OVERCOMING BARRIERS

By Angylla Karla and Lourdes Morais

We are going to develop a reflective text about our experiences. Lourdes as an English teacher with 14 classes at a public school in Bayeux, and Angylla as an English teacher to be, a trainee at Language School.

Our objective is to share with all Letters students everything that we have faced: our experiences, difficulties, fears and also pleasure because these experiences have been a challenge for us, but it has also given us satisfaction. We are motivated and want to encourage Letters students in order to help them not to give up.

BARRIERS AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL

I have 14 English classes at a public school, in total, this would be about 400 students. At school, we do not have enough resources in order to promote English language learning. This hinders the teaching-learning process.

When I started to work with Literacy practices at UFPB, I began to think about the possibility of how I could change the reality in my classrooms, and improve my classes. It is important to give students the opportunity to learn English and make them understand that the English language is present in their daily lives.

That it is very difficult; the lack of didactic resources, for instance, when the school receives some materials teachers of other subjects receive these materials except the difficulties I find are: lack of motivation to learn, most students do not like English and saye English teachers. Fortunately in 2011, the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD) will send the English and Spanish books to public schools; the rooms are not big enough to suport almost 60 students; there, we teachers do not have any time to make plans because the director says that “ the teachers cannot stop to plan because the students have to study”. The school director does not understand that if all teachers make plans it will improve the quality of the teaching-learning process.

I do not know why it happens, but I believe maybe it happens because the government and also the school thinks that to study a foreign language is not important.


BARRIERS AT A LANGUAGE SCHOOL

As a Letters student at UFPB, I have already studied many subjects such as: Psychology of Education V, English Phonetics and Phonology, Audio visual Techniques and Resources, Learning Assessment and English Teaching Practice. All of them have helped me, and made me more aware of the importance of group work, because what is most important is specially the exchange of information and experiences. Group work enhances the students´ learning process.

My mind was opened and now I am sure that I will be more aware as a teacher. Doing my internship for my English Teaching Practice class, I have realized that all these subjects have been important for my knowledge base.
So far, I have just observed the English classes, but It was possible to perceive that different situations happen in every class and I have learnt to deal with them.

I already observed classes of many different teachers, and can say certainly that there are teachers which are not worried with their students. They are just worried about money, and complain that they are underpaid and this has affected the teaching-learning process. Most students at this school still do not speak anything in English, even though they are in an intermediate level. I believe that this kind of teacher is not ready to teach yet.

On the other hand, there are also teachers that are more aware, and also worry about their students learning a foreign language, for instance English. In this case the teachers are much more dedicated than the others. It is quite noticeable the development of the students in relation to the four skills, specially speaking and writing.

In my course I learnt if we do not want our students to speak in Portuguese during the classes, we have to teach them how to do it.

I believe the objective of the teacher is not only to present the issues in English, but this work is specially to focus on the learning process of their students. Our mission is to observe, guide, help and understand that mistakes are part of the teaching-learning process. I know this thanks to the Letters course at UFPB, today my point of view changed completely.