L.I.A.C (English Language with Art and Culture)

English language is not widely spread in Salvador. In other touristic cities, this language is considered as essential as the mother tongue of the country. L.I.A.C was developed to spread the access to this knowledge to students of the city’s public system, working in the process of democratization of this language, helping in their educational and working possibilities. Besides that, Salvador is a worldly known artistic and cultural city. L.I.A.C is an initiative that combines this feature of the city with the necessity of learning English language by using music videos, what can make the learning process easier and more effective. Other cities, in poor and developing countries, can use this approach to reach the same goals, not just with English but also with other foreigner languages, as we did in 2013 teaching Portuguese in Dili, East-Timor, confirming the possibility of adaptation of the project for different realities and goals. 

Proficiency in English language is a problem in Salvador, mainly in public schools, mostly attended by black and poor people. Black people in Salvador, according to IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), reaches 80% of the population. Despite this number, most of this people are living under the poverty line. In Salvador, almost 18% of the population is unemployed. As an English teacher since 2002, working in public schools, public entities and NGO’s, I have noticed that the using of arts and culture (mainly music and music video) helps in the learning process of a foreigner language. In 2005, I edited the first version of the book Língua Inglesa com Arte e Cultura (L.I.A.C). The problem of non-proficiency in English affects around hundreds of thousands of students in Salvador, mainly for the despise education is dealt in Brazil. Proficiency in foreigner language is a requirement for some academic and working areas, so helping poor and black people to learn this language is a way to prepare them to these areas, mainly in the artistic, touristic and cultural fields in the city. The connection of arts, culture and English language can be used for the developing of language proficiency. 

The population the project L.I.A.C have reached is, mostly, composed by black and poor individuals who are facing unemployment, underemployment and education issues. These people cannot be well prepared by the educational public system that deals with diverse problems, from the physical structures to the respect of the teachers’ work. As an English teacher since 2002, and working in many places since then, I have noticed that working with arts and culture has helped the students to learn not just English language, but also to get in touch with knowledge that is not available in the public system and can give them the possibility of getting jobs and places in university that is not available democratically. I have developed this project by paying attention to the students’ needs and preferences, working, for instance, with Rap and Rock music videos for classes where the majority of the students used T-shirts with artists from these genres, listening to their songs and translating their lyrics. This is also a way to respect the students’ previous knowledge, what makes the learning process less difficult and more effective, contributing to a bigger and better inclusion of people in education and working areas in Salvador. 

The project L.I.A.C (Língua Inglesa com Arte e Cultura/ English Language with Art and Culture) started to be developed in 2002, at Centro de Desenvolvimento da Comunidade Negra (C.D.C.N), an entity from the state of Bahia, in Brazil. In 2005, working at the NGO ACASA (Associação Criança na Arte Sarajane), we edited the first version of the book. In the same year, I sent the project to Fundação Pedro Calmon and the project got the highest grade in most of the elements. In 2008, the project was selected as one of the 13 semi-finalists in the award Ideais Inovadoras sponsored by FAPESB (Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia). In 2010, I used the project in the NGO TV Pelô, and in 2012, in the same institution, the project was the basis of my master essay Nos intertíscios da interculturalidade: o videoclipe no ensino de língua estrangeira, defended in 2017, at Universidade Federal da Bahia. Nowadays, we are trying to develop partnerships to establish the course in Salvador. These partnerships can be done with governmental, private and entities like NGO’s.

The project consists in a teaching method that uses artistic and cultural elements for the English language learning process that has been developed for 17 years. It has already a book, with a printed and electronic version, and we want to develop a website, a streaming page and an App. The book has already its first version edited, the streaming page has a pilot video and the app will be develop. As the technology evolves, we want to increase the project with new tools and elements. In 2016, when working as an English teacher at NUPEL (UFBA), we recorded a pilot of one class using this approach. The project was develop to use diverse technologies to reach the same goal: the proficiency in English language by using music and music videos. For this goal, we use books, audios, videos, streaming services, websites, apps and any other new technology that appears during the duration of the course. The project can also be used by teachers and schools that want to update their approaches to English language processes. With the establishing of this project, we want to make part in the processes of democratization of the access for English language to poor and black people in Salvador, helping the inclusion of people in working and educational areas. 

As an English teacher since 2002, I have noticed that traditional approaches and methods in English language teaching, for public system, were not reaching linguistic goals: one of the most common complaints of students in Salvador is related to the superficiality of English classes, focusing in grammar structures, notably known with the “Verb-to-be-the-whole-year” approach. Because of that, we have developed this project that was done to update the method and approach for English language teaching and learning process.

