Focus on Francisca
Jade Lemus
On Monday, May 26, and Tuesday, May 27, I had the privilege of going to USP, the University of São Paulo, and meeting a wonderful group of students and a teacher. A teacher named Francisca. I spoke to her and learned about her educational experience in learning English. She knew how to speak English when she was 20. Francisca is an educator at USP. Growing up, she disliked English. She is licensed to teach both Portuguese and English. She would have rather taught Portuguese, but she felt like life happened in a way that led her to teach English, so here's part of her story. When learning English, she felt like it wasn't for her and felt left out and excluded.
Growing up, she lived in a low-income neighborhood and studied in public schools, and it wasn't easy to study in her neighborhood. Until 9th grade, she got a full-ride scholarship to an elite high school, and she did her very best to catch up on her studies. The only subject she had trouble catching up in was English, especially since the people in her class had taken English classes since they were little. It was hard for her in English class to navigate what was going on in class. Still, she never felt comfortable and constantly felt left out until she had an opportunity to volunteer for a program in school with a group of people from Atlanta. She remembered meeting them, and she wanted to connect with them because she liked them, their eyes, and their presence. She wanted to say something and couldn't communicate because of the language barrier, and at that point, she realized that English was more than a dead language to her and something she could learn because of her interpersonal connections.
From that point on, she wanted to learn English, and she was able to connect with one of the group members. They became friends, but Francisca couldn't speak any English. She told her group member that she would learn it, and they would be able to have a conversation, and for years and years, they kept a routine. They would text and Skype, and she was learning English, and for her, that was something, and she started studying language arts because of her experiences. After the volunteering program, she realized that she was capable of learning English and began to feel successful, and took pleasure in learning it and learned it and now teaches it at the University of São Paulo.
I asked her if there were any advice she would give to future teachers she said “We need to stay true to ourselves and nurture good relationships with both our students and the people they are respecting their interest and the fact that they are kids and have the right to get things wrong and we need to help educate them, but at the same time, nurture good relation with the things we like and are important to us and regarding the subject we teach." Francisca loves her students and for her if her students leave her classroom believing English is worth improving and possible for them to learn English or one day be something whether it’s being a teacher or being able to speak English fluently then she won as a teacher because they believe it and in themselves and she is happy in knowing they believe in themselves.
When arriving at USP, Francisca gave us a tour of the university. We walked around the school and saw different areas around it. I took a picture of the park, which is made for only little kids. Francisca told us that her middle school students would ask to play in that park. Right after the amazing tour, we interacted with the students, and they brought us yummy snacks, even acai, which was so good and kind of them to do. They didn't have to do it, but did, and welcomed us into their space, and there were meaningful conversations with each other.
We spoke to the high school students on Monday, and on Tuesday, we talked to the middle school students. I am grateful to have spoken to different age groups. Interacting with the students was so fun, and they spoke good English, even though some of them were insecure about it, and this was good practice for them to be able to speak English with us. Some students recognized their privilege and said they were aware, which isn't something you see in Chicago. People get offended at times by being called privileged because they didn't want to admit it, but these kids did, and they were self-aware about it.
We even got to play games with the students and played volleyball. Some people played basketball, and it was all fun. We taught the kids slang words, and some students would teach us Portuguese words. They talked to us about soccer and all sorts of fun things, and every conversation I had with students was one that I would remember and was funny.
