Thankfully, Brazilians are generous with the coffee and the snacks. The caffeine was needed because it was a full day of sitting and watching mock classes on American Literature. Remember American Literature? Probably not because you didn’t have Brazilian coffee to get through class.
I left at 5pm with Ben Franklin’s aphorisms in my head and a song in my heart. I’m so excited to have a regular job working with some brilliant expats and Brazilians. (Will I make my first real Brazilian friend? Only time will tell.) Here are some of the lessons I took away from the first day.
– Puritan writing is awesome, particularly “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” which I will be teaching to my future children at an early age but replacing God with Mommy.
– Benjamin Franklin, the genius behind “A penny saved is a penny earned,” also invented the lightning rod which patriotic Americans hung flags on. The rod came before the flag.
– If you want to laugh a lot gather a group of teachers. I’m pretty sure a sense of humor is the only thing keeping them sane.
– I’m not a transcendentalist.
– Every piece of literature taught in high school was originally written for adults. What would Poe think about his work being taught to 15 year-olds? And why didn’t I realize this while in the class as a student?
