Seventh Grade

Mary de Sá, Science & Team Leader
Ms. Mary Nogueira Cardoso de Sá is the seventh grade science teacher. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, but has also lived in San Francisco, California. She received her bachelor’s degree and teaching degree in biological sciences from the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and University Santa Ursula. She also has a master’s degree of education from Framingham State College. Before coming to EARJ, Ms. Sá worked with landscaping and garden projects, and as a swimming teacher.

Ms. Sá has taught at EARJ for 21 years. She has held other positions at EARJ, but all of them were connected to science. She was the STUCO and Ecology club advisor for many years. When she was young her mom always told her that when she grew up she would be a scientist. This is because she always wanted to know how things work and was always asking questions that were related to science. Ms. Sá is involved in lots of activities such as the study group of “Habits of the mind”, the leadership conference, the fourth grade drug retreat, HAM radio workshop, and Robotics.

Ms. Sá is not only interested in science; she also likes arts and sports. Her favorite sport is surfing and she knows very much about it. Ms. Sá has two impressive statements she always mentions. They are: “Chance only favors the prepared mind” and “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent”.

Written by Sophia L.
Grade 8
E-mail Ms. Sá

Suzanne Molina, English
Ms. Suzanne Molina, the middle school Writing Enrichment teacher, was born in Fortaleza, though she didn’t actually live there. She lived in the United States, where she learned English and has studied it ever since, for almost nine years. When she moved back to Brazil at the age of seventeen, she started teaching English as a second language and has been a teacher since then. Ms. Suzanne received her bachelor’s degree of Portuguese and English Language and is presently working towards becoming a specialist in English from PUC-Rio.


Ms. Suzanne was a substitute teacher EARJ for six years, and has substituted for almost every subject schoolwide. Last year she was the long term substitute for the middle school learning specialist. This is the first time she has her own class, so she is very excited and eager to work with all her students. In Writing Enrichment, students will improve their writing skills as they work on writing assignments for other classes. Ms. Suzanne has also been involved with Destination Imagination for five years, as well as in Adventure Learning during Physical Education. She is a true believer of experiential education, and she admires rock climbing. Ms. Suzanne’s Thursday activity is the Mountaineering club.


In her free time Ms. Suzanne can be found reading, listening to music, riding her bike, hanging out with her friends, watching movies, studying, or relaxing at the beach. Overall, Ms. Suzanne is very excited to work with all students, and very enthusiastic to meet all of their parents.

Written by Andrew Ma
Grade 8
E-mail Ms. Suzanne

Mariana Furloni, Social Studies
Ms. Mariana Furloni is the social studies teacher for the 7th grade. She was born in Niteroi, but has lived in Natal, Macaé, New Hampshire, New York and now here in Rio. She went to college at UFF and has a college degree in history. She is currently working on her master’s degree. Before she came to EARJ, she worked at a school called OGA MI TA and at many Museums.

This is her first year at EARJ as a teacher, but she has worked here as a substitute for one year. She chose to teach social studies because she would like to understand the present, and for that to happen she must understand the past. She also likes to learn more and more about different cultures. She would also like the students to feel the same way she feels about Social Studies. Even if the students aren’t very interested, she would just like us to have fun and understand more about our past, present and maybe, our future.

As I said in the paragraph above, she would like the students to feel or at least be interested like her in social studies. She doesn’t only want students to feel this way, she would also like parents to understand and learn with the children more about our past and our present. She also likes to know students out of class, so she does an activity to learn more about us and vice-versa. The activity she does is Clay Mation. It is a fun activity and a good opportunity to learn more about others.

Written by Maria Thereza F.
Grade 8
E-mail Ms. Mariana

Sonia Jannuzzi, Math
Ms. Sonia, 7th grade math teacher, was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. She has also lived in the US. She went to Santa Ursula University. She has college degrees in architecture, urbanism, math, and a master’s degree in education. Before coming EARJ, she worked as an architect.
Ms. Sonia has worked at EARJ for 12 years. She has been a team leader and a math teacher. “I love math, and I think it’s useful for everything you do” said Ms. Sonia, so that’s why she chose this subject area. Students are taught to see all the connections in math and real life. Other activities Ms. Sonia has participated in are Mathcounts, which is an international math coaching and competition program, and the American math competition.
Besides doing math, Ms. Sonia enjoys watching movies very much. Parents should know that practicing math is important for all students, and that “if you use it, you will remember it” said Ms. Sonia.

Written by Andrew W.
Grade 8
E-mail Ms. Sonia

Nina Guardiano, Portuguese
Ms. Nina Guardiano is the 7th grade Portuguese and Advanced Portuguese for foreigners teacher. She was born in Bauru, São Paulo. Throughout her life she has lived in São Paulo, Columbia, South Carolina, and Boston. She went to college in São Paulo and later in South Carolina. She has a master’s degree in Comparative Literature, given by the University of South Carolina. Before coming to EARJ, Ms. Nina used to teach Portuguese as a second language at the University of South Carolina.

Ms. Nina has been at EARJ for a long time. She started working here in 1988, 18 years ago. Since she came to EARJ, she has taught Portuguese in the upper school and in the middle school. Ms. Nina chose to teach Portuguese because she loves Brazilian literature, and to understand it better she had to know the language well. Parents and students should know that there will be a lot of reading and writing in her class. Students will have two big projects: to write a short story and a novel. At EARJ, Ms. Nina is also involved in the middle school social committee and her Thursday activity is to watch Brazilian films with the students.

Ms. Nina enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, reading and loves to hang out with her two sons. Ms. Nina would like parents and students to know that she loves teaching 7th grade. Something interesting about Ms. Nina is that she published a book when she was 23 years old. Her book was about Choral Speaking, based on Contemporary Brazilian Literature.

Written by Natalia B.
Grade 8
E-mail Ms. Nina