BT Rio Chapter Podcast

This BT Rio Chapter Podcast Episode talks about PBL with a special twist. That special twist was the year 2020, which brought us COVID-19 and subsequent school lockdowns. In the necessary transition to online teaching, teachers have resorted to projects as a form of delivering content and keeping students minimally engaged. This change has not come without immense challenges, some of which will be focus of this episode. To talk about this and a little more, we have a special guest. Selma Nunes holds a BA in Portuguese/English and a post graduation in Applied Linguistics from UERJ in Rio. She has taught at companies, private schools and language schools in Rio de Janeiro for more than 20 years. She’s been a public school English language teacher since 2001. She’s also an English teacher at CEC - Barra and Colégio Zaccaria. She has experience in teaching children, teenagers and adults.

How has your experience in the classroom helped you as book author/content editor? Why should teachers try their hand in publishing/materials design? What advice would you give to starting teachers who are thinking of specializing in materials design? Our guest, Flavia Miguel, English teacher at local and state schools, content editor and materials writer, shares some of her seasoned experience about materials writing with our audience in this episode. She can be reached at fmiguel1000@gmail.com

Hugo Dart has been a teacher for over 22 years. Since 2010, he has been employed at IBEU-RJ, working with EFL, CLIL, and teacher education. At NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education), he specialized in intercultural education and in teacher training. He is the Communications Coordinator of the BRAZ-TESOL Intercultural Language Education SIG. In this episode we discuss future of the SIGS, what it was like organizing the Teachers' Month webinars and what the ILE SIG has in store for this and next year. You can listen to episodes 19 and 20 to hear what John Corbett, the president of the ILE SIG has to say about creating conversation in the classroom. You can reach the SIG at @bt.ile.sig.

In this episode, we interview Mariana Casals, an English teacher, proofreader and materials writer based in Rio. A Celta holder and frantic course taker, she has more than 15 years work experience at age 32. We chat about the work of copy editing in ELT, the changes in course design and materials, especially those that are here to stay, and where the area is heading. Mariana can be found online at @teachercasals on Instagram and Facebook.

Successfully preparing TOEFL IBT takers Sandro Dwarffy is a licensed Spanish language teacher, TOEFL Trainer, digital entrepreneur and founder of both TOEFL Success and Global English 4U. Sandro has fallen in love with foreign language teaching in the early 2000s and has been a TEFL teacher for more than 15 years. Sandro is based in Rio de Janeiro and has been mainly delivering online TOEFL preparation training and other language learning solutions as a freelance language tutor. His strengths lie in his ability to build rapport with adult learners, meet their educational needs, updated teaching expertise, CPD, strategic intelligence, focus on results and excellent interpersonal skills. Sandro Dwarffy holds the CAE, CPE, TKT Modules 1-3 certificates (Cambridge, UK) and a C2-level D.E.L.E. certificate (Instituto Cervantes, Spain In this podcast, our guest talks about these questions, in addition to his go-to resources for lesson materials 1. TOEFL iBT and TOEFL ITP - differences and similarities for exam trainers and candidates? 2. What are some of biggest concerns when preparing students for the TOEFL? 3. Do you get any impossible requests from candidates, like for example they want to take the exam in one month's time and are at pre intermediate level? 4. Do you use official materials or design your own to prepare candidates? Follow him on Instagram at @toefl4success for more. Reach us on Instagram as well at @bt_riochapter for suggestions and more tips for language teaching and professional development.

What I love about teaching is that I’m the first one to learn. English and Portuguese consultant for Altitude Career Coaching, our guest Andrea Mataruna reminds us of the joy of planning and preparing materials for our classes and the benefits they bring to our personal growth. In this episode, we talk about the connection between Professional Development, Professional Learning, Self assessment and Self Regulation and provides practical tips on how teachers can make the right choices to grow professionally while investing in their mental and emotional health. Her post on Communication skills can be found here https://altitudecareercoaching.com/communication-checkup/ She can be found online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamataruna/ https://www.facebook.com/aplusenglishpage Instagram: @aplusenglishpage

Our Advisory Board member Eduardo Mazzeu gives us his top tips for dealing with listening activities. This was part of the BT Rio Night Live event, broadcast on Instagram on March 29th, 2020.

