A History of Money in Brazil English Translation by the Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Students of Maria Fernandes at Faye Ross Middle School This project " A história do dinheiro no Brasil" was translated by seventh and eighth grade students in the Portuguese Immersion Program at Faye Ross Middle School. Faye Ross is part of the ABC School District and is located in Artesia, California. Its latitude is 33 degrees north and its longitude is 118 degrees west. Artesia has a large Portuguese population, most of them trace their roots to the Azores. The Portuguese Immersion Class is taught by Maria and following students worked on the translation: Elizabeth B., Carla B., Janesa B., Kevin C., Justin C., Jessica D., Steven F., Diane F., Carina H., Desiree L., Diana L., Christina L., Scott M., Derrick M., Nancy M., Rynnel M., Mario R., Dean S., Fabio S. Este trabalho, A história do dinheiro no Brasil, foi traduzido pelos alunos do sétimo e oitavo ano do programa de imersão da Escola Faye Ross. A escola Faye Ross faz parte do Distrito Escolar ABC e está situada na cidade de Artesia, na California. Artesia tem uma latitude de 33 graus norte e uma longitude de 118 graus oeste. Há um grande número de portugueses, oriundos dos Açores, na cidade de Artesia. A professora Maria e os seguintes alunos fizeram a tradução: Elizabeth B., Carla, B., Janesa B., Kevin C., Justin C., Jessica D., Steven F., Diane F., Carina H., Desiree L., Diana L., Christina L., Scott M., Derrick M., Nancy M., Rynnel M., Mario R., Dean S., Fabio S.

Original Report was done by the Students from São Paulo, Brasil Escola Estadual Alcântara Machado Teacher Maria Teresa Massumbani Students Ages 12-14

We are math teachers from the Public School System of São Paulo, Brazil who, without special funding, study and experiment with the use of technology in teaching. This report is from Escola Estadual Alcantara Machado (Alcantara Machado Middle School) where 7th and 8th graders participate in the Connecting Math to Our Lives Project. This school is located in an area called Agua Funda in the South Central zone of the city of São Paulo. Its latitude is approximately 24 degrees and its longitude is approximately 46 degrees. Our two teachers, Maria Teresa and Ivone, conducted this research project with their students on the history of money in Brazil. The year 2000 is a very important year for us, as it marks 500 years since the colonizing Portuguese took possession of our country.

 

Man and Money have always gone hand in hand.
Fundamental in any transaction, coins or bills tell a little bit about the evolution of man.

The work was done by sixth grade students of Ensino Fundamental.

Objective:
1. Learn the different coins of our country, from Imperial times through today.
2. Learn some facts about decimal numbers.
3. Create an exhibition of work in the Cultural Fair in commemoration of 500 years of Brazil¹s history.

We visited Central Bank, where all the banks of the city of Sao Paulo have an account. When we arrived, we were met by a guide who accompanied us for our entire visit. The guide showed us a video that described how the Central Bank has operated since its establishment, and the precautions the bank has taken with money. We visited an exhibit called "Money in Time" at the Central Bank. This exhibit also featured currency from other nations. We formed groups, each group worked on a particular period of the history of Brazil¹s money. We made posters with text and illustrations and each group showed their work to their classmates.

Below is a summary of each group¹s work.

Students: David, Emmanuel, Philipe, Thiago Terres did a project about bartering, the trade of goods without money, a primitive form of commerce. The Portuguese and French were interested in exporting Brazil-wood used to dye cloth. To obtain this product, colonists traded hatchets and knives for the lumber. This type of trading is called bartering.

Students: Carina, Joice, Pricila, Alinem Santana, and Michelle did a project on Money and Goods. Some goods because of their usefulness were in greater demand than others. Cattle, salt and sugar were hard to obtain in the continent, so they were in greater demand.

