BRAZ-TESOL

newsletter
Brasília 2006

Convention Center, Brasília

Teaching, Learning, Leading!

Call for Papers

september2005 in this issue
ISSN 1516-182X

Articles
• Who needs a teacher’s association?
• Public and proud of it!
• Yes, let’s be honest
• Feedback through the net: e-mail as a feedback tool for teachers
• Braving paths towards learner authonomy: make the most
of your EFL lessons
The 10th National BRAZ-TESOL Convention

TAKE THE SIT TESOL CERTIFICATE
A 130-hour course for both beginning and experienced ESOL
teachers interested in developing their abilities through the School
for International Training’s approach to reflective practice.
Intensive 1-month model: January 2006
July 2006
Extensive model: March - June 2006
For information, please contact the
World Learning—Brazil office in São Paulo.
BRAZ-TESOL NEWSLETTER, ISSN 1516-182X, is a quarterly publica-
tion of BRAZ-TESOL, the professional organization of Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other Languages in Brazil. It is distributed free
of charge to individual and institutional members of BRAZ-TESOL.
BRAZ-TESOL GENERAL COUNCIL
Executive Board
President: Vera Bradford
1st Vice-president: Bob Carrington
2nd Vice-president: João Madureira
Secretary: Betty Pow
Treasurer: Marcelo Barros
Advisory Council
Mike Delaney, Albina Escobar*, Elaine Chaves Hodgson,
Carmen Lucas*, Magali de Moraes Menti, Donald Occhiuzzo*,
Vilma Sampaio de Oliveira*, Maria Angela Fonseca Pedroso,
Nadia Sarkis*, Anna Szabo*, Maria Rita Vieira, Sara Walker*
* Past Presidents
Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing
Claudia Ranzini / Prata Design Gráfico
BRAZ-TESOL represents over 3,000 teachers of English in Brazil.
For membership information, please contact BRAZ-TESOL
Membership Committee:
Av. 9 de Julho, 3166 - Jardins - São Paulo - SP CEP 01406-900
Phone/Fax: +55 (11) 3559-8782 / E-mail: braztesol@braztesol.org.br
Web site: www.braztesol.org.br
E D I T
Dear friends,
As we approach the end of the year, it is time to start
thinking about 2006.
Well, here is a suggestion: our Newsletter brings the
CALL for PAPERS for the 10th BRAZ TESOL National
Convention, to be held in Brasilia from July 8th. to 11th.
2006. So why not get all those good ideas you have
been using in your classroom over the years and share
them with us? What about sharing some of the findings
of your researches and studies? The BRAZ TESOL
National Convention is the right Forum to present new
ideas and to recycle some tested ones, so please, come
and join us as a presenter. You will find how to do so by
reading carefully the CALL for PAPERS.
I would also like to thank everyone who sent a
contribution to this issue. We have published a few very
interesting articles and due to space limitations, other
equally interesting articles, have been scheduled for
publication in the December issue.
In our last issue, we erroneously published that the
article “Rethinking the Social Role of ESL Teachers in the
Articles
5 Who needs a teacher’s association?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elaine Hodgson
6 Public and proud of it!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elaine Hodgson
7 Yes, let’s be honest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lola Aronovitch
8 Feedback through the net: e-mail
as a feedback tool for teachers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glenda Demes da Cruz
BRAZ-TESOL 3 june 2005
newsletter
O R I A L
USA” had been translated into English when in fact; it
was originally written in English by Mariza Troncoso.
Mariza is not only a very competent teacher and teacher
trainer, but also a key contributor to the BRAZ TESOL
cause. She currently holds the position of President of
the Brasilia-Goiânia Regional Chapter.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind
everyone that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and
the General Council Elections will be held on September
30th. in São Paulo. For more information, please visit
www.braztesol.org.br.
Enjoy your reading
João Madureira
contents
14 Braving paths towards learner authonomy:
make the most of your EFL lessons
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lenora Sauchella Queiroz Haranaka
The 10th National BRAZ-TESOL Convention
12 Hi BRAZ-TESOLers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shaun Dowling
 Applications are now being accepted for the

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS AND MANAGERS BRAZ-TESOL / SIT Scholarship
• SIT TESOL Certificate Earn a Master of Arts in Teaching (ESOL)
(in São Paulo: January, March & July 2006)
at SIT in the United States.
• IDLTM – International Diploma in
Language Teaching Management
• Master of Arts in Teaching

