It's almost that time of the year again...

....and when I say "that time of year" I mean back to school. I realize that this is not the case for my far-north-North-American-residing friends, but it's true for me. I guess in all honesty I'm not too far off from what I was used to in Florida. Teachers in the Sunshine State prepare to go back for the week of pre-planning during the 2nd or 3rd week of August. Right? I'm going back the final week of July. School starts the first day of August. I think I'm almost ready.


The school year at my international school in Brazil is the same length as that of the schools I've gone to/worked in, it's just that the start/stop/vacation times don't coincide with those where I've studied/worked before. We may begin school earlier, but I'll have a month-long vacation around Christmas time versus the two-week period I've been accustomed to. It all works out in the end. I guess I just feel I need a bit of a longer break now because since I finished the school year in June, I've been busy packing and moving to Brazil and then once I got here I've been busy unpacking and settling in. However, these last couple of weeks running around preparing for work have helped me almost feel like I'm ready to go back to work. 


At least I'm going to start working here...

I am looking forward to this new adventure and after my teacher orientation last week I'm even more excited about teaching at an international school. Even though the majority of my students are of one nationality - Brazilian - they are very multicultural/international. There will be students from about 30 countries in the school - of various religions, ethnic groups, past experiences, etc. This of course is one thing that attracted me so much to the school. That and the bilingual aspect. I'm bubbling with excitement of being able to meet my students and get to know them well. I've always enjoyed teaching Brazilians (and students from other multicultural backgrounds).


Nervous as I may be (even if just a little bit, and aren't we all when a new school year begins?), I'm anxious and happy about what's to come, about meeting the other teachers, attending in-service  training, setting up my new classroom (which will be temporary because a new wing is being built for high school students, scheduled to open in September/October :), and preparing my lessons. I hope that everything goes smoothly and that I have a nice transition into this school. I became so exhausted and burned out from uninterested students, from parents who wanted nothing to do with the school and frankly couldn't care less about education, and from the lack of support from the government in the U.S. that I need to be here. Hence, part of the reason why I moved to Brazil, to work in a private school.


I am excited about the books I'll be teaching and about the opportunity I have to teach reading and writing to ESL students. I have new clothes for the new school year and already the staff and administration I've met have been fabulous, fun, and supportive. So I'm ready, right? Let the school year begin....

Wordless Wednesday: International Schools

As I'm moving to Brazil to teach at an international school in the country's capital, I thought I'd show a few  pictures of international schools found worldwide. I love the idea of an international (especially bilingual) education and I celebrate diversity, multiculturalism, knowledge, multilingualism, and peace.

American International School of Costa Rica

The Lycee des Pontonniers (France)

International School of Perth (Western Australia)

Singapore American School

Bilingual education is where it's at

As a multilingual individual, I am an advocate and strong believer in bilingual education. My interest peaked even more after reading an article assigned in one of my graduate classes by Claude Goldenberg that CREDE (the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence) researchers "concluded that the longer ELLs [English Language Learners] received instruction in a mix of their first language and English, the better their achievement in English[i]”.

Due to this interest in bilingualism and my obvious love for education, I was thrilled to be offered a job at a bilingual school in Brazil. Turns out that this school, located in the capital, is the country's fifth largest, accredited, international, bilingual and co-ed K-12 day school! Awesome, huh? Needless to say, I think that I will feel "in my element" at such a school, one where the instruction is in both English and Portuguese.  

In order to kind of celebrate bilingualism and bilingual education, I wanted to share a little bit of information from my research on bilingual educational programs. This exert is from a paper that I wrote two years ago.

"....Educators have studied bilingual research for years and have come to the conclusion that students who develop and learn reading skills in their L1 can transfer this knowledge to their L2 to help them become better readers in English (Goldenberg 2008). Therefore, if teachers have the ability to educate their students in their L1 at the same time they instruct them in English, ELLs will be offered primary language support as needed. Goldenberg notes that students can be taught the skills to succeed academically in a bilingual or dual language education program (2008). In fact, a group of researchers have found that of all of the models created to educate ELLs, “bilingual education is consistently superior to program models that follow English-only approaches” (Honigsfeld 2009).  In educating students in both languages, educators work on scaffolding students, teaching them in their L1 in order as to not fall behind their American peers.....
In bilingual education, the students are taught their academic subjects in both languages as a means of maintaining academic achievement in all subjects. Sanchez explains that "bilingual education has been shown by sound research to be the best means for promoting the academic success of English language learners" (2008). This is ultimately the goal of all educators, to promote academic success of all students, not only those who speak English as their first language."

The question, then, that we are left with is... 

Research tells us that yes, it does.

[1] Goldenberg, Claude, (2008). Teaching English Language Learners, American Educator, p. 11

Sanchez, H, & Sanchez, M. (2008). The politics of illegal immigration, bilingual education, and the commodity of the post-technological society. The Educational Forum, 72(4) 329-338.