Our Team
Brazil Ahead’s Team Building
How we achieve excellence in Portuguese instruction
Recruiting the best Portuguese teachers in New York City is just the beginning. Only native Brazilian instructors, with university degrees and extensive teaching experience are invited for a series of interviews with senior Brazil Ahead staff, rigorous written exams, and demonstration classes. The few selected candidates undergo extensive training in Brazil Ahead’s Communicative Approach method, regardless of how much previous experience they have. For the first several weeks each lesson is rehearsed with senior staff before the actual class.
To ensure each instructor’s continuing top performance our teachers often observe each other’s classes to look for areas of improvement. Every week Brazil Ahead’s entire faculty meets for a refresher training session, sharing insight, and for updates on the latest advances in teaching methods. (During the summer those sessions are held in Central Park, where the fun of an outdoor picnic melds with the seriousness of the training.) Our Managing Director further attends international Portuguese teaching symposia at Grupo Figa in Mexico City where the most innovative methods are analyzed. Brazil Ahead’s students are invited to rate their classes and instructors on a regular basis, and are always welcome to discuss any concerns with our Coordinator.
In order to address specific needs of our varied clientele we have carefully assembled a team with extensive expertise that goes beyond basic teaching: business and technical Portuguese, web site design and translation, literary translation, Brazilian music and translation of lyrics, teaching children and teenagers.
Our teachers are our primary resource, we are proud of their achievements, we are sure you will be delighted too.
Cristhiane
Cristhiane Vieira-Rozenblit has graduated in Portuguese and English literature from the State University of Rio de Janeiro and in Advertising and Marketing from the State University of New York. Cristhiane has been teaching Portuguese for 14 years. She believes the best way to teach her students is by tailoring classes to suit their specific needs.
Cristhiane is the founder and managing director of Brazil Ahead. She has developed Brazil Ahead’s unique Communicative Approach for the most effective Portuguese instruction, building on her extensive experience and participation in leading workshops and seminars for teachers of Portuguese as a second language (PLE). She ensures Brazil Ahead leverages on the latest advances in Brazilian Portuguese instruction and conducts weekly training sessions for Brazil Ahead’s instructors. Cristhiane is fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish and conversant in French and Italian.
back
Licia
Lícia grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. She graduated from Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1983. In 2000, she moved to the United States where she began working as a language instructor in 2002. In 2003, she started tutoring Portuguese at Georgia Perimeter College. There she had the opportunity to teach students from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, from Romanians to Japanese, and of course Americans. Later on she specialized in tutoring professionals from various fields such as medical, engineering, financial, IT, marketing, and the public sector as well. Besides being a Portuguese native speaker, Licia is also fluent in English and Spanish. She has recently moved to New York where she joined the Brazil Ahead team.
back
Beatriz
Beatriz grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. During her adolescence, she moved to the United States with her family, where she completed the last years of her high school education. She attended Georgia State University, where she earned a B.A. in English Rhetoric in 2007. While attending college, Beatriz had the opportunity to become a bilingual instructor, teaching both English and Portuguese to professional adults. The array of professional and academic areas that her students pursued has taught her that language must be learned within the student's own professional context. The professional areas some of her students came from include the agro-business, architecture, IT, healthcare, and real estate. She has recently moved to Manhattan in order to attend graduate studies, a pursuit that has also brought her to fluency in both Spanish and French. Beatriz is an avid language student, which makes her an instructor with a fresh perspective on student concerns.
back
João
João Mauricio was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. He attended the Federal University of Rio (UFF).His degree is in Portuguese and English as a Second Language Teaching. He has been teaching both languages since 1990 and since moving to NYC in 1992 has also taught Spanish. In his spare time, Joao Mauricio enjoys traveling, surfing and snowboarding.
back
Nelyza
Nelyza is a native of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. She earned a degree in Linguistics at University of Brasilia, Brazil and began working as an editor for the Federal Senate and volunteered as a Portuguese teacher for low income adults at night. In the U.S. she experienced language learning in both ways, as a private teacher/university instructor of Portuguese and a learner of English. She finished a Communication degree and is now pursuing a Translation Certificate at NYU while teaching Portuguese at Brazil-Ahead.
back
Jason (business teacher)
Jason is an American/Brazilian raised in Sao Paulo. After completing a Business Administration degree at University of Richmond, Jason returned to Sao Paulo where he spent the next 9 years building a business career and managing a language school (English in the Office). Jason has been with Brazil-Ahead since moving to New York in February of 2009.
back
Tcheilly (online teacher)
Tcheilly Nunes was born in Vila Velha and later moved to Belo Horizonte He holds a Bachelor in Business and Education (UEMG) and a Masters in Science with Major in Education Technology (Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minar Gerais CEFET-MG). Tcheilly has been a Professor of online education at Universidade Estadual de Minais Gerais (UEMG) and Fundação Getúlio Vargas de Minas Gerais (FGV-MG).
back
Paula
Paula was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She completed her B.A. in Public Relations and worked as a Marketing Coordinator in Brazil. She moved to New York in 2001 and completed her studies in Business Administration. In New York, Paula has been working in accounting and business administration. Paula is the Administrative Coordinator for Brazil Ahead.
back
