Learning to Give Directions in English or How NOT to Get Lost in the Becos of Rocinha

Becos are something typical for Rocinha. They are small narrow streets usually full of stairs, which make it rather complicated to navigate your way around.  Because of this, I decided to teach my adults intermediate class how to give directions to a tourist lost in Rocinha. 

We started with a few simple phrases and then gradually added vocabulary until the students were able to direct the foreigner from the very bottom of Rocinha all the way to their favourite bar or restaurant.

Some of the basic phrases we learnt:

Cross the pasarela

   Go up the Via Apia

Take the third street on your right

When you get to the market turn left and go up the street past the banks

Take the beco on your right

Continue going up the stairs

 Go up the Estrada da Gavea

Turn right to a beco, go to the end...

 ... and the snack bar will be on your right

Breaking Down Misconceptions Through Art

"I truly believe that art can be a catalyst for change, altering the way people see themselves and the world around them, which is why I am so enthusiastic about community/participatory art and activism." - Beccy McCray

A few months ago I had been contacted by artist and creative producer, Beccy McCray. She expressed great interest in having a workshop at our organization and proposed an art/craft workshop. Her desired objective? To facilitate a positive difference by linking people together through creative means and also to have a good time! She was well-aware that many people have negative preconceived notions about favelas and favela residents (being violent and hubs for drug trafficking), and because of those misconceptions her other target was to use art to to tell truths about favela life and favela residents to dismantle those misconceptions.

On November 11th, we surprised our students (from both Will's class and Harriet's class) with Beccy's workshop. To begin, she had each student select a hand-made bracelet, from a bag that she had brought with her, for each student to keep.

After each student selected their bracelet, she explained that their bracelets had been made by participants in England. She gave out instructions for making the bracelets and then told the kids that they will make bracelets for other people in England.

Photos and a bit of information will be included with the bracelets, so that the recipient will know who made their bracelet and where they come from. More specifically, they will all be distributed around Hackney Wick, where the pre-made bracelets she gave to our kids originated from, thus connecting it to Rocinha.
I'm American and  I've  never traveled to London, let alone England so I don't know much about London burroughs. Beccy described Hackney Wick being similar to Rocinha. She states that, "Rocinha actually has a lot in common with Hackney - it too is a deprived area which borders the Olympic Park, but is also a crucible of culture."

Overall, the workshop was a hit. Not only did the kids thoroughly enjoy it, but us resident volunteers also enjoyed it very much as well. A huge thank you, Beccy, for coming out here to spend some time with us and sharing your creativity with us. We couldn't be more grateful! 

Monster Mash.

Halloween isn't very popular in Brazil, although its fanbase is currently growing in some of Brazil's bigger cities. I imagine that this can be attributed to two things: The number of English-language schools that throw Halloween parties and also because of American pop culture. It is entirely possible to find Halloween parties around Rio, but they aren't that numerous and you generally wouldn't see swarms of people dressed up in costumes everywhere!

We try not to limit our curriculum to strictly English lessons, so whenever we can, we incorporate cultural lessons and activities. Additionally, Halloween is my absolute favorite Holiday, so it was only necessary to celebrate Halloween with our kids and teens by throwing a party at the Escola Moranguinhos. Vivi (Our Field Coordinator) and I planned and organized the party in adavance, but she couldn't stay for the party because she was ill. Will (a resident volunteer), Maria (one of our board members) and I were at the school before the party started to set up and decorate everything.

Maria & Will decorating

Vanessa & I

Around 7PM, Will had to leave the party to teach his English class for adults and shortly after, Maria also had to go home. I would also like to note that I was very impressed by how helpful some of the teen girls were. A couple of them did a wonderful job of helping me watch the younger children.To keep the momentum going and everyone entertained, we played some typical Halloween games such as bobbing for apples and the mummy wrap game. Since children do not go out trick or treating in Brazil, we did the opposite and went door to door on our little street to hand out candy to our neighbors. 

Here is a clip of our reverse trick or treating:

I hope all of you had an equally delightful Halloween!

Also, if you are interested in learning a bit more about me and getting more insight on my life as a resident volunteer/assistant field coordinator here, you can click over to my blog:
 www.riohapa.com
or e-mail me directly at Jennifer@2bros.org

Riding Through Rocinha at Night.

This is what it's like to ride a motorcycle taxi through Rocinha, at night. Moto-taxis are one of the most convenient ways to get around Rocinha. Recorded by Jennifer, Resident Volunteer/Assistant Field Coordinator.

To get more insight on what it's like to work here as a resident volunteer, visit:

riohapa.com

A New Rotation.

As summer came to a close, we said farewell to two very wonderful people, welcomed two new resident volunteers and welcomed a returning resident volunteer for our second term of the year.

Will Brandreth is from the United Kingdom and he is currently teaching our children’s class and our adult beginner English class.

Harriet Simpson is also from the United Kingdom and has taken over the teen English class, from the reins of Erin.

Katie Dauth is from Australia and she first came to work as a resident volunteer in July of 2012 and used to teach our children's class, adult intermediate class and adult advanced class. She returned to Australia in the following January and came back to Rocinha this past July to teach our advanced English class.

Erin Kanygin (Canada) and Wesley Cornwell (U.S.A.) served as resident volunteers from the beginning of May until the end of August. We want to thank both of you, from the bottom of our hearts, for the work you contributed to the Two Brothers Foundation, for your dedication, eagerness and compassion for the people of Rocinha and for our project. We miss you both!

Dan Parr: Theatre Workshop

Last week 2Bros and Escola Mouranghinos welcomed British Actor, Dan Parr in for a Culture Friday session. See below for pictures.

Having travelled over to visit his friend and Resident Volunteer Ben, as a team we thought we could use Dan’s experience and enthusiasm to give the kids a memorable theatre session.

After a great turnout, the group got started early with a meet and greet activity. Resident Volunteer Erin acted as translator for the session and we got the ball rolling by forming a circle and introducing ourselves as well as sharing an interesting fact with the group. Some of the kids even used their English knowledge to do this.

After this we got cracking with some games to engage everyone and get the energy levels up. Firstly we played a concentration game that focused on the use of eye-contact. By throwing a series of balls around, only to people who maintained eye-contact with you, the game kept the kids entertained, for the at me being at least.

Following this, we played Splat. For those of you who don’t know, Splat is a group game that requires quick fire reflexes both orally and physically. Having narrowed the group down to a final two, Ben and one of our teenage students, the game resulted in an agonizing defeat for our seasoned Resident Volunteer as he crumbled in the face of victory.

We continued the games for a little while longer playing Grandma’s footsteps, a personal favourite of the kids.

The main body of the workshop centered on some devised performances by the kids. We split them into groups, assigned a helper with each group and gave them a topic to base their performances around. The topics were music, sport, beach, and dance amongst other things. After allowing a 15-20 minute planning and rehearsal period we formed a little audience and shared each other’s work.

This was no doubt the hardest part to keep the kids engaged. A combination of it nearly being home time and embarrassment when it came to performing for the group seemed to be the main reasons. All in all, it was a great session. Vibrant, fun and engaging and Dan really enjoyed himself as well.

So a big thanks to Dan for coming in, hopefully we’ll see you again In the future and good luck with your acting career.