This week, the 100 students from the Paraná Public Education Network who participated in the second edition of the Gaining the World exchange program, promoted by the state government, return to Brazil this week. The students left in late July for New Zealand, where they spent a semester studying at local high schools, in high school equivalent grades.

At Afonso Pena International Airport, in São José dos Pinhais, this Tuesday morning (25), Ivani Roberto da Silva was impatiently awaiting the arrival of his daughter. “It’s a lot of joy and emotion. We missed her a lot, but happy to know that all her life she dreamed of doing an exchange program and that she managed to get through this project”, he commented.

Beatriz Roberto Lopes, from Tamarana Municipality in the north of the state, has spent the past three months in Invercargill, a town in New Zealand’s South Island. “It’s a very small town, but the people are very welcoming, especially the students at the school, who made us feel very welcome,” said the student.

Maria Eduarda Melo da Cruz, from Alto Paraíso, was also on the South Island, in the town of Winton. Among her favorite moments of the exchange were the cooking lessons she had at school, adapting to cultural differences (like food) and the outings she had with her friends and host family. .

“My family took me to see many incredible places. Natural landscapes, snow-capped mountains… Something I never imagined I would see in my life,” he said.

The student thinks that all this experience, in addition to learning the English language, will be beneficial for her professional future. That’s why she’s excited to share her learning with her colleagues and teachers in the town of about 3,000 people. “I’m sure people will have a lot of questions, and I’m really happy to answer them,” she said.

In addition to the group that landed this Tuesday (25) in Brazil, another arrived Monday evening (24) and the last will land Thursday (27). Back in Paraná, the students become ambassadors of the program, alongside the “Paranaenses-Canadians” of the first semester, and will participate in actions in schools to share their experiences and stimulate school engagement.

WIN THE WORLD – Exchange program funded by the state government through the Secretary of State for Education and Sport (Seed-PR) provides foreign school experience with English language practice, accommodation with a local family, the development of autonomy and the expansion of students’ cultural and academic repertoires. The students of the first edition spent a semester in Canada, between February and July of this year.

In each edition, 100 students were selected, each from a city in the state. Pupils regularly enrolled in the 1st year of secondary school in a public school in the State network, having attended the 6th to 9th year of primary school in a public school, in addition to being at least 14 years old and at most 17 years old, were able to participate in the selection process and be six months old on the date of return to Brazil.

It was required to have an attendance equal to or greater than 85% in each subject during the 2021 academic year and to have grade 9 annual averages, in 2021, equal to or greater than 7 in each BNCC subject ( Base National Comum Curricular). Within these criteria, students with the highest grades were selected.

Before the trip, they took a preparatory English course promoted by Seed-PR in partnership with the General Superintendency of Science, Technology and Higher Education (Seti), through the Virtual University of Paraná (UVPR ) and the Paraná Fala Idiomas (PFI) program.