I’m a materials writer, educator and researcher who specialises in English and Portuguese language teaching and learning
“Thinking […] starts, as we have seen, from doubt or uncertainty. It marks an inquiring, hunting, searching attitude, instead of one of mastery and possession.”
John Dewey (in Democracy and Education)
I have been involved in second and foreign language education, teacher development and materials writing for over thirty years. I started my career in Brazil in the late 1980s as an English teacher and materials development has been an important part of my teaching since then. The decision to have textbooks as my research focus at post-graduate level (for both my MEd and my PhD) was an obvious choice given my interest in understanding the role of pedagogic materials in language teaching and learning.
My experience in ELT (English Language Teaching) is vast: I have taught English as a foreign language for children, teenagers and adults at all levels, for different purposes and in different settings. When the opportunity arose for me to teach Portuguese as a foreign language I already had a teaching qualification in English and Portuguese, more than 10 years in ELT, and a Master’s degree in English Education. However, the prospect of teaching my native language to foreigners sounded like a rather challenging adventure to me, so I pursued an additional qualification – that time, a post-graduate diploma in the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language. Since then I have enjoyed the double pleasure of teaching both my first language (Portuguese) and the language I have chosen as a career (English).
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In addition to language teaching, I also have teaching experience in higher education in the UK, having contributed to the teaching and development of modules at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. I have also authored and co-authored several books for teachers and learners, as well as academic papers in the field of Applied Linguistics.
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Last but not least, I’m the grandmother of three (hopefully) bilingual children. It’s been fascinating to watch their language development in two languages (English and Portuguese) and this experience certainly reflects on my current interests and musings.
Education
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Work
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