Coach Perspectives
“FVCC Students Travel to Brazil” By: Brigitte Henkelmann
This past July, five students packed their suitcases and left on a jet plane for the faraway land of Brazil. We, Elaina Gordon-Hansen, Taylor Keltner, Monica Peterson, Lee Shamp, and myself had been preparing for this trip since early March. We traveled through a program called U.S.-Brazil Connect or USBC. The program is in its second year, although this was FVCC’s first year in the program. The goals of the program are laid out quite well in its mission statement, taken from us-brazil.org, “US-Brazil Connect’s mission is to strengthen education and build economic opportunities by connecting communities, engaging leaders, and creating transformative learning experiences linking the United States and Brazil.” USBC is a nationwide program, with many community colleges participating from places like Michigan, Colorado and Montana.
This year, 52 fellows went down to Brazil, along with 22 leaders and coordinators. We were dispersed among seven sites across Brazil, ranging from the tourist destination Salvador to the Amazonian Porto Velho.
The FVCC team began to form our experience in March. We would meet on Saturday mornings at the college with our coordinator, Gerda Reeb to hold a Google Hangout with our Colorado based leader and coordinator, Sarah Graybill and Steve Grace, and Michigan based leader Lauren Prebenda. During this time, we practiced teaching techniques, talked about the program aspects, such as safety and preparation and generally got to know each other. On April 1st, we were assigned our students. From there, we found the students on Facebook, and began to lead our online Facebook groups by stirring up conversation, both through assignments and online polls, and just generally trying to form relationships as best we could in a virtual world. Additionally, we tried to set up Google Hangouts with our students as often as possible. In the beginning of June, we flew to Denver for training. There we met our leaders in person, as well as the other fellows that we would be traveling with, students from Northwestern Michigan College and the University of Colorado. That weekend it finally hit me that we were really going to Brazil, and I felt much more prepared, ready and excited.
After three months of getting to know our students, the excitement was building immensely. Our students were posting videos and pictures for us like crazy. We tried our best to reciprocate the excitement. Once we landed in Brazil, we had a group of approximately 30 students yelling, cheering, holding signs waiting for us. I felt like Justin Bieber getting out of a limo, only way cooler. After traveling for more than 24 hours, it was a wonderful welcome to Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Belo Horizonte or BH for short, is inland, about 9 hours Northwest of Rio de Janeiro, in the state of Minas Gerais. We arrived on a Monday, and began teaching on Thursday. That way we had time to adjust and get acclimated.
Our day usually began early in the morning with breakfast, then an hour bus ride to the school. There we would spend one hour teaching our EFL or level based groups, followed by two hours with our Facebook groups, students of all different levels from different schools working together with their coaches towards a weekly goal. The first week we came up with a team name, mine was the Crazy New York Players, and a team cheer. The other topics were travel, music, and one week we created a skit from scratch with no theme, so that each group could express its interest. My team came up with a skit that involved a large cat, Halloween, and stealing back candy. Feel free to check out the videos on the USBC Facebook page, under the video tab. The final hour of the day, all of the teams would come together for assembly time, about 150 of us in total. There, students performed, we sang songs together, and Taylor’s group once even came up with a whole dance to the song “Call Me Maybe” complete with numbers written on the hand and everything.
The time we spent with our students was incredible. They are a group of the nicest, most appreciative, and open teenagers I have ever met. To see the change in English proficiency was truly magical. With one student, she could barely say hello at the beginning, and by the end we were having in depth conversations about our hobbies, the future and life in general. Saying goodbye to our students was emotionally intense for all of us, thankfully we had each other to lean on. Our time in Brazil was too short, and even just a month later it feels like a fond, distant memory. Each of us had a different, wonderful experience. On the flight back, the FVCC team was discussing how we had changed. Everyone agreed that no one came back the same person as before, we had grown as people, had become familiar with another culture, and had built a wonderful network of support for each other in a foreign land.
If you are interested in creating your own experience in Brazil next summer, I urge you to check out us-brazil.org, the USBC Facebook page, and just talk to a fellow that went this year, or talk to Gerda Reeb, who coordinates everything from the FVCC side. Hopefully USBC and FVCC will continue their partnership and offer this amazing experience to many more students.
“A Fear Worth Feeling” By: Lauren Prebenda
With a plastic, white #4 room card in my hand and a clunky, gold key dangling about, I cautiously held out my arms and stepped out of the tiny elevator. I took a few steps, with my arms still sprawled in front of me, before a dim bulb in the center of the ceiling lit up the corridor. The light made a soft humming noise and shadows were cast in the corners where this single, hazy bulb couldn’t reach. I looked curiously at the display of yellow, numbered doors surrounding me until I found number 4. The key fit perfectly into the lock and I turned it slowly to the right, to unlock the door of the room that would act as my home for the next month.
I pushed my shoulder against the heavy door and to my surprise, it didn’t budge. I turned the key again: nothing. I turned the key left once, two times. I turned it right. I walked away, took a deep breath, and returned to the door. For ten minutes, I yanked the key back and forth, and slammed my body against the door, when I heard a click. Somehow, I had finally unlocked the door, though I was still entirely unaware of what I had done to accomplish this. Once inside, I sat on the edge of the bed, holding my head in my hands. What was I doing here? How was I going to pull this off? I had just arrived in Brazil and couldn’t even figure out how to open the door. Perhaps I wasn’t cut out for this. If I couldn’t even figure out how to properly use the room key, how could I possibly help a classroom full of Brazilian students learn English?
It’s been more than a year since I stepped foot in Brazil for the first time, since I first stumbled into that hotel room in Salvador. A year ago, I walked unknowingly through that dark hallway, fumbling with my room key and wringing my hands in terror because I simply couldn’t get the door open. I was uncertain of whether or not I would survive that month, whether I was strong enough or had the skills necessary to do so.
Two months ago, I returned home from my second trip to Brazil. This year, I traveled with US-Brazil Connect as a Team Leader. I worked with community college students, many of whom stood exactly where I did only a year ago: with the same sort of uncertainty and the same sort of fear. But, I’ve learned to love this type of fear, and I’ve witnessed a number of fellows develop a deep appreciation for it, too. It is a healthy kind of ‘afraid’; one that must be experienced in order for progress. A fear you often blindly throw yourself into, one you don’t fully understand in the beginning. It is the type of fear that makes you realize exactly what you’re capable of, what you can accomplish and overcome. It is a fear that you will meet with numerous times in your life, but one that you never become accustomed to and no matter the outcome– it is always worth feeling.