The ETA experience has presented a range of rewarding experiences in the classroom here at the Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS). Beyond the mere fact of teaching in another country, the actual classes I assist are significantly different one from the other, each consisting of not only new content, but new groups of students with different reasons for learning English. Each class has allowed me the opportunity to adapt formal language lessons and methods to each group’s goals while leaving time for students to practice their English fluency informally by teaching me about subjects that interest them.
My first class of the week is an intermediate Business English course with Professor Maria Valésia. The students in this course are all part of the International Business (Comércio Internacional) major at UCS. Given this focus in their studies, many of them are seeking to learn English for their business careers. Some of them also currently work in firms with international clients, requiring them to speak English regularly. With these interests in mind, I have sought to focus our activities on topics or methods that will help them achieve relevant goals, such as seeking to find jobs in the English-speaking world or communicating with English-speaking clients.
With students’ international business-related goals in mind, I designed an activity to begin learning both of these skills, by designing a framework to write emails in English focusing on goals and audience that they could apply to any situation. Part of this entailed exploring cultural differences in email writing, given certain differences I have noticed when writing emails in Brazil, such as ending emails with abraço or beijos. Then, I gave students a hypothetical scenario that they were reaching out to a mutual contact to learn more about a job opening and asked them to write an email reaching out to this contact. My goal was to provide students with a template that they could refer to when writing any email in English as well as an opportunity to practice writing job recruiting-related emails in case one day they decide to pursue a job in the English-speaking world.
Another one of my classes, however, is completely different. It is a course designed for current English teachers that teaches presentation and writing skills in English. My co-ETA Adam and I have collaborated with Professor Maria Valésia to structure the class like a workshop where we teach different presentation types (e.g., informative, persuasive) and then have students each give a speech in the style of the week. Then, we coach the students on general presentation-giving tips, such as body language and using tone to engage the audience. Similarly, we teach the students certain basic concepts in academic paper writing (e.g., research strategies, thesis selection) and then coach students one-on-one as they write an academic paper, the final project for the class. In a sense, it is similar to the Business English course in that we are teaching a formal application of English, but for a completely different focus and objective.
While the organized activities in class have been a great experience for me (and hopefully the students), just as important have been the informal conversations I have had with students. As in some classes many of our activities are discussion-based, we get the opportunity to share opinions about many topics, from history to food and, of course, perception of similarities and differences of the US and Brazil. These moments are not only fun, but they’re a great opportunity for students to practice speaking freely and spontaneously (thus developing fluency in speech) as well as for both sides to discuss new ideas.
As an ETA (or really, as a person working in a new country), outside of the classroom is a different classroom, except there’s no one to tell you exactly what you are learning. At some point, you realize that you have learned a lot, without knowing exactly how or why. For me, being a teacher in a classroom has been a classroom in itself, and hopefully for my students as well. I am excited to keep having different experiences and learning new ways to engage my students during the rest of the year.
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