Nome: Cléber Vieira de Araújo
Idade: não informado
Escolaridade: não informado
Tempo de aprendizagem: não informado

Learn a foreign language is not an easy task and sometimes it is also traumatic. My incursion into English territory was no different.

My trajectory into English territory started many years ago while I was following 7th grade class at a public school. The class was full, about 50 students in it. Because of militarism ideology or another stupid reason the boys and girls were separated in different classrooms and even corridors. So it is easy to imagine a large group of boys in plenty energy confined to a small room and even worse, restricted to a small and uncomfortable desk. Despite talking a lot, receiving hard punishment for small things and having no rights we had no voice to complain or say nothing against anything. We had to accept the rules as they were. 

The first step. What a tragedy! I remember to be anxious to have English classes. Learn a foreign language was kind of a new adventure. When that strange fat and bad temper creature that we had to call teacher came in, murmured I am your English teacher, open your note books, take your dictionaries, I will write 10 sentences in English which you have to translate into Portuguese until the end of the class. After writing the sentences on the board he headed to his sit. Opened a newspaper and started reading. This was a routine the whole year. When we adventured ask something he used to reply: “you do not even know your own language, how do you intend to learn a foreign one?” Class was a messy. 

The following years were no different until I change school. Quite a shock! The level of classes was so high, I mean, not that classes were better. Teachers considered student’s role study alone memorize all vocabulary. Since I had no background, even with the better qualification of teachers, I couldn’t follow the classes, but there were always a way to get grades.

It was when I was preparing to “vestibular” when I stated to study English in a private school. That really was a good experience. Besides well prepared teachers and methodology the groups were small, students had the same English level and the material was nice.

At that time I was not interested the name of methodology, I was interested to learn and I was reaching my objective but following the classes I realized it was not just the material or methodology the most important thing, it had something else. I realized teachers make difference in learning process. Some teachers have this strange ability to make things work, make classes interesting, make every one participate, and an extraordinary eloquence capable to become even the most difficult subjects in a “piece of cake”.

Studying teaching methodologies and different approaches makes a little easy to understand what did and does go on in classes (especially in English classes). It makes me conscious about the importance of the use of appropriate methodology, the teacher’s role. Well, I know that have the knowledge does not mean one is going to use it or is capable to manage with it easily, but it is easy to understand that a professional who knows how to