Timeline

My first contact with the English Language was at the age of eight. My godmother had just traveled to Disneyworld and she told me that when I could speak English she would give me a trip to the same place as a present. At that time, I already studied English at school (I have no memories from this time) but I wanted more and my mum enrolled me on Cultura Inglesa´s course.
The trip was the main reason to start studying English, but then I started to like the lessons… soon I was my class best student. I can remember my first lesson, the book was “Sam on Radio 321”. Sam and FM (the main characters, a man and a cat) were introducing themselves. I´ll never forget it! It is so clear on my mind… I also remember the first song I learned in English, “Heal the world” by Michael Jackson. I used to sing it everyday and everywhere, I was very proud of my achievement!
When I was on my 7th grade at school I had a terrible English teacher. Oh, he hated me and I hated him too! He wasn´t sure of what he was doing in class, he had a lot of pronunciation and grammar problems. I knew there was something wrong with our classes, things were different from the way I had learned before. I talked to him but he didn´t accept, he told me I was a child and he was the teacher, so he knew more than me… He laughed at my British accent, he couldn´t accept my points of view, and then inevitably we had ‘the argument’. Now I can imagine it was terrible for him: I had good marks, no problems with discipline and everybody liked me at school. I was his best student but we didn´t talk to each other. Next year he was fired and my problems were solved.
I did everything I could to learn more and faster the language. I read a lot of books, magazines, articles; listened to music, radio, etc. I wrote on my diary in English and when I was angry I didn´t speak Portuguese, my family couldn´t understand what I was saying.
When I was 13 I got my present and traveled to Disneyworld. I was so excited!! And it was wonderful.. That year was very important to me because I also passed on my first Cambridge Examination – PET.
On the next year I started working as a monitor at Cultura, and kept studying. I was really proud of it. I had successful results on my studies: started the FCE course and passed on the examination.
At this time I had an excellent teacher, Vitória Lima, and she motivated me a lot to keep studying and investing on the teacher career. So, I took the CEELT course, I was the only student in a class of teachers. The youngest, the less experienced. I had many problems, but Vitória helped me a lot and made me more confident of what I could do. And I wanted more.
But my dreams became definitely true on the next year – I traveled to England. They were my life’s best two months.. I remember everything, all the details. When I came back I took the CAE Exam, passed, and left Cultura because of vestibular.
I tried Medicine twice, but didn´t have success. While I was studying for my second vestibular I was invited to teach at Cultura. And that´s the beginning of my teaching history. Eight years now!
I started studying Law at university but wasn´t so excited. At the same time, my coordinator motivated me to start the Proficiency course, she was the teacher.
Well, she was the kind of person and teacher I wanted (and still want) to be: kind, intelligent, professional, elegant, everybody loved her, and I couldn´t miss the chance of being her student. So, I decided to try her course. Thank God I did it! I am sure I learned a lot about the language, but the most important lesson for me was how to be a real teacher and a better person.
Rosa Virginia was my dream and she showed me I could change my reality. She made me aware of what the important thing is: love what you do, care about it, do your best. I understood I had more to learn and improve on my job as an English teacher, so I decided to study Languages at university.
People told me I was crazy, two university courses at the same time, but I went on. I passed the vestibular and kept on my Law studies. I had to stop my Languages course for more than a year because of my graduation on Law. Now I´m trying to organize things on my Languages course, I want to graduate as soon as possible.
I don’t work as a lawyer, definitely it’s not for me, I still work at Cultura Inglesa. What I like doing, what I intend to do for the rest of my life is to teach. My dream is to be a university teacher and I am sure I will be. My intention is to start a Masters Course, and there is a chance of joining English and Law, my two careers. God knows what is the best thing for me.