(energetic music)
- (foreign language) Good morning from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
I'm Julie.
I'm going to be doing the ITA takeover today.
And show you what it's like to spend a day in Sao Paulo.
So I am from Ireland and I came
to Brazil in January of 2018.
(traffic noises)
I did the ITA online course in March 2017
and yeah, moved over here and have been here ever since.
So Sao Paulo is an absolutely enormous city.
And coming from someone who used to live in a town
with 50,000 people it can be kind of overwhelming.
In the metropolitan area alone, there's more
than 12 million people living here.
Which means it's busy everywhere all the time
but also the public transport is great.
So I'm just on my way to the Metro to get the--
to get the train to work.
So I have just arrived in the school
that I'm working in today.
I work for a school called 4YOU2.
At the moment we have five schools around Sao Paulo,
soon to be seven.
And three in other states around-- around Brazil.
So when I first came to Brazil, this is the school
that I worked for and I was working as a teacher
for them for an entire year.
I'm still with them, but not 100% in a teaching capacity.
So today, I'm here to train in some new teachers
and yeah, welcome them to 4YOU2.
I'll just show you a little bit
what one of our classrooms looks like.
So this is one of the two classrooms we have in this branch.
So we have plenty of chairs and a TV.
So we use the TVs to present our classes to our students.
We're using like PowerPoint's base slides
to-- to provide our classes.
We don't use books or paper or anything
in this cl- in this school.
So we have some special guests in this school at the moment.
Everyone's getting super, super excited.
(crowd murmuring)
Really, really nice to have this in the school
for everybody to see their Louisa's dogs.
So we're almost finished our first day of training
here in 4YOU2 so we have lots of people here.
- Hi, I'm Bea from Brazil.
- Hi, I'm Mike from Poland.
- Hi, I'm Candace from South Africa.
- Hi, I'm Ann from Germany.
- Hi, I'm Jenna from France.
- Hi, I'm Osan from France.
- Hi, I'm Jennifer from Spain.
- Hi, I'm Ostaya from Lithuania.
- Hi, I'm Isa from Turkey.
- Hey guys so I am just finished training for the day
so I'm just going to go run a couple of errands
before getting back home to teach some classes of my own.
So I find that the public transport system
in Sao Paulo is absolutely amazing.
I actually choose to take the Metro everywhere
so this is a whole map of the Metro as it is today.
Seems to be expanding slowly but surely but it's--
(loud engine noise)
(traffic sounds)
Guys right now I'm just on Avenue de Paulista
which is the main street here in Sao Paulo
and home to the very famous
(traffic sounds)
Museum of Art in Sao Paulo.
Right there, MASP. (traffic sounds)
This street is about two and a half kilometers long
and is where they do the Pride parade.
(traffic sounds)
One of the biggest Pride parades in the world.
So I'm just taking a little break in one
of the small parks here on Paulista.
It's really nice to be able to just relax somewhere nice
and quiet when the crazy Avenue is right there.
I just wanted to ex-- clarify a couple of points.
So when I came to Brazil, I came on a student visa.
Thankfully, my school 4YOU2 helped me with all
of the paperwork and everything.
The visa invitation letter that I needed
to come here to Brazil.
I also stayed in a host family when I first arrived.
That was also organized by my school
and was a really, really affordable option.
It was a great way to kind of get integrated
into Brazilian culture, learn the right things like
what to eat, where to go, what to watch on TV
so that was really, really nice too.
So I may have answered this already
but yeah I applied directly with my school.
I found them online and was able to contact them
and the whole process was like super easy
from start to finish but it was yeah--
it was a simple direct com--
So to be completely honest, Brazil is probably not
the country to come to if you want
to make a lot of money teaching English.
It's more about the experience, the culture and everything.
It's-- the money you get is definitely enough to get by
and enjoy yourself while you're here but not to save.
So yeah this is a really interesting one.
There is a language barrier.
It's not so common to meet people on the street
and the supermarket who speak English.
A lot of people do, but five percent
of population of 220 million, you're--
you're gonna struggle to find them some--
I do speak Portuguese.
Not very confidently.
It's a difficult language, but I can have a conversation.
But none of my students know.
I like to keep it 100% in English in the class.
Favorite thing about Sao Paulo:
There's always something to do.
Free music festivals, amazing exhibitions,
amazing food to taste, food festivals,
amazing groups to join whether--
no matter what your hobby is.
You will never be bored in this city.
Okay there's a lot of messages here regarding safety,
but what I would say is I would find it no different
to any large city around the world that I've visited.
Paris, London, New York, but you just have to
be pretty street smart and follow some basic safety tips.
So I've just finished an online class
so I am done working for today.
So I have one or two more questions to answer here
and then I'm gonna head out to my
last thing that I have to do.
I would think it depends on how long
you plan on staying in Brazil.
If you want to just come on a tourist
and maybe do an extension, you have up to 180 days.
But if you plan to stay longer,
I would definitely find a job beforehand to see--
can you obtain your visa properly.
Okay last question, I think.
So I was really lucky cause the program I joined
everybody kind of arrived solo.
So we kind of all became automatic friends.
So aside from the struggles in Portuguese,
I think it was actually quite
an easy experience transitioning here.
Okay I said I was finished answering
but I have a couple more.
I've-- Yeah, it's a bit daunting
when you see it on the map, the difference.
But my family and friends have been super supportive
and I talk to them all the time on Skype
so it's actually alright, I think.
Definitely done after this one.
The semesters start in January and July here.
So they're probably-- to get in there before is the best.
But to be honest, there seems to always be a demand
in every school, ours most definitely.
But every school seems to have a demand all year round.
So I'm just at my very last stop for this evening.
I'm going to bring you inside, but it's a little loud.
So basically I'm going to a rehearsal for a bloco
which is a community-based Brazilian percussion band
that will play on the street during Carnival next year.
So this bloco in particular
has 150 people and it's just women.
It's a-- entirely women-led band
So I'm going to show you a bit
and then I'm going to sign off.
(rhythmic drum music)
Alright guys that is me from my ITA takeover for today.
A little longer than I actually expected.
I hope you enjoyed seeing the one percent
of my Brazilian life I was able to show you.
If you have any more questions regarding Brazil,
Sao Paulo, anything, please contact me on my private page.
I will absolutely be able to answer any
and all questions that you may have.
And if you're interested in joining us
at my school please let us know that too.
So thank you so much for watching and good night.
(energetic music)