For information about these and other SIT programs offered in the U.S.
Programs begin late June and late August
or in Brazil, contact the World Learning—Brazil office in São Paulo. For complete information, please consult:
www.worldlearning/brazil
Inquire: admissions@sit.edu
brazil@worldlearning.org

BRAZ-TESOL 4 june 2005

newsletter

WHO NEEDS A TEACHERS’
ASSOCIATION?
O
One of the main challenges we teachers have to face nowadays is
struggling against a feeling of isolation. This may sound strange or
even inappropriate given the fact that we usually work for different
institutions, have dozens of students and meet another dozen
fellow professionals everyday. However, let’s be honest, how often
do we have the chance to share ideas on teaching, research and
development and to meet teachers with similar interests? When
was the last time you discussed an intriguing issue with a
colleague or went to a conference? Do you know what
development opportunities there are for teachers of English in
your region? I bet that for a good number of teachers the answer is
either “I don’t know” or I don’t remember”. Hence, there is this
feeling of isolation, which will sooner or later lead to some level of
professional dissatisfaction.
Teachers’ Associations (TAs) certainly play an important role in
bringing fellow teachers, teacher trainers and researchers
together, and help develop ELT as a whole. However, even though
there are several TAs in Brazil, they also seem to work in isolation,
without knowing what similar associations are up to. This
situation is not a desirable one, as there is always the risk that,
instead of working in partnership, one TA could start “competing”
with another, even though their competition may not be an
intentional one.
To help avoid that and improve TAs’ work, the British Council
organized the seminar called “Strength in Numbers: Increasing the
Impact of English Language Teacher Associations”, in
Bournemouth, UK, in July last year. In the seminar, we had the
opportunity to meet and share ideas about the needs and
challenges of running a TA with participants from all corners of the
world, including Iraq, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic and China (a
report of this seminar is available in 2004-2005 ELTeCS - Info at
http://www.britishcouncil.org/eltecs-publications.htm). Even
though participants came from different countries, we seemed to
share the same concerns, among which the importance of
continued growth and, as the title of the seminar suggested, the
importance of strengthening TAs impact on teachers’ professional
life. One of the final tasks of the seminar was to develop a project
which would improve TA activities in our country. The Brazilian
team was composed by Ana Falcão (BRAZ-TESOL – PE), Magali
Menti (APIRS/BRAZ-TESOL) and myself. Together, we started
working on what we now call “The Brazilian Connection – TA
Officers at Work.
Last January, with the sponsorship of the Hornby Trust, British
Council London and Brazil, we had our first meeting during the VIII
FELT (Forum of English Language Teaching) in Recife, in which 12
representatives from different Teacher Associations in Brazil could
BRAZ-TESOL 5 september 2005
newsletter
article
by Elaine Hodgson
get to know one another and start working on common goals
which will hopefully help teachers set up and run their own
associations, improve the existing ones, and benefit from them.
The representatives are:
Adalnice Lima – APLIEPAR-PR
Betty Pow – BRAZ-TESOL-National
Mariza Riva – BRAZ-TESOL-PR
Neise Cunha – APIES-ES
Ivana Mara – BRAZ-TESOL-BA Sebastiana Araújo – APLITINS-TO
Janaína Cardoso – APLIERJ-RJ Shaun Dowling – BRAZ-TESOL-DF
Ligênia Duarte – BRAZ-TESOL-CE Tânia Godinho – APLITINS-TO
And the coordinators of the project are:
Ana Falcão – BRAZ-TESOL-PE
Elaine Hodgson – BRAZ-TESOL-CE/Advisory Council
Vera Muller – APIRS-RS
We have also had support from:
Julian Wing – British Council Rio
Gavin Dudeney – The Consultants-e
Sara Walker – Independent ELT Consultant
The Brazilian Connection has several goals:
1. To set up an online network of Brazilian TA officers;
2. To provide officers with a TA resource bank;
3. To develop a nationwide plan for TA collaboration and
expansion;
4. To offer an online course for TA officers;
5. To increase the number of studies and publications about TA work.
In order to achieve the main goals, participants were paired up
and started working on their own projects, such as establishing
online communities within the TAs, organising a handbook on how
to set up a TA, supporting newly formed TAs, and creating and
nurturing a network of people interested in starting TA work.
We have a closed Forum on the British Council ELT Online
