Plenaries

Henrick Oprea has been teaching English since 1997 and he is the current president of BRAZ-TESOL. Throughout his career, he's played many roles, among which are director of studies, coordinator, lecturer, author, teacher trainer and, most importantly, teacher and learner. He used to be a blogger and wants to have the time to resume writing. He is the current high school principal at Colégio Seriös in Brasília. He's also a Google Certified Educator very much interested in the possibilities that technology brings to the classroom, but a firm believer in the fact that the relationship between teachers and learners is the foundation of any learning. Most importantly, he's just become a dad and is loving every minute of parenthood alongside his wife.

Originally from Brighton, UK, James Taylor has taught English as a foreign language to adults and teenagers in Brazil, South Korea, Belgium and Costa Rica. He now works for Cultura Inglesa and as a freelance teacher and teacher trainer in Brasília, Brazil. He's a former President and a co-founder of BELTA, the Belgian English Language Teachers Association, current 2nd vice-president of the new Braz-TESOL Business English special interest group, and an advisory board member of Braz-TESOL Brasilia. He's also a very active member of the online ELT community, and you can find him producing the TEFL Commute podcast, writing, blogging, and presenting at conferences, online and offline.

Workshops / Talks

André Hedlund - Global Education: How Sharing Made me Realize my Life’s Purpose (Talk)

From interviews with EFL/ESL teachers, training sessions, a Facebook group for teachers, a blog, and workshops, sharing took me as far as Israel last year only to show me my mission: to research global education, and multiply with my peers. In this session I will share my journey in teaching.

Biodata: BA in International Relations (PUC Goiás), EFL teacher for 12 years, currently Michigan Certificates Examiner, Partners of the Americas Goiás secretary, iEARN advocate, Cengage Learning’s academic representative, and blogger.

Antonio Moraes - Authenticity in TESOL: it's not just in the materials (Talk)

A lot of value has been put on using authentic materials in the classroom. However, it is vital that the idea of Authenticity don't be limited only to materials themselves, being expanded to the other elements that compose our lessons, so as to really be relevant to students’ real-world purposes.

Biodata: Student of Languages at UFG, having worked as a Foreign Language teacher for a little over 4 years in several courses in Goiânia. Currently at CCBEU since the beginning of 2016.

Carlos Gontow - Using Songs to Embrace Differences (Workshop)

Using songs in class is a powerful tool to encourage discussion, especially concerning the delicate subject of embracing differences. In this workshop, we’ll show some songs that can be used to work on grammar and vocabulary and get students thinking about and discussing differences.

Biodata: Carlos Gontow is an English teacher and teacher trainer. He’s the author of several books published by DISAL, StandFor and CNA. He writes the blog “Dicas Para Aprender Inglês” (http://dicasingles.wordpress.com)

David Farrow - Follow Your Nose (Talk)

This presentation will suggest that we should not only give intuition some long overdue credit but furthermore investigate how we can develop deep intuitive responses among ourselves. This has repercussions for teachers and teacher trainers alike. Teachers will have an opportunity to discuss intuitive moments in their lessons.

Biodata: David Farrow has taught English since 1993. He graduated in Philosophy and holds DTEFLA. Besides working at Cultura Inglesa, he also works as a Regional Team Leader for Cambridge English.

Hulgo Freitas - The Fight Against Intolerance : Much More To It Than Meets The Eye (Talk)

There is an elephant in the room! Discrimination is undoubtedly in the classroom and it is high time we conferred on it. This talk will provide a deep insight into how to empower our learners to become effective listeners, reflect more critically upon such issue and, therefore, become successful fighters against intolerance.

Biodata: Hulgo has been a teacher for 10 years. He teaches teenagers at CEI Flora, and both business and general English in company. He also works as a teacher trainer and speaking examiner for Cambridge English. One of his main interests in ELT is to teach preparatory courses such as TOEFL, IELTS, FCE and CAE.  

Ilá Cristina Coimbra - How Gender Affects the Classroom (Talk)

From course planning to gender biased classroom activities, gender affects many levels of the ELT classroom. The aim of this talk is to start a discussion on how we teachers can make the ELT classroom more egalitarian and inclusive.

