How it all started:

My name is Cinara Gomes Ferreira Lopes, and this is me!!

I started learning English when I was 11 years old, and everything was new for me. I was learning English at school for the first time in the 5^th grade and also in a Language School. So, for me, every new word that I learned was a victory, I felt like I could understand every language, just like magic. I used to pretend I was speaking English with my mom, when, in fact I was making all the words up just to feel I was speaking a foreign language. Since that time I have loved English and I have never stopped studying and trying to improve.

I used to study at a Language School called New Way, but it no longer exists and its owners are now retired. I loved studying there, it was the only language school I have ever been at, and the first classes I gave in my life were also there, as a monitor. It helped me a lot when I had to choose my future career.

I have always loved songs and in the nineties the fashion was the band Roxette and I just loved their romantic songs. The first song in English that I really learned how to sing was “It must have been Love” from Roxette. It is a very romantic song from the nineties, and when I was at school my teacher presented the song to the class and made us sing in front of the whole school. I could say that it was at the same time good, funny and traumatic!

It Must Have Been Love

Lay a whisper on my pillow,
leave the winter on the ground.
I wake up lonely,
there's air of silence in the bedroom and all around.
Touch me now,
I close my eyes and dream away.

It must have been love but it's over now.
It must have been good but I lost it somehow.
It must have been love but it's over now.
From the moment we touched 'til the time had run out.

Make-believing we're together,
that I'm sheltered by your heart.
But in and outside I've turned to water like a teardrop in your palm.
And it's a hard winter's day, I dream away.

It must have been love but it's over now,
it was all that I wanted,
now I'm living without.
It must have been love but it's over now,
it's where the water flows, it's where the wind blows.

Movies have always been an excellent way for me to practice English, as far as I love movies and could pay attention and compare subtitles with audio. This song was the theme of the movie Pretty Woman, which I simply loved and watched over and over again, until I decided to buy the Dvd.

Trailler : www.movie-list.com/trailer

At school, I’ve always listened to the teacher say that translation was the best way of learning English and every word we learned, she translated to Portuguese. There were many students in the classroom, with many different levels. At the English school, the teacher used to say exactly the opposite, and asked us to try not to translate things, trying to THINK in English. Portuguese was avoided in class most of the times, and sometimes it was very difficult to understand what the teacher was saying. But, who was I supposed to believe in? My “English school teacher” or “my regular school teacher”?

Translate or not Translate

That is the question!

When I was 16 years old I started practicing capoeira, and I also started to have contact with many foreign people. My mestre at that time was Mestre Mão-Branca used to have many students and friends in the United States and England. People who were making their living in Europe with capoeira: giving classes, making presentations in theatres, stages and even in the street. Talking to these people was a great experience for me, because for the first tome I was feeling that I could communicate with native speakers, in the target language!!

Capoeira has helped me not only to improve my health, but also to improve my English!

Beto Simas or Mestre Boneco (his capoeira nickname) is very famous here in Brazil and now he lives in the United States. I remember that before moving to the United Staes, Mestre Boneco participated on the opening of the Brazilian soap opera Malhação, and after that it was a blockbuster! If we surf the net a little, we can find much information about capoeira, which is very important to show the world how rich, beautiful and strong Brazilian culture can be. Here in a link with some information about Beto Simas and about capoeira itself.

http://www.mttrust.com/capoeira/audiovisual.html

In 2002, I passed the vestibular in UFMG, and decided to keep studying English and trying to improve my performance as a teacher and as a speaker. By this time, I was already teaching at Greenwich, the school I work today. It has been one of the greatest opportunities I have ever had, and I feel I have been learning a lot, even with my mistakes. It is very important when we have more experienced people around to give you tips and help you, besides in Greenwich website http://www.greenwich.com.br, teachers and students can find nice ideas for classes, jokes in English, tongue-twisters and news.

This is Greenwich’s head office, almost my second home.