Community (http://www.britishcouncil.org.br/elt), which enables
us to work together. There is also an open Forum called Brazilian
Connection – Open, through which you will be able to contact
teachers interested in TA activities all over Brazil and follow the
developments of the project.
Don’t miss this opportunity to help increase TAs’ work in Brazil.
After all, being committed ELT professionals, we all need a TA as a
working community, don’t we?
Elaine Hodgson is a member of the BRAZ-TESOL Advisory Council and
co-coordinates the TA Officers at work.
article
Public
and
proud
of it!
by Elaine Hodgson
believe some of you would agree with the fact that public
I school teachers are sometimes considered the “ugly
ducklings” in the ELT field. For several socio-political
reasons, ranging from low salaries and poor working
conditions to over-sized classes and lack of quality on-going
training, state school teachers are very often unmotivated, tired
and suffer from burn-out. In general, they have few opportunities
to meet other teachers of English or to attend conferences and
seminars. It is probably safe to say that lack of training and
opportunities for development lead to dissatisfaction, on the part
of both teachers and students. Even though it may be hard for us
to change public schools reality, it is possible to do something to
help public school teachers in their language and teaching
development. The question is, how can that be done?
Last year, the American Embassy sent a proposal to those
interested in working on a Public School English Teacher Training
Project, the aims of which are to help teachers improve their
language and pedagogical skills, offer a methodological refresher,
as well as provide opportunities for professional networking.
Bearing this in mind, we started working on a 200-hour course for
thirty teachers of the municipal school system. The course would
offer 120 hours of language instruction, plus 80 hours of
methodological input.
We then contacted local authorities, who, in turn, invited teachers
to join the program. This is an important feature of the initiative as it
means that all teachers involved volunteered to take the course. As
far as the methodological component is concerned, the syllabus
comprises various aspects of ELT, such as the differences (and
similarities) of several methods and approaches, the teaching of
language skills, the teaching of grammar, pronunciation and
vocabulary, among others. However, the most important aspect of
the course is teachers’ involvement in a continuum of self and
professional development, that is to say, our challenge is to keep
BRAZ-TESOL 6 september 2005
newsletter
teachers motivated to learn after the course has finished.
In order to maintain teachers’ interest, we planned a course
which would enable teachers to share experiences and knowledge
through discussions, specific tasks and hands-on activities. As none
of them have ever taken part in a seminar for teachers of English
before, at the end of the project, they will be asked to plan and
present a workshop on any topic relevant to ELT in Public Schools in
Brazil. The idea is to encourage them (and their colleagues) to join a
professional association, such as BRAZ-TESOL, which has very little
participation from the public sector, at least in Ceará.
We have been working hard in order to be able to fulfill
teachers’ expectations, and some of them are already thinking of
establishing a study group, or even a Public School Teacher SIG.
However, there are a few aspects of the course that will have to be
worked on in the near future. For example, of the 30 teachers who
started the course in February this year, only 22 are still attending
it, as some of them have to teach at the same time as our lessons.
We also need to improve communication with the Education
authorities as, apparently, not all teachers were aware that this
course was going to take place. Another aspect that needs to be
taken into consideration is the duration of the program, which
could involve longer hours and fewer months so as to enable more
teachers to join.
To put it in a nutshell, this initiative of sponsoring such a project
will certainly be fruitful and bring long-lasting, positive results. It is
also an opportunity for us to encourage teachers of the public
sector to invest in their development and education and therefore,
boost their self-esteem. As a participant of the program, I can also
assure readers that it is an extremely rewarding experience, which
I hope other teachers are willing to enjoy.
Elaine Hodgson is a member of the BRAZ-TESOL Advisory Council
and co-coordinates the Public School English Teacher
Training Project in Fortaleza, CE.

