| Teaching
English to teenagers from disadvantaged sectors
Betania Gonçalves
betania@abaweb.org
Associação Brasil América
www.abaweb.org
Betania Gonçalves holds
a degree in Performing Arts Education and is currently
studying pedagogy. She has been teaching English for
10 years at Associação Brasil
América. In 1998 she founded Em Cena Arte
e Cidadania (a non profit whose programs are aimed for
kids from disadvantaged communities in Recife).
Presentation Abstract
Which is the one language for international
communication? No doubt, the answer to that question
will be English. English has become the language of
the globalized world: business, education, leisure,
and sports - in all fields of life it is there. Unfortunately
having access to learning the necessary skills to use
English effectively is not that easy for many people
around the world. This is a reality for Brazil, even
after English was included in the national curriculum.
Brazil faces many difficulties for offering good English
classes in secondary schools, such as: lack of qualified
teachers or no teachers at all, and the length of the
program for the schools, which are too long for the
number of class hours assigned to English. Therefore
even when the school is lucky enough to have a qualified
English teacher this person feels as not being able
to teach English, and ends up teaching “about
English”. This presentation is about teaching
English to teenagers from disadvantaged sectors who
either are having their first formal contact with English
or have had few years of English instruction (false
beginners). I will share with other teachers my experience
with those kids: the challenges, ways of motivating
them and helping them to overcome their difficulties
for studying and practicing English in their homes,
how to deal with their expectations and what I have
learned from them. Twice in my life (from 2002 to 2005
and now, in 2008) I have been in the position of coordinating
English programs for teenagers from disadvantaged sectors.
In both programs I have learned a lot from those kids.
Although some of them did not succeded in the program,
the majority used the new skills to compete for working
positions and scholarships in more advanced English
classes. This was my inspiration.
Teaching
English to teenagers from disadvantaged sectors
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df2sx395_194dd4cb6dt
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