Introducing Rio de Janeiro...

Introducing Wladilene from Escola Municipal Ministro Gama Filho...

How did you learn about this opportunity?

“A friend of mine, Luciana Oliveira, told me about this project.”

Is English hard to teach in Brazil?

“In public schools, it is hard to teach English because most of the students are not aware about the importance of learning a second language.”

What were your initial thoughts on this new project?

“I thought it would be a good way for them to be familiar with the English language.”

How do you think having the opportunity to interact with a school in Brazil and England help your school?

“In my opinion, the contact with others will encourage them to interact in English because they will see other Brazilian students doing it from Curitiba.”  

What are the children most looking forward too?

“When I told them about this project, they became interested in meeting the people from England and they started to ask questions about the country.”

How will this project effect the children in your school?

“I think it will spark student’s desire to explore a world that they do not know that exists.”

What is the impact of this project on other teachers in your school?

“I believe it will have a great impact on them. I have not had time to talk to them yet as I have just talked to my directors and they are really excited about it.”

What hope do you have for the future with this project?

“Firstly, I hope the children become more interested in learning a second language. Secondly, that they explore, investigate and understand their world and the wider world.”

A little bit of...Everything

The World Cup is over and Germany are the champions. However we continue the Lionsraw work in Curitiba delivering English lessons, delivering football coaching sessions and learning how to lay blocks on the build site in Cajuru for the education facility.

I guess the World Cup continues for us, but with a different focus about leaving a lasting legacy in Curitiba. Our English lessons are starting to utilize the resource given to us by Premier Skills, which follows the story of Josh Jones and his quest to play for Big City United. The first chapters are focused on dreams and goals so as part of the lesson at Maria Augusta Jouve we asked the children what their's were. It's hard to take in everything, especially in another language, but among the football player and musician we had some heartbreaking responses like wanting to know their father or for their parents to be back together. Some of the young people's goal is to teach their family English so they can help at home and for employment. We are not just teaching English at the school, but it seems like we are becoming an example of something positive for them to look up to. We explained our dreams were to be football players when younger and although that didn't happen it hasn't turned out to bad for us!

The football project at Pinhais is on a two week break as they have some much needed work done on the premises which has been a bit of a risk. We are also starting the donations that will help supply each child with a gift this Christmas as £100 has been raised so far to help to project deliver this year. Almirante and Cajuru are continuing steadily with an increased number of young people attending totalling around 100 young people involved each week.

We visited two of the local professional teams stadiums and training facilities (Atletico PR and Coritiba). They have been superb with us allowing us to see how they operate here in Brazil and learn from some of their coaching staff for personal development. We were taken on tours of the stadiums, including the Arena da Baixada and a little pit stop on the pitch which had been used only a few weeks before for the big event. A massive thank you to all those involved in supporting us and allowing us the privilege to visit.

I also visited a local hospital in Curitiba as I picked up an infection in my leg. I hadn't noticed until prior to a football session and after the session my leg had swollen to almost twice the size. It was an experience and slightly worrying as although the doctor tried to communicate in English it was mainly in Portuguese. I'm not sure what caused the infection, but after 5 days of medication and rest I can return to school tomorrow. The rest has coincided with some unbelievable weather here so I can't complain too much!

Along with my return the Brasileiro has returned and we watched Coritiba play against Corinthians yesterday. The game finished 0-0, but we did get a sun tan as we watched both teams cancel each other out. It is very difficult to judge Brazilian football as before we came it was assumed it would be amazing. The atmosphere is breath taking, at times during the game we will just watch the crowd and prior to kick off they do a fantastic show of banners. However when the football starts you almost wish the teams could deliver for the supporters as the game is drawn out by poor passing, long balls, needless free kicks, yellow cards and very little continued possession. The game is slow and you will rarely see a quick counter attack or a team break away. There are some individually talented players who can perform in spells, but general team play has left a lot to be desired. We want the teams to be brilliant and maybe they have hit a rough patch, but the Premier League is leading for us at the moment.

