AN intrepid Belbroughton student who jetted off to Brazil to learn more about Britain’s role on the global stage is meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Beth Little, aged 18, from The Glebe, who is studying business management at Nottingham University, won a place on the Global Fellowship, which allows young people to learn what globalisation means for Britain and the rest of the world and the impact it has on emerging economies.

On Monday, November 17, Beth and her fellow travellers will attend a reception in London with the PM after a weekend of sharing their travel experiences.

Beth went on the trip of a lifetime during the summer. Her first two weeks were based on language and culture and she had Portuguese lessons each day.

She said: “At first the language was hard to pick up as it is very complicated, however once I had managed to grasp the basic concepts I seemed to get by okay.

“ In order to experience the culture what we had learned in the morning we would then go on related visit. We visited the Copacabana beach, Corcovado statue, markets, social projects within Favelas, interviewed local entrepreneurs and learned about climate change.”

The second two weeks were spent in Forteleza with a host family. Here Beth attended school where she took part in English lessons by giving assistance and carried out a research project based on entrepreneurship.

Beth said: “ I loved this section of the trip as the family showed me all aspects of Brazil.

“They took me to the beach, markets, to meet their family and generally welcomed me with open arms. My Portuguese improved dramatically and by the end of these two weeks I could actually have a basic conversation with the parents and understand what was being said.

“Brazilian children have such an enthusiasm for learning. They value it so much that my Brazilian family’s daughter would be at school from 7am and, even though she finished at 1.30pm, would stay on until 6pm in the evening doing extra curricular classes as well as then studying when she got home.”

The final two weeks were spent in Sau Paulo working with a multi-national company.

Beth was assigned with Cadbury Adams, a section of Cadbury, which is a chewing gum and confectionery company. Activities included presentations and lectures on its sales, marketing and finance.

She also went on field trips to see its warehouse, products being sold and one of its social projects. It was a football based scheme in which Cadbury’s had set up football grounds and lessons in activities such as dance, painting and maths for deprived children.

Beth said: “Overall the trip was an eye opening experience. I learned so much about myself whilst developing my own skills at the same time.

“I have visited and witnessed the extreme poverty, which touched my heart and made me realise that materialistic things really don’t matter and made me appreciate my family so much more.

“I have experienced first hand the Brazilian culture in great depth and I believe that I do now have a good understanding of how globalisation affects economies.”