The using of artistic and cultural elements was noticed by me since the first experience in an English classroom and has been kept since this moment. Nowadays, audiovisual files and interactive tools make part of the daily life of many people. Even being poor, the majority of the students, in Salvador, has smartphones, what can be used as a tool not as an enemy, like it is usually done in classrooms. Technology has to be an ally in learning process.

Many English courses, mainly private, deal with artistic and cultural elements. However, most of the time, it is used as a “fun moment”. In our approach, these elements are seen as a central tool in the learning process, not just for the students, to learn from artists’ works, but for the students to produce artistic works themselves, as it is one of the main elements in L.I.A.C: we have noticed that students who produce artistic work in English can learn it in practical way, more than only studying rules and linguistic structures. 

Technology is a key component in the project L.I.A.C. Started as an approach based in a book, the project has adapted to the technologies that are appearing, from the printed book to an App, besides the streaming page. Nowadays, we identify three technology that can be used in the project: an e-book, with the content of the printed version plus weblinks and QR codes, to make the process more dynamic; a streaming website, that can be a Youtube page or similar tool and an App that can be used by teachers and students in their smartphones. These technologies will work together for the process of teaching/ learning the language and students can use the technologies available in the moment they are studying to reach their goals. It does not mean that traditional elements will be discarded. They will be used with new technology.

We are open to use other types of technology, such as interactive games and augmented reality, but for that we have to establish partnership with companies that have expertise in these areas. The project L.I.A.C was developed to be an open place to increase connection with technology. As the main goal is the learning of the language, any tool available for reaching this aim is valid. One of the complaint of the students is that the material used in English classes is old-fashioned. Our project is an attempt to update the material used in the English classroom, to make it more pleasant and effective for the students. 

The problem of developing proficiency in English language is a recurrent issue in public education. The project L.I.AC has been developed to help students to learn this language by using artistic and cultural elements. During our experiences as English teacher in public schools and N.G.O’s, since 2002, I have developed this project by noticing that when I have used music and videos in the classes, the information was received in a more fluid and effective way.

In 2012, I made a survey for the master essay, as a field work, with my students about the importance of using artistic and cultural elements. A hundred students were interviewed and confirmed the importance of using these elements, because they help the learning process by making the classes more appealing for the students: it is easier to learn something the student like. Besides that, most of the English teachers from poor backgrounds that I know have learnt this language by watching movies, playing videogames and, mostly, listening to music, what is also my case. As they have not had resources to learn the language, they have used the resources available, being them records, music videos, movies and videogames. This was used in a period where there was no internet and digital files that, nowadays, make this learning process even easier and more efficient, even for students with learning disabilities and difficulties. So, I am sure with the current technology, the process of learning English can be less difficult to black and poor students. 

Nowadays, as an effective teacher in the city of Feira de Santana, I am planning to use this project with my students. The number of students I have been teaching are between 150 and 200, but, as the project starts to get practical results, I have the intention to show to other English teachers the project and to the secretary of education. With that, the project can be used in Feira de Santana and become a standard to other cities, states and even countries. The most important is to start the project and see its results in its first attempt. However, for that, we need to count on the acceptance and help from the secretary of education in Feira de Santana. It is not an easy task mainly because of the typical bureaucracy of the country.

In one year, my intention is to reach all the students in the public system of Feira de Santana, the place where I am working right now. The public system in Feira de Santana has 48.000 students in public schools. In five years, I would like to spread the project to the public state of Bahia and, after that, serve as a standard for other secretary of education in Brazil, or even in other countries that face the same or similar problem. Brazil has around 45 million of students in the public system. With that, another secretary of education can replicate it in its own realities, helping in the process of educational democratization.

My goals within the next year is to develop the project L.I.A.C inside the public system in Feira de Santana, the city I am working in the moment. Starting out with my own students, I want to show the project to other English teachers and to the secretary of education the structure of the project. However, for that to happen, it is necessary the full interest from the secretary, because it is essential for the effective development of the idea.

In five years, I would like to spread the project to other secretaries of education in Bahia, Brazil and even in other countries. As I had an experience in East-Timor, in 2013, teaching Portuguese as a foreigner language with the same approach, the project can be sent, with adaptations, to the secretary of education of this country. The idea is, also, to spread to other countries that face similar problems, as the proficiency in English, or other foreigner language, is a tool to reach educational and working aims.

The streaming page and the App will be available for anyone who has access to internet, as the classes will be recorded in English. The e-book is already available in the Scribd platform for free for anyone who wants to use the material for studying or for teaching for other people. Since its first moments, the project was designed to be free for the users, as it was developed to be as democratic as possible, helping the democratic access to English language. 

The project, since its inception, has faced some barriers. The financial barrier has been one of the first to be faced. As the project needs some structure, and I have not had the financial resources to make it happen by my own, this was always an issue. The initial idea was to establish a free English course with some classrooms, but I could not do it for financial reasons and I did not have help in that moment.

