My experience as a tutor in Brazil has been amazing. Lisane, Henrique and Mariana have been more than welcoming and made me feel very much at home. Their English skills were already at an intermediate level so I found it quite easy to communicate. Most of the time we just spent chatting about everyday things, practicing to become more fluent and learning new words. I tried to teach English expressions that were less formal and used more in talking such as "we need to drop you off at the shops" and "can I get a lift to the beach?"
Lisane and I spent alot of time traveling around Porto Alegre having a look at museums and sites. We also went on a few weekend trips to Florianopolis, Gramado and Lajeado. It was great to see some of the countryside in Rio Grande do Sul and see how diverse Brazil really is. Overall, my time here has been fantastic. Its been a great introduction to Brazilian culture and Ive even picked up a little Portuguese!
Daniel Bilsborough, Australian, tutor for 8 weeks in Porto Alegre, RS – April - June, 2008
Hosting a tutor in my home was really interesting! I learned a lot of English and could also teach a little Portuguese to him. Our communication flowed well, and many times we laughed a lot due to misunderstandings.
Daniel has adapted well, he is communicative and had all the patience to listen to my poor English. Henrique (15) had a good progress on his fluency and it’ll be great during his exchange program in August at the US. Mariana (30), together with friends, took Daniel to many bars, speaking just in English, which was very good…
The cultural exchange itself was really interesting. While we walked around the city, visiting parks and touristy places, having cappuccinos and watching the sunset at Guaíba river, I kept asking about his family, places and life in Australia. I got to visit places in Porto Alegre that I’ve never been before. All this walks were really nice classes. We also traveled, some with our family.
We visited the beach-city of Torres during the Balloon Festival, we went to Florianópolis during a holiday, and in another one we went to Gamado, Canela and Bento Gonçalves. We had a lot of fun showing our beauties, leisure activities, typical food and our people. We took Daniel to Lajeado, my birthplace, and there he went out with Henrique and André, my godchild which is great admirer of the English language.
As everybody here at home were interested about practicing conversation, Mariana and Henrique didn’t want formal classes. I was the only one to ask for classes, as I’m working on a book translation, and I took the opportunity to solve my doubts. I also trained reading and interpreting texts. Watching the cable TV nowadays, I noticed that I improved a lot my English comprehension. By hosting a young tutor (Daniel 26), coming from a safe city as Melbourne, I was really happy to have time to travel around and introduce him to many people at the same age, this way he was able to get to know Porto Alegre and “gauchos” (the state citizens) in a safer way. For me it was really great to host a young tutor in my home, but it was also essential that he was enjoying the experience.
Lisane Tochetto, Brazilian
Daniel’s “host mother”
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