15- Ana and Steve -  Second part
Autor: teacher Jota | Publicado: 2010-09-20T16:33:00-07:00




Ana : Leandro is an Inglês Online reader and a Steve Ford fan.


Steve :&nbsp; Yeah, great.


Ana : And he says that from what he gathered from your last video, your wife Leda is Brazilian. I believe he's right.


Steve :&nbsp; That's right. Yes.


Ana :&nbsp; So he wants to know if she already spoke English before she met you, whether... whether it was difficult for her to adjust to life in a different country, and finally if she's also an English teacher just like yourself.


Steve :&nbsp; OK. Excellent questions, and... Well, first... first of all Leda, when we first met did not speak too much English... when we first met, and... I think she learned to like English because of me. I'm, I'm being modest here, but yeah. You know, some people... they learn English, you know... I ask students 'Why are you learning English?' and many times they would say 'Ah, because I have to, Steve' and.. I'm trying to change that.


So I think that Leda was probably one of the first people that I helped. She started to learn English with me... and I think that when she came to Canada she was, you know, very confident... She came to Canada, I guess it was around eight years ago and she was already at a pretty high level of English and I want to tell all Brazilians that they can all reach Leda's level of English, or your level of English.


It's just a question of working at it and trying to make it fun, you know, make it in a way that you can enjoy it. A lot of hard work, a lot of fun and a lot of love. And she actually now is teaching... She has been teaching English for a few years now, so... Yeah, she does teach English also, and it's something... She's also an actress.. she was an actress...


Ana :&nbsp; She is? Wow! Well, yeah, we saw, we saw her in your videos, so...


Steve : You just wait for Peppy 28 on Friday. You're going to see more of the Brazilian novela... kind of the soapopera style acting for all of my Brazilian audience.


Ana : Can't wait. Actually when this interview airs, I think your video will have already been posted, so...


Steve :&nbsp; Oh, so I should change that and say, I hope that everybody enjoyed Leda's Brazilian style acting when they saw Peppy 28.


Ana : You guys make a great couple, yeah.


Steve : Thank you very much, Ana.


Ana :&nbsp; OK, she didn't speak much English before she met you... So basically she had classes with you, or you guys just started hanging out together and...


Steve : Yeah, she actually... she actually was one of my students which is a very brave thing for someone who is married to someone else to do. 'Cause, as you say in Portuguese "Santo de casa não faz milagre" or 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'...


I mean, she did, she studied with me in many of my classes including TOEFL here in Canada... Yeah, she really worked at it, she put in a lot of hard work to make sure that her English is, you know, is like a native speaker.


Ana :&nbsp; OK. And, so how difficult was it, or was it difficult at all for her to adjust to life in Canada?


Steve : Good question, and this is something that Leda herself, I think in the future, would like to talk to Brazilians about, adapting to life in North America, or adapting to life in Europe or another country abroad. And I think for her, obviously the habits of, you know, the cultural habits of people in another country are different... especially from Brazil. As a Brazilian, I think that you develop a new persona. It's almost like acting, you're developing a new person, a new you, like a new Steve, or a new...


Ana :&nbsp; A new identity?


Steve :&nbsp; Yeah, a new identity. And... I think that she, it was easier for her because she saw that I had done that in Brazil, so I mean, I had the Canadian Steve... I can be very Canadian... I can be the Brazilian Steve. So, yeah, I think she was good at that. She's an actress so she was able to develop a character . And I think that that's what all Brazilians who are planning to live in another country should think about, is if they really want to adapt they can try to develop a new kind of character.


A mask, you could say, that you can put on when you go to work, when you go out in public. You can take it off when you go home and you can go back to being Brazilian.


Ana :&nbsp; I think we could quote that proverb, I guess it is a proverb... When in Rome, do as Romans do.


Steve : Yeah, that's exactly right. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And I really believe that those are the people who are most successful, so... It requires a little flexibility, but you'll have more success that way.


Ana : OK, so Steve... you mentioned one thing that made me curious. You said 'I can be very Canadian', 'I can be very Brazilian'. So tell us about, tell us about that. What is being very Canadian like?


Steve : I guess I could even expand that and say 'being very North American' and... The memory that comes to my mind is when my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law were visiting from São Paulo and we were in Toronto and I was talking to someone in English and I was being very... more reserved, perhaps less emotional and then I just turned to them and I started speaking in Portuguese and you know, being completely the opposite.


You know, I lived in Brazil long enough that I can, I can switch back and forth. I can change from one minute to the other and I think it has a lot to do with emotion. And I think for sure, here in North America people are not as emotional as they are in Brazil.


Ana :&nbsp; OK.


Steve :&nbsp; Which is why I love Brazil, you know.