Zumbi Students Begin English Lessons Under Secretary Clinton Initiative

Sao Paulo

CG with Alumni President, Zumbi Rector and students at opening ceremony

A time to listen and a time to be heard.  After only two months of English language lessons, Zumbi dos Palmares student Juliana de Paula was ready to be heard.  Speaking for her classmates she praised the new Zumbi-Alumni English language program.  “This opportunity has come at a very important moment in our lives and will certainly add to it, both personally and professionally.”

Juliana was speaking during a ceremony at Associação Alumni binational center on April 30, at which Consul General Thomas Kelly welcomed the 15 undergraduate students from Zumbi dos Palmares Faculty to the wonderful world of English.  The two-year English language and American culture program, which offers scholarships to deserving students at Brazil’s only Afro-Brazilian institution of higher education, was announced by Secretary Clinton when she visited Zumbi dos Palmares in March 2010. 

The program is funded by the U.S. Embassy and USAID in Brazil and was developed by Associação Alumni and the Regional English Language Office (RELO).  The program, which began in February, is an intense course of more than 300 hours of instruction over the two years, including special programs in July and January), will help improve the students’ English fluency level significantly, opening new opportunities for their futures.  

CG Kelly was joined by Zumbi Rector Jose Vicente and Alumni President Julio Sampaio in congratulating the students on their selection and dedication to the program, as well as emphasizing its importance for a future career. As CG Kelly put it, “Portuguese and English are a great combination - the language of the two largest nations in the Western Hemisphere. I always tell my eleven-year old daughter as she does her Portuguese homework: ‘If you can speak Portuguese and English fluently, you can conquer the world.’”