Brazil (AFP) – “Good morning, girls!” Igor Fuchs exclaimed as he greeted his students at the start of English class in this southeastern Brazilian city.
But this is no ordinary crowd and the curriculum, for the most part, is focused on sex props.
Fuchs teaches English to prostitutes so they can give a warmer welcome to tens of thousands of football fans headed here for June’s Confederations Cup, as well as next year’s World Cup.
The city’s 80,000 sex workers are counting on brisk business as authorities predict 40,000 tourists will be in town next month for a total of three matches June 15-30. A whopping 140,000 are expected to follow for the 2014 World Cup.
With that in mind, the Association of Prostitutes has been offering free English classes to its members at a local mall since March.
“We teach basic expressions but also have demonstrations with erotic paraphernalia so they can learn the names, how to use them and propose them,” said Fuchs, a volunteer who also teaches Spanish and French.