This will our first editorial of the year and we want to use this space to (a) welcome new teachers – those teachers who will be taking the INITIAL TRAINING with us in January (b) reflect back on what 2011 was like for us, teacher trainers. Most of the CULTURA INGLESA teaching staff is now enjoying a well-deserved break: the ideal time to recharge their batteries in preparation for another school year.

The beginning of the year is also the ideal time to go back and look over the year that has just finished. It is in this spirit that we’d like to use this space to share some of the things that happened to us from the Training Department with you – new teachers:

“2011 will be remembered as the year when I delved into brain studies and learnt a little about neuroscience and education. 2011 will be remembered as the year when I resumed teaching regular students. 2011 will be remembered as the year when I grew bored of power-point presentations and started envisaging the beauty behind DOGME.”
(Guilherme B. Pacheco – Rio de Janeiro)

“I’ll remember 2011 as a year in which I faced immense challenges. I was invited by Jeremy Harmer to present a Pecha Kucha at the Brighton IATEFL Conference. It was a deliciously scary moment & thoroughly enjoyable. Alongside ELT teachers in Brazil we founded #brELTchat on Twitter to foster professional development. It was a year in which a serious back problem kept me to my bed for a month, with a subsequent 3 months of intense pain. Losing my mobility drove home the message: the less I control things, the more control I have as it allows for a better use of time, physical & mental space & for the emergence of possible alternatives, fostering greater creativity. You collaborate more, ground yourself in reality & work with the rich resources you have in the room.”
(Valéria França – Rio de Janeiro)

“2011 will be remembered as the year when I came to work for the Academic Department and had to, in a way, start from scratch. It will be remembered as the year when I had so much to learn in such a short time that I never had even a New York minute to get bored. Thank God for the small favours!”
(Paulo Machado – Rio de Janeiro)

“2011 will be remembered as the year when I started working as coordinator for the Training Division and saw myself treading over new pebbles in my professional path. 2011 will be remembered as the year when I pushed myself into investigating the implications of technology in ELT from a PD perspective. 2011 will be remembered as the year when some professional pals became friends for life.”
(Cicinato do Carmo – Rio de Janeiro)

"What I liked most about 2011 was the possibility of following up teachers previously trained by me via Branch visits, observations and seminars. It was very rewarding to swap ideas, learn from them and observe their development within a short period of time. 2011 was also the year when I faced many challenges like training new mentors,  designing  an ESP course for Educational Solutions, starting my doctoral studies on Applied Linguistics at PUCRS and, above all, providing my students with interesting and meaningful lessons."
(Cris Corsetti – Porto Alegre)

"2011 will be the remembered as the year I first helped prepare fellow teachers for the CPE. It will be remembered as the year I first helped organise a Braz-Tesol event as a Vice-President of the local chapter (the word responsible now makes more sense to me: if something goes wrong, I'm responsible!). 2011 will also be remembered as the year I delved more deeply into one of the areas I've always have difficulty with: the teaching of receptive skills."
(Hélder Caixeta - Brasília)

“This year was dominated by one word - growth. The Chinese referred to 2011 as the Year of the Rabbit – for me, it was the Year of DELTA. Tutoring the course has helped my professional growth tremendously. As we teachers know, the more we teach, the more we learn and this was particularly true of the work I have undertaken for this course. I have also seen some amazing growth in Cultura Inglesa Goiania. More students has meant more teachers and we are lucky to have a team that has met this challenge face on. From teacher workshops to the various cultural events that took place during the year, participation was great. With a new branch opening next year I am sure Goiania is well positioned for even greater growth next year.”
(David Farrow -Goiania)