Rescuing Dindim the Penguin: A Heart-warming Tale from Brazil – The Free Your English Podcast Episode Three

Hello! It’s Sarah Rocha Coelho here. Welcome to episode three of the Free Your English Podcast where I help you improve your English speaking skills by discussing interesting and informative topics and then offering you opportunities to practice speaking about them. I am British native English speaker, an Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese learner and I’m also a professional educator. Over the past 23 years, I’ve helped thousands of people uplevel their speaking confidence. Today, I am going to read you an article that tells you about a really sweet story I first heard during the years I was living in Brazil. This story took place just down the road from the beautiful surf town where I lived. 

After I’ve read the article, I will ask you to speak aloud your own summary of what the story was about. If you need to, don’t hesitate to listen to this podcast a couple of times before you do that speaking task. Just don’t gloss over this task! It’s really a useful strategy to use as you are working on your own but you are practicing both listening and speaking. 

On the first listen, allow yourself to not worry about the words you are not sure of. Just focus on trying to understand the general meaning – the gist – of the article. Remember, I always provide transcripts of my podcasts on my blog. You can find the link in the show notes. Okay, get ready to listen.   

In recent years, a remarkable story has come out of Brazil about a South American penguin who defied all expectations and became quite literally a force of nature. It’s a heart-warming tale about how unbreakable bonds of intrinsic love and respect can sometimes form between humans and wild animals.

The story began in May 2011, when João Pereira de Souza, a retired bricklayer from Ilha Grande, was walking on the beach and noticed that the tide had washed up more than the usual timber, debris, seaweed, and so on. He discovered the penguin covered in oil and close to death. Joao went into action on many urgent pragmatic tasks: cleaning the oil off the penguin’s feathers, feeding him to build his strength, and so on. He named him Dindim. João‘s many compassionate actions were the blueprint for their immediate connection that helped Dindim recover.

Once the penguin was strong enough, which took only about a week, João tried to release him back to the sea. It would be natural to assume that that was the end of their story. However, it was just the beginning. Their first interactions became just the tip of the iceberg of their connection. Surprisingly, the bird refused to leave. Dindim returned to João’s backyard at Provetá beach on the same day and stayed there until February the following year, when Dindim did return to the sea. At that point, João thought for certain he would never see Dindim again, but a few months later, the penguin was back. Every year since then Dindim has returned – essentially to João.

The story gained global attention and has been shared widely as you don’t have to be an idealist to be utterly charmed by their unlikely friendship. However, as so often happens, over time, many news agencies and websites have introduced false or speculative assumptions about the story. Mr. Krajewski, a pioneering biologist with a Ph.D. in Ecology who recorded and presented the story originally for Globo TV in Brazil, spoke out against these misconceptions stating that they have been a thorn in his side for a while. The most often repeated error is that Dindim travels over 5,000 miles each year to visit Joao – an assertion the biologist says is unlikely for the migratory patterns of this type of penguin. Yes, Dindim does leave and return each year but it’s unlikely he’s traveling such distances to do so.

There is no silver bullet for correcting these false strands of this story; they seem to have taken on a life of their own. However, the truth remains that the connection between humans and animals can be unbreakable and filled with love and respect. I don’t know about you, but personally, I feel this inspiring story of resilience and loyalty sweetly reminds us of the beauty of the natural world and the potential for unexpected friendships.

Now that you’ve heard the article about Dindim’s story, it’s time to practice speaking. Take a moment to summarize what the article was about in your own words.

Don’t just think about doing this speaking task- actually do it! Remember if you want to improve your English speaking then you have to speak more English! That’s simple to say, I know but it’s oh so true!

This article we read today is from my membership called The English Speaking Society. It’s from the April material which is focused on the topic of nature. When you join The English Speaking Society, for only £7 a month you can get your hands on reading, writing, listening, and of course, speaking material that will help you uplevel your English. The link to find out more is in the show notes.  

I also just want to mention that I have a free guide that can help you discover how to find ideal online speaking partners.  You can find full details in the show notes as well.  

Be sure to subscribe to the Free Your English podcast so you can catch all the future episodes. Lastly, if you’ve found this podcast helpful, please consider leaving a 5-star review. Your feedback will help the podcast to grow and reach more learners like you who would like to improve their English speaking skills. Thank you for listening and I’ll catch you in the next episode!