Africa-Press – Angola. Hermenegildo Paulo has the soul of a gastronome, but, at the same time, he is a renowned mathematician. The Mathematics teacher is a name that is making waves in Joe Biden’s lands, because of his teaching method. The Angolan found a new way to teach mathematical fractions to his students: using funge balls.
Born in the city of Uíge, Hermenegildo was always an enthusiast for numbers. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming a Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry teacher. From dream to reality, Hermenegildo Paulo had the help of his mother, who taught primary school.
Born in the coffee-growing province of Uíge, where he was born 42 years ago, the rigor and teaching methods of his mother, at the time a primary school teacher, helped Hermenegildo Paulo or the “funji teacher”, as he is known in the United States, to dribble almost all equations in the subjects of Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry.
The student walk was peaceful and resourceful. In high school, he decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps, choosing to enter the Instituto Médio Normal de Educação (INME), dedicated to teacher training. The dream as a child materializes. Being a lover of numbers, he chose the Mathematics and Physics course.
Therefore, the message of studying so as not to fail and having acceptable behavior were always present from a very early age at home and in the classroom: on the one hand, the taste for science and, on the other, a certain social responsibility, because it always had the mother close to you.
The “funji teacher” was always a very skilled student. For four years, he attended INME, finishing his training in 2002, with several distinctions. Because of this, Hermenegildo Paulo dreamed of becoming an engineer or university professor in the specialty of Mathematics Something impossible for many students.
From ISCED in Uíge to exile
He doesn’t believe in the idea that people are born mathematicians, but it’s true that he was encouraged to love numbers from a young age. Therefore, still in the province of Uíge, Hermenegildo Paulo enrolled at the Instituto Superior de Ciências a Educação (ISCED), in the Mathematics course. But not everything went as expected.
In 2003, after moving to the second year, he was forced to attend subsequent years, due to a shortage of teachers. “All ISCED depended on Luanda, because many of the teachers left the country’s capital to, in the form of seminars, teach in Uíge and other provinces”, he recalls.
He thought countless times about choosing another course. The feeling of love for the homeland was called into question and emigration became the topic of conversation at home and among students. “This situation created many difficulties for students, to the point that many spent six or more academic years without defending their degree thesis”, she said.
There were few conditions for completing higher education in the city of Uíge. For this reason, Hermenegildo Paulo chose to ’emigrate’ to Luanda. But first, consult your parents and immediate family. Already in the country’s capital, after several contacts and breaking through bureaucratic and administrative barriers, he was admitted.
Away from his family and those closest to him, Hermenegildo Paulo faced the dilemma of adaptation. But even with that, he didn’t give up on his goals. In 2004, the “funji professor”, as he is called, studied his second year at ISCED-Luanda, and as always was a good student. In four years, he completed the entire curricular phase. In 2007, he defended his monograph thesis.
The explainer – job search
In 2008, Hermenegildo Paulo, with a degree in Mathematics, decided to pursue his childhood dream: teaching Mathematics at a university. The young man from Uíge traveled from end to end of Luanda, distributing CVs and copies of his diploma.
He participated in different public competitions organized by the Ministry of Education and other public institutions. Unfortunately for Hermenegildo Paulo, the results were always negative. Dissatisfied with the reality, he chose to be a home teacher and teach in private educational establishments.
The dream of joining the civil service never faded. The doors opened again in 2011. As a good mathematician, he changed his strategy, studying previous exams. He was fit. The joy transcended Luanda and extended to Uíge, his homeland.
The days leading up to the ceremony to hand over the placement guides were filled with enormous anticipation. But it was a short-lived sun, as the slang says. When the guides were handed out, only a small group was included, with the justification that the remaining candidates would receive the guides in the following weeks.
Waiting for the anxious delivery date for the placement guides created expectations and health problems. Unfortunately, the act never took place. And as the old adage says, “God helps those who rise early”, the following year Hermenegildo Paulo returned to compete in the public education exam.
He was admitted! This time, luck favored him and he was selected to teach at the National Air Force school, known as “Fapa”.
Trip to the United States of America
Hermenegildo, the young talent who was always curious in the school environment, demonstrating intellectual skills in the areas of Mathematics, said that in 2016, he began to have health problems. The hypertensive differences were what worried him most.
The year 2016 goes down in the history of Professor Hermenegildo. With the help of his parents and family, he raised money and traveled abroad, more specifically to the United States, where one of his older brothers had already been living for several years. In the USA, Hermenegildo Paulo underwent a series of medical examinations.
