American Embassy visits Professor Tyrone Santiago at Escola Parque

On October 10, 2010, Escola Parque, through Professor Tyrone-Santiago, had the honor to receive representatives of the American Embassy for an official visit. Being in Salvador to participate in professional appointments, the committee decided to visit the CECR- Escola Parque for more information about how it has been the work of Professor. Tyrone regarding the divulgation of his experiences in the U.S. trip.
Ms Tara Rougles, Cultural Affairs Officer of U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, Mr. Mark Pannell, Consul and Head of Press Section, Education and Culture in Rio de Janeiro were some members of the American delegation. Once in Escola Parque, they could know its nuclei; the Global Connections Project, in partnership with the Lovejoy School (USA) and get feedback from Prof. Tyrone about issues involving the U.S. educational system and about volunteering as an important potential contribution of that country for culture and education in Brazil.
After this visit, Escola Parque aims to closer ties with Brazil and USA in the fields of education and culture, by using Global Connections Project to be always at the service of such a goal.

On my trip to the US...

After two years of virtual exchange with Lovejoy School, 4 conferences on education and technology and a book published, it was time to a real meeting between Lovejoy staff and me. We just used to wish being together one day, as going to the US would be expensive for me. God was there to solve this problem, though. At the beginning of this year, the American Embassy decided to select some Brazilian professionals in Education in order to promote an exchange, through which such professionals could see how the US Educational system worked and then shared this experience in Brazil, after the return. So, I was chosen by the American consulate in Rio de Janeiro to represent the state of Bahia. Of course, used the project Global Connections as my tool to be selected by the US consulate in Rio!!
The trip was marvelous, as I could go to four American States and to its capital, Washington DC. In such places, I could visit several schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations. I also had the chance to see the American way of life by visiting and having dinner with three American families. The most special moment would happen, though…
During the visit to Dallas, Texas, I could face the most beautiful and touching moment of the trip: when I entered the lobby of the hotel in Dallas, coming from Vermont, I had the surprise to see Lovejoy staff there: Professor Cathy McDonald, Dr. Raelynn Parks and four Lovejoy students (Maya, Derrick, Kathryn and Dominic) They handled a banner with my picture and our logo .; other materials had the same printing (mouse pad, water bottle, and T-shirts!!) It was very touching for me to see that. Of course that moment was magic and unforgettable!!!
I thank God for having had this partnership with Lovejoy School; for having a real and professionally fruitful friendship with Ms. Cathy McDonald and for being able to establish a contact between American and Brazilian Students!!!
I hope God go on blessing us!

A time to bond...

in a new way, between colleagues, between students and teacher.

The rodeo, Riscky's Barbecue at the Ft. Worth Stockyard, the Texas State Fair, and yes it does seem that everything is bigger in Texas. Sunday culminated in a quiet dinner with students, Tyrone, my superintendent, and me. We discussed future plans, we discussed the students futures, we discussed language. The students eagerly participated. What an awesome time...

In the picture you see Tyrone sharing final thoughts with the students before we went our separate ways.

Not every global connection will result in a person to person meeting like we were fortunate to have. However, every one has the potential to be as rewarding and enlightening to the students and teachers involved.

A Dream Come True... by Cathy

Tyrone was selected to be the only public school teacher in a delegation of Brasilian educators to the United States. It was totally unacceptable to me for him to come to our country and the two of us not meet. I requested permission to take a day to go and that was granted...until...I told my students. Kathryn immediately wanted to know why the seniors could not go too. After all, he is their teacher too. So we went back to the drawing board. Thanks to some generous donors, the superintendent and I took 4 seniors with us to Dallas.

The time that we spent there was a culturally enriching experience for the students as well as Tyrone. We surprised him at his hotel when he arrived. In the picture is Derrick, Cathy, Tyrone, Dominic, Maya, Kathryn, and superintendent, Rae Parks.

Many internet problems

on both the EP and LTA campuses...

And on an exciting note, Tyrone has been chosen to come to the US as part of a delegation of teachers to look at English as a Second Language in DC, Dallas, Miami...
Our current dream is to be able to get together while he is here...

Brazil, Germany & USA: For a Three Flag Project

With the arrival of young German student Laura Gispert to Salvador, Brasil in order to estabilish a partership with Escola Parque, more specifically with the Global Connections project, Cathy McDonald suggested a possible three flag project, comprising German, Brasilian and American Students. Thinking about Cathy’s suggestion, ideas of a possible 3-flag project were given to Laura and Cathy thru e-mail by Tyrone Santiago:

Cathy & Laura,



Laura, Cathy McDonald, my American colleague, made a suggestion of a possible 3-flag project among us. I started thinking about it. See whether it is possible or not a publishing of our Indian State Project on your German newspaper. This way we would have a German collaboration in the process. What do you think? As you have not been teaching yet... We could consider this newspaper article as one of the final parts of the project... What do you think?
If we had a subject that could be researched by our students in Brazilian, German and American culture... maybe the educational systems of the 3 countries.... Questions such as: Is an 18-year-old person mature enough to make their professional decisions? How do Brasilians, Americans and Germen deal with this? We could ask our students to describe this educational matter in the 3 countries and give their own opinions on this subject. If possible, Laura could make an interview,virtual or not, with 18 to 20 young Germen about it in order to add this information to our project.... What do you, Laura & Cathy, think about this?

