I felt a greater connection with this school compared to the others.

We then went to visit the Instituto of Paulo Freire which used to be his library. To our surprise, we were presented by Paulo Freire’s younger son. The first room we visited, consisted of Paulo Freire’s older books that were from his first library, before he fled the country due to being exiled. (They were in the process of restoring them.) The second room consisted of newer books that he collected once he came back to Brazil. The presenter explained to us some of the hardships that Freire went through when advocating for education. His son, Lutgardes, further explained some memories that he had of his father and how Paulo Freire was. A presentation followed on how the institute came to be. The trip to the Instituto increased my admiration, as I was unaware of all the obstacles and hardships, Freire went through.

Student projects posted in the hallway

College of Education @ USP

Meeting and learning with high school students