Nadja fernandes
“I overcame obstacles By choosing another goal, creating new dreams, pursuing other objectives”
Nadja Fernandes
Country of Origin: Brazil
Occupation: Writer, teacher and office administrator. State of residency: WA. Favourite place in Australia: Fremantle. Upon arrival: Surprised by how common it was to see people going everywhere barefoot
Nadja Fernandes is a migrant, teacher, and a resilience entrepreneur who apart form being an exceptional teacher in her native language Portuguese, she is also a proficient in English and Spanish professor. Currently working on a project together with two other people with the hope to develop a Spanish course for children and for adults. She is meeting regularly to develop this project in the best possible way, they want to incorporate the Latin-American culture in the course, not just the language aspect.
TELL US YOUR STORY
I arrived in Australia in 2003. Although born in Brazil, I had been living in Argentina, where I became an English teacher, so one of my motivations to come to Australia was to experience life in an English-speaking country, as I thought that would be good for my professional development. Initially, I planned to do a six-month course in Brisbane. Unfortunately, the course was postponed, but I could not postpone my trip, as I had already given notice at work and organised everything. So I had a plan B, which was to come to Perth and do a course that had little to do with my previous studies.
I had no contacts here, and as I arrived, I was fascinated by the contrast. I think the first thing I noticed was the absence of high-rise buildings in suburbs. I had always lived in highly urbanised areas, and in South America, high-rise buildings are very common. Most multi-storey residential buildings have a minimum of 10 floors, whereas here, the most I found in suburbs were maybe 5 floors, on average, with few exceptions. I also noticed the absence of high dividing fences. People were happy to have just a picket-fence and sometimes no fence.
I found my first job the old style: an ad in the newspaper. It asked for a part-time admin person, two afternoons per week. I thought that would work well with my course time-table, so I sent my CV in the post, and got a phone call about a week later. This lady had a home-delivery business. They sold organic fruit and vegetables, but there was no physical shop. People had to place an online order or a phone order. At the interview, I was told I could start any time I wanted. I remember I was thrilled! A few weeks later, she said that although her business did not have enough admin work for me, if I wanted, I could do other jobs like gardening. I said ‘yes’ to every thing she offered me as far as work goes, and a month or so later, she asked me if I wanted to help with the packing at the warehouse, and I started two days after that. I learned a lot, as I had no experience in that kind of work. A year later I was left in charge of the whole business, as the owner travelled overseas and stayed away for 6 weeks. It was challenging and stressful but also rewarding.
My first employer became something like a mentor. She was extremely supportive of my career development and encouraged me to do a course to validate my qualifications from overseas. I had to save money because the course was expensive. I needed to pay $4,000 for a 4-week course. I managed to do that in early 2004. However, I was still on a student visa, which limited my job possibilities. I approached a few schools but they all said I would need to be able to work full-time, which for that industry was 25 hours per week, at the time, but I was only allowed 20.
In July 2005, already married, I had been granted the right to work full-time, so I approached a school that my mentor had told me about. She had known the owner and introduced me to him. The owner referred me to the Director of Studies and she hired me on the spot. Again, I was thrilled, as I missed teaching. I also teach Portuguese part-time and I used to teach English as a second language. I’m planning to start teaching Spanish in May. I am a lot more passionate about teaching than doing admin work. Basically, I believe I thrive when I work in an environment that allows me to interact in a meaningful way with people, especially if I can offer something valuable.
CHALLENGES
Singing at the forum for International Wome’s day.
Personal budget - One of the main challenges was money. Being an international student is not cheap. Like most students, I did not have enough money to cover the fees and my other living expenses, so I had to work. One problem is, I was not allowed to work full-time, so my earning capacity was limited. It was really frustrating because on the one hand, being a qualified English teacher, I did not have the language barrier, so much so that less than 2 months after I had arrived, I got a job as an admin assistant, and six moths later I was promoted to Administration Manager. However, it was only 20 hours per week, as I was a full-time student. So I had to be frugal and save as much as possible. I used to cycle to work and to school because that was cheaper and this way I would not pay for transport (I was very fit those days).
Home sickness - Another challenge was that I missed my friends. I made some friends but I was missing that connection with someone who really knew me well. Plus, I found a lack of real connection because of the cultural differences. I was trying my best to integrate and I believe I did quite well. Back in 2003 there were not many people from Latin America in Perth. Of course there were some but not nearly as many as these days. So I was hanging out mostly with non Latin-Americans. It was challenging but it was also rewarding, as I got to learn about other cultures, like the Japanese for instance. I think I overcame that challenge by making an effort to build friendships, nurturing those relationships and waiting for them to grow. It did take some time, but it paid off. I have beautiful friends here today.
Professional area - After I started teaching English as a Second language, I decided to do another course to enable me to teach in High Schools, as I was a Primary and High School teacher (of English as a Second Language) back in Argentina. After I finished my Bachelor of Education, I tried to get work in High Schools for a while, but I was only offered relief work, here and there, nothing really regular. I was qualified to teach English (literature) and what was then called ‘Society and Environment’. Doing irregular hours did not suit my financial needs, as I needed some stability (I was now a mother). The fastest way to get a position as a full-time teacher would be to move to a remote area, but I felt it would be too difficult to go to a small town where I did not know anyone. At that stage, which was 2013/2014, I was separated and lived with my daughter, which means I would be bringing her with me. She was 5 years old and the prospect of being isolated with her was not enticing. Then I got ill. I remember I felt so worried, scared that I would die and my daughter would be left without a mother. It was just a fright: although it took me a few weeks to get fully recovered, I got well eventually. However, I then decided that it would not be safe to move to another town/city because I needed to be near my support network at least while I had a small child with me. It was one thing to be adventurous if it was only myself, but a different story when a child was involved. So how did I overcome this obstacle? By choosing another goal, creating new dreams, pursuing other objectives. I started focusing on my writing, as I had always been passionate about that, and today I have a few things published, the most exciting one so far being my debut novel, ‘First Aid Seamstress’, which was published in February 2022.