Yes,
Let’s be honest
A
A teenage student once told me his plans for the near future: “I’ll
go to the U.S., stay there three months, come back speaking great
English, and then become an English teacher.” I asked him, “Could
you teach Portuguese? Why not, if your Portuguese is wonderful?”
After reading an article published in the June BRAZ-TESOL
Newsletter, “Let’s Be Honest, Shall We?”, advocating the
superiority – yup, that’s the word the author, Marcus Murilo, uses –
of native speakers of English over nonnative teachers, this
anecdote came to my mind. If all we need to teach English, or
Math, or Physics, is a good knowledge of the subject, then maybe
(and I emphasize this maybe, since I’m sure many nonnative
teachers of English know more, say, grammar and spelling than an
uneducated American) native teachers are superior (yikes!) to us,
poor and underdeveloped nonnatives. But is knowing the subject
what teaching is all about?
I don’t want to make the same mistake as Marcus does when
idealizing native teachers, and idealize nonnatives. Nonnative
teachers have their flaws, but they also have some advantages
which the author forgets to mention. For instance, a nonnative may
understand the students better because s/he learned English
much the same way. Many native speakers of English are
monolingual. A nonnative teacher is at least bilingual, giving
him/her the benefit of going through learning a foreign language.
BRAZ-TESOL 7 september 2005
newsletter
article
by Lola Aronovich
Of course we have to strive to constantly improve our English, but
just having a domain of the language will never make anybody a
good teacher. As the academic coordinator of a small English
school in Joinville, I heard again and again students complaining of
native teachers who came to class unprepared, counting on their
only skill: their fluency. On the other hand, several students
praised nonnative teachers whose English was not that hot,
because of their teaching techniques. Granted: native teachers can
be good teachers, and nonnative teachers can be bad teachers,
but what will determine if the teacher is good is not only his or her
proficiency in English. It is, among many other things, the
professional skills this teacher has studied to make him/her not
only a good language instructor but also a good educator. Then
again, the very definition of what makes a “good” teacher is open
to debate. Maybe some of us would like to have a less
mercantilistic view of education and think that a good teacher sees
his/her students less as clients, and English less as a product, and
more as a learning opportunity for all involved.
But what do I know? I’m just an inferior nonnative teacher.
Lola Aronovich is momentarily interrupting her career as an English
teacher to take the doctorate course in English Literature at the
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.
article
FEEDBACK
through the net: e-mail as a
feedback tool for teachers.
W
riting in a second language can be a hard,
frustrating task for learners if it is not properly
oriented and monitored. Often ignored in favor
of oral and listening skills, writing is usually
seen as a very boring and non-dynamic activity
both by the students, who “have to write”, and by the teachers,
who “have to correct” their students’ written pieces.
The internet has drawn our attention to writing skills because
with the increase in technology, the need for writing has become
more and more urgent. According to Marcuschi (2002:4), the
digital technology depends totally on writing. Baron (2001) agrees
with him when she refers to writing as the main form of interaction
in computer-mediated communication (CMC).
E-mails, chats, and the electronic era have made the learners
feel the need to develop their writing skills. The teacher, as the
facilitator in the learning process, should become acquainted with
the technology that surrounds us and accept it as a fact that the
internet and digital technology have come to stay.
Besides accepting the new technology as a new
communication medium, it is necessary to work with it, and to see
the tools used for interaction nowadays as allies when it comes to
giving feedback to student’s written work.
Advice, criticism about how successful or well-written your
student’s written piece is, and an opinion about his ideas are very
important for the development of writing skills. The more
interactive the feedback is, the more successful the learning
process will be.
The ways of giving feedback in the ESL/EFL classroom and the
interaction they bring can vary (see Cruz, 2004). As technology
becomes more and more present in our students’ lives, we should
use it to interact with them. E-mail can be a very powerful
interaction tool.
BRAZ-TESOL 8 september 2005
newsletter
by Glenda Demes da Cruz
E-mail as a pedagogical activity
Born during the Cold War, because of the necessity of data
transmission to strategic points across the United States in case of
a nuclear attack (Baron, 2001; Paiva, 2001), a project entitled
ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), run by
the United Stated States Department of Defense, was the starting
point to the internet.
In the early 1970’s, two ARPANET programmers experimented
sending messages to each other, instead of just data. From a more
pragmatic than social origin (Baron, 2001), e-mail nowadays takes
a very important role in social interaction.
According to Bisenbach-Lucas & Weasenforth (2001:1), e-
mail has assumed functions “associated to spoken language as
well as formal writing”, and that makes some composition
instructors skeptical about the beneficial effects on students’
composition abilities.
How can a hybrid text, with elements of both written and
spoken language, improve students’ writing abilities? How should
we characterize e-mail? What about the tendency to informal
spoken language in producing e-mail messages?
Marcuschi (2002: 34) notes that there are influences of e-mail
on the way people write, and compares e-mail with the spoken
language for its frequency in use. E-mail is so popular and so well-
accepted nowadays that even people who do not have a computer
at home can check their e-mail at work, at school or at cyber cafes.
As spoken language changes for its dynamic use, some changes
can also be seen on the way we write e-mails, which are almost as
dynamic as speech.
Marcuschi also says that in order to adapt to the new teaching
reality, the school should recognize electronic technology as a
learning tool.
Sperling (2003), in an article published in the ESL
Magazine, admits that there are teachers who still resist the
technology, and emphasizes that internet is fun, exciting and a
powerful tool for both teacher and student learning. Sperling
mentions an intermediate writing class he “introduced” to the
internet back in 1995. The students improved their creativity,
their reading and their vocabulary.
A lot of studies on virtual genres and CMC have been
published. Online journals like Language Learning & Technology,
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, International
Journal of Human-Computer Studies, bring studies under the most
varied themes related to Language Teaching and this recent
communication medium.
All those studies are attempts to understand the electronic
medium regarding its use and form, and they can be of great
help in building this bridge to link the electronic medium and
