Claudia BakerNationality: USA
Age: 38
I had a wonderful time - well-organized learning experience, friendly people, great host. In fact, I enjoyed my time there so much that I am now making plans to move to Brazil! Thanks.
Stephan MichaelNationality: EUA
Age: 52
smatt401@dotnet.com My family took excellent care of me. They provided good meals and included me in various activities. Staying in a Brazilian home was extremely benefitious
My teachers were professional, knowledgeable, and personable in the classroom. I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with them outside the class. They went beyond the call of duty to be helpful.
The day after classes ended I flew to Natal where I taught two classes in theology and missiology, 6 hours a day for 5 days, in a Bible institute and seminary. They were completely in Portuguese. The seminary dean insisted that my Portuguese was very, very good and that if I had stayed a few months it would have become perfect. One student came up during a class break and thanked me for my good subject/verb agreement. I spoke briefly in a church service, and afterwards a member of the audience tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that my Portuguese was better than some Americans who had lived in RN nearly four years. I lived in Cuiaba, MT, for 2 years about 2 decades ago and visited Natal for 10 days almost five years ago, so it's been a long time between opportunities to use Portuguese. Nor am I a genius or a linguist. Therefore, I attribute my success in using Portuguese to the time I spent in Fast Forward's program. The only regrets are that I couldn't have my wife come to study with me, and that I couldn't stay longer.
Zuleima GonzálezNationality: american
Age: 21
zuleima_g@hotmail.com I had a great time in Maceió. It was a wonderful experience that I'll never forget. The school is great as well as the professors and the other personal. Even though I stayed in Maceió for two weeks, I think that I learned a lot in terms of language and culture. Now I'm taking Portuguese at the university and I'm not having any problem at all with the class because of what I learned at Fast Forward. Now I'm in love with Portuguese and I can't stop learning it. I have made a lot of Brazilians friends here where I live and I'm able to speak to them in Portuguese and also they are helping me to improve it. Obrigada! :-)
Malerie DiamanteNationality: American
Age: 19
diamante.1@osu.edu My family was amazing. I loved living with them, they were so welcoming and so helpful. Luiza was so much fun to be around, she was so positive about everything and was always trying to help me learn. Amanda was also so kind to me. I can't wait to visit them when i return to Maceio!!!
I had an amazing time...I am so happy that I spent my summer in Brasil!!! And i am very excited because i am probably participating in a study abroad program in Curitiba this January - March through my university!!! And I hope to visit Maceio when I return to Brasil!!!
Vanessa GuidiNationality: Italian
Age: 26
guidivanessa@hotamail.com liriane (teacher) never leaves anything untouched....she is thorough in every aspect from vocabulary to grammar. carla is also very good. she plays a game of tic-tac-toe with verbs that is fun and competitive. i really like that class... some lessons and explanations could have been taken a little further perhaps with more conversation rather than just workbook. wenderson is AMAZING. no books, no exercises just energy and spontaneity. he throws all his love for brazil and the portuguese language into his lessons...he has a strong desire for students to learn what he is teaching and to learn it well.
3 weeks is too little time to learn all that there is to learn, however, it is enough to build a foundation of the portuguese language.i would return in a heart beat...perhaps in Sao Paulo.
Bob FinucaneNationality: usa
Age: 52
People were always congratulating me on how well I spoke. After two weeks in class and one week travelling, I successfully gave an engineering school class session in Portuguese.
Yuji UtsumiNationality: USA
Age: 43
So far I've been to Fastworad 2 time in Maceio and once in Sao Paulo. In Maceio it is very easy to get distracted with the beach, but the school gave me enough things to get back from the beach and do things. I appreciate Wenderson's enthusiasm and his efforts to crack me open, so to speak. I appreciate Alexandre's intellectual approach and not so forgiving attitude toward pronunciation, use of words and gramatical errors. In Sao Paulo, I understood Marcia and Larissa's dedication to work and appreicate their efforts to make my classes interesting, engaging and rewarding. Marcia is very intelligent, but fun loving...her attitude made my lessons interesting. Our excursions in Sao Paulo was, naturally, better than Maceio, simply because Sao Paulo has more to offer. Hopi Hari was a fun place. Night out at the famous Brahma Bar in Sao Paulo was fun, and the football game with Palmeiras v Vitoria was a real Brazilian experience for me. To bad they trashed the stadium later, but then again, it is better than killing the goleiro (Marcos) for that mistake. I truly feel bad for the bad rap that Brazil is getting about its danger and such. I am sure you need to be careful, just like any other big cities. There are places in Los Angeles I wouldn't dare walk all by myself at night! If I had more time, I'd do both Maceio and Sao Paulo. I've done similar short language courses for ESL in Los Angeles years ago and for Spanish courses at several schools in Morelia, Guadalajara and Xalapa, Mexico. I'd say Fastforward is one of the better ones. It is educational and definitely fun. What could you ask for more? Please say hello to everyone at the school.
Jennifer BrighamNationality: US
Age: 26
What did you think about your teachers?
I also had Carla and Liriane. All three were excellent. Each had unique strengths which complemented the others. Classes were well organized and included sufficient time in each session for grammar, conversation and cultural study. I particularly liked the use of music as a way of learning colloquial language and Brazilian favorites.
maria lucia vidartNationality: colombian
Age: 21
luluvidart@hotmail.com In general I liked it vety much. Now I am in Colombia and my level of Portuguese é much better than those other students who stayed here.
Sabine WestermannNationality: german
Age: 28
sabine-westermann@freenet.de I stayed in the pousada Balei Azul and I was very happy there: nice staff, very clean, good breakfast and perfekt located!
There was always a bunch of activities and I think the mixture was good! The trips on the weekends were very well organized and it was always fun to get to know the area with the other students. A very important fact which is pretty good arranged by fast forward in Maceio!
Wenderson was my teacher. He is such a good entertainer and I learned to talk and also great vocabulary you would not learn in a regular class! He was great!
Almitra MedinaNationality: American
Age: 24
adm27@georgetown.edu What a wonderful family! They took me to meet their extended family, I went to church with them on Sundays, we all dancing togeter, and they invited me to spent the day with them at the beach. My 'mom' and I went to the mall and to her friend's house, meanwhile my 'brother' and I would walk/jog and night, he introduced me to his friends, and we all went to a 'barraca' to see the soccer game on tv. My 'mom' would always set out breakfast for me before she went to work, and made some of the most delicious dinners. I've stayed with host families in other countries before, but this family was top-notch.
The location of the school in Maceió is perfect. It was about 5 minutes away from the beach, 5 minutes away from my house, 3 minutes away from the local 24-hour supermarket, and only a few steps away from some inexpensive self-service restaurants. As a student, you often times are assigned a lot of homework, but it really helps speed up the process of language development. I would say you probably learn more Portuguese in a shorter time frame at Fast Forward than most other places, but that's just a guess. If you were undecided as to when you should study in Maceió, I would definitely say that the month of June is a good idea since it's the month the northeast region celebrates the Festas Juninhas.
Markus FischerNationality: swiss
Age: 45
The first week she was very concentrated, the second week I thougt she was not always really by the work (preparatio, correction of the homework)but all over it was OK.
