Soon enough the National Education Council in Brazil is starting to question, evaluate, understand and explore the bilingual education in Brazil.
You can access the documents regarding the procedures on
http://portal.mec.gov.br/conselho-nacional-de-educacao/audiencias-e-consultas-publicas
Portal do Ministério da Educação, MEC
The due date for suggestions is June 07th, 2020 8:00 p.m.
The contributions can be sent to
dcn.bilingues.cne@mec.gov.br
Why is this important?
Well, for starters, anybody and everybody can be an English teacher in Brazil. We have a specific degree in colleges and universities but I know for a fact that it is not a requirement to undergo such procedures to be an English teacher. I honestly don’t know why, considering I would not hire a person who has never studied engineering to be responsible for the project of my house for example.
There is no law regarding the teaching of English.
I am pretty sure you may know people who have never studied to be an English teacher, have no idea over how the process of learning a language happens but, have gone to Disney twice and make extra cash here and there teaching English. Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to judge here, but I am definitely trying to compliment all the teachers who actually spend hours and tons of money studying and preparing themselves over the years and who, sometimes, lose their jobs or have to compete with a dentist who teaches English on the side for 10 bucks an hour.
It is also important to remember that we have an enormous amount of language schools in the country, a growing number of international and bilingual schools but not even half of the population speaks English.
It’s time to set the ground rules straight and make sure that the process of learning a language is taken seriously in the country.
So grab your cup of coffee, and send your suggestions.
What are your suggestions?
My first suggestion would be regarding the establishment of some ground rules over what is “bilingual education” who can be considered a “bilingual teacher”.
way too many schools over the title “bilingual” but no idea over what CLIL or scaffolding is. Note that in order to be a good English teacher you must not have all the terminology on the tip of your tongue. But you have to, at least, know how the process of learning a language happens.
You have to know what happens with your students and how to identify their difficulties.
You have to be a TEACHER.
