Video by Florian Plaucheur.Photo credit: Daniel Ramalho
At a soccer-crazy elementary school in Brazil, students are spurring academic progress in classrooms resembling soccer fields, with virtual avatars shaped like star forward Vinicius Junior cheering on every correct answer.
They sat on soccer-patterned cushions on the artificial turf classroom floor and used an app created by the Vini Junior Institute, started by Real Madrid players to improve public education in disadvantaged areas. Learn on your tablet or smartphone.
“Using the app helps me learn. It's easy and it's like a game,” 11-year-old Ana Clara da Silva told AFP in São Goncalo, Vinicius' birthplace on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
Da Silva attends the Visconde de Sepetiva Municipal School, one of 10 of the four Brazilian states that receive educational aid from the institute.
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Approximately 4,500 students and 500 teachers have benefited from the project, which began in 2021. We plan to reach 30 schools by the end of this year.
This app is not intended to replace human teachers, but was designed as an adjunct.
Each student has a personal account that tracks their progress as they answer questions in a playful, soccer-inspired way in subjects such as math, Portuguese, and science.
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In the typical game format, each grade is represented as a “season” and each subject is represented as a “match,” with the avatar “Vinizinho Jr” celebrating each correct answer as if it were a goal.
Vini Junior Institute executive manager Victor Oliveira told AFP that “we use the power of soccer, its playful nature” to inspire children to learn. Ta.
Yuri Rodriguez, 11, said: “Everything we learn we practice on the app. We are connected to our phones but not disconnected from our studies, which helps us learn.'' ” he said.
The institute, initially funded solely by Vinicius but now joined by other sponsors, also aims to tackle the scourge of racism in a country where more than half the population is black or mixed-race. It is said that
The group has launched an anti-racism training manual and has trained about 80 teachers on the subject over the past year.
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This is an important topic for the Brazilian attacker, who himself has faced several incidents of discrimination in Spain.
“He means so much to all of us,” said 11-year-old Ana Clara.
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“I'm glad he never gave up and his voice reaches a wide audience so he can fight for us,” she said.
In October, Vinicius was awarded the Socrates Award for Philanthropy at the Ballon d'Or Annual Football Awards.
And last month, the 23-year-old was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, becoming the second Brazilian footballer to receive this honor after Pele.
