A Day with a Special Guest

 Last Monday, on the 11th October, the 11th grade had a different class. It was with great pleasure that we received an American teacher, named Sara Roffino. She came to talk to us about her life as a student and her life experiences in other countries.


She was born and raised in New York, United States of America. There she began her educational life, and later she moved to Ohio to study arts in a university. She said she enjoyed her life, living with other students in the campus. Then, she used this situation to talk about how her life changed; she explained how she began to be more independent and responsible.

Afterwards, she explained how the educational system in America worked and how it’s easy to change your major subject in the middle of one’s university studies. She herself started in arts and later changed to another field on teaching. She continued her educational life in other countries, like Costa Rica, Brazil (where she had her first contact with the Portuguese language, because she lived during six months with a Brazilian family), Spain and Portugal, where she’s currently staying. She has been here since last year both as a student and a teacher.

She explained to us how useful it was for her to know English, which gave her a huge advantage. She said that learning the official language of each country helped her learning and understanding their culture. At the end of this outstanding experience, the students asked her some questions regarding the educational system in other countries and how it was to study abroad. She also shared with us that life in general is faster in the USA and that people don’t have as much free time as Portuguese do, and that students in the States generally read and write much more.

Written by

Filipe Quaresma and André Biléu

11th Grade 14/10/2010