BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter Launch
What an unforgettable day! November 11th, 2017. The launch of the BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter took place on November 11th, 2017. The amphitheater was packed with joyful and engaged people eager to share and learn, to give and take. There were even some birds flying and chattering from time to time inside the amphitheater. This was their unique way of saying they wanted to flock together.
I opened the event by mentioning a TED Talk video named Empowering Yourself to Create your Best Performance by Karen Furneaux. She uses the acronym DREAM to get her message across. D means determination, R role models, E expectations, A attitude, and M momentum. After pointing out how this acronym applied to our event, I also highlighted that the launch of the BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter was a dream come true. Next, I explained what BRAZ-TESOL was all about and played a video by our president Henrick Oprea and our first vice president Higor Cavalcante welcoming the participants and inviting them to become a member of our association.
Following that, it was time for our morning line-up of brilliant speakers. Luiz Otávio Barros, Giselle da Silva, Débora Meira, Carlos Trindade, and Cristiane Cardaretti. Right after that, the Focus Groups started. The topics discussed were chosen online.
After lunch, our afternoon brilliant speakers took the stage. Natália Guerreiro, Cristiano Carvalho, Elizabeth Mattei, Joyce Fettermann, and myself. At first, I didn’t want to be a speaker. I told the other members of the board I thought we should give another person the chance to present. However, their argument was really persuasive. They told me that if the title of our event was Empowering ELT Professionals, we should have someone from Espírito Santo as one of the plenary speakers so we could empower more ELT professionals.
My plenary session was divided into two parts. The first one was more academic and it was about tips to help students succeed in speaking activities. The second part wasn’t academic at all. It was emotional. The title of the second part of my plenary session was Empowering ELT Professionals. I really wanted all the participants to feel more touched, motivated to keep on being amazing professionals, and empowered. Empowered by BRAZ-TESOL, BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter, the speakers, the Facebook communities, the sponsors and partners, the participants, but most importantly, by themselves. I also sang a parody of New York, New York written by me. After singing it, I played the song again and invited everyone to sing along. It was a magic moment, another one of them. Below you will find some stanzas.
Our vice president Claire Venables closed the event by summing it up and inviting the participants to think about how they could spread everything they had learned so that memorable day wouldn’t be unforgettable only for us.
Finally, it was raffle time. All the participants were amazed at the huge number of prizes. Every single participant got a prize and some of them got two!
It was undoubtedly an unforgettable day. Hope you can join us next time and be part of this dream come true!
Become a member of BRAZ-TESOL and live remarkable moments like the ones we lived on November 11th, 2017. The more we are, the stronger we become.
Paulo Torres, proud president of the BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter
Paulo Torres
Paulo Torres has been in ELT for over 20 years. He is currently working on the implementation of the Educate Bilingual Program as a bilingual academic coach in several regions of Brazil. He is a certified leader coach by Sociedade Latino Americana de Coaching (SLAC). He is also the president of the BRAZ-TESOL Espírito Santo Chapter and Cooperativa dos Professores de Línguas do Espírito Santo (COOPERLING).