PS: Laura could use her colleagues or ex-colleagues as the source of information.

See Laura how we are all the time thinking about things and projects... lol.

E-mail sent on July 10th, 2010 to both Cathy McDonald and Laura Gispert.

A New Project from Tyrone - Native Indians & States of Brasil and USA

I have a new school Project: I will make my students reflect a bit about both Brazilian and American Indians. They will make researches on this subject. More specifically, they will see the number of states in Brazil and in US whose names are Indian. For instance, the states of Pará, Paraná, Goiás in Brasil; Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa in US. After such researches, they will use Microsoft Publisher to illustrate the learning they acquire. (See the example that is attached). After having used Publisher to illustrate Brasilian and American “Indian” states, I will use a banner to put their work together. In fact, two banners will be used: one for Brasilian states; other, for American ones. I think this activity will be very nice and interesting. It will make students know more about our Indians and the history of names of our 26 states. They will also compare our history with the American’s. They do not know anything about American history and states. So, they will be able to know how many states you have, the states whose names have an Indian background and, of course, they will learn a bit both Brazilian and American ethnic groups. I hope you can also work with this Project because half of the American States have Indian names and in general Indians are forgotten by our schools...

PS: Microsoft Publisher activity:


1. flag of the state;

2. The etymology of the state name;

3. An image to illustrate such definition or etymological meaning.

On videos and school relationships

Cathy: To solve my problem with sending the video, I joined the free Microsoft video site and tried again. This time, it told me that it could not handle my video (too big). Talk about frustrated!!! But then, it saved the wmv version to my computer. Then I could upload to FaceBook and YouTube -- so I was finally happy and went to bed. I have not used the Movie Maker before, but we like so much what your students do... I have to try these things and understand them myself... This year I do not have experts at all things technology in my class -- last year it was Maurio... so I muddled through and now I can teach my students to do it.

In reference to the beautiful video which Tyrone's students made as a farewell to the Lovejoy seniors, Cathy responded: "As for including you and Escola Parque, how could I not? The students said to me that it had to be there. I have watched them move from being a little reluctant to looking forward to talking to all of you. (Down South, we say y'all as the plural for you) Melanie is also including you guys in her valedictorian speech where she runs down a list of important accomplishments.

Melanie was their spokesperson at the appreciation dinner -- and she mentioned how special learning to communicate with you and your students was, and how not many students in the US have that opportunity.

Comments from Tyrone

These remarks are in response to the Appreciation Dinner that the Lovejoy seniors gave last night for their moms, their teachers and administrators, and the school board members. Students raised money themselves to pay for the buffet dinner.

I got really touched with your Orkut pictures!!! Congratulations on your effort to be a good teacher and become unforgettable to your students: that´s the greatest award you can have! God bless you!! Everything is so beautiful and serious!!!... Brasil has become more and more important in international scenery, due to our government and our oil, but we need to improve our educational system so that the majority of your boys and girls have a better future. In this sense, you Americans have great lessons to teach us!!!!!

On Celebrations...

This project has not been as effective as the Facing the Future project. I think it is more impersonal than the other. There are submissions but they are so varied in length. We may have to carry this project over into the new school year.

And speaking of celebrations, it is time for prom and graduation activities for the Lovejoy seniors. We have many activities planned. Pictures will be shared with Escola Parque using Orkut. We may even try to use Windows Moviemaker to share some of these pictures with Escola Parque.

On the selection - Tyrone

As soon as I know about the places I am going in the US in September, I will let Cathy and Rae know. Three more Brazilian State English teachers will go with me on this trip. Ms. Santos, U.S. Consulate General Cultural Affairs Specialist and the one from IAT, Bahian institution were responsible for teachers´ registration.

I was selected by Ms. Santos who works in Rio de Janeiro. She called me and made an interview both in Portuguese and in English. I used our project Global Connections as a tool to convince her of the importance of my going to the US. There I will visit schools and universities. When I come back, I will be supposed to present what I have learned and seen thru workshops.

Tyrone coming to the U.S.

Tyrone will be coming to the United States in September. He has been chosen to represent English language teachers from Bahia. He will visit colleges and universities in the US -- which ones have not yet been determined. It will be an awesome opportunity; and then he will go back to Brasil to share with other teachers in Bahia.

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

Escola Parque is back in session for the new year. A new group of students will have to be trained. New relationships between students will be formed. This is one of the ongoing minor complications. In the USA, our summer is from June to August. In Brasil, the summer is from Christmas until March. Also, there will be more adult students at Escola Parque. It will be interesting for the students to hear an adult perspective other than their teachers'.

We have exchanged questions on the movie, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. After viewing the movie and working on questions separately, we will upload some to TappedIn for the students to share perspectives.

Getting Ready for the New Year

We are through Christmas. Escola Parque students are still on summer break. Lovejoy juniors are prepping for state assessment. Seniors are reading a novel.

Tyrone and I have begun to plan for our next project. He has sent some of the Celebrations papers. I will begin to check them. Lovejoy students will be writing summaries from their research papers.

It is time to view and discuss a new movie. We want to talk about self respect and pride. We want to talk about responsibility to our communities. Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit will be the movie we use as a starting point. We will continue to use Tapped In, our student and professional blogs, and Orkut to chronicle our activities. And of course, we will SKYPE hoping that our web cams will be able to connect as well.