CONTRASTS AND SIMILARITIES
Cultural appreciation - I found Australians relatively relaxed and informal, and I believe there is a degree of that in Brazil too, like calling people by their first name. In fact, I had to adapt because as part of my training, when I studied to be a teacher (of English), we studied the British culture too, and we were told the British were more formal, and that if you did not know a person, you should address them by their last name. As Australia was colonised by the British, I assumed the culture was the same.
Local Habits - I found it very hard to deal with the time the shops closed in Perth. Back when I arrived, most places closed at 5pm. There was one day per week in which the malls stayed open until 8:30 or 9pm, which was Friday for the CBD, and Thursday for the western suburbs. For most shops, this is still true, except that now the supermarkets stay open until 9pm, which makes a huge difference. It was very hard to find time to go grocery shopping after work, since for the first many years, I did not own a car, so I had to either walk or take public transport, and by the time I arrived at the shops, it would be closed.
Dinner times: Another contrast was that dinner was (is) served extremely early. In Argentina it was quite normal for us to have dinner at 8:30 or 9pm, and sometimes later. Here, when people invited me to dinner, I felt it was so early. And if I wanted to go to a restaurant, I had to bear that in mind. Once, a friend from Europe came to visit and my boss lent me her car for the night. We left home about 8:30pm and we were not able to find a place to eat. Apparently, the kitchen closed at 9pm. In all restaurants! Another time I took the same friend to a pub. It was a Thursday. We arrived at the pub around 11pm, which was not early by our standards. We got there and ordered a drink but shortly after, the staff started packing everything and we had to leave.
PIECE OF ADVICE
Sharp your communication skills - The first piece of advice I’d give to someone is to try to improve their English as much as they can prior to arriving. I did not have that barrier, but as a teacher, I have witnessed far too many cases in which this language barrier was the main obstacle. Some cases were very sad and broke my heart: some people spent thousands of dollars doing the IELTS test again and again, but were not able to get the results they needed, and had to give up on their dream and go back home. So if possible, study hard at home and practice in whatever ways: watch movies, listen to and sing songs, anything. It does not mean they have to be totally proficient when they get here, but getting here with at least a reasonable level will make a difference, both in practical ways and also for that person’s confidence. After getting here, make friends with people who speak a different language from their own. This is crucial.
Do not lose track of your objectives - When someone comes here on a student visa, it is easy to go off track for a while when they get a job. Some students get shocked at how much money they can earn by doing jobs that back in their countries are very poorly paid jobs. So they start losing track of why they came here in the first place, they start to neglect their studies, and they work as much as they can, sometimes they may even work more hours than they are officially allowed to. Obviously this puts their visa at risk. On top of that, they are preventing themselves from learning the language, a key tool for their advancement. I do understand that in many cases, they have no option but to work a lot and then they have little energy to study, but whenever there is a choice, even if it is very hard, I would say, try to focus on your studies, especially at the beginning, for the first year. Try to write down a budget and stick to it. Also, write down a plan, for the educational goals, and stick to it. Find people who have compatible goals and study together. Get a journal and write down on the first page why you came to Australia, and write down your main goals. Leave two pages blank, then you can start writing your journal from the fourth page. Read the first page every week (even if it is only 5 lines long) to remind yourself. If your goals change or expand, write them on the second page, and write the date. Keep reading your goals on a weekly basis.
Your community network - I think when struggling, it is important to reach out to someone. Nowadays our community is stronger, and we have cultural centres. It is possible to find someone and ask for support. Feeling accompanied can make a huge difference in someone’s life. It is like having a coach and knowing you are not alone and there is someone to hold your hand. Asking for support can perhaps open doors and allow someone for instance to take a break, even if a short one, so that person can breathe and recover a bit. It can give someone the space to cry and not be judged.
IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS…
Nadja’s goals for the next five to ten years are to publish the Spanish version of her debut novel (it is being translated already, and it should be ready in a few months), then publish a novel that she wrote back in 2014 (in English and in Spanish), and a third one, that she has been working on for a couple of years but is not ready. She also want to finish my Diploma of Counselling and to be able to use the skills that she will gain with that in a meaningful way, ideally in our community. She has some ideas in mind but they need to be refined. She would also like to get more involved in concrete projects in one (or a few) of our cultural centres, and she has started to do that, as she currently teaches Portuguese to adults at a Brazilian not-for-profit organisation. She has plans to develop a Spanish course too with the amazing people who have created CREA.
You can find more about Nadja Fernandez impact here:
➤LinkedIn 👉 Nadja Fernandes
➤Instagram 👉 @nadfern
➤Facebook👉 Nads Fernandes
➤Website👉 www.nadjafernandes.com
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With love and gratitude - Latin Stories Australia team