Briefing Teachers for a Maputo Partner School
A coordinator at an Irish secondary school is preparing eight teachers for a five-day visit to a partner school in Maputo. The programme includes a 7:45 welcome ceremony with the director, classroom observations, and a closing meeting. The coordinator has three sources: (A) a 2019 volunteer blog stating 'in Mozambique everyone is late, so don't bother arriving on time'; (B) a 2023 partnership report noting that the host school asked visitors to arrive at 7:30 for a 7:45 ceremony and that the director gave a 10-minute welcome before the programme began; (C) a 2022 teacher's personal account saying that using the director's first name in a formal meeting felt awkward, and that 'Senhor Director' was used instead. One teacher says: 'I'll just use você for everyone because it's easier and Brazilians do it.' The coordinator has 20 minutes to brief the group and must avoid both overgeneralisation and paralysis. The school's own written guidance says only 'please be punctual'.
1. Evaluate sources A, B and C for a two-sentence guidance on punctuality. What should the coordinator say, and what should she not say?
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Say: 'Arrive at the time the host gives; for the 7:45 ceremony, be at the school by 7:30, and expect the programme to start with a welcome that may take about ten minutes. Confirm the next day's start time with your host each afternoon.' Do not say: 'Everyone is late in Mozambique.'
Source A is a 2019 anecdote from a volunteer, not evidence about this school; it overgeneralises from personal experience and is dated. Source B is the strongest because it is a partnership report with specific times for this host. Source C is about address, not punctuality. A good answer distinguishes punctuality from flexibility: the report shows the host kept a 7:45 ceremony, so the visitors should be early, while allowing that ceremonies can run long. The coordinator should not turn a local norm into a national character claim.
2. Recommend forms of address for (a) the director in the opening ceremony and (b) a classroom teacher during an observation. Explain your reasoning and one uncertainty.
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(a) Use 'Senhor Director' (spelling may vary) in the opening; if the director has a doctorate, 'Senhor Doutor' may be appropriate, but do not assume it. Avoid the first name unless invited. (b) For a classroom teacher, 'Professor' or 'Sr. Professor' is a safe default; in Mozambique, 'professor' is a professional title and is normal in school settings.
Reasoning: Portuguese forms of address encode hierarchy and institutional role more than English 'you'; 'você' can be heard as too familiar or, in some EP-influenced contexts, dismissive. Uncertainty: the host school may have its own preference, and the director may use a title the visitors cannot infer. The safe move is to ask the liaison teacher privately on day one: 'Como devemos tratar o Senhor Director?' Do not guess a doctorate.
3. Respond to the teacher who plans to use 'você' for everyone. Is that acceptable? Give a safer default and one exception.
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It is not a safe default. 'Você' is grammatically a second-person pronoun, but in much of Portugal and parts of lusophone Africa it can sound informal or distancing; in Brazil it is ordinary. The teacher's reasoning ('Brazilians do it') imports a Brazilian norm into Mozambique, which is a different national context.
Safer: use 'o senhor' or 'a senhora' with the title and surname, or 'Professor' and 'Senhor Director' in school settings; let the host introduce first names. Exception: with peers of the same age in an informal workshop, 'você' may be fine once the host uses it first. Advise the teacher to watch the host's pronoun and mirror it, and to ask the liaison teacher. The aim is not to be hyper-formal but to avoid making a bad first impression in a formal ceremony.