Scholarship Story: Henry Hinchey ’20 

Henry Hinchey ’20 (Spanish and French)

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grant

Henry Hinchey ’20 (pictured in Italy in 2018) will be teaching English at a Brazilian federal university from February to November 2021.

Summary: The Fulbright ETA grant is offered in various countries by the program in conjunction with domestic and foreign governments, as well as educational institutions. I will be teaching English at a Brazilian federal university from February 2021 until November of that same year. I do not yet know which university, as the Brazilian school year starts in February.

I will work as a faculty member at my host institution alongside experienced language education professionals with the goal of promoting mutual understanding between my home and host countries. I am also encouraged to take part in extracurricular projects in my host community—which, in my case, would ideally include taking local dance classes and working to obtain Portuguese-English translation credentials.

The application process for an ETA position requires essays and letters of recommendations attesting to one’s dedication to language education and ability to adapt to a foreign environment, and the overall acceptance rate is about 20 percent.

I feel not only elated, but also validated as a language enthusiast. I have been passionate about foreign languages since I was about 15 years old. I had dabbled in seven before graduating high school: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese. I currently study more than a dozen foreign languages. My decision to start learning Portuguese independently during high school puzzled many of my peers at the time, but now I can finally say it has paid off. 

Anticipated highlight of the experience: This will likely be a transformative experience for me, both as a scholar and a person. This will be my largest responsibility so far as an aspiring language educator. I have worked as a tutor for years in a handful of settings, but never have I been offered a position as esteemed as a faculty member of a university. As a person, this experience will help to broaden my worldview and further validate my identity as a global citizen. 

How will your experience benefit you in the future? I see this as a crucial stepping stone on my path to a Ph.D. in applied linguistics. I aspire to enter the workforce as an educator and researcher specializing in adult second language acquisition. Additionally, I hope to attain credentials as a translator and/or interpreter in as many languages as possible.

With this experience, I hope to perfect my Portuguese language skills, gain valuable experiences as a language educator through collaborative instruction with my host institution’s faculty, and hopefully even acquire Portuguese-English translation credentials.