Online Teaching With a Pinch of "Ziriguidum" - A guest blog post by Karin Heuert Galvão


Hi, everyone,

It's the second time a have a guest writing on my blog. Let me quickly introduce you to Karin .

Rosei Serra and Karin  - IATEFL Glasgow , April 2017 


I  first met  Karin online,  a couple of years ago, on BRELT  (a FB community of Brazilian Teachers of English which is now huge and has teachers from everywhere).  Then we met ftf in 2015 in a Braz Tesol conference in São Paulo. Since then, my respect and admiration for her has grown immensely.

Being a young and very active professional,  Karin has bloomed thanks not only to her talent , but also to a lot of hard work, proving that it is possible to survive and grow as an entrepreneur  in a country in the middle of economical crisis.  She's brave and I would say she's and expert in several areas including Business English, Young Learners , TD and Online teaching among others.

In this blog post Karin  talks a little about her own experience and how effective it has been teaching us that "yes, we can! "

I am truly honoured she said YES to write on my blog.

As for you, enjoy your reading!

Roseli Serra 


Online Teaching With a Pinch of "Ziriguidum" 


Ziriguidum (n.):  A sound made by percussion in Samba. Rhythm, swag, beat, flow, pulse.

If you know anything about Brazil,  you are certainly aware that we are a nation of collaborative, friendly and resilient people. Working in groups, being part of communities and helping each other , are some of the characteristics of our amazing people.


When we started to develop online courses some years ago, we knew we could to be the same, we did not want to replicate the American or European style of teaching online. We needed more, we needed synesthesia to play a key part in our curriculum.

Our aim when designing an online course has always been to bring the real classroom feeling to a virtual class, where students and teachers can share ideas and collaborate.  We have also focused on the practical side of things, so students can really engage in live sessions, discuss, reflect and , when back to class, they put all they have learned into practice. The result has been amazing.

One of the most popular courses is "Online Phonology & Pronunciation Course", tutored by Thelma Marques and moderated by yours truly.  Our very first group exceeded our expectations and the experience has been spectacular ever since. 



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Online  Phonology and Pronunciation Course
Tutored by Thelma Marques

Through the years we have developed courses  both for English language learners and for teachers. our most recent course is the "Teaching Young Learners Course  tutored by Alessandra Machado & Virginia Borges.   This course focuses on developing English teachers and their skills on working with kids.  The course brings a variety of interesting discussions such as the role of the teachers in class, their duties and responsibilities with the little ones , how to deal with tantrums and several ideas on activities. 





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Teaching Young Learners Course
Tutored by Alessandra Machado & Virginia Borges


As for English language students, we have developed different courses. However, most of our students come to us to seek development on certain skills such as such as presentation skills. We work  from how to behave and portrait yourself in a presentation to designing the slides.  Feedback is delivered in realms of language, pronunciation, designing, self image and persuasion, Business English students are also assessed on sales, marketing, organizational culture and other business strategies in their field of work.

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Isabela Tonial (our student) delivering a presentation 

As for the future , we intend to continue developing and improving our online courses, but one thing is for sure: we will always have our students in mind. We cannot forget that even though we are teaching online , there is another person on the other side of the screen. 




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Karin Heuert Galvão
Karin@istudy.com.br

Karin Heuert Galvão has worked for 17 years as an EFL teacher and 9 years as the director of I-Study Interactive Learning  , a language school based in São Paulo, Brazil. She holds, among others, the CELTA and the IH Certificate in Online Tutoring. She also works as an ELT consultant for schools  helping them find solutions for EFL programs. Karin is also a member of the Advisory Board on EFL Talks  and has been working with the Intercultural Language SIG as their Vice - President (Braz-TESOL) and at the BSIG (Braz-TESOL) as their Treasurer.
In order to help teachers develop their careers and her own, Karin is always looking for opportunities to teach, learn and share ideas.