Nome: Juliana Pereira Soares
Idade: 25 anos
Escolaridade: 3º grau incompleto
Tempo de aprendizagem: 14 anos
I started studying English when I was eleven years old, at Number One. I had always been curious to understand the language, so I got really excited when my parents decided to register me in a course. My experience has always been great. I had a wonderful first teacher, whom I never forgot, we actually had the chance to work together for a while. When I turned 15 my father asked me if I wanted to have a birthday party or if I wanted to travel abroad. I chose the latter and spent a month in the United States. Another great experience. I’ve been to the US twice more after that as a camp counselor through the YMCA international camp counselor program.
I’ve studied at Number One my whole life. A couple of years after I graduated I started working there as a teacher, and one of my former teachers and friend talked me into getting a degree in that field of work. Although my first interest when I got to the university was translation, I fell for literature! I love it. I’m taking the last semester, and my monograph is on English literature. I still work at Number One as a teacher, it’s been six years now. I’ve already worked at some others schools, but I didn’t enjoy the experience very much.
I think Number One’s method is more structural than functional, especially when considering the first levels. It tends to be more communicative from the intermediate level on, but it is still more teacher-centered. They have been changing it though. Nowadays there’s more pair work and group work, and the students are being stimulated to express themselves more, since the basic
levels.