language teaching.
I believe in e-mail as a powerful and interactive feedback tool
for the teacher when returning his students’ written works. Using
e-mail for feedback on written work can turn the writing process
into a dynamic and fun activity, as long as it is taken seriously, as
any pedagogical activity should be.
E-mail as a feedback tool
The number of e-mail users has increased significantly over the
last two decades. As the number continues to grow, e-mail
software has improved a lot to keep up with virtual technology and
its ways of interaction. “In some systems, if we choose to attach a
file to the e-mail, a third space [other than the header and the
body] becomes available” (Crystal 2001: 95).
The attachment, this third element mentioned by David
Crystal, can be a very useful space for interactive feedback with
students. The teacher should be aware that, since the internet and
BRAZ-TESOL 9 september 2005
newsletter
cyber genres in general are not standardized yet, and virtual
communication is control free, it is necessary to have great
practice with e-mail, and also, a pedagogical focus on it in order to
get student motivation for virtual written feedback.
Some points in writing should be considered in order to
succeed in giving feedback via e-mail:
a) Handwritten pieces are of extreme importance in the writing
process, for they require more attention. Misspellings are very
common in CMC. They happen regardless of educational
background, for the medium itself lacks editorial revision.
b) Feedback via e-mail is not a feedback technique, but a feedback
tool as the board, the speech, the paper, and others.
c) Feedback should be part of the writing process, not a separated
process and it should not be optional. In order to improve his
writing skills, the student needs not only correction and
evaluation, but also feedback.
d) Word-processed writing should not substitute traditional
writing, but both traditional and word-processed writing should
be used together as an option for effective and different
feedback to students’ written work.
A classroom experience
I have tested feedback via e-mail with some students and the
results were extremely motivating. One month after the semester
had started, I chose an intermediate class and proposed a
different activity.
Since the word “different” was used, I got their complete
attention. I assigned a composition under the theme that was
being discussed in the lesson. I could see from their faces that
they did not like the “surprise” I had prepared, but I hoped they
would see it differently after completion of the activity proposed.
 I suggested taking the last fifteen minutes from that class to
write the composition. I said they did not need to worry about
grades or anything, but that they should do their best to write a
coherent and cohesive composition.
After the fifteen minutes assigned for the task, I asked them to
continue their work at home. They would type the same text using
the Microsoft Word processor. While typing, they could make any
change they wanted and send it attached, via e-mail. Some
students sent their compositions on the same day (they would get
an extra participation point if they did it).
I downloaded their work and used an option given by the word
processor, named “commentaries”, situated in the “insert” window.
Fig. 1
I commented on each statement, misspelled word, paragraph,
using the written commentaries, one of the feedback techniques I
usually use with the compositions on paper (see Cruz, 2004), this
time using the computer. No pen and paper were required in this
part of the activity.
After making all the necessary commentaries, I sent an e-mail
back to each student, asking him to read his composition,
attached to that message, and write (not type) the final version of
his composition based on the feedback given (see figure 2).
Fifteen minutes from class and some student and teacher
motivation in writing were enough for very different and effective
feedback. The following class, to which they took their handwritten
pieces, was very motivating. There was a great deal of learning and
awareness of writing skills.
Fig. 2
Everybody necessite of leisure time. The
work to the life of the people
is very important, but, sometimes, the body
need relax. Work, work, work, many
times without break is tiring
BRAZ-TESOL 10 september 2005
newsletter
Conclusion
The feedback given to our students is very important for the
development of their writing competence and we, teachers, are the
facilitators in this process. The ways to correct and give feedback
are many. They vary because the learners, their intelligences, and
learning techniques also vary.
Feedback via e-mail, as mentioned above, is not a technique,
but a tool for feedback to student’s writing. Many different
techniques can be used via e-mail. The one I chose for this first
experiment was the written commentaries, in which the teacher
“talks” to the student through writing.
The results were great. It was a class time saver, for the
students took fifteen minutes of class, while a general feedback on
the board would have taken at least thirty minutes and it would
not have been as personal as the one by e-mail.
E-mail as a feedback tool is not only a class time saver, but also
a self-review, for the students have the opportunity to review their
own written work while typing it. They can also count on the help
of the word processor spell checker. They may take as much time
as they need for the review, since there is no time limit.
There are a lot of advantages in giving feedback via e-mail,
although there is something that might get in the way: it can be
time consuming for the teacher. Teachers who have a big number
of students may not be able to give feedback by e-mail each and
every time written work is assigned.
However, if your students are able to be given complete and
personal feedback at least once a semester each group, you can be
sure that they will develop their writing skills a great deal, and will
be ready to receive traditional feedback with more understanding
from that time on.
Bibliography
BARON, Naomi S. Alphabet to email: how written English evolved and
where it’s heading. New York: Routledge, 2001.
CRUZ, Glenda. Teacher Feedback on Students’ Writing: Error Hunter or
Talent Scout? ESL Magazine, Chicago, n.39, p. 18, 19, May / June 2004.
CRUZ, Glenda. O Melhor Professor do Mundo. Lingua Estrangeira
http://www.linguaestrangeira.pro.br [online] [cited 16.06.2004].
http://www.linguaestrangeira.pro.br/artigos_papers/melhor_professor.htm
CRUZ, Glenda. The Teacher as a VIP in Students’ Motivation. Unpublished work.
CRYSTAL, David. Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001.
MARCUSCHI. Gêneros textuais emergentes no contexto da tecnologia
digital. In REUNIÃO DO GEL, 50ª, 2002 USP. Grupo de Estudos
Lingüísticos do Estado de São Paulo, 2002, p. 1 – 40.
PAIVA, Vera Lúcia de O. A WWW e o ensino de inglês. Revista Brasileira
de Lingüística Aplicada, Belo Horizonte, v.1, n.1, p.93 – 115, 2001.
SPERLING, David. Dave Sperling's Guide to the Internet's Best Writing
Resources. [online] [s.d] [cited 16.05.2004].
http://www.eslmag.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
Glenda Demes da Cruz holds a Degree in Letras and a Master’s Degree in
Applied Linguistics. She is a teacher and coordinator at Fisk Aldeota and a
freelance EFL consultant.
BRAZ-TESOL 11 september 2005
newsletter

