About

I have been teaching English for over seven years now, and I had had prior experiences teaching Portuguese, Writing skills, and Communication starting in 2008. My students have come from various walks of life, and I have taught from children as young as 4 to adults in their 80s. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and received an M.A. in Communication and Culture at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 2013. I have presented my research at conferences in Australia, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Portugal, and the United States and carried out fieldwork for my Master’s thesis in a nonprofit’s office in Los Angeles (US) in 2012. Due to my own academic career and a recurrent demand among many of my private students, I have devoted more energy to academic English, known as English for academic purposes (EAP).

Besides having worked in an English school, I have dedicated most of my career to private students and their needs. For the past seven years, I’ve helped to hone the English skills of more than 40 private learners of all levels with different purposes: traveling abroad, sitting an exam, applying for a myriad of academic positions, brushing up on speaking, or getting ready to move to another country. Regarding EAP, around 50% of my students pursued their studies with academic goals in mind. This group is comprised of three specific profiles: senior-year undergraduates aiming at going to graduate school; Master’s and doctoral students planning to spend some time in a foreign university or to present at international conferences; and professors at different career stages who need to interact in English in conferences, publish papers or books in English, or apply for a postdoctoral position. These days, my students live and work in different countries such as Brazil, Germany, Portugal, and Spain.

I am highly experienced in teaching EAP, especially for professors and researchers. My students have gone for postdoctoral studies abroad and use their knowledge to improve their research and publish and present in English. I have long experience developing and delivering conversation lessons for intermediate and advanced level students, particularly about contemporary or heated debates. I also have extensively prepared candidates for different proficiency exams, most notably for the TOEFL iBT, TOEFL ITP, and several exams required by Brazilian universities and businesses. Less often, I have worked with IETLS and Cambridge exams too. More recently, I have worked with Business English to help advance my students’ career goals, which include moving abroad or leading their teams in English-speaking corporate environments. Lastly, students with different backgrounds reach me for General English classes, which are usually focused on American English. A few learners, however, have directed their studies towards British and Australian English.

I have written a few stories about my English teaching and experience, plus some input on studying English, its challenges, and a bit of research on the language. You can read them by clicking on the buttons below.