This leads to technical barriers, as structure and equipment are necessary to make the project happens in its complete design. One of the reasons the project did not advance was the lack of equipment and structure. Nowadays, we confirm that these elements are as necessary as the teacher, the book and the students. So, without the structure and equipment the project cannot be fully develop and the goals cannot be reached.

There are also legal barriers, because the project uses songs and videos of artists and it is necessary to get legal authorization from the owners of the songs and music videos. However, in Brazil, there is a law that permits the using of songs for educational reasons.

Another barrier is related to a culture in Brazil that connects the importance of an activity to the money invested in it: it is common that free courses and activities are not taken seriously, because the users do not spend directly money on it. We want to help in the changing in this mentality. 

To overcome these barriers, the solution is related directly to the establishing of partnerships. The financial barrier can be solved by the helping of sponsors to make the project happens. Since 2005, we have been trying to looking for some sponsors and partners. We tried the secretary of education in Salvador and FAPESB in Bahia, but it did not happen, and, since then, we keep on looking for financial and structural help, because without it the project cannot reach its goal, as they are essential to the development of the initiative.

It is essential to establish partnership with governmental entities, as they will be the ones that can be benefited by the results of the project. This help can be done in many different ways, as grant or direct investment, part of the governmental budge. Nowadays, we are having problems in education finances in Brazil, so it is important to be open to other partners and sponsors that can be more effective in this moment, as we expect to start to work this year.

The legal barriers can be overcame by the cession of use by the owners of songs and videos and the using of works available in the copyleft or creative commons system. The cultural barrier about free courses in Brazil will be overcame by the results of the first attempts of the course. It is not easy to change a cultural trait of a people, but it is necessary to start the change to make it happen. 

Nowadays, the solution team is made up by five people, as collaborators, because we do not have conditions to pay for their services. We are trying to establish a company to manage projects. Because of the limitations we are facing now, most of the work is done by me, who is responsible for the idea and the content of the material. I am the creator and coordinator. Lúcio Ferreira and Tatiana Cordeiro do Nascimento are responsible for assistance. Fábio Chamusca de Carvalho is responsible for the design of the material and Fabiano Koala is responsible for video registers and editing. 

Nowadays, the solution team is made up by five people, as collaborators, because we do not have conditions to pay for their services. We are trying to establish a company to manage projects. Because of the limitations we are facing now, most of the work is done by me, who is responsible for the idea and the content of the material. I am the creator and coordinator. Lúcio Ferreira and Tatiana Cordeiro do Nascimento are responsible for assistance. Fábio Chamusca de Carvalho is responsible for the design of the material and Fabiano Koala is responsible for video registers and editing. 

The team is best-placed to deliver this solution, because of its skill and experience. I am the coordinator and have taught English, for larger groups, since 2002, most of the time using the artistic and cultural approach, not just in English language, but with Portuguese language too, both as foreigner language. It is interesting to comment that I used the approach I am proposing for my own English proficiency, as a self-taught student, when I was a child.

I have been working in public and private schools, NGO’s, free English courses and universities. Nowadays, I am effective teacher at public school in Feira de Santana. Besides that, I am graduate in Literature and Languages, both English and Portuguese and master in Language and Culture. I am, also, musician, writer and screenplay writer, what makes me suitable for the project. I have been developing many projects in different areas for more than two decades.

Lúcio Ferreira is a student of B.I (Bacharelado Interdisciplinar) at Universidade Federal da Bahia. Tatiana Nascimento is a student of graduation in Gender and Diversity in the same institution and worked for the secretary of racial issues in Salvador. Fábio Chamusca is a student of Designer at Universidade Estadual da Bahia and also a fine artist and musician, and Fabiano Koala is a writer, video-maker and photographer. This team was develop during the years and these partners took part in different projects I have been developing. The partnership with Fábio Chamusca has been stablished since our childhood.     

Nowadays, we are partnering with the secretary of education of Feira de Santana, where I started to work as a teacher of English, Portuguese and Arts, since April, 2019. In this moment, I want to introduce the project to the director of the school and the secretary of education and start to use this approach in my own classrooms. For that, I will need the authorization of the director of the school I am working right now. As the first results starts to appear, we want to show them to other teachers and to the secretary of education of the city.

I am also establishing a partnership with Universidade do Estado da Bahia, where I was scholarship student until April 2019. I already sent the project to the coordinator of languages in the university and I am waiting the reply. The problem about this partnership is related to the recent cut of money imposed by the minister of education in Brazil. It will, surely, make the university holds back projects and other extra activities. But the university can help with classroom and material that are already available.  

