Escola Americana de Brasilia

Or, The American School of Brasilia. Rachel and i have been volunteering here during our stay.

this school is unlike any one i've seen. before we started working at the school, we had an "interview" with the headmaster. he gave us some basic facts: it's a K-12 private, non-profit school that has been around as long as Brasilia. it serves the U.S. Embassy, though its population is 60% Brasilian. students from many other countries also attend. the registration fee is a mere $5,000. i don't even want to know what tuition is. that said, the 60% Brasilian population comes from Brasilia's elite. and accomplished. the school is quite difficult to get into, and one's English must be excellent by eighth grade to hack it. all classes are taught in English, except for Portuguese social studies and Portuguese. the school teaches on three systems leading to separate diplomas: American (which is the easiest), Brasilian (quite heavy) and International Baccalaureate. beginning this year, a new program has been introduced. the children of the maintenance workers are invited to attend the school for free. i'll talk more about the education system and the relationship to social class of Brazil later. for now, understand that this affords children of poor families an incredibly rare opportunity.

here is a map of countries represented


after our interview, we took a tour of the campus. i was blown away by class size (student teacher ratio: 7:1), the classroom assistants, the art on the walls, the gym, the soccer fields, the slides and swings, the systemic order, the music rooms, the auditorium.

we walked into said auditorium and came upon an assembly rehearsal. a row of students was on stage, wearing ridiculous animal hats. teachers were directing a hord of other kids in a little skit. sound technicians were checking equipment.

right there, in front of all those kids and headmaster, i started bawling.

i wasn't crying for the pitiful kids dressed as zebras. i was overwhelmed by the plentitude of resources i realized with sickness that my Philadelphia students will never have. resources that are so beneficial not only to formative education, but also to childhood happiness. and pleasure. like playgrounds.

the headmaster suggested i put my sunglasses on for the rest of the tour.

so, we spend a lot of time at the school. Rachel works with a child on physical therapy. i work with 5 ESL fifth graders--three of whom are maintenance crew staff. they wake up each morning at 4am to ride into school and help their parents before the rest of the student body arrives. one of them lives down the street from us now, in the biggest house anyone i've ever know has lived in. my kids' names are: Luiza, Lucas, Vinicius, Victór, and José. they are beautiful and i love them.

José is likely my favorite thing in this world. his energy is insane. he speaks so quickly that he spits out his English tied up in knots at my feet. he is impatient with his vocabulary and resorts to drawing pictures on the board to explain himself.

and so it is that my favorite part of this vacation has been working with my 5 Brasilians. this coming week is my last with them, and i am very sad to think of saying goodbye.

Rachel and Jacob. J has quite the crush on Rach. His mother recently told her that he has a "thing" for blonde girls.




look at this diligent paperwork complete-er!

here are mine. can you handle the cuteness? this was at an assembly. front to back: Lucas, Vinicius, Luiza, José and Victór.