The Peters Project

The final countdown has begun! In less than two weeks, I’ll be boarding a flight from Chicago to Brazil to begin my Fund for Teachers fellowship. Before I land, I want to be able to communicate in Portuguese, even if it’s at a very basic level. 🇧🇷 Linguistic Foundations To get ready, I’ve been diving headfirst into learning the language. The Pimsleur Method has become a fixture of my daily routine.  👂🏻The Pimsleur Method is an audio-based language learning system that focuses almost entirely on speaking proficiency. It's structured around organic memory recall, and it works by prompting you to translate phrases at gradually increasing time intervals.   👄This method locks the vocabulary & grammar naturally into your memory without explicit grammar-based instruction. As you learn more language, Pimsleur continually spirals back around to what you’ve learned before while constantly adding to it. 🕵🏽‍♂️Fun fact: the Pimsleur Method is used by the FBI. Y...

In my last post, we met the urban co-stars of Rio de Janeiro—the capybaras and monkeys living right on the edge of a massive metropolis. But for the second leg of my sustainability fellowship, we are leaving metropolitan safety behind. We are heading deep into the heart of the world's largest rainforest and river system: The Amazon . In Rio, the story was about co-existence—how animals adapt to human cities. In the Amazon, the rules completely flip. We are stepping onto their turf now. This leg of the trip expands our roadmap from SDG 15 (Life on Land) to include SDG 14 (Life Below Water) . Here are the wild neighbors I'll be tracking in the deep jungle... Co-Star #1: The Mythical River Dwellers (Pink River Dolphins) The Vibe: Like something straight out of a fantasy novel The Fact: These aren't your typical grey ocean dolphins. Known locally as botos , these are strictly freshwater dolphins that can grow up to 8 feet long. Interestingly, they are...

In my last post, we looked at the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—the research roadmap for my trip. But, you know, roadmaps are a lot more exciting when they include 150-pound rodents, swinging monkeys, and rare birds that haven't been seen in Rio for two centuries. Welcome to the (nonmetaphoric) urban jungle of Rio de Janeiro, where SDG 15 (Life on Land) isn't just a green icon on a screen—it’s right outside your window. I’d like to introduce you to a few of my co-stars that I’ll be tracking during the first leg of my fellowship: Co-Star #1: The Social Media King (The Capybara) The Vibe: Nature’s most relaxed creature The Fact: Think of a guinea pig, but make it the size of a large dog. Weighing in at up to 150 pounds, the capybara is the world's largest rodent. They have webbed feet, love to swim, and are so famously friendly that other animals literally use them as chairs. The Spot: I’ll be looking for them in Rio's lagoons, ...

If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you’ve seen my infographics breaking down the What and Where of my upcoming Fund for Teachers fellowship; and I wanted to use this space to go a bit deeper.  As a Fund for Teachers fellow, my goal is to use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as my research compass, or roadmap, as I investigate the three pillars of sustainability (social, environment, economic) in Brazil. 🧭🇧🇷 By anchoring each location to specific goals, I can bring back concrete, actionable lessons for my multilingual learners in Chicago. 🏙️ 1st Leg: Rio de Janeiro – The Urban Frontier Rio is a megacity in every sense of the word. While the city limits are dense, the Greater Rio Metropolitan Area swells to a population of 13.5 million . It’s the perfect location for exploring how a massive urban center fosters community resilience amidst rapid urbanization. The Focus: SDG 5 (Gender Equality) & SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities)...