Students: Andre, Bruno, Raquel, and Rodrigo did a project on metals. The first metals to be used in medal form were native metals like nuggets of gold. In the Stone Age, around 6000 BC, man already knew about different kinds of metals. When primitive man was searching for stones to make weapons and tools they found metals, like gold, silver, and copper.

Students: Gabriela, Gustavo, Laryssa, Pricilla, Rafael and Thiago Tomita did a project on antique coins. Bartering between the Portuguese and the Natives began the history of money in Brazil. Following this bartering are two phases in the history of money: 1) the colonial period - in which Portuguese and Spanish currency circulated until the establishment of Casa da Moeda in 1694; 2) The second phase is after Brazil¹s independence in 1822.

Monetary Units of Brasil: Real (Colonial Period) Cruzado (1986) Reis (from 1833 to 1842) Cruzado Novo(1989) Cruzeiro (1942) Cruzeiro (1990) Cruzeiro Novo (1967) Cruzeiro Real (1993) Real (1994)

 

REAL (Época Colonial) RÉIS (De 1833 a 1842) CRUZEIRO (1942) CRUZEIRO NOVO (1967) REAL (1994)

CRUZADO (1986) CRUZADO NOVO (1989) CRUZEIRO (1990) CRUZEIRO REAL (1993)

Students: Alexandre, Antonia, Leticia, Mayara and Thalita did a study about the shape of money throughout the history of Brazil. The currencies they presented were in various shapes and sizes. One example is the "stater" that reached greatness and importance when circulated in Aradus, Fenicia, and the "dálar" which circulated in Sweden in the 18th century. Some types of bills were rectangular in shape with a horizontal direction. Others were square in shape and some even had vertical inscriptions that pictured the culture of the country that issued them. The inscriptions were usually in the official language of the country.

Students: Fernando, Fenpe, Thiago Degan did a project about the Monetary System: the combination of bills and coins used by one country, regulated by its own legislation, organized around a value that is the basis and the monetary unit. At present time, almost all countries use a monetary system with a decimal base, in which a coin represents one hundredth of the value of the base unit value. The highest values are expressed in bills and the lower values in coins. Countries control, guarantee and issue money through a central bank.

Students: Alfredo, Fabio, and Leonardo did a project about Checks: documents that order the payment of a certain quantity to their bearer or the person named on it. Checks were aimed at the movement of bank deposits, but today they have a more important role in the economy, facilitating the movement of large sums. Money in any form does not have any value in itself; its value is in the goods and services that it can buy. Money was not invented, but it emerged from a need; and its evolution reflects man¹s willingness to accommodate this monetary tool to his economic reality.

Students: Danielle, Rebecca, Aline, Panucci, and Deborah did a project on Understanding Decimals. The decimal number is made up of two parts: the whole and the fraction. The whole part is to the left of the comma, and the fraction is to the right of the comma. * Successive numbers to the right of the comma represent a fractional part ten times less than the previous number. These decimal places are called tenths, hundredths and thousandths. Therefore, one hundredth is ten times less than one tenth and one thousandth is ten times less than one hundredth. In our monetary system, we only use the to the hundredths place to make our lives easier. That way what would be one tenth of a real = 0,1 and 0,10 is called ten cents. One hundred reis is our bill of higher value.

Students: Janaina, Jessica, and Tabata did a project on the decimal numbers: the result from the division of any whole number by one multiple of ten.

Example: 15/10 = 1½5= 1,5 (1 or ten tenths + 5 hundredths) 153/100 = 153½100 = 1,53 (1 whole or 100 hundredths + 53 hundredths). In case of the inverse, the fraction of a decimal number, one only has to look to the right of the comma.
Example 0,23 has two places to the right, this means that this is in the hundredths place. Decimal numbers are found in our daily life, for example a bill of 1 real (R$1,00) was divided in 100 parts which resulted in 0,10 cents (R$ 0,10).

These are our bills now

* Translators' note: In Portuguese the comma is used instead of a period to separate the whole from the fraction