Dear Ms. Rougles & Mr. Pannel,
In order to show you how grateful I have been for everything that you through the US Embassy have done for me, I feel the need to talk about the last events I have taken part of – events that directly or indirectly had
something to do with US Embassy Programs or contributions or my professional relationship with the Lovejoy Technology Academy, the American school with whom I have worked. Below you have an idea of the events I am referring to and the relation your country, your Embassy or you have with them:
(Please have a look at the event pictures and the Power Point on Black Religion: Core Emphasis and Orientations the that were attached)
May 25, 2011: Africa Day – In order to celebrate this date, we had the 4th Africa Day event at Escola Parque. I was one of the speakers invited as I have a Specialization on African-Brazilian Social and Cultural History. My lecture was based on the essay “Black Religion: Core Emphasis and Orientations", by Gayraud Wilmore. I had the access to this essay through the excellent book you have donated, among many others, to the Escola Parque: “Essays on African-American History, Culture and Society", by William SCOTT & William SHADE. There were about 200 teachers at Escola Parque auditorium and I could talk about the African American history from the Africans’ arrival in the British colonies in 1619 to the 21st century, but, of course, I had to guide and delimitate my lecture and time, focusing on the principles of the black religion, accordingly to Mr. Wilmore: survival, elevation and liberation. It was fantastic and the audience reaction was grateful!!! This event was very meaningful as we had the presence of the well-known linguistics professor Ms. Yêda Pessoa de Castro, Doctor in African Languages – Zaire National University, who gave us a wonderful lecture on African languages influence in our Portuguese.
May 12, 2011: English Teachers’ meeting at Escola Parque
I have attended the Public School Teachers’ Development Program (PSTDP) sponsored by the US Embassy in partnership with ACBEU and Secretaria de Educação do Estado da Bahia, reason why I had the chance to multiply what I have seen at ACBEU with English teachers that work for Escola Parque Center. But I was not the only facilitator involved in the event: I invited two PSTDP colleagues that work at Escola Parque to present the event with me as well. The discussion was completely made in English which is something not so common for us public school English teachers and the themes of the meeting were "Language Teachers as Language Learners" and "Learning Styles", both themes were selected from the first chapters of the book "From Language Learner to Language Teacher – An Introduction to Teaching English as Foreign Language", by Don Snow – PSTDP book we have used at ACBEU. Teachers loved the meeting and certainly it served to increase our self-esteem as public school English teachers: we talked about the important role teachers of English as a foreign language play during students’ learning process, due to the fact that we know a lot about our students’ strengths and weaknesses, being able to help them efficiently in this regard.
• April 28, 2011 – Social Networking Event
On April 28, we had a meeting at Escola Parque at the Nucleus of New Technologies where I work. The theme discussed was the social networking sites with emphasis on their educational use and the necessary etiquettes such a usage requires. I was invited to talk about the social networking sites I have used to establish the exchange with the Lovejoy Technology Academy (Brooklyn, Illinois, USA). I gave the audience examples of the sites I have used in my classes, such as: Edmodo, Tapped In, Orkut, Blogger and Skype. There were about 200 people (among teachers and school staff) during this event.
• A bookcase for your donations I asked the Escola Parque principal to put a bookcase inside my classroom so that your book donations could be displayed there. He did so. Now we have a wonderful bookcase there with the books donated. Students and English teachers can have access to such materials if they want.
As you can see, any chances I have to multiply what I learn and the experiences I have had I do it. I like to be proactive.
Thank you for all the support you have given me! The only way I can find to retribute you is sending you e-mails talking about the events I got involved in.
Again,
Thank you very much!!
--
Tyrone Braga Santiago
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