What is the situation like in the Brazilian countryside? To understand the reality a little better and how it impacts teaching in the Brazilian classroom, we spoke with Rafael Fonseca who teaches English in a language school in a cooperative coffee cultivation in Paraguacu. His learners are the children of field workers.
The Brazilian School Census of 2014, one of the last broad studies on Brazilian education, compared urban and countryside schools. The infrastructure is one of the major problems that teachers and students have to face in the countryside. The census found that only 27% of regular schools had water available, whereas 94% of urban schools had water readily available.
In 2010, the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Cattle Raising conducted research with 50 schools in ten different states. The study found that among the schools that took part in the research, 70% did not have a library, 66% did not have computers, and 92% did not have access to the Internet. Blackboards were the only tools found in all schools involved in the research, that were in good condition. Taking this all into consideration, what motivates teachers to continue teaching, especially teaching the English language to communities in the countryside?
Valuing countryside life
“In Brazil, countryside youth want to learn about new places, new cultures and people, however, they think their everyday lives are an obstacle to that, because they imagine that country life has nothing to do with other parts of the world”, says Rafael Fonseca.
Rafael tells us that the objective of the project being developed in the cooperative is to give the young people more opportunities of growth in the countryside, and that includes the ability to communicate with international buyers.
“In the future, our project may help overcome the lack of succession in countryside activities, because nowadays, field workers’ children become lawyers, engineers, teachers, and sometimes even doctors, but very rarely those children want to have a profession related to field work”, says Rafael.
“That happens because their parents understand that life in the countryside can be hard work and they do not want to see their children running the same type of life that they have. Their children also believe that life in the country does not allow them to have contact with other parts of the world, meet other people and improve cultural bounds. The program intends to show them that by means of a second language they can travel, communicate with new people and meet new cultures as a means of promoting and selling what they produce in the country, and that includes receiving visitors in their work place from abroad.”
The learner context as a teaching tool
Taking into consideration the learners’ need to have access to new cultures, using their living style as a teaching tool for the English language can be fundamental to promote an alternative learning process. “Several learners say that they want to visit coffee crops, something that we have already offered in our course. I notice that they make comments about countryside topics related to outside markets. And that also includes the desire of participating in courses for better coffee growth. As an example, I have a 16-year-old student who took the initiative to make a few changes to a fruit tree in the region and was able to sell it to a customer in Italy. They are open new opportunities!” says Rafael.
Considering the learners’ choice, teachers can develop activities which reflect the lives of the learners. As for Rafael, he uses a strategy that is contextualizing the English language and keeping learners up-to-date with what happens in the global market.
The teacher’s role
“In the modern world, with lots of information available, we teachers act as the guides and consultants on how and where the learners can get better results according to their goals. We are also role models for these young people, and, because of that, we need to set out a clear demonstration of what they want to become”, suggests Rafael. “We are no longer the knowledge keeper, but the guides to the process. The teacher shows learners the world around them and everything that one wants to experience in the 21st Century. However, that means we need to be better prepared, engaging, and responsible”.
“There is still a lot to improve, but I believe we need to avoid the lack of commitment seen by authorities as an excuse for not doing our role the best we can as educators. We must reinforce young people’s potential for the improvement of our society and avoid just following the majority to act in a more positive and transformative way”, adds Rafael.
3 practical ideas for teaching English in the countryside
Rafael shared with us 3 suggestions on how teachers from the Brazilian countryside can motivate their learners and manage more engaging and interesting lessons:
1. In Brazil, young people from the countryside want to know more about new places, cultures and people. However, they don’t see any relation between the work in the countryside and their aspirations. Therefore, always show them how the countryside is valued abroad. Use specific statistics from different sectors related to the export of goods, for example.
2. Use the Internet to your advantage – whenever it is possible show students examples of the products their families produces used aboard in other countries. In the modern world, with broadly accessible information, as teachers we can act as the guides and role models showing students how to achieve the best results according to their own ideals.
3. Recreate real dialogues that happened or could happen during international travels. I show my students WhatsApp conversations, emails and sometimes I even try to make Skype calls to negotiate the products they produce with foreign customers. All these make them very excited about the future of rural activities and also about learning English.
Finally, Rafael also mentions two projects that could have a great impact in the countryside:
Projovem Campo – Saberes da Terra: offers professional qualifications and school preparation for young field workers between the age of 18 and 29 years old who have not finished secondary school.
“The project could lead to good school results in the countryside,” adds Rafael.
WWOOF (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is another initiative that promotes the exchange of volunteers and farms in all continents, in countries like Brazil, England, Italy or China. This is an opportunity for those who do not live in the countryside to get to know what country living is like.
It is important to understand that the countryside is not an obstacle, but an excellent social and cultural stimulus that needs to be more valued. Integrating relevant topics about countryside living can be transformative in the classroom. The local regional and cultural aspects are a great source of inspiration and learning not only for learners, but also for us all.
Read more from Leonardo in his post on Five things you only learn when you start teaching.