20 maio 2019

by | in Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development

Exactly one year ago, I had my first go at presenting in conferences. Back then, I was just someone trying to show the results of a small-scale research I had carried out on a topic that happened to be of major importance in my teaching career, inclusive education. However excited, I had never felt completely prepared for it nor even capable of doing so on a regular basis. What actually made me confident enough to apply for it was the limitless support I had always had from my dear...

20 abr 2019

by | in Classroom Experiences, Reflections about Education

The last month of March has been significantly special for me. The month of my birth, filled with excitement I was carrying with me, conducting a special project to celebrate International Women's Day. Me and other two partners invited ten women from the ELT community and we asked other 9 (my partners included) to write articles talking about their lives. Those posts were compiled and a magazine was born. The use of this magazine to engage my students is the topic of this post. Teaching teenagers in advanced levels brings some...

20 fev 2019

by | in Classroom Management, Inclusive Teaching, Resources

Last month I mentioned some important aspects to bear in mind when a teacher or a school welcomes a visually impaired student in the classroom. Two of them are fundamental for a successful learning environment, especially for the blind: Firstly we must understand their level of impairment and then most importantly, we shall never underestimate the students' ability to learn and cope with limitations. In an attempt to answer some of the questions I received in a survey conducted last year I will focus today on the blind student...

20 jan 2019

by | in Inclusive Teaching

Brazil is a large country with a population of over two hundred million inhabitants. Within this group, six million people face some sort of visual impairment, ranging from thirty percent of visual acuity - which means that the subject needs to be at a distance 70% shorter to be able to see the desired object - to total blindness, which corresponds to the complete absence of light or form perception. Never in our country has the offer of language courses been so abundant as it is at this...

20 dez 2018

by | in Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development

Those who know me, even if they know me just a little, are aware of how passionate I am about inclusivity and students with special educational needs. However, that is not what I am here to talk about today. I want to share what I have found this year. Not even in my wildest dreams, I would have imagined a year such as 2018. The objectives I had established back at the end of 2017 were way too bold, pretentious I would say and everything I have accomplished...

20 nov 2018

by | in Classroom Experiences, Inclusive Teaching

Earlier this month I mentioned to a dear colleague that I started my teaching career as a part-time job just to make ends meet. What is also true is that it did not take me long to quit everything I was doing at the moment and dedicate myself full-time to the profession. Little did I know that seven years later, two serendipitous encounters would show me that the inclusive classroom had chosen me even before I figured that out. The first one happened in 2016 when I received a...