Two of our very dear members, Michelle Hudson and Mirian Coelho, kindly accepted the challenge of putting into words what they experienced during the last event – which was a HIT – organized by the BRAZ-TESOL São Paulo Chapter: Back to Foundations.
Thank you, girls!
Michelle Hudson on Sérgio Pantoja’s talk:
Sérgio Pantoja opened the event with his webinar Getting Started With Teaching Exam Classes. He went over some of the most relevant aspects teachers have to take into account when designing a course which aims at preparing students to sit for exams. Having worked with exams for years, Sérgio amazed us all with his expertise. He shared some concerns we have to keep in mind while working with language and exams strategy. Among the topics he explored during his talk: understanding how the exam works and how to deal with homework. One of my favorite pieces of advice was the importance of planning time to assess learners’ production thoroughly, since it is essential to provide students with feedback that will motivate them to keep on track.
Miriam Coelho on day 1:
Back to Foundations was a total delight. A weekend filled with amazing ELT professionals, an outstanding team working behind the scenes and major sponsors, such event couldn’t have been more incredible. It is nearly mission impossible to not mention all the great speakers and topics covered, but here are my highlights.
A necessary first day of beginner steps with Sérgio Pantoja on teaching exam classes and the importance of not only knowing the test but also organizing your course. Tamires Gama also shined when she presented amazing tools and resources for teaching online. And of course, Vinnie Nobre with an overview of methods, approaches and eclecticism which left us speechless afterwards, as usual. Day 2 was marked by Claire Venables on #teacherselfcare, Cintia Rodrigues reminding us all of the importance of articulatory and auditory systems in phonetics, Ricardo Barros and his wonderful boards and how to use it for feedback and Higor Cavalcanti on teaching listening and an amazing step-by-step lesson for an awesome listening class.
All I can say is I left the zoom meeting today with sparkly eyes of excitement and the feeling of power like, as Vinnie Nobre once said: “give me a banana and I’ll teach”.
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