Biodata: Ilá has been an English teacher and a teacher trainer in Sao Paulo for over 10 years. As part of her professional development, she has been regularly attending and presenting in local, national and international conferences.

Jorge Teixeira - Music and Learning (Workshop)

Research shows that music has always provided positive input in many educational environments. Why would it be different in an English class? How can you optimize such a wonderful source into productive and integrating skills? How can students incorporate apps, sites and background knowledge about songs into a classroom routine? If questioned, how can teachers justify the use of the power of music with some sound theory? In this workshop, we are going to try to answer these questions as well as put in practice some activities to involve teachers into a learning process.

Biodata: Teacher trainer, passionate user of effective use of technology in the classroom. Degree in Letras, postgrad in Materials Design (University of Southampton – UK); 25 year-teaching experience.  Jorge Teixeira has acted as a former board member at the Braz-Tesol Brasilia - Goiania Regional Chapter.  Current ELT Educational Consultant for Richmond 

Karla Piccelli - A Breakthrough Approach to Teaching 'Broken English' Adults (Workshop)

Teaching adults, especially those who use incorrect or awkwardly structured English known as broken English , can be a complex task for us teachers. In this workshop we will look at some common challenges I have faced while teaching adults and offer some ideas on how to overcome them.

Biodata: Karla Piccelli has been working as a teacher and teacher trainer for over 23 years. She has worked with a wide variety of levels, from beginners to CPE and has dealt with different types of learners in different environments from kindergartens to Universities. She holds a Masters in Education and is currently teaching at B.A. English School.

Letícia Sales - From Student to Teacher - How to Make a Transition  (Talk)

It's true that everyone who's now a skilled, experienced teacher started inexperienced, not knowing much about the practicalities of the job. However, not many can say they've received enough support in their first years of their career. At this talk, I'm going to give novice teachers (and anyone who hasn't become a teacher yet but wants to) practical advice I wish I had received in my first years in the profession, and that is going to help them to teach more competently and confidently.

Biodata: Letícia Sales, 25 years old, Carioca, 5-year documented experience as a TEFL, Cambridge certified teacher, TOEFL iBT and ECPE holder, pedagogical coordinator at Centro Britânico Taquara, certified in Project Management by Ibmec, former Root Multiplier at Achieve Languages by Oxford University Press, and nothing short of passionate for what she does.

Paulo Torres - Tips to Teach Speaking (Workshop)

This workshop provides the audience with three key features to teach speaking. The presenter explains these features and analyzes sample activities with the audience to see if they have the features. The presenter suggests how to change the ones which do not have them. The workshop ends with some reflection.

Biodata: Paulo Torres has been in ELT for over 20 years. He is the president of Cooperativa dos Professores de Línguas do ES, a teacher trainer and an academic consultant for National Geographic Learning.

Ricardo Cezar - Quizlet: More Than Just Flashcards! (Workshop)

Quizlet is an online tool and mobile app for creating flashcards. Studying vocabulary with flashcards aids memorization and recall. In this workshop, we will look at simple strategies you can use and “tweaks” you can add to Quizlet flashcards to make them more effective and usage-oriented.

* Be prepared to use your phone 4G in this hands-on workshop in case the school wi-fi is not good enough.

Biodata: Ricardo has been involved in ELT for more than 14 years. He and his wife have run their own language school, Friends Language Center, in Uruaçu-GO, since 2010.

Virgínia Borges - Teaching YL: Develop Your Teaching Skills and Help Your Students Succeed (Workshop)

Teacher quality has been consistently identified as an important factor in students’ achievement, even in the Young Learners classroom. However, schools continue to have a hard time to find qualified YL teachers who also seek CPD. This workshop shares effective tools and activities which will support you to reach your goals, when creatively applied.

Biodata: Virgínia Borges has been an English teacher for over 12 years and is currently working as a freelancer and teacher trainer. Although her passion is teaching Young Learners, she has taught different levels and ages. She holds an MBA and a Post-graduation course in ELT.