Our guest this episode is Tamires Gama, an online English teacher with over four years of experience under her belt and owner of SIMPLIFICA. She talks a little more about her presentation in our online event held on July 4 and 5, 2020 called Overcoming Challenges in Education and gives some incredible insights on the following topics: The impact technical and pedagogical issues have on online learning; Tips and best practices for online instruction Moments in which things go wrong in online teaching.

What is prosodic training in language teaching and why is it important? Our guest and teacher trainer Aline Coutinho goes into more detail about the role of the awareness prosody plays in relaying information and conveying meaning. She also explains how sensitizing learners can improve their listening skills. In addition, the episode covers the following topics: Examples of melodic and rhythmic cues we don't usually notice; Practical activities teachers can use to promote prosodic training Ways to raise student awareness of the benefits prosodic training can bring to their listening skills Advice for teachers to develop their own knowledge of English prosody Aline can be found on Instagram at @movaaceleradora Follow us on Instagram at @bt_riochapter, send us a message or suggest new topics for our podcast!

To motivate our students, all we need are games, right? Well, our advice is you grab a cup of coffee, sit tight and listen in to our guest Bruno Albuquerque as he makes the connection (or lack thereof) between games, gamifying a lesson and motivating students in the language classroom. Our talk dealt with the following issues: The 5 CORE Elements of games The differences between games and gamification teachers should be aware of The drawbacks to the use of rewards in (language) learning contexts The strategies that can be used when students shun the use of games in the classroom The intrinsic challenges in motivating others Our guest can be reached on Instagram as @brunoalbuqrq. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at @bt_riochapter. Thanks for listening!

What makes a city multilingual, and not just a metropolis? ESOL teacher and researcher in Language Policies and Language attitudes, Dr. Isis Berger, tells us a bit about her experience living in a truly multilingual town for the last 18 years and how her professional and academic background in Rio de Janeiro prepared her for what she was to encounter in the city of Foz de Iguaçu, Brazil.

This episode continues our talk with plenary speaker John Corbett about his talk Conversational Stories in English. Here are the questions: What if the students, or the teachers, are overly concerned with how things are being said during a conversation? At what point does Speaking turn into Conversation? Why teach students how to backchannel? You showed the results of corpus searches to show more frequent word use. What are some other ways to use corpus tools to promote Conversation in the classroom? As a conversational ethnographer, what is your preferred story type? Remember, if you missed the Overcoming Challenges in Education webinars, follow us on Instagram at @btrio_chapter for more details and lots of other useful info for teachers. See you!

This is the BT Rio Chapter Podcast episode 19! I’m your host Stephan Hughes and this cast is the third in our series called Overcoming Challenges in Education - Meeting with the speakers. This is a chance to talk a little more with the teachers who presented in our chapter event on July 4 and 5 of 2020, about their presentations and about other useful tips they can share with our listeners on teaching practice and, most importantly, on teacher development. Our guest today is President of the BrazTESOL Intercultural Language Education SIG and the author, co-author and editor of numerous books, articles and chapters on language education, linguistics and literature. Let’s welcome John Corbett! We were really thrilled to have had you present at our event. What an insightful plenary on “Teaching Conversational Storytelling”. Would you say it’s still one of the pet peeves for many of us English teachers? That’s wonderful! Now, we have a lot of questions lined up based on your talk, so in that light, we thought it might be a good idea to discuss them over two recordings. Is that okay with you? If, according to Thornbury and Slade, we maintain and modify our social identities through conversation, why don't we have more of in the classroom? How can we help students benefit from small talk and recounting in the classroom? In what ways can we aid lower level students to perform the other types of story - exemplum, anecdote and narrative? How perceptible are the differences between each type of story? What kind of feedback should be given for the two umbrella types of conversation, i.e. small talk and storytelling? Well, we are definitely going to need to continue this riveting discussion in another recording. So, to all listeners, tune in for Episode 20 where we’ll continue our chat with one of the plenary speakers John Corbett. This is the BT Rio Chapter Podcast and I’m your host Stephan Hughes. Bye for now.

