So seeing as I’m an exchange
student I am expected to write and deliver a presentation about the culture,
the differences and basically the interesting facts about my home country. Seeing
as exchange students from England have become almost non-existent everyone was
VERY excited to see what I would produce…no pressure then. >.< The designated
date of my presentation was the 21st November. I didn’t really like
the idea of having to stand in front of a group of people who could speak Portuguese
fluently and attempt to speak Portuguese, but my rotary club were like elephants…they
never forgot! A week before the 21st I had to accept that I was
indeed going to have to give this presentation so I might as well stop
complaining and start writing. As the 21st got closer and closer I felt
myself getting more and more nervous. I tried to explain this to my host family
but they told me there was nothing to worry about and I should just stay calm,
easy for them to say, they didn’t have to give a presentation in a language
they are not fluent in!
The morning of the 21st
came and it felt like judgement day. My host mother was nice enough to let me
have the day off school to finish my presentation and squeeze in some extra
practice. My presentation was going to be during the rotary meeting in the
evening. The day seemed to fly by, one minute it was eight in the morning and
the next minute it was half seven at night and I was being driven to the
meeting. In true Brazilian style I turned up late to my own presentation >.<
The bad thing about this being that everyone was already there waiting for me. As
I walked in and was greeted by everyone I realised there was no going back, this
was it, it was now or never. I know I’m making it seem like I was being walked
to my own execution but that’s what it felt like, I was sooooo nervous!
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| the brazilian and british flag together <3 |
During every rotary meeting they
have the flags of Brazil and the Sao Paulo state hanging, and because it was my
presentation I was asked to bring my flag along so they could hang it up with
the Brazilian flag. I felt a pang of pride as I watched my British flag flying
next to the Brazilian one. >.<
After a brief introduction about Rotary
Youth Exchange and how people in our community could get involved it was my
time for my presentation, it was my time to shine! As they set up my laptop to
my projector I asked my host father if he could read out my presentation for
me. He laughed but what he didn’t realise was I was being deadly serious!
I kept my presentation short and
sweet, it lasted about ten minutes, but only because I had to wait for people
to finish oohing and awwing as I showed them the wonder that is my country. I talked
about the differences between England and Brazil. Oh and I had to let them know
that people in England don’t drink tea every day at five o’clock. That was a
big disappointment for them! >.<
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| the lovely people who listen to my presentation |
Looking back I think I made a mountain out of a molehill when it came to my presentation. I only had to use the phrase “como falo…” (how do you say…) once and the rest I spoke completely in Portuguese and everyone seemed to understand. One English teacher was so impressed with my Portuguese (or the fact that I came from the UK >.<) he invited me come and share my story with his students at the school he teaches at. So when school starts again in February I shall be going to different schools attempting to speak in Portuguese, so I have all the nerves to look forward to again…great!
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| two mums, a dad and the president of my rotary club and her husband :) |
