I am originally from Brazil and was raised bilingual (I am fluent in Portuguese and English). I hold a PhD degree in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of California, Los Angeles. I also have several ESL/EFL teaching and assessment training certificates from Cambridge University and the University of Michigan. Link to Bio and CV.
I have over 25 years of experience in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESL (English as a Second Language). I am currently an associate professor of TESOL at a higher education institution in Southern California. I am an active member of national and international professional organizations in TESOL, Applied Linguistics, and Educat
I have over 25 years of experience in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESL (English as a Second Language). I am currently an associate professor of TESOL at a higher education institution in Southern California. I am an active member of national and international professional organizations in TESOL, Applied Linguistics, and Education. I also serve on the Executive Board of the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL).
I have several publications in the field of Applied Linguistics and TESOL. I have acquired applicable and contextualized knowledge in the field by having taken a number of professional positions throughout my life, including director of education, teacher trainer, language assessment trainer and designer, curriculum designer, corpus-bas
I have several publications in the field of Applied Linguistics and TESOL. I have acquired applicable and contextualized knowledge in the field by having taken a number of professional positions throughout my life, including director of education, teacher trainer, language assessment trainer and designer, curriculum designer, corpus-based materials designer, and program assessment and preparation for accreditation. I am also the Editor-in-chief of Issues in Applied Linguistics, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, which allows me to maintain awareness of new trends in the field.
I provide professional development seminars on various areas of English Language Teaching, such as: Teaching reading, writing, speaking, and listening; teaching vocabulary with authentic materials; teaching pronunciation with fun techniques; teaching contextualized grammar; engaging students in classroom discussions and activities; dealing with students' anxiety to promote learning and improve performance in the classroom; among others several topics.
Receive help with the creation or enhancement of your program curriculum. Specify student learning outcomes for eacah proficiency level; align your curriculum with international language standards such as the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), and TESOL Standards, among others; create or adopt assessments and teaching materials that align with your curriculum.
An English corpus is a rich source of authentic and natural language use, which can be use to extract texts that can be used for teaching and assessment materials. Nevertheless, many teachers do not use it for lack of familiarity with search engines. Request a training session with iWeb, COCA, MICASE, among many others.
I can help your program create assessment materials to suit your teachers' and your students' needs. These can be (and not limited to): Placement tests, Progress and Achievement tests, and Exit tests. I can also assist with the creation of rubrics and norming (calibration) of faculty who will be involved with grading assessments with rubrics.
Rubrics are only good if teachers use it and are in agreement about the interpretation of category descriptors. When calibrated, teachers can use well-designed rubrics to grade faster and provide meaningful feedback to their students.
With ample experience in program development, program reviews, and accreditation procedures such as the production of required reports and preparation for site visit, I can help your program or institution get ready for these important steps in its development, by enhancing or revising your mission statement, curriculum, record keeping, pathway planning, syllabi, assessments, grade reports, etc.