{"id":2479,"date":"2019-03-07T11:35:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T16:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2019-12-20T17:48:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T22:48:38","slug":"stetsons-portuguese-instructor-at-yale-university-the-building-and-sharing-of-a-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/stetsons-portuguese-instructor-at-yale-university-the-building-and-sharing-of-a-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Stetson\u2019s Portuguese Instructor at Yale University: the Building and Sharing of a Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Fernanda Ribeiro, Fulbright Brazilian Language Scholar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have never taught my mother tongue to non-native speakers of Portuguese before. When I arrived at Stetson University as a Fulbright scholar last year, on the 8th of August, I was given the mission of continuing the wonderful work left by Raquel Santos (2015-2016), Ana Paula Spalenza Pereira (2016-2017) and Greici Buzzi (2017-2018) each in turn,  a Teacher Scholar in Stetson\u2019s Portuguese program. Then I thought: What can I do to leave my legacy on campus in nine months and contribute to the recognition and importance of one having a Portuguese language program at Stetson after my going back to Brazil? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fernanda Rebeiro, Stetson FLTA 2018-2019<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Will I be able to meet Fulbright\u2019s goals and truly represent my country as a cultural ambassador? It was quite a challenge, I must confess.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On my first day as a Portuguese instructor, I had 8 students from the most diverse linguistic backgrounds: Spanish speakers, heritage speakers of Portuguese, polyglots, monolinguals. In spite of the differences, all of them had chosen to learn Portuguese, among the myriad of languages that the Department of World Languages and Cultures offer every semester, and, as a native speaker of Portuguese and a graduated teacher with years of experience, I had to give them my best, and the best of my country and my language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fernanda Rebiero presenting her work at stetson to other Fulbright Scholars at Yale University, Connecticut in spring 2019<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With a lot of\nguaran\u00e1, brigadeiros, cheese breads (of course!), memes and music, the classes have\nbeen fun, dynamic and full of learning. My students have become my friends and\nI have learned a lot from and with them too \u2013 and that is one of the priceless\nopportunities we have as teachers. Outside the classroom hours, I have\norganized tablings, Brazilian clubs, cultural credit events and tertulias,\neverything under the fantastic supervision of the wonderful Dr. Pamela\nCappas-Toro, who has always given me a free hand to do my best here, allowing\nme to be truly and entirely myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the days have passed, so has the semester. I have been in DeLand for 7 months now and it is already my second and last semester as a Portuguese instructor here at Stetson. During a talk with Dr. Cappas-Toro, she told me that I am the last Fulbright scholar of Portuguese and that, in the Fall semester of 2019, there will be a full-time professor, whose commitment with the Department of World Languages and Cultures includes making the Portuguese program even stronger through the offer of higher level Portuguese courses \u2013 currently Stetson offers 101 and 102 levels only. What does it mean? It means that all the work of the four Brazilian Fulbrighers had not been in vain. It is quite the contrary: the four of us have planted seeds which have been constantly watered and which have now bloomed into beautiful flowers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fernanda Ribiero visits Yale University to present on her work as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant at Stetson during the 2018-2019 academic year.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With such accomplishments in mind, and full of joy, I traveled to Connecticut last month and talked about the teaching of Portuguese at Stetson University at a conference at Yale University. There, I encountered the other Brazilian Portuguese instructors that came to the US with me and it was such a great experience. When I was presenting my speech, I was really moved because I could share my experience not only as a language instructor but also as a representative of Brazil, and as a cultural ambassador, I could say, and reinforce without any doubt the impact the Fulbright scholars have in a community and in the world. Raquel\u2019s, Ana Paula\u2019s and Greci\u2019s work was also mentioned at Yale, after all we are a team!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These months here have been a daily learning. I am sure that I am not the same Fernanda anymore. With expanded horizons, a renewed cultural and linguistic baggage of knowledge and the most important thing \u2013 my legacy left at Stetson \u2013 , I will go back to my home country with the feeling of having fulfilled my duty. My future and my perspectives will be forever changed because my home will always have a little of this country and the wonderful family I have built here. After all, we are the result of the books we read, the places we visit, the languages we speak and teach and the people we get to meet \u2013 a  change for the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fernanda Ribeiro<\/strong> joins Stetson University from Brazil to teach Portuguese as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant. She is a first-generation college student who graduated from Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro in 2015, earning a licentiate degree in Portuguese, English and their respective literatures. Ms. Ribeiro earned a Master\u2019s degree in linguistics from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro this past February. For more on Ms. Ribero, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fernanda Ribeiro, Fulbright Brazilian Language Scholar I have never taught my mother tongue to non-native speakers of Portuguese before. When I arrived at Stetson University as a Fulbright scholar last year, on the 8th of August, I was given the mission of continuing the wonderful work left by Raquel Santos (2015-2016), Ana Paula Spalenza … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Stetson\u2019s Portuguese Instructor at Yale University: the Building and Sharing of a Legacy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,19,22,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-faculty","category-staff","category-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2479"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3021,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions\/3021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}