Week 5 EVO Sessions: Becoming a Business English Teacher

Task 1
Branding, What is it?
For me branding is  My personal set of beliefs as a teacher.  In other words where I stand professionally as an educator.

Task 2
What is your story?

These are my notes on the material posted on the Wiki.
Reflections based on Seth Godin´s interview.
As regards someone´s personal story people will remember our stories rather than facts about ourselves.  Noone owes you their attention or money.  People (or rather our students) will tell their friends interesting things as regards you.  We have to put ourselves in our students shoes and ask ourselves the question: why should they choose me and not the other professionals in my area?

Interviews with entrepreneurs.
Alexandre Inneco, Brazilian musician.
"Necessity is what makes the frog leap." Brazilian saying.
Alexandre is generous, started small and suggests that our product should be fun as well as interesting. He also promotes himself by using his own name.
Henrick Oprea, Brazilian teacher of English.
We both learned English from scratch without travels or native speaker teachers and share our high motivation levels.  We worked in institutions such as language schools.  I agree with him in that we should earn people´s trust by being professional in what we do ie. know your subject, what you are talking about when it comes to language learning/teaching.  You have to tell the truth and believe in what you are saying.  I also believe in the power of networking with inspiring educators, if you receive you should in turn give as well.  Coaching students so that they become gradually independent is also my goal.  I also experienced the power of blogging as a tool to reflect on what you are doing and share your work.  It´s a way of validating what you are doing and keep a record of your professional practice.
Envision,  a language school based in Brazil.
Teachers should empathize with her students and identify their strengths to build from there, to make the L2 your own. There are different approaches to achieve this.  Hands on experience and professional development sessions are sources of professional growth.


My personal story

I told my personal story here in a presentation I did for a workshop at the Argentine Conference of Teachers of English.
In a nutshell:
After having worked for 15 years as a teacher I thought I had lost the magic and I decided to quit to become a photographer.  Then I discovered that the computer was a tool that could be used to connect to knowledge and  other professionals from different parts of the world.  And I re-discovered my vocation. Every day I learn something new by sharing and collaborating with teachers and students, not only mine (who are actually a small number) but other teachers`.  I take advantage of each opportunity for PD offered online for free and give for free as well if I can.  My students benefit from this, since everything I learn is reflected in my practice.  I continually ask myself: how can I use it with my students?  I am in the process of becoming an online teacher, gradually and at my own pace, I experiment and try out new things with my lovely students or with other teachers´students sometimes, or members of my family.   Above all I am having fun!