My name is Emily Mayne Oliveira, and I am writing this letter to introduce myself as your practicum student. I am currently a University of Victoria student in the Secondary PDP Program. I graduated from Thompson Rivers University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and in 2014 with a Teaching English as a Second or Other Language Certificate.

 

For the past four years I have been living and teaching in Brazil. During that time, I encountered many different learning and teaching styles, and as a result, I identified a need for a different way to learn English, aside from the traditional schools that dominated the city. Realizing that many people had a fear of learning English, I wanted to start children young, with the opportunity to learn English in a natural, fun way. Our lessons were filled with play, poems, songs, art and cooking. I felt that on my personal journey of language learning, that the more pressure I felt to produce language, the less successful I was, and therefore aimed at creating a low-pressure, home-like environment. We saw the children thrive, and acquire useful language, receiving feedback from parents about their children helping them on their vacation to Disneyland, or singing songs at home that they had learned in English class. I firmly believe that when students feel relaxed, and are having fun, that they will learn.

 

During my time in Brazil, I gained an immense amount of compassion for language learners. Living in a new place, people are constantly learning much more than just language, and often feel overwhelmed and insecure. I believe that this compassion will be a great advantage in my teaching, not only for language learners, but for Canadian students as well. I hope to not only bring compassion to your class, but also explore and develop techniques to help language learners to excel in class, too.

To see more, check out my video