I spent the whole second week of my trip to Brazil in the beautiful city of Salvador in the state of Bahia. The teachers on the OTA course were just fantastic. It was exceptionally rewarding to be able to work with them, and it has been great to see how enthusiastic they are about sharing thoughts and staying in touch with one another online after the end of the course.  Setting up a closed, private group on Facebook is a fantastic way to extend the community of participating teachers beyond the training room. It’s also lots of fun 🙂
Oxford Teachers’ Academy, Salvador
While in Salvador I also had time to give a plenary talk and do a workshop at the 51st ACBEU TEFL Seminar.
During my time in Brazil it has been very interesting for me to compare the challenges faced by Brazilian teachers trying to motivate their students with those faced by teachers in other parts of the world. Customs, culture and conditions change from continent to continent and from country to country, but some things remain constant. As one of the teachers here said recently, ‘It doesn’t matter what accent you have, as long as you talk from the heart.’
Goodbye Brazil! I hope to come back again one day…
“It doesn’t matter what accent you have, as long as you talk from the heart.” And it doesn’t matter how shy or not confident you are,you have to write this feeling on a piece of paper than you have to throw it away and to face everything that’s what I learned )
I won’t forget those days, in my mind
I know they will still live on and on…
I hope to be able to thank and reciprocate one day…
Thanks a lot.
Dear Mr. Dudley,
I was present to both your plenary and your workshop here in Salvador. I have to say that they were really inspiring and they came at a time when I was anxiously looking for something fresh and sound to work with my teen students. But, as they were very active events, my notetaking skills were not so helpful. So, I would like to know if it would be possible for you to share your powerpoint presentations. My e-mail is cespinosa@acbeubahia.org.br.
Thanks for everything.
Hi – thanks for your comment. I’ve sent you an email.
Ed