The project L.I.A.C was developed to help poor and black people who are student or ex-student from public schools in the state of Bahia and need or want to develop proficiency in English language. The project uses artistic and cultural elements, mainly the music video, to help this group to learn English, as this language teaching process is not being effective in the public system of education in Brazil.

The project consists in a year class that uses songs, music videos and lyrics of diverse artists from different parts of the world and with their particular way of dealing with the language. It is an intercultural initiative that deals with English as the Lingua Franca of the world community. In this approach, the artistic and cultural element is a central part of the studying.

The book of the project is divided into seven chapters that increase according to difficulty and the level of the students. The choice of artistic material also follows this level increasing, going from the most basic until the most advanced. As the book was developed in 2005, it is necessary to update it with more artistic and cultural elements that are in connection with the current generation and its expectations.

The classes will also be available in streaming services for anyone who wants to learn English by using this approach, in a Youtube page. It will also be available in an App format, to make it even more practical to access the content of the classes. 

The path to financial sustainability for the project is a combination of some different sources. Firstly, we would like to have a financial support from the government. It could be as a grant or a direct help from the budget of the ministry of education. We, also, are looking for the help of institutions that are centered in helping projects in education, such as Lehman Foundation, CAPES, CNPQ and other entities. Some of these institutions were already contacted and the project was presented to them.

Other way of obtain financial resources is the sale of the didactic material of the course to private students and/or to private schools that want to update their approach by using artistic and cultural elements as central elements in the learning processes. With this money, we intend to support those students who do not have conditions to invest any money in English language courses themselves. This can be an way to help in the process of democratization of the access to English language for those ones who do not have this access.

The videos in the streaming page can generate financial resources with the monetization process, mainly used in webpages like Youtube. It can also open possibility to get money from advertising in the page. To raise this money, it is necessary a number of visualization, comments and subscriptions, so the students will be also responsible to spread the world about the project, what can generate more views and, subsequently, more money for the course.

I am applying to Solve because the attempts to get help from entities in my country are not working practically. Some entities acknowledge the importance of the project, but, when it comes to practical help, it has not had happen. I have been searching for help from public, private and entities like NGO’s in Brazil, but the help I got was punctual and temporary. Despite acknowledging the value of the project, they use to praise the initiative, but when it comes to practical help, few things really effective happens and, as there is not a continuing, the sensation is the same as if they did not help.

The barriers that can be overcame by the help of Solve can be related to the connection with foreigner entities and the connection with other people who are involved in the process of evolution and democratization of education. Since we are not finding partnerships in Brazil, one of the solutions is looking for help from entities from other places that can be more sensitive to the problem.

Solve can help advance my work by giving me the opportunity to meet and know people and entities from other places that can help me develop my project, as the Solve Challenge involves people from different countries and backgrounds. As English language proficiency is an issue that affects other developing and poor countries, our solution can be used in other countries that needs to reach the same goals as we want to be reached in Brazil. 

Entities and companies that deals with education.

I want to partner with organizations that are related to education and its democratization. It can be private, public and third sector organization from diverse countries in the world, as the problem we are trying to solve is actually a worldly issue.

About private organizations, we would like to collaborate with entities such as Lehman Foundation, British Council and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. These entities are worldly know for sponsor projects in Education. We are also looking for Brazilian private organizations that can be helpful in this process.

Other types of organizations we are looking for partnership are those ones related to multinational connections, such as UNESCO the branch of UN that deals with education issues around the world. We are also looking for partnership with universities that deals with arts and culture, such as the University of Liverpool, for instance.

We also want to collaborate with NGO’s, as historically we have had the support from these entities with the project L.I.A.C. As some of them are related to complement the public educational process, working with them will be an effective connection to make the project reach its goals. 

It does not aplly. 

I would like to apply for the GM Prize Community-Driven Innovation because the solution we are proposing meets the requirement for the prize, as one of the main goals in the project is to foster prosperity and social mobility for underrepresented community members, such as black and poor people in Salvador, Feira de Santana and Bahia. 

Despite being developed by an individual, the project L.I.A.C was developed to be a community driven initiative. The idea was to help the autonomy of the community. One of the aims of the project is to work on the development of the bilingualism in the cities of Salvador and Feira de Santana and, after that, in the state of Bahia, to be a pattern to be used in other cities in Brazil. For this to happen, it is essential the active participation of the community, not just by joining the course as students, but by taking part effectively in the changes in the country.

We want to use the prize, if we are selected for it, to start fund, at least, one year of the project, with the first classes and the development both of the website, the streaming videos and the app. With this prize, will be possible to start the first classes of the project by the acquisition of material, contracting and preparing of teachers, development and printing of the book, preparing and posting of the videos for the streaming website and the development of the app.

It does not aplly. 

It does not aplly. 

It does not aplly.