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Roberta and Andy live in Ottawa,
the beautiful capital city of Canada. Their son Ricky is seventeen years old, his little sister Arlene is twelve. |
Filomena and Gabriel live in Faro, the very south of Portugal.
The region is known as the “Algarve“, a popular holiday destination. Luís, their son, just turned thirteen; his sister Carla will be seventeen soon. |
This story starts with an offer.
Pete, Ricky's uncle and godfather, visited Ottawa for Xmas. Pete runs a successful company importing food and beverages into Canada, about two thirds of the goods he handles come from Brazil. Pete and Ricky had always liked each other and this Xmas Pete offered Ricky a job for the next summer holidays. The pay would be good – Pete knew how efficient his nephew handled all tasks he was assigned – but there was a catch: Ricky should learn some Portuguese. Not all of Pete's Brazilian partners had a command of English; Pete however spoke Portuguese fluently and knew how much it mattered.
Pete's offer was: “come and work for me this summer, then go back to school and if you like the business and manage to pick up some Portuguese, we might consider the option of you taking over the company one day – if you want it”. For the beginning this meant a well paid summer job with people Ricky knew and liked, and that was a good start anyway.
Pete, Ricky's uncle and godfather, visited Ottawa for Xmas. Pete runs a successful company importing food and beverages into Canada, about two thirds of the goods he handles come from Brazil. Pete and Ricky had always liked each other and this Xmas Pete offered Ricky a job for the next summer holidays. The pay would be good – Pete knew how efficient his nephew handled all tasks he was assigned – but there was a catch: Ricky should learn some Portuguese. Not all of Pete's Brazilian partners had a command of English; Pete however spoke Portuguese fluently and knew how much it mattered.
Pete's offer was: “come and work for me this summer, then go back to school and if you like the business and manage to pick up some Portuguese, we might consider the option of you taking over the company one day – if you want it”. For the beginning this meant a well paid summer job with people Ricky knew and liked, and that was a good start anyway.
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In school he had done very well in French, he spoke it quite fluently. The family had a number of friends over in Quebec and there was always the opportunity to practise French.
But Portuguese ? Roberta liked the idea, she consulted Ricky's teachers first and then continued the search online: however, finding a beginner's course for Portuguese within a sensible vicinity of their home and school proved to be a challenge. 
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But then Roberta's sister came up with a suggestion: why not consider going to Brazil or to Portugal for a year and pick up the lingo “the fast way” as an exchange student? Roberta took the idea to Ricky's headmaster and asked for his opinion. The headmaster encouraged her but felt that Portugal would be wiser since many people there spoke English – it would ensure that Ricky could communicate at all. And he gave a recommendation: his daughter had just joined GlobalNatives.Org to look for contacts in France. So this is how Ricky's family eventually got to know Carla's family in the Algarve. |
Filomena, Carla's mum, was an English teacher and since the Algarve had long been a popular destination with tourists from the UK many people in the region speak English very well. Carla herself had been looking for a place as an exchange student, but was yet undecided between a French or an English-speaking country. The suggestion of going to Ottawa for a year and have the best of both worlds in Ricky's family seemed very attractive to her.
Finally, after a series of emails going back and forth, connecting on Facebook and a number of Skype talks – both between parents and kids – the two families decided to swap their children after the summer holidays. It took a lot of preparations and bureaucratic paperwork, but eventually all was home and dry, and they knew it could be done. When the summer holidays were over Carla and Ricky traded places, from then on Roberta had two girls and Filomena two boys to take care of.
It would probably sound more credible if we could report problems now, homesickness perhaps, dislikes of food or culture or lack of acceptance on Arlene's or Luís’ part. However, there was none of this – it was a genuine success all the way.
Ricky picked up Portuguese with Filomena's professional pedagogic help very quickly (his good command of French was a great asset of course) and Carla thoroughly enjoyed talking almost as much French as English with Roberta's friends and acquaintances. Carla even joined a ballet class after having taken Arlene to hers twice a week for a while.
Ricky and Carla lasted the distance and just returned home after one whole school year, the benefit for both was tremendous, and they will never look back. In a couple of years, Arlene and Luís will very likely repeat the exercise.
We assume, by then, Ricky will know his way around São Paulo.
Finally, after a series of emails going back and forth, connecting on Facebook and a number of Skype talks – both between parents and kids – the two families decided to swap their children after the summer holidays. It took a lot of preparations and bureaucratic paperwork, but eventually all was home and dry, and they knew it could be done. When the summer holidays were over Carla and Ricky traded places, from then on Roberta had two girls and Filomena two boys to take care of.
It would probably sound more credible if we could report problems now, homesickness perhaps, dislikes of food or culture or lack of acceptance on Arlene's or Luís’ part. However, there was none of this – it was a genuine success all the way.
Ricky picked up Portuguese with Filomena's professional pedagogic help very quickly (his good command of French was a great asset of course) and Carla thoroughly enjoyed talking almost as much French as English with Roberta's friends and acquaintances. Carla even joined a ballet class after having taken Arlene to hers twice a week for a while.
Ricky and Carla lasted the distance and just returned home after one whole school year, the benefit for both was tremendous, and they will never look back. In a couple of years, Arlene and Luís will very likely repeat the exercise.
We assume, by then, Ricky will know his way around São Paulo.