On Friday, September 18, Rio Grande do Sul Partners hosted the first ever Partners Experience! This inaugural event showcased Indiana Partner’s former president Leslie Barratt and Joice de Brito e Cunha from Rio Grande do Sul. The money raised from this workshop will be donated to the Centro Social Madre Madalena, the center in Porto Alegre providing the food baskets to the public with the help and support of Partners members.
Leslie has worked as a TESOL educator [formerly Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages] since the 1970s and just completed a three-year term on the board of the TESOL International Association. She has taken her years of study and experiences to talk about “Improving Soft Skills Online through Cooperative Learning Techniques.” The techniques she presented work for both young children or adults who are learning English.
Joice is an English teacher, actress, and theatre director. She offered some tips on how to bring drama games from the stage to the classroom in order to help English students become more comfortable speaking the language. She uses drama as a means for building self-esteem and gaining fluency in English. Joice has also given workshops on using these drama techniques in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and in Indiana.