How Different Could It Be?
In the anthropology class I am currently taking here at ESALQ, I read piece by Laura Bohannan called "Shakespeare entre os Tiv" or known in English as "Shakespeare in the Bush". You have probably heard of it? In case you haven't or don't remember, in this story the author read Hamlet to a Nigerian tribe and the story didn't make sense to them in the same way it did to westerners. For example, ghosts did not exist in the Tiv culture so they didn't understand how Hamlet's father came back from the dead. Ofelia in their minds had to have been under a spell to have become crazy and Polonio was an idiot for not coming out from behind the curtains when Hamlet yelled "a rat". Contrary to what the author and main character in her own story believed, basic human nature, motivations and the understanding of a plot and when something is sad or wonderful, is not the same all over the world, and that was the main point of the story.
Tests
I took my first two tests this week. From what I have observed, it is not the Brazilian way to give study guides or hints on how to study or what to study. So for the above mentioned Anthropology class, I studied the best way I knew how. Over the weekend I reviewed the papers I had written for the course and the notes I had taken over the past six weeks and used these materials as my guide.
Feelings Post Test:
After the test, I felt a bit shaky, and am certain that I did poorly on at least one of the six questions on the test. ...of six.
I took the second test of my semester abroad career this morning at 8:00 am. This one was for my class about horses. To prepare for this test I started memorizing the anatomy of the horse two weeks in advance. I spent part of the weekend and the majority of the days and nights on Wednesday and Thursday studying six weeks of notes I had taken. Earlier in the week I asked the professor for the slides to study (we don't have text books) and he gave me a short national geographic-like movie that we had seen in class, a movie of him giving a class (literally), and a cd that had the word "slides" written on it, but was actually a bunch of pictures, some of which I recognized from the slides I had seen in class. Sigh...
Feelings Post Test:
Morose. My study technique did not work. I have never felt more lost in a test than I felt this morning. Technical vocabulary had a bit to do with my difficulties, but I did the worst on things I just didn't know. Why didn't I know them after so much intense studying? I don't know. Oh my gosh.
Realizations
I do not know how to study appropriately for a Brazilian test. I will likely not get good grades here. This study abroad is very likely to hurt my pretty GPA. In my Thursday class my professor gave a brief speech about how he was not going to make copies of the texts he wants us to read and leave them in the copy room for us to make copies because we students need to "go after it". Again I heard a similar lecture from the substitute who handed out this morning's equine test that we need to "go after it" . What we learn in class is not enough to prepare us for the tests and we need to read books and articles and study outside of class. I agree reading outside of class and doing additional studies are excellent ways to further ones knowledge and interest in a subject, but to prepare for a test?
Katie in the Bush
Like the Tiv tribe not understanding the nature of Hamlet, I am a bit lost on the nature of Brazilian education. I am going to email my professor and ask for a way to get extra credit (I don't need to see my grade to know I need it). I am going to ask him for tips on how to study and I will find Brazilian study partners. Wish me luck.
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ResponderExcluirNot everything translates Katie! The fact that you can take a test in Portuguese is what amazes me! But I have a thought that you shouldn't worry too much about the GPA:
ResponderExcluirDuring my study abroad in India (where fortunately the school was officially in English - although parts of the lectures and the majority of conversations weren't) the professors posted grades on the brick wall outside the studios where everyone - not just your own classmates could see. I was so nervous the first time this happened, because students there take their "marks" seriously. Moreover, the entire student body new who the few exchange students were- even if they didn't know us personally - and our weird names stuck out like red flags on the sheet. After a major studio review, I received a mark of a low 70...out of 100. Thankfully, 75ish seemed about average for that review. I didn't shine, but had escaped public shame! But the "Ds" and "Cs" (as I considered them) just kept piling on and my worry became how can I take these grades back to the States?? In the end, after talking with some office back at UC, the final course grades showed as As and Bs on my transcript. Magic, empathy, or maybe there was really some rubric conversion. At the end, that final bit of unexplained non-sensicality(sp) only made sense it light of the entire experience.
Even if you fail the test, the achievement is that you are even able to take it! How many of your friends, family and colleagues back home can do what you've done? And beyond this, there just might also be some wizard back at OSU who knows the magic spell to convert Brazilian grades into American ones.