Hi BRAZ-TESOLers,
As one of the representatives of our Regional chapter here in the
Capital of Brazil, I’d like to invite you all to come to what will
probably be the most important BRAZ-TESOL National event in its
20-year history: the 10th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention.
We, the BRAZ-TESOL Brasília-Goiânia Regional Chapter along
with the National Board, are currently in the process of planning to
make this the best BRAZ-TESOL National event since its foundation.
The theme chosen is LEARNING, TEACHING, LEADING, and we are
going through these 3 processes as we put this event together.
So, BRAZ-TESOL is coming to Brasília to celebrate its 20th
Birthday, and what better way is there to celebrate this special
time by having an event hosted by its very first chapter? It will be
from 8th-11th July 2006. If you check in your calendars, you’ll see
it will be spread over a weekend this time.
What we can guarantee is an enjoyable time at the newest
convention centre in Brazil. It is situated in the heart of Brasília
and from there you can see many of the sights that make Brasília
famous and probably the hotel you are staying in, as the
convention center is only a short distance away from the hotel
sector. With a pair of comfortable shoes on, the Presidential
Palace, “Praça dos 3 Poderes”, the Cathedral and the Ministries
are all within walking distance.
We are a little less than one year away, but we realize how
important it is for everyone to prepare both financially and
professionally to come to an event like ours. In the course of the
year, we will do our best to answer your questions. Start planning
your trip to Brasília now!
For further information and offers of sponsorship/help please
write to: sddowling@uol.com.br
I’m sure you have lots of questions like how much is it going to
be, who is going to present or when the call for papers will be. All
of that you will soon find on the BRAZ-TESOL website.
Looking forward to seeing you all!
Shaun Dowling
Regional Chapter Vice-President
BRAZ-TESOL 12 september 2005
newsletter
The 10th
National
BRAZ-TESOL
Convention
Call for Papers
> Closing Date: 28 February, 2006
The 10th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention: “Teaching,
Learning, Leading” will be held in Brasília, the capital of
Brazil, from July 8th to 11th, 2006, at the Ulysses Guimarães
Convention Centre. A forum for professionals in the field of
English Language teaching, the convention promotes the
discussion of theoretical and practical issues related to the
teaching of English to speakers of other languages. It is a
unique opportunity for BRAZ-TESOL members and
international colleagues to get together, present their work
and reflect on their practices. Renowned specialists in ELT
will be giving specialized courses as well, besides leading
workshops and delivering papers and plenary talks.
The Academic Committee invites all BRAZ-TESOLERS –
teachers, teacher trainers, researchers, program
administrators and materials writers – to submit proposals
for presentations. A description of the types of presentations
that the convention will include and details about how to
submit a proposal follow.
The closing date for receipt of proposals is February 28,
2006, but we encourage you to submit your work as early as
possible. Please submit your proposal by e-mail as an
attachment, if possible, callforpapers2006@braztesol.org.br.
Do not scan a handwritten form as we need to copy and paste
your text into the database.
Receipt of proposal forms will be acknowledged by e-mail.
All proposals will be read by members of the Academic
Committee and designated readers, and notification of
acceptance will be sent by MID April, 2006. DOWNLOAD THE
PROPOSAL FORM from: www.braztesol.org.br.
The members of the Academic Committee are:
Isabela Villas Boas, Paulo Kol, and Inez Woortmann.
We look forward to receiving your proposal.
Inez Woortmann
Academic Committee Chair, 10th BRAZ-TESOL Convention
 Date: 8th-11th July 2006
Location: Ulysses Guimarães
Convention Center, Brasília, DF.

