Minha experiência com aspectos culturais nas aulas de língua inglesa: connecting classrooms Brasil-Índia

Abstract

In the English language classes of elementary school, high school and college, as a student, I had experiences with cultural aspects of England. It was during that period that my interest in that country aroused. Later, as an English language teacher, I took up a practice that privileged the so-called English culture in class, without creating conditions for students to discuss cultural aspects related to other countries in which the English language was / is used. Considering the experiences that I lived as a student and teacher in English classes, some questions intrigued me, such as: Why did I consider the cultural aspects of England more interesting than those of Brazil? What are the implications of not problematizing cultural aspects in an English language class? Why, as an English language teacher, did I reproduce the classes I experienced in high school and in the Language graduation course? In view of these and other questions, my research aimed to experience and analyze an English language teaching experience through a partnership between Brazilian and Indian students, via the Connecting classroom platform. More specifically, I seek to analyze narratively my experience as a collaborating teacher in the quest to break with the almost always dominant history of English language teaching with England as a model. This thesis has a theoretical-methodological approach to narrative inquiry (CLANDININ; CONNELLY, 2000, 2015). The context of my research was a public school located in the state of Minas Gerais. I used the Connecting Classrooms platform to find the school in India with which we developed a sports project. When composing meanings, I discuss my experience throughout the development of a project through Connecting Classrooms and the need to break with some stories that constituted me as an English language teacher. Only from this reflection was I able to rethink my posture during the research and to prospect different experiences in the future.