A huge group of our volunteers left over the last week so it was a pleasure to meet and get to know you all. Hope you all got back safely and have a blast with your family and friends!

Finally we will visit Uruguay to collect our visa to enable us to stay until December. A very long process, but eventually we look like we will be able to continue the legacy that was set out for us this year.

Long Overdue!

I've eventually got around to doing another blog piece as it has been quite a hectic end of the year. We would like to wish you a Merry Xmas (Feliz Natal) and a Happy New Year (Bom fin de ano). I hope you've had as exciting year as we have throughout 2013 and all the best for 2014.

We visited London on Tuesday, which was a crazy day of travelling, to secure our volunteer VISA for next year. The appointment did not go as smoothly as we thought, but we did get it accepted. Now it is a waiting game so hopefully in January we get everything we need processed so we can still fly out on January 29th.

Our schools project and the work Lionsraw did featured in Gazeta do Povo yesterday and you can read it (in Portuguese) on this link http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vidaecidadania/conteudo.phtml?tl=1&id=1434422&tit=Um-gol-social-dos-amantes-do-futebol.

We did a Skype between Holystone Primary and CEI Maria Augusta Jouve at the start of December which was amazing. Children and staff from both schools had the opportunity to talk about their school system, hobbies, food, vacation activities and of course football. They also shared a joint passion for One Direction which involved singing together despite being thousands of miles away!

In the last few months we managed to reach £9000 raised which started from our own personal challenges. An amazing total and honestly it is much appreciated for all the support from friends, family and the schools.

We did more Brazil Days in St. John's Primary, St. Cuthbert's Primary and Tyneview Primary. A huge thank you to all the children, parents and staff involved in the day!

The art work by pupils from Excelsior Academy was completed and featured in numerous media across the North East like this http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/north-east/pupils-artwork-heads-to-world-cup-1-6290050.

Thanks to all the students from Brazil at International House who have helped us over the year. Every thing is much appreciated and wish you all the best in 2014!

You can share our Facebook page or Twitter to keep updated much quicker than this blog! www.facebook.com/ProjectCuritiba or www.twitter.com/ProjectCuritiba.

We might have released another video as well so have a look at www.youtube.com/ProjectCuritiba too!

Brazil Days

The end of May and June are going to be exceptionally busy for us. An idea we had was to create a link between our current home and then our home for a year. Due to our links in the community we have managed to agree with schools to host a Brazil Day. The schools that have confirmed so far with specific dates are Holystone Primary, Fordley Primary, Forest Hall Primary, Redesdale Primary and Excelsior Academy. There are more schools interested and we are working on those to incorporate them into our program.

Each school will be different, but the core idea is to share culture and understanding potentially creating a legacy beyond 2014. We will go into each school for a day and deliver some sport, music, a visit from Brazilian students thanks to help from International House and the teachers can deliver lessons based on the country. Pupils also have the opportunity to wear non school uniform on the day and hopefully this can help create a carnival atmosphere.

Each child will donate £1 with the option of voluntary donations, but every little helps. The main aim is creating a fun day, shared learning and the opportunity to create a link from Newcastle to Brazil.

Brazil Day

One of the ideas that we would like to develop is a link between our local communities and the communities of Curitiba. One way of doing this will be to invite schools to help support us by hosting a Brazil Day or #BrazilDay for those who follow us on our Twitter. 

The idea behind Brazil Day will be school children to support us by attending a non uniform day wearing the yellow and green colours of Brazil. Each class will also have the chance to take part in a futsal taster session learning a new trick or skill.

 Hopefully this doesn't finish when the day is over as we would like to actively encourage the schools taking part to create a link to a school or one of the favela communities in Curitiba where we will be spending a year volunteering. The first bit of good news is that we had a positive meeting with one school today who are very keen to have us in the school as it will help them with their International School Award. Exciting!