Intl Conference 2008: Teaching English to teenagers from disadvantaged sectors

Teaching English to teenagers from disadvantaged sectors

Betania Gonçalves

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 Associacion Brasil America. 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.

http://tesolchile.cl/conf2008/postconf2008c.php