callforpapers2006@braztesol.org.br
> http://www.braztesol.org.br/

TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS
a) Talk (45 minutes)
In a Talk, the presenter puts forward ideas related to an area of ELT and discusses them. The ideas might be based on classroom experience,
research or reading. Practical applications of the ideas are usually presented to the audience, and the last 5 minutes at the end of the talk
are reserved for questions and/or comments.

b) Workshop (90 minutes)

The longer time allotted to a Workshop allows the presenter(s) to engage participants in activities that encourage them to explore the ideas
that have been put forward. A common framework for a workshop is: introduction of the topic and presentation of relevant ideas; activities
for exploration of the ideas; discussion and reflection segment led by the presenter(s).

c) Demonstration (45 minutes)

A Demonstration should be a highly practical session focusing on classroom materials and/or activities. As the name suggests, most of the
time available should be devoted to demonstrating materials or activities that have been developed and tried out by the presenter(s).
Theoretical discussion is usually kept to a minimum, but time is built in for questions and comments from the audience.

d) Panel Discussion (45 minutes)

A Panel Discussion consists of a group of 3 to 5 people, one of whom acts as the moderator or the timekeeper. During the first 30 minutes,
panelists take turns expressing their thoughts on the topic at hand. The final 15 minutes of the session usually involve audience participation.

e) Poster Presentation
A Poster Presentation consists of a visual display of any topic related to classroom experience, activities/materials design or any other area
in ELT. All posters will be displayed in the same area and presenters will have the opportunity to stand by their posters to offer explanations while
participants visit them during pre-established periods of time. However, we suggest that a written description of the experience/activity/
materials be displayed along with the poster(s) for those periods when the presenter is not available to give explanations to the public.

ON PRESENTATIONS:
The Academic Committee encourages proposals from ELT professionals who have a variety of interests and experience. The committee
especially welcomes proposals from members of BRAZ-TESOL who have never made a presentation at a major national convention.
When deciding on which proposals to accept, the committee will take into account the extent to which the description of a presentation
(i.e. the 350-word abstract) demonstrates that the presenters: 1) have a clear idea of the content of the session; and 2) have thought about
how they will conduct the presentation. In addition, the committee will take into consideration the extent to which convention participants
may benefit from attending a presentation.

ON CONVENTION FEES:
To attend the convention all participants and presenters must pay the registration fee and be members in-good-standing of BRAZ-TESOL. If
you are a BRAZ-TESOL member and intend to submit a proposal, please check your membership status. In order to check your status please
call Silvana at 0xx11 3559-8782 or access www.braztesol.org.br.