“I never dreamed of living abroad, in the United States. It seemed impossible, far from attainable. My desire at the time was just to visit my brother who lives in the state of New Jersey, close to New York, and return to Angola in January 2017, and continue my experience as an employee of the Ministry of Education”, he reveals.
With the technological potential and the opportunity for a new professional career, he decided to change his plans and settle in the United States. The Mathematics teacher at the Força Área Nacional school, known as “Fapa”, decided to redo his life plans. With the moral support of his older brother, Hermenegildo Paulo decided to gather the necessary documentation that would enable him to live in the United States.
The English language became his first obstacle. On the recommendation of his older brother, he started attending an intensive English course. He was forced to leave New York and settle in the city of Portland, Maine. Three times a day, he attended the intensive course, which lasted one year.
“I only dedicated myself to learning the language, and with all the possible mistakes, I refused to speak Portuguese. Today, I speak English fluently and my friends no longer laugh at me.”
Decision
Hermenegildo Paulo was always a nonconformist man. After learning the language and speaking English fluently, he sought to acquire equivalence in his academic training. He looked for knowledgeable people in the field until he was recommended an institution where this was possible.
“To my surprise and joy, I received the same equivalence as a graduate in the USA. The training, all carried out in Angola, was recognized with the same degree. And as I wanted to continue with my dream of teaching Mathematics, I sent my documentation to the administration of the city”, he remembers.
Analyzing the process by educational institutions in the USA, it was found that Hermenegildo Paulo had the requirements to teach Mathematics from 6th to 8th grade, but to do so he needed to attend an important subject for teachers, which allowed him to work simultaneously with students with special needs. “At ISCED, we never had this subject, so I was forced to attend this training. At the end of it all, I took tests and the grades were added to my curriculum to meet the requirements of the United States, for teachers who wish to teach Mathematics ”.
Hermenegildo Paulo’s journey through the USA appeared promising. Other opportunities opened up. While he was attending teacher training, Portland State Education officials granted him a provisional license as an assistant at King Middle School.
Once the pedagogical aggregation was completed, he was granted a professional license valid for five years. He has worked at King Middle School since 2020. Asked about the bureaucracy involved in processing documentation to legally settle in the USA, professor Hermenegildo says that he had some difficulties.
Another of the solutions found to resolve the issue of legalization was to have married a North American citizen, which allowed him to have a declaration of residence, thus enjoying almost all the rights as if he were a North American citizen.
Funge de bonbó when teaching mathematical fractions
Hermenegildo Paulo has the soul of a gastronome, but, at the same time, he is an excellent mathematician. Because he was so creative and committed to teaching, Hermenegildo wanted his students to learn mathematical fractions in a simpler way, a Portland State requirement for students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
“And as the teaching material is very heavy, I thought about bringing another reality to school, other than the American one. That’s why I decided to do the bombó funge in the classroom, using the measurements contained in the books so that the students never forget of the subject about fractions”, he said.
In Professor Hermenegildo’s opinion, when cooking funge balls, they are used as mathematical fractions. In a joint class with the students, everything was calculated, the amount of water to use, the cornmeal, how much they would spend to buy the beans, the kisaca and the chicken.
The number of students in each classroom, two, three, four and even the entire school, was also calculated. The sauces were made at the teacher’s home and taken to school in lunch boxes, the first portion of funge was made by the teacher in class and then the students made the other portions of funge.
“Dear journalist! The class was simply a success, because all the African students already knew it and the Americans themselves loved it and called it “Fufu Friday”. Because it was held at least every Friday of each month, eventually becoming a tradition at the educational establishment,” she explained.
To the joy of those in charge of education, the name of Hermenegildo Paulo became a reference among the students, as well as in the community where he lived. The students created a petition asking the school management to put “Fufu Friday” on the school canteen’s food menu.
Master in Leadership
As a result of his good work at school, the institution’s management noticed in Hermenegildo signs of innate leadership and a lot of creativity, for this reason he was invited to participate in a master’s degree in leadership of educational institutions, having stood out among the others in the classroom. classroom.
Due to his excellent performance, this year Hermenegildo Paulo was invited to compete for the position of school manager.
“I accepted the challenge, applied and thank God I was selected to be the assistant director of the Gerald E. Talbot Community School, which is a primary education institution that teaches pre-school through 5th grade, whose classes will begin next academic year”, he highlighted.
As an Angolan, Hermenegildo Paulo feels proud to know that the knowledge acquired in Angola had the same validity in the United States, which allowed him to work, without problems, in a foreign country that is so technologically advanced.
JORNALDE ANGOLA
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