Contemporary Brazil:
The Social Dimension
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- differentiate between needs and wants.
- compare and contrast personal wealth in USA with personal wealth in Brazil.
Material
Activities
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- Write the following question on the chalkboard: What is the “good life?”
- Ask the students to share their responses. Discuss what
they believe to be the “good life” and list the characteristics on the chalkboard.
- Following the discussion, write the following question on the chalkboard: How wealthy do you have to be to lead the “good life?”
- Ask the students for volunteers to share their responses. Based on their responses, ask them to define what it means to be “wealthy.”
- Share with the class the following statement by “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
- Ask the class to analyze the statement. What do they think he means? Do they agree or disagree with him? Why or why not?
- Share with the class the following statement by Oscar Wilde: “Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.”
- Ask the class to analyze the statement. What do they think he means? Do they agree or disagree with him? Why or why not?
- Based on the statements by Plato and Wilde, ask the class to reevaluate their definition of wealth. What do people rerally “need” to be wealthy?
- What do you “need” to be wealthy?
- Distribute the student handout entitled Life in a Favela.
- Direct students to read the section entitled “Rio.”
- Ask students to explain why misconceptions might arise between the haves and the have-nots as well as tourists. How might lack of interaction contribute to that misconception?
- Direct students to read the section entitled “The Favelas” on the first page of the handout.
- Ask students to evaluate the conditions described in the handout. Would they consider the residents of the favelas “wealthy?” Why or why not?
- Ask students to speculate about life in a favela. How would it be different from their lives?
- Direct students to read the section entitled “The Favelas (continued)” on the second page of the handout.
- Ask students to focus on the comments of Carlos Antonio. Do they think he would agree with the comments of Plato and Wilde? Why or why not?
- What do the writer’s comments regarding the shared sunset reflect? What is real “wealth?”
- Distribute the student handout entitled Deus lhe Pague.
- Ask students to analyze the stanzas for meaning. Is the speaker happy or sad? For what is he grateful?
- Ask students to compose a short essay in answer to the question “Is the speaker in Deus lhe Pague “wealthy?” Why or why not?
- Extension Activity
- If available and time allows, show excerpts from the film Favela Rising. (The film is a documentary about a man trying to escape a favela in Rio through a nonviolent cultural movement known as Afro-reggae. It will lend itself to many open ended discussions about wealth, needs, culture, and life choices.)
