The last week of May was a busy week at the Tijuca branch. Teachers and students were involved in a lot of activities such as quizzes, short interactions among groups, talks, poster exhibitions, debates and interviews related to job market issues and career choice. The idea of the project came from the fact that the branch concentrates a large number of students aged 13 to 17 (around 740 students) and this is the period in their lives when future aspirations and desires are uncertain and far away from their realities.

We might say that the event as a whole was very successful. Students participated a lot, which showed that the tasks motivated them.However, the activities we considered the most productive and would like to share were the presentations and interviews with adult students. It was really rewarding to see professionals such as journalists and engineers, as well as trainees and university students describing their jobs and being interviewed by the teens. Some of them even prepared powerpoint presentations to be used during their talks. Thus, this proved to be very good not only for the young learners but also for the adults since they had the opportunity to develop their speaking skills. Here follows some comments:

“Last Saturday was good because we could talk about our jobs to people we don´t usually talk to and also because it made us confident once we talked about things we dominate. It was particulary hard for me. I had to answer a lot of questions and as I´m a journalist I´m used to just asking them.” (Rafaella Gil – Cultura Express 6)

“I think the event about working areas was very interesting. I loved talking about my career and talking in English was very good and different to me. I feel that I could also help people choose the correct career.” (Camila Viccari – Cultura Express 6)

And, as job descriptions were the key points of the whole week, we could not miss the opportunity to talk about the teaching job and the challenges that the twenty-first century teacher has to face. Tijuca teachers came up with some definitions of teaching in modern times, as follows:

“Teaching means inspiring, touching, causing talents to blossom, stretching a hand to the impaired. It also brings in itself the responsibility of guiding citizens to the awareness of themselves and of society as a whole.”

“Teaching means being informed about different subjects. It´s important to be a good observer, listener and speaker too. Sharing ideas and knowledge is something extremely necessary.”

“Teaching implies catering for a wide range of needs.”

“Teachers are community builders. They help increase students´ sense of belonging.”

Surprisingly though, the definitions above and the list we have found of qualities and skills a teacher needs to have nowadays do not differ much from the old times. Modern teachers still need to be positive, motivational, flexible, patient, communicative, creative, compassionate, knowledgeable, organized, individually perceptive and committed. However, the difference comes when we talk about the new generation of learners, the rapid changes in information technologies and the evolving social and environmental issues. Teachers are then expected to prepare students to be independent and autonomous learners in this changing world. Thus, searching for continuous professional development and being updated with new technologies have become crucial issues.

Finally, building strong and solid relationships has never been as important for the success of education as it is nowadays. Sharing responsibilities and strenghthening ties with learners, parents and school staff are undoubtedly key elements for this success. This topic will be discussed by the Centre-North branch managers in the ABCI Conference in July and we hope to see you all there. The Conference will certainly provide us with lots of reflections on teaching in the modern times. Some non-stop food for thought - three days in a row.