I have spent the last few days meeting Alessandra's students and colleagues and helping her in the classroom. Again, my first impression is a strong one. The students are very friendly and eager to learn about high school in the U.S.

Alessandra is an excellent teacher. Her students love her and feel comfortable communicating with her, but they also know that she is their teacher, and a certain level of respect is required. Alessandra does a great job of striking a balance with this, and I admire her ability to do so because it is not an easy thing to manage with any teenager, regardless of the culture, country, etc... I find that Brazilian students are similar to American students in many ways, especially when it comes to social activities and using social media.

I am most impressed so far with how well the students speak English. Alessandra teaches various levels of conversational English. Her students range from first year English students to students with six years of English speaking experience. I can understand and speak quite easily with most of them and am impressed by this mainly because I cannot speak Portuguese although I am learning:)