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| Government buildings during our city tour in Brasilia |
There are a lot of Americans on grants this year in Brazil. Two weeks ago Fulbright held their orientation for 30 U.S. researchers (there is one of them placed in my host city of Belém), one week ago they held the orientation for the traditional 30 Fulbright ETAs (what I did last year - there are two of them placed in Belém this year and two in the nearby city of Bragança) and just last week was our orientation (there will be 3 of us in Belém). Our orientation consisted of 80 new ETAs and 10 returning ones who will serve as mentors/regional coordinators. It was a huge group of people to organize and keep track of but it was a lot of fun to meet everyone and hear about where they would be placed.
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| The whole English Without Borders gang |
How did they find 80 new ETAs at the last minute to fill this program? Turns out it was a good year to apply for a Fulbright in South America last year. To fill the 80 spots, they asked everyone on the Fulbright alternate list of not only Brazil but also of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Uruguay if they would consider working in Brazil. Those that wanted to could re-submit a slightly altered application and be considered for this additional program. That being said, about half of the ETAs weren't hoping or expecting to be in Brazil, but are overwhelmingly glad to be here and to be a part of English Without Borders.
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| Famous bridge in Brasilia |
Our job is to work with universities to help the science and technology students increase their English competence so that they can not only pass the TOEFL (U.S. English entrance exam for universities) but also be able to successfully communicate, study and research in the language in an English-speaking country. All of the students that we will work with have been given the chance and the financial support to study abroad in the area of science and technology - the only thing stopping them is their level of English. We will also be part of a cultural component of the program and will be preparing students to study abroad by talking about customs, cultural differences and regional traditions. Though all of us are guinea pigs (the mentor program is new along with the English Without Borders program) I'm excited to be a part of a new initiative that has the potential to make some pretty big changes in not only the Brazil but hopefully in the world as well.
But I'm even more excited for Sean to be coming down in a month - can't wait!
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| Listening to the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil speak |
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