21 maio 2019

by | in Reflections about Education, Teacher Development

I remember my first days as a teacher when I was afraid of every listening activity because I thought that spoken texts were too difficult for my students. But then a celestial voice told me “any listening text is possible depending on the task you assign.” That blew my mind. I also remember when I came across a more recent finding that indicated that, in many cases, students have a better performance speaking L2 if grammar clarification is supported by their L1. After both discoveries, I immediately went on...

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...

10 maio 2019

by | in Teacher Development

This month I had the opportunity to interview Professor John Hattie on the topic of Visible Learning. Although I wasn’t in front of the screen, I was responsible for most of the academic articulation behind it, and then I had to revisit some of my notes I had taken from the previous readings about this topic. This whole event has taken me down memory lane to a time, not so long ago, when the excellent Andreia Zakime (from What’s ELT?) was my mentor here at Cultura Inglesa. In...

01 maio 2019

by | in Career, Reflections about Education, Skills, Teacher Development

“You should write as often as possible” – that’s what I keep telling my students. Currently, 99% of my students are intrepid English teachers either preparing for the Cambridge English: Advanced or the Cambridge English: Proficiency, which means that their writing skills will be assessed via two writing tasks. Needless to say, it is my duty to encourage them to write as much as they can and provide detailed feedback on their writing assignments. A confession The great Morpheus said: “(...

28 abr 2019

by | in Educational Technology, Teacher Development, Technology

Have you ever considered the good side of waiting in line, being stuck in a traffic jam, waiting at the doctor's office?  Well, you might feel mad, impatient, or even cranky. But wait? Is there a way to change all these negative feelings into the opposite spectrum, like feeling energized, inspired and wanting to change the world?! A loud YES to it. It might seem crazy at first, but this is exactly what happened to me after I discovered Podcasts in my life, not only as a means for...

27 abr 2019

by | in Bilingual Education, Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development

It often strikes me when there is a very emotional talk about bilingual education here in Brazil and we tend to criticise what we have been doing here compared to what is being done elsewhere in the world. My opinion is clear: adopting an international bilingual education model "as is" here in Brazil is not scalable and also not effective. That being said, it is obvious that international schools and bilingual schools that adopt some sort of international curriculum can and are very succesful most of the times...

25 abr 2019

by | in Teacher Development

Are Good Teachers Born or Made? (https://www.richmondshare.com.br/are-good-teachers-born-or-made/) is probably one of my favourite articles by Marcela Cintra here on the RichmondShare Blog. I sometimes revisit it when looking for some inspiration. When the going gets tough, teachers turn to other teachers for support. In this enlightening article she argues, among other things, that teaching is not for anyone who is simply passionate about the language or enjoys being in the classroom. It is for those willing to go the extra mile and work hard to sharpen their skills. I...

24 abr 2019

by | in Teacher Development

We all know too well, at least we should, that teaching does not come easy. However, people, other than teachers, tend to consider what we do as something ‘doable’. In other words, they think it is just a job in which you get into a class and start doing the talk. Little do they know that such days are gone. I come from a language-centre background teaching environment. As a ‘new-to-the-system’ state school teacher, I have encountered several situations that required a lot more than teaching skills. Scary to...

06 abr 2019

by | in Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development

Have you ever heard of a continuous improvement cycle called the PDCA cycle? I am sure most of you who have already studied a little bit of business management have certainly come across this acronym before. But for those of you who haven’t studied any business theories, PDCA is an acronym that stands for Plan-Do-Check-Act. These are the four stages of this continuous improvement cycle that can be applied in business and in our personal lives as well. But what does this cycle have to do with teaching? Well,...

31 mar 2019

by | in Career, Teacher Development

Apart from my social and family life, which I totally cherish, I’ve dedicated the last thirty years of my life to professional and intellectual development. I have the highest degree that one can formally obtain – a doctorate degree. I have published blog posts, book chapters and articles. I have written two books - maybe not as many as I would have liked to but enough to make me proud, due to my busy professional life. I have presented in countless professional events, volunteered in teaching associations, etc.,...