Lessons from Brazil

Mariana Salim tells her students they are half-Brazilian because they are taking her Portuguese class.

Salim, a Fulbright teaching assistant from Rio de Janeiro, said she feels like she has a close connection with her students.

"When I call them my 'half-Brazilians,' I tell them, 'I wish I had the Rio de Janeiro view with all of my students together. It would be my perfect work,'" she said.

This is the first year Brazil has participated in the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program, said Kevin Carpenter, associate director of the Office of International Programs and Studies.

Only seven students were chosen from Brazil to come to the United States as part of this program, said Margo Milleret, Salim's supervisor.

The Fulbright program provides graduate students from around the world with scholarships and grants to teach, earn a master's degree or Ph.D. or do research.

The program sends students to other universities for one academic year.

Carpenter said UNM has eight Fulbright students this year, and local students are exposed to foreign cultures and languages by the Fulbright students who come to the University.

"It's really good for them to have a teacher or a classmate that's from places like Africa, the Middle East or Latin America," he said. "This really helps educate our students."

Salim said teaching is an exchange of culture, not just language, with the students.

"Once you teach your own language, you are transferring your culture to the students, so I always teach them and I transfer this to something that happens in Brazil," she said. "It's always fun to see their faces, because it's such a different thing to them."

Carpenter said Fulbright students also help push UNM students to do better.

"A lot of the Fulbright students are really the best and brightest students in their countries, so it's a very competitive program," he said. "These are really top-flight students, and they can really challenge our students."

Salim will be returning to her home country in June. She said she would like to stay longer at UNM.

"When you get involved with everybody and you know the whole department and how it works, it's when you're leaving, so I really wish I could have a longer stay," she said.

Milleret said Fulbright students are allowed to teach one course per semester while taking college courses, but Salim said she wishes she could teach more classes.

Milleret said being a teaching assistant has been a transformative experience for Salim.

"She told me that this had been a life-changing event for her," Milleret said. "Her parents own a business, so the expectation was that she would return and work in that business, but since she has been here, she has realized that teaching is what she wants to do and she is going to pursue a master's degree."

Salim said she will begin work on her degree when she gets back to Brazil but isn't sure where she wants to complete the program and in what language.

"I really want to continue teaching, so for me to teach in Brazil I need to teach English.. If I think about coming back to the States, I probably have to take my master's with something connected to Portuguese," she said.

Carpenter said Fulbright students have a better chance at receiving good jobs in their home countries when they receive degrees from American universities.

Salim learned about the Fulbright program through an e-mail after graduating with degrees in English, Portuguese and literature.

During the interview process, Salim was initially disqualified because she had been to the United States previously, and the program is for students who can't afford the trip.

"Then they got my letters of reference and they needed someone with experience in teaching, because here in New Mexico, she wanted someone who was already a teacher, not someone who just graduated, so I was the only one that had experience in teaching, and they called me back," she said.

Salim has taught English and Spanish in Brazil since she was 18.

Milleret said she has sent in an application to receive another Brazilian student to teach for the next academic year.