São Paulo – Tunisia’s Sarra Jhinaoui and Sirine Smaoui and France’s Yama Darriet are students at the French business school École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris). They are currently in Brazil taking an internship in social entrepreneurship. The students visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce headquarters in São Paulo this Wednesday (15th) and spoke to ANBA regarding their experience in Brazil.
Their study subject is 4YOU2, a language school offering affordable English classes in Campo Limpo, Capão Redondo, Jardim Ângela and Heliópolis, all low-income neighborhoods in São Paulo.
They are in the sixth and final week of the program. During their stint in Brazil they witnessed how the school works, interviewed students and teachers, and are now in the process of putting their conclusions to paper.
Besides analyzing the school’s functioning and social relevance, they give advice, as if providing consultancy. The idea is to give an assessment of whether the goal of servicing people in lower income brackets is really being fulfilled.
The French business school’s social entrepreneurship course offers internship opportunities in several countries.
The students said their experience in Brazil has been very interesting, since it got them in touch with radically different people than the ones they are accustomed to.
“We saw neighborhoods in São Paulo that tourists often don’t see,” said Darriet, who had been to São Paulo before, about the four South Side areas they went to, which never make it to traditional tour routes.
The foreign interns piqued the interest of the English students they interviewed. In addition to the two Tunisians and the French student, the team also comprised a Moroccan who left earlier. “They were very curious,” said Sarra.
The dynamics of the activity also pleased them. “It was a chance to see how team work actually works,” said Sirine.
The interns noticed that there are no Brazilians among the English course teachers. The idea is not just to offer an experience of immersion in language, but also to afford contact with foreign cultures. They realized that the teachers include one German, one Palestinian and even a Syrian refugee.
Apart from their season in São Paulo, the interns travelled to a few of Brazil’s tourist destinations, like Rio de Janeiro state’s namesake capital and Paraty, a historical city on the state’s coast, as well as Ilhabela, on the São Paulo coastline.
They will leave to France next Sunday yearning for more. “We’ll be back,” Sarra stressed.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