This is the BT Rio Chapter Podcast episode 18! I’m your host Stephan Hughes and this cast is the second of our series called Overcoming Challenges in Education - Meeting with the speakers. This is a chance to talk a little more with the teachers who presented in our chapter event on July 4 and 5 of 2020, about their presentations and about other useful tips they can share with our listeners on teaching practice and, most importantly, on teacher development. Our guest today is an English teacher, speaker, academic consultant, teacher trainer and performing artist. She develops projects in teacher education such as T4TBHZ (Teachers For Teachers Belo Horizonte) and is a BRAZ-TESOL BH Chapter Board Member. She is a CPE and a Celta holder, has a degree in English Teaching and Literature (UFMG/University of Nottingham) and a post-graduate diploma in Education. She has worked with students of all ages and proficiency levels. Let’s welcome Carol Romano! The subject of the talk is NON-VIOLENT COMMUNICATION and the ELT Classroom and dealt with FIVE key questions: Reframe, express, pay attention to, mediate, counsel, empathise. What are some other key action verbs/phrases in Non-violent communication? How can NVC help teachers adopt active methodologies in their practice? The shift to online or remote teaching has brought educators to defend that we should Maslow before Bloom. The Maslow hierarchy presents a hierarchy of human needs and Bloom defines learning in six stages. How can the four stages of NVC, Observation, Feelings, Needs and Requests, particularly the last two, help us do that? The quote from Elisama Santos, Obedience kills responsibility, is deeply powerful. What are some practical ways to promote responsibility, and not obedience in our classes, face to face or online? Your talk also looks extensively at the difference between emotions and feelings. Taking a communicative lesson with Presentation Practice and Production as a default, in what moments can awareness of this difference be helpful? If you missed the Overcoming Challenges in Education webinars, follow us on Instagram at @btrio_chapter for more details and lots of other useful info for teachers. See you!

This is the BT Rio Chapter Podcast episode 17! I’m your host Stephan Hughes and this cast is the first of our series called Overcoming Challenges in Education - Meeting with the speakers. This is a chance to talk a little more with the teachers who presented in our chapter event on July 4 and 5 2020 about their presentations and about other useful tips they can share with our listeners on teaching practice and on teacher development. Our guest today holds a degree in languages (English and Portuguese) and a post-graduation course in Portuguese as a foreign language from PUC. She has a large experience teaching young learners and private students for nearly 20 years. Teaching online since 2018, she has recently opened her own platform - Luciana Matos ELT. Let’s give it up for Luciana Matos! Welcome! The interview focused on these FOUR main questions: 1. This was your first time presenting a paper. What impact has it had on your professional development, in your opinion? 2 What were some of your biggest challenges using these online resources like Zoom, Canva and Moodle to teach online? 3. What alternative resources or tools do you go to when the ones you mentioned in your talk don't work? 4. How do you know students are learning through these resources? She can be found on Instagram - @luciana_matos_elt, and her site is lucianamatos.com.br Recorded on July 13th 2020.

One more flashback from our BT Rio Night Live event held on March 29, 2020.

This is the second of the talks from our Instagram event called BT Rio Night Live held on March 29th, 2020. Second Vice-President Gabriel Lemos walks us through some practical and simple tips that can help teachers manage the online environment of synchronous teaching.

