13th Posting
Autor: Buster Hale | Publicado: 2011-07-14T10:23:00-04:00

Wrapping up first semester. I am just a few weeks away from returning to Oxford for a few weeks. Last week (July 4 - 8) was the last week of the first semester and we were busy giving exams. (It seemed so odd to work on the 4th of July and it was chilly.) Although I did not start with these students until the middle of the semester, I am pleased with their progress although there are some areas that we will work on when I return. Native speakers often forget how easy English is for us and the use of simple verbs like can and do drive English learners crazy. Just forming a sentence with an answer can prove to be very difficult despite hours of exercises.

I decided to record the speaking portion of the final exam for my beginners' class. Of course, when I told them I would do this, they immediately complained that I would put the recordings on YouTube. Of course, I wouldn't do it, but I think it did make them try harder. I also got the director of the school to evaluate the speaking along with me. We listened to each student, discussed their speaking, and then agreed upon a score. When the students come to discuss their grade (as they often do), the director will be prepared to discuss the score. Next semester I am going to suggest that we have a three person group evaluate the speaking portions of the exams for uniformity.

Teacher training. Oxford University Publishing, whose material the school uses, hosted three days of teacher training in Campo Grande. The owners of the school and two other teachers came. The training was held in the Cultura Inglesa, which is a huge school (almost a city block) and teaches British English. I took a one-month certificate course (CELTA) in a Cultura Inglesa school in Rio several years ago and was very impressed with the school. The training was very good and we really enjoyed interacting with the other English teachers from the surrounding area. I can honestly say that our teachers spoke the best English (excluding me) and led the class in discussions. We also learned lots of new activities to use in the classroom.

From left, Oliver--Brit married to Brazilian, Alberto--Brazilian trainer from Recife, and Gil--fellow teacher and a student.
This is our group creating a song. The girls suggested using the theme from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to teach verbs. It was by far the best; the next group did not want to perform after our performance.

But the most interesting part of the trip was between the owners of the Cultura Inglesa and my school BeFirst. The owners of my school have been trying for months to get approved to give the Cambridge English proficiency tests, which some of the students here want to take. They were getting nowhere. But on Monday after the last session, I was waiting on Junior to come to take us to dinner and the owner of the Cultura Inglesa (Dona Wilma), an elegant widow who speakers beautiful British accented English, came up and asked me would I like to see her school. I agreed and she showed me through the entire school; it is by far the finest language school I have ever seen anywhere and I told her so. There are three floors of classrooms with the latest technology, a separate children's building across the street, an English garden with a little house completely furnished and a vegetable garden. When Junior and Renata arrived to pick us up, I introduced them to Dona Wilma and within about 30 minutes our school was approved. Dona Wilma even offered to give me training as a speaking examiner for the Cambridge tests next year; of course, I cannot evaluate my own students but could evaluate their students.  As they always say in Brazil, personal relationships are everything.

Dona Wilma and Alberto, the trainer.

More when I get back to Brazil in August.