Narrativas Coletadas por Carla Reichmann

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.