Hello! This is the BT Rio Chapter Podcast episode 14. I'm your host, Stephan Hughes and our topic today is Making educational videos for distance or remote learning. As many teachers are still coming to terms with the changes in educational practices because social gathering restrictions, talking about the challenges and opportunities in making instructional videos is a timely topic for all of us - experienced or the not so experienced teacher. to do so, we have our special guest. Graduated teacher (UNESA) and CAE-certified, Elaine has been teaching English as a foreign language for adults during the last 17 years. She was a coordinator and teacher of renowned language schools for 15 years. Her immersion in English while living in Washington D.C., USA, guaranteed her spontaneous learning. Academic knowledge and the long term experience brought Inglês da Nany to life in 2018, her own online training platform for which she has exclusive dedication nowadays. 1. Can you tell us a bit about the name Ingles da Nany? 2. Based on your own experience, what are some good ways to experience spontaneous learning? 3. What challenges does making instructional videos present? 4. What tips can you give teachers who are newbies at making videos? Her social media accounts - @inglesdanany https://instagram.com/inglesdanany?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1vrvdso1bo1pk https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp2DFcIYh-y7YMmWb290sEQ https://www.facebook.com/Inglês-Da-Nany-657754581403013

This podcast is a recap of our highly successful live on Instagram, BT Rio Night Live, where members of the board share tips on technology, methodologies, learner disabilities, pronunciation and listening. The first of the six mini talks is on Classroom Management and Technology - enter Class Dojo!

Host Stephan Hughes talks about four areas that he believes the Covid 19 quarantine has left us as a legacy in language !. The transition from offline to online 2. The demands from students, parents, schools and communities at large 3. The support network and its importance 4. The learning curve for all involved. What other lessons has this period of social distancing and school closure taught you? Share you story with us at @bt_riochapter on Instagram.

Our guest is Rosana Reis, English teacher, teacher trainer, coach and advisor, pedagogical coordinator and supervisor, Cambridge speaking examiner. Passionate for life, family, nature and the teaching mission. Rosana talks about learning opportunities and the role of social media in professional development.

This is a rerun from Sep 4 2019, episode in which teachers Izabelle Fernandes and Murillo Veloso walked us through the basics of Implementing a Maker culture in the classroom.

Why is it important to build a relationship with your student to use active methodologies? How does social and emotional learning help the active methodologies tasks? Our guest is Carolina Coelho. She has been teaching English for 13 years. She works with children, teenagers and adults. She has post graduation courses in Applied Linguistics: English as a foreign language at UERJ and Pedagogical Neuroscience at AVM. She holds TKTs and FCE certificates. She has a certificate of Teaching Methodology by Georgia State University. She works with Active Methodologies, Social and Emotional Learning, Non-violent communication and Emotional Intelligence. She can be found online at http://www.facebook.com/teachercarolinacoelho http://www.facebook.com/projeto.wings http://www.instagram.com/teachercarolinacoelho http://www.instagram.com/projeto.wings How do teachers apply Active Methodologies in your city or region? Get in touch with us on Facebook at BrazTesol Rio Chapter and on Instagram at @bt_riochapter. That's @bt_riochapter.

In this episode we talk with school owner and academic coordinator Andre Tavares from Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro and we discuss the role of the coordinator in teacher development. Andre Tavares can be found on Facebook as Andre Tavares de Souza and on Instagram as @andretavares_oficial. Here are the questions we tackled: Q1 - What role did the coordinators you worked with as a teacher play in your professional development? Q2 - What best helps teachers to improve their practice (in-house training, lesson observation, teacher journals, academic certification, e.g. a university teaching degree or international teaching certificate)? Q3 - What opportunities for development are there in regions away from the big cities? Q4 - Is there any advice you wish someone had told you when you started teaching?

