Escolas FISK - 1970

The 

'Immediate Converstion in English' double-album made by Chantecler in the 1960s. 

Fisk News 20 November 1970.

Festa de criação da Grande Fisk Centro - Depois de longos anos, as Escolas Fisk conseguem concretizar um velho sonho! Ampliar a Francisca Miquelina. A escola da Chica Mica, 118, é a primeira Fisk, o berço de toda a organização. Cômoda por sua construção e localização, em pleno centro, a falta de espaço impedia a sua ampliação, obrigando as EF a manter, para poder atender todos os seu alunos, outros locais no miolo da cidade. Agora, conseguimos pegar (meio na marra), um conjunto idêntico no mesmo prédio, ocupando-o todo. Podemos agora, concentrar todo o nosso esforço num só lugar, dando aos nossos alunos todo o conforto que eles merecem. 

Criamos a Grande Fisk Centro, que será formada pela fusão da antiga 'Chica Mica' e da XV de Novembro. Isso proporcionará maior movimento escolar, além de contínua atividade social ('Saturday Club', biblioteca, discoteca etc.) Assim, no dia 5 Dezembro 1970, haverá um dia inteiro de festividades, recepcionando os alunos que vem da XV. As 15:00 horas haverá conferência proferida por Mr. Leonard Fisk, irmão de Mr. Fisk, que virá dos USA para prestigiar as solenidades. Todos os alunos e amigos são convidados (não haverá convites individuais).

a newsletter with a lot of information. 

9 January 1955 - Long before Escolas Fisk was established there was Yázigi which was big enough by 1955, to advertise its recorded course on 'O Estado de S.Paulo'. 

Mr Richard Fisk playing the proverbial teacher on TV.

Escola Fisk at Praça Getúlio Vargas, 47, 2o. andar  in Guarulhos in 1968. 

an Escolas Fisk ad at local Guarulhos newspaper. 

I was in Newark, N.J., USA, the first time I ever heard about 'Escolas Fisk'. I was part of a working force made up of Brazilians, South and Central Americans, Portuguese migrants and African Americans who worked at a vynil record factory on Francis Street. By January 1972, I met a Brazilian fellow called Damazio Nazareth who had a knowledge of English superior to most of Brazilians I had met so far. As we became friends, he told me he had learned English at Fisk, at Praça Getúlio Vargas, 47, 2nd floor, downtown Guarulhos-SP. 

In late 1973, back in São Paulo, Brazil, after taking a Teachers' Training Course provided by Fisk at their original school on Rua Francisca Miquelina, I somehow was sent to that same school Damazio had told me about some18 months before in the USA. Isn't it indeed a small world? I was sent there to attend some classes given by a particular Brazilian teacher with a small moustache and dark skin. Unfortunately, I can't recall his name, but I was positively impressed by him as a teacher and as a speaker of English as a Foreigh Language. He seemed quite proficient by me. A few months later I had the chance to see him at Fisk's Main Office on Rua Lins de Vasconcellos, and I noticed he was revered by many a-teacher. 

Mind you, Damazio was not to be seen around this time (late 1973) for he was still living in the USA. 

Much later, in 1977, after I returned from my second stint in the USA, this time having worked at the Nevele Country Club in the Catskill Mountains, NY. I managed to finally meet up with Damazio at his parent's house in Guarulhos. We hadn't seen each other since early 1973, when I returned to Brazil from my first trip. Damazio and I liked to reminisce of the times we had spent in the USA, 1971, 1972 & 1973. Every time we saw each other we sang all those Neil Young, Chicago e other hits from that era. 

Damazio said he had a friend called Claudio who was a musician too and loved to sing in English. We ended up meeting up one day and I was really pleased to know a very good-looking young man who really enjoyed working with music and with the English language. He had never been abroad but he knew a lot of English. We sang a few songs together and he lent me some lyrics he had written on paper which I never gave back to him. A few years later, Damazio told me Claudio had an incurable disease something related to multiple sclerosis and was really sick. Not much later Claudio died. I was really sad to know such a beautiful creature had died.  Here are 3 lyrics with Claudio's handwriting that I still cherish. 

words of 'Dream weaver' written & sung by Gary Wright, which reached # 2 at Billboard on 27 March 1976. 

'Rain and tears' by Greek band Aphrodite's Child, released in July 1968, made it to # 1 in the Netherlands.

'Sweet painted lady' by Elton John & Bernie Taupin, a track from the 1973 album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' that played on the radio quite often. 

I'm back on dry land once again

opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain

we're all hunting honey with money to burn

just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned

If the boys all behave themselves here

well, there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear

you won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight

oh, the prices I charge here will see you alright

So, she lays down beside me again

my sweet painted lady, the one with no name

many have used her and many still do

there's a place in the world for a woman like you

Oh, sweet painted lady

seems it's always been the same

getting paid for being laid

guess that's the name of the game

Oh, sweet painted lady

seems it's always been the same

getting paid for being laid

guess that's the name of the game, oh

Forget us we'll have gone very soon

just forget we ever slept in your rooms

and we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds

where love's just a job and nothing is said

So she lays down beside me again

my sweet painted lady, the one with no name

many have used her and many still do

there's a place in the world for a woman like you

Oh, sweet painted lady

seems it's always been the same

getting paid for being laid

guess that's the name of the game

Oh, sweet painted lady

seems it's always been the same

getting paid for being laid

guess that's the name of the game, oh!