BRAZ-TESOL 13 september 2005

newsletter
article
Braving paths towards learner autonomy:
make the most of your
A Autonomy is understood by many as the ability to take charge of
one’s own learning (HOLEC, 1981). According to this definition,
the autonomous learner is the one who is able to take control of
and be responsible for his/her learning. This includes decision-
making: when, what, and how to learn as well as how, when, and
by whom to be assessed. Developing this ability is not only a
matter of personality, but also a matter of the sort of education
and upbringing one has had.
Working with autonomy in language teaching entails dealing
with a number of constraints: pre-determined syllabus, students
used to teacher-centred modes of teaching that value grades to
the detriment of their learning, homework done because of
marks, different levels of motivation, different learning styles, as
well as different degrees of autonomy. Furthermore, the
difficulties one may encounter in measuring these degrees of
autonomy must be taken into account: students may ‘feel like’
being more autonomous on a given day rather than on another
due to reasons which may not always be identifiable.
Nevertheless, it is part of a teacher’s job to expose students to
a variety of ways of becoming (more) autonomous, to help them
discover how they learn best and how they can cope with
situations which may be inevitable yet not to their liking.
What sort of autonomy can be developed in EFL classrooms?
This question can only be answered if we go beyond the
classroom settings. Learning is part of life and those who are
ready to learn in all situations will certainly always be one step
ahead. Some students have an innate capacity for learning;
some need stimulus and/or guidance to get started. Students
should be aware of what they can do for their own learning, and
how they can do it. The teacher’s main concern is how to do that.
Our responsibility towards students is so enormous that
becoming aware of this fact is of great importance. Helping
students to become autonomous learners, to develop a sense of
responsibility towards their own learning, to be able to take
advantage in all situations available in order to promote
learning, to face difficult situations intelligently and to become
fully active members of society entails hard work, and
considerable preparation and commitment from the teacher,
simply because we need to see individual students individually
and expose each one of them to a variety of possibilities,
strategies and aims, so that they can find their own way towards
autonomy. This is a starting point to help them realise that there
is much more to learning than simply getting good grades.
BRAZ-TESOL 14 september 2005
newsletter
EFL lessons!
Lenora Sauchella Queiroz Haranaka
Dickinson (1987) states that language learning and teaching
is not an end in itself, but part of the total educational process,
and as such, has to contribute to the achievement of wider
educational aims. If we assume that autonomy can be promoted
by giving individuals practice in taking decisions and accepting
responsibility for their own learning through group co-operation
to produce mutual solutions and encouraging them to exchange
ideas and opinions with others, then there will be great
opportunities for the development of autonomy in language
teaching/learning. It is also necessary for the teacher to
perceive the connection between language learning/teaching
and the development of autonomy.
In order to foster autonomy within EFL classrooms, I carried
out some activities throughout the semester both inside and
outside the classroom aimed at raising students’ awareness of
what they could do to improve their own learning. During the
semester it was possible to notice that when given the freedom
to choose what to do, or even to decide on the activities to be
set as homework, students usually chose what required the
least effort. This probably happened because they were used
neither to freedom nor to being in charge of their own learning.
Some students, however, were able to cope with freedom and
became more responsible for their own learning, and thus more
autonomous. This led me to the conclusion that fostering
learner autonomy is a demanding and a long-term project. The
ultimate decision whether to embark on this journey or not
belongs to learners only! Students must perceive the relevance
of autonomy. They must feel the need for it. If a student realises
that doing homework will genuinely help her/him to improve,
and starts doing homework not because of grades, but because
he/she wants to, then there will be room for the development of
autonomy. The more learners feel fulfilled, the more
autonomous they will want to become. Braving paths towards
learner autonomy within EFL Classrooms is an invitation for
teachers to reflect upon their roles in education. By doing so, my
hope is that we, teachers, contribute to a better world, where
learners discover and experience the willingness to become
conscious citizens and make the most of the learning
opportunities they are offered.
Lenora has been an EFL teacher for over 10 years. She works at
Cultura Inglesa Curitiba and holds the CPE, CEELT 2, and ICELT certificates.
She graduated in Languages from UTP – Paraná.

BRAZ-TESOL
Brasília-Goiânia
Regional Chapter
29th One-Day Seminar
Being, Doing, and Learning
November 4th 2005
In partnership with
Universidade Católica de Brasília
Universidade
Católica de Brasília
The Brasília-Goiânia
Regional Chapter are proud to
announce the 29th One-Day Seminar
which will be held at the
Universidade Católica de Brasília.
Please check www.braztesol.org.br
for up and coming information for
the CALL FOR PAPERS and
program for the event