1. What points can be taken into consideration to integrate the core standards? 2. How can supervisors and coordinators establish clear learning aims for English as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools? 3. What changes do you foresee to the planning of school educational policy and content program? 4. Is is possible to talk about assessment at this point in time? 5. How will these changes impact teacher education? These five questions are the driving force for this episode as we talk with educational consultant and teacher educator Maria do Carmo Xavier and her involvement in the recent British Council-commissioned report on the state of English Language Teaching in public schools across Brazil as school administrators and coordinators, teachers, students, parents and community at large prepare for the changes poised to take place as of 2020. The report, in Portuguese, can be found at https://educacaointegral.org.br/curriculo-na-educacao-integral/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/caderno-3-caminhos-bncc-lingua-inglesa.pdf

About the speakers Sandro Dwarffy is a licensed Spanish language teacher, TOEFL Trainer, digital entrepreneur and founder of both Global English 4U and TOEFL Success. Sandro has fallen in love with foreign language teaching in the early 2000s and has been a TEFL teacher for over 15 years. Sandro is based in Rio de Janeiro and has been mainly delivering online TOEFL prep training and other language learning solutions as a freelance language tutor. His strengths lie in his ability to build rapport with adult learners, meet their educational needs, updated teaching expertise, CPD, strategic intelligence, focus on results and excellent interpersonal skills. Sandro Dwarffy holds the CAE, CPE, TKT Modules 1-3 certificates (Cambridge, UK) and a C2 level D.E.L.E. certificate (Instituto Cervantes, Spain). Rafael Costa, an English Teacher since 2011, has worked as a Coordinator at Wise Up for 4 years. He is about to graduate in "Letras". English Teacher at Seminário e Educandário Nossa Senhora do Amor Divino and Owner of "Speak Up Language Course". He is from Petrópolis - RJ and holds the ECCE / TKT Modules 1, 2, 3. About the topic 1. Do you define yourself as a teacherpreneur? 2. What made you decide to run your own show? 3. When did you get the feeling that you had made the right decision? 4. How do you find the time to invest in your professional development? 5. What other skills have you developed and courses have you taken that have helped you as a teacherpreneur?

Do you want to provide your students with a real need to use the English they learn? Have you thought of ways to spark their curiosity about other cultures and about their own culture in the process? Are you constantly seeking ways to promote teachable moments and get engaged students who are motivated to use the language, no matter their age or proficiency level? Join me as I talk with Microsoft Innovator Expert Samantha Oliveira about how she gets her young learners and teen students locked on to Skype-based activities and how she integrates Skype into her syllabus.

Chris Gameiro has been involved in teaching English and training teachers for over 15 years. She also has experience in promoting bilingual programs at regular schools. Chris holds and MA in Language Education and a CELTA. She is specialized in Childhood Education, which has been her main focus of work and studies for the past 10 years. Currently, she is based in Portugal, where she teaches primary and teenage students and is dedicated to developing her technological skills by becoming a certified Google Educator. In this podcast, she highlights the importance of teachers working with preschoolers to be extremely well prepared and at the same time ready to improvise and capitalize on teachable moments that these toddlers naturally provide through their curiosity and spontaneity.  

In this podcast, our guests are expert teachers in the Maker Movement, Izabelle Fernandes and Murilo Veloso. They go all out to answer the following pertinent questions:

Entitled, narcissistic, lazy, uncommitted, educated but unskilled. This profile of the Millennial is about to be debunked in this podcast with Teacher coordinator Leticia Sales, as she gives some valuable insight into what a Millennial Teacher is like and how coordinators and administrators can make the most of the potential the former can add to the overall learning environment.

In this episode we chat with Victor Virgínio, teacher at Cultura Inglesa Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro and contributing author at the Richmond Share Blog. Victor shares a bit about his modus operandi to produce articles based on his teaching practices and classroom ideas. He highlights how writing has instilled effective research habits, which help him perform even more successfully in the classroom.

Our first podcast interviews two experienced teachers based in Rio de Janeiro - Andrea Câmara and Elizabeth Mattei. They talk about what Professional development means to them and how they get better at what they are already good at - teaching and learning.