Brazilian Student Voices

 “Building a Better Future” by Matheus Ribeiro, Salvador

Conexão Mundo has been, clearly, the best thing that happened in my whole life. I’m not talking only about my first opportunity to go abroad and visit the country that I used to dream about, I’m talking about building opportunities and creating a brand new experience for thousands of students.

We were with our coaches for one month. In the first moment, it was really scary for everyone to be with people from a different culture, but it quickly became an easy and pleasurable relation.

All over the school, there were people speaking in English, practicing their new skills, sharing their experiences with their coaches or talking about the games and activities we used to practice our vocabulary. In a very short time other students that weren’t participating in the program got involved in this innovative method of learning and soon, the program became the most popular subject in the school.

I don’t speak English fluently, but I am comfortable speaking English because the people in the program made me believe that I’m able to. Now I make plans to study and work abroad, something I thought was possible only for rich people.

Hundreds of students – next year, thousands of students – will think like me, and that’s the reason I believe this incredible program will keep growing and reaching more students, who will build a new and better future for themselves.

 

“Dreams” by Erick Morais, Salvador

I believe that to talk about the Conexão Mundo program, is to talk about dreams. And dreams that are really possible.

In the days of participating in the Conexão Mundo program, we could see that we don’t have just one model of education. Four walls, a blackboard, a teacher, books and some students have helped us a lot, but what about a different model? A different way to see the educational process?

In the days of participating in the Conexão Mundo program, we saw that we just need a fun game, new friendships, a coach, some students and disposition to learn new things. To learn English!

But not just English. We have learned how to be realizers of dreams. How to trust in yourself, and see that you are able to do things that you have never thought to do. How to build bridges and connections between countries with some differences, and see a lot of similarities in this process. And this way, we stopped being dreamers. We started being realizers of dreams.

And what is the product of this process? We can see not just coaches and students, but friends. And the language, that was a barrier, after some weeks, turns to a door to new experiences and exchange of cultures and ideas.

Investing in Conexão Mundo, it’s investing in the future of another realizers of dreams, like me!