Event Date: 4th June 2022

Abstract:

English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers are constantly challenged to address cultural diversity beyond the F’s (food, folk-dancing, festivals, fashion, and flags), trying to avoid the reduction of culture to the visible and superficial parts.

Aiming to help teachers to move beyond this surface level of acknowledgment, this presentation brings some possibilities to foster cultural awareness and understanding in the EAL class, starting from a Brazilian perspective and going through a broader point of view, to promote the audience’s reflection on how to raise our learners’ awareness and understanding to embed culture in class and make it a regular part of teaching.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Thiago Costa is a passionate educator and language learner. He currently works as an Adjunct English Professor and Teacher Trainer at the Federal University of Paraíba, in Brazil.

Thiago has been hooked on learning and teaching language and has had the fortune to experience diverse educational environments since 1999. In 2019, Thiago represented his country in a teacher exchange program at Temple University in Philadelphia. Also, in the same year, he was part of the US Embassy Panel on Teacher Leadership in Brazil, at the 2019 TESOL International Convention.

Thiago is a life-long learner and loves Linguistics. He had majored in English at the Federal University of Paraíba, where he has also earned his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees. Thiago believes that Education is the key to success.