From São Paulo to Georgia: Fulbright Assistant Brings Brazilian Culture to Campus

Welcome to João Pedro Gomes! This is his first semester teaching Portuguese to UGA students as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FTLA) in the Department of Romance Languages. He shares his reflections on the importance of language learning and culture:

I was raised in a small rural town in the state of São Paulo. Playing on dirt roads and going to the only school in the city even on weekends were the only activities I could imagine myself doing for most of my young years. For that very reason, attending a federal university to get my teaching degree and then a state university to pursue my MA in Language Studies shaped who I am in every possible way. It unlocked doors to a world of knowledge that allowed me to rethink my past experiences through new lenses while also informing my decision-making regarding what I wanted my future to look like. To put it simply, it gave me a sense of purpose.

Communication and art have always been a huge part of my education. I strongly believe that language learning is only meaningful when attached to the cultural world that nurtures and is nurtured by it. At UGA, not only do I have the opportunity to promote that by sharing Brazil's capital-c Culture; I also get to do it on a daily basis, talking to students and sharing bits of my worldview while getting to know their own. This is particularly fulfilling for someone who comes from a generally overlooked part of my country.

Even though I have been in Athens for a little over two months, the experience has been nothing short of life-changing. Most of all, I cannot stress how inspirational the international environment of the university has been. FLTAs are foreign language teaching assistants but also cultural ambassadors. There could not be a better place for Fulbright's values of democracy, mutual understanding, and international friendship to thrive.

"The Fulbright FLTA Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). As part of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, the Fulbright FLTA Program is designed to develop Americans' knowledge of foreign cultures and languages by supporting teaching assistantships in more than 35 languages at hundreds of U.S. institutions of higher education."

https://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/about/flta-program