Hey. I thought it'd be a great start to tell you a bit/ lot about me. 

 

My name's Fernanda Stocche Barbosa. I was born and raised in a city called Ribeirao Preto in the countryside in Brazil. 

 

Since a very young age, I've been interested in languages. I think I was around 7 when I started asking my mom how to say names of things in English. I would also spend some time every Sunday in front of the TV trying to imitate the actors in Baywatch and 90210. (I know, guilty pleasure...)

 

Tired of being constantly asked how to say 'sereia' in English and what the lyrics of that song meant, my mom then realised it might be a good idea to teach me English at home instead of just enrolling me in a course to find out I wasn't that interested after all. And she then became our first English teacher. Coursebook and all. My sisters at this point wanted to see me dead, because they were not so keen on learning English, but not me, loved it. I still know the words to many of the songs we learned at that time. 

 

Many years after, I was still thrilled with English and decided to major in Languages and Literature at the University of Sao Paulo. While I was at USP, I was also teaching 3 to 15 year-olds at Red Balloon in Sao Paulo. It was a great experience working with children and teens. We had arts and crafts, Halloween parties, music lessons. It was great fun. 

 

After 5 years of teaching kids, I then decided I wanted to take a step forward with my career and started my CELTA - Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - by Cambridge University. I have to say that, definitely CELTA was the biggest turning point in my career. I thought I was in love with teaching, but I didn't know what 'love' really meant until then. It completely blew my mind.

 

I did it in Sao Paulo at Target Language and my tutors were absolutely amazing. Fergus Fadden and Bjarne Vonsild. I will never forget those 6 months of pure joy. I met great people. I was exhausted, but it was the best time. And not only that, it was because of CELTA that I applied to my TEFL course at UCSD in San Diego, CA. And there I went again in an 8-month adventure, but now overseas.

 

Coming back to Sao Paulo and having these 2 prestigious certificates (+ Cambridge Proficiency, that I sat while in San Diego), I could find a job in one of the most well-known English schools in Brazil - Associacao Alumni. I'd been their student, so you can imagine how exciting it was for me! I then taught children and adults. General English, Business English, Exam classes. I'd start very early at 7h10 and sometimes finished at 19h. It was hard work, but totally worth the experience. 

 

I only left Alumni because I then decided to go to London to live and do the DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), but before I started the course, I worked for the English Studio, and again, it changed my way of teaching, because now I was teaching students with very different language backgrounds. 

 

2017 was a year I dedicated only to my studies. It was the DELTA and Translation. I can say that it was one of the best years in my life on one hand and the most difficult on the other hand. At some point, I thought I was not going to make it. I was constantly sleep-deprived, overwhelmed and on top of everything had just lost my grandfather in Brazil.

 

After a long year of hard work, I finally finished the DELTA and some months after could find a job at one of the best English Schools in there is - EC. I passed the interview and then a series of changes started again. New building. Great facilities. Amazing teachers who would help you with anything you needed. And of course, David Byrne, who was not only the director of studies but the co-founder of Textploitation TEFL, the greatest website for non-coursebook teaching resources. With David and through Textploitation I learned one of the most important lessons in English teaching, something I'd seen in my DELTA, but didn't know how it could be done, which is - working with authentic materials, or, as the name of the site suggests - exploiting opportunities to learn through the use of real-life texts, whichever they are - songs, announcements, advertisements, text messages, etc. I'd have to write another 1000 words to say how incredible and efficient this is, I won't bother you with this right now, but most of my classes now are done this way today.

 

Finally, (otherwise I just won't stop), I thought I was ready for another adventure. This time it was Dublin. So, David then put in contact with the DoS at EC Dublin, Anna Morris, and she said she needed a teacher! WOW. How lucky was that? I came to Dublin had my interview again. Anna's a great DoS. She was really welcoming and made me feel home from the very beginning. On December 22nd 2018 I took a train and a ferry to Dublin and here I am happier than ever. I love the city, the people, the nature, the pubs naturally...everything. 

 

I stayed in Dublin for about 1 year and a half. It was amazing. I met a lot of great people and I'm really thankful for everything I lived there. And now, because of the pandemic and some other plans I had for myself, I moved back to Brazil and will be teaching online full time! 

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So, there, that's my not-so-short story. This is how SpeakEasy was born and I'm very proud of it because I'm sure I'll be able to use everything I've learned throughout these years in my lessons. Learning is a non-stop process for me and I want to share it with you. Whenever. Wherever.