ELT in Brazil

It’s been ages since we last talked, hasn’t it? I believe my last post in this blog was in February? March? I guess I told you that I’ve recently made a comeback to the classroom and I suddenly have found myself in an incredibly intense routine of teaching and writing materials that I haven’t had the time to write and reflect on my practice ever since. The feeling of being in a rut has seeped through and so I decided to find the time – and brake away (Kelly Clarkson?) from the routine to come and type a bit on this white google docs page.

How easy it is to get stuck in a routine, isn’t it? A simple job change and the dealings with new coordinators, supervisors, new students, new teaching methodology, and especially a new schedule can quickly set you up in a vicious cycle of work + sleep + work + sleep if you’re not careful enough. Content with the same old shtick again? This repetition has obvious side effects and has certainly taken a toll on my mental health. I have found out that, at times, what puts an extra strain on teachers’ lives is not really the teaching – teaching is usually great; usually, mind you. I know there are times we’re not at our prime and not really willing to look past that student’s disrespectful comment or eye roll.

At times, the strain comes from the bureaucracy involved in the work. It’s not the lesson planning, it’s not the teaching, it’s not the students, but everything not directly connected to teaching that might eat away precious hours and stress even the monkliest of us. Teaching is a profession in which you work before you go to work, then you work, and then work on your work when you get home from work. No wonder teachers are ranking horribly in the burnout wall of shame. However, I digress, I don’t think it would be wise to expand on the topic at this point in time. I feel, though, that perhaps teachers’ conferences, courses, and publications could perhaps address this teacher-bureaucracy relationship and how we can work (again) to diminish and mitigate its impact on our mental health and social life. Not sure there’s a recipe for that but I’d love it if anyone would give it a try.

On the other hand, I believe I managed to squeeze in a couple of accomplishments here and there this semester. I got my DELTA M2 certificate, even though I took the course last year, having received the certificate feels great. Together with the MAW SIG, BRAZ-TESOL São Paulo City Chapter organized a beautiful event for teachers on May 6th. We had amazing talks by our teaching community and wonderful plenary speakers. We also had the unwavering support of national and local sponsors who made the event possible – and provided a bunch of freebies to participants. I also managed to go on Friday to BETT Educar and met a couple of friends I haven’t seen in months. Oh, and I have also written an article now featured in BRAZ-TESOL’s magazine about finding our place in the cosmos. Now that I think of it, I feel I might be writing this blog post to myself? Well, every text needs a conclusion, doesn’t it? To wrap up, I think it is a good idea to celebrate accomplishments and good fortune whenever they decide to visit. At the end of the day, it is important to remember that while there is hard work, there are also fruits from this work, family, and friends.

Oh, and alas. The semester is not over yet.