Washington Irvin High School
New York City for
its cultural diversity is one of the best place to learn English in the US. My
new experience studying in New York City started in front of the dormitory, precisely
on February 7, 2014, with Cherry Chan waiting for our Brazilian teachers’ observation
group at 09:00 a.m.
At first, when
we arrived to Irvin Washington High School, I felt a little bit surprised
because there were policemen and policewomen guarding the entrance and exit of
the building even for the high school students. Our group had to be frisked; so
we took off our coats, boots, belts, etc., to start our visit.
There,
we were introduced to Mr. Staubitz, who would guide us to observe some classes.
In the first classroom that we entered, the students started to ask questions
on different aspects such as race, technology, school system and so on. One
point that drew my attention was the fact that there is a lot of technology
available inside the class. These tools are so relevant in this new context of teaching.
By the way, I must mention that there were two teachers giving support for each
other in many classes.
That
reality is completely different from my country where the class would rarely
count on two teachers. An exception is when there are disabled students. The Irvin
Washington classrooms are not crowded contrasting with my country. Another
interesting thing is that students are not allowed to use cell phone inside the
class and other devices which can bother the class. I could observe a clear student
centered approach.
This experience makes me reflect about my
job as a teacher in Brazil, and it will make me able to claim for better
work conditions from the public system to provide the students the chance to
change their lives and reach our final goal as EFL teachers: to appropriate of
a second language.
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