"The principal of the school knew that I had studied English, so she went to my house and asked my father if I could teach the subject in the secondary school. I was very young and had no experience." (Rosa Melke). "I learned foreign languages in the seminary, when I started teaching English, I was not graduated yet." (Horácio Braga). These are the answers of two teachers when asked about how they started their career as English teachers. Horácio Braga and Rosa Melke taught in the first public secondary school in Campo Grande, South of Mato Grosso State – Brazil. The first one from 1967 to the 1980s, and Rosa Melke from 1955 to the 1960s.
The investigations in the history of language teaching and learning, usually, have as sources the official documents, objects and images, textbooks, grammars and the teachers' reports. Not abandoning these sources, in this research I interviewed these English teachers who were already retired, and accepted my invitation to talk about their memories of the period they worked at the school, the political changes they faced, their classroom routines, and how they became teachers. Supported by Levi´s (2006) concepts of biography and trajectory, Bourdieu´s (2006) notions of biographical happenings defined as placement and displacement in the social context, and Rousso´s (2006) concept of memoirs, the aim of this study is to present the trajectories of these two English teachers and their classroom everyday practices.
The teachers' narratives showed to be essential to unveil the details of their practices, and revealed that although these professionals had worked in the same school, under the same official decisions and rules, their classroom routines were influenced by their personal experiences and the social contexts. It was possible to notice that Rosa Melke had more "modern" practices, whereas Horácio Braga was more conservative.
Bibliography
Bourdieu, Pierre.(2006). A ilusão da biografia. Ferreira, Marieta de Moraes; Amado, Janaína.(Ed). Usos & abusos da história oral. (pp. 183-192).Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.
Levi, Giovanni. (2006). Usos da biografia. In: Ferreira, Marieta de Moraes; Amado, Janaína.(Ed). Usos & abusos da história oral. (pp. 167-182).Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.
Rahe, Marta Banducci. (2006). A disciplina língua inglesa e o "sotaque norte-americano": uma investigação das práticas docentes no Maria Constança (1955-2005). Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul-UFMS.
Rousso, Henry.(2006). A memória não é mais o que era. In: Ferreira, Marieta de Moraes; Amado, Janaína.(Ed). Usos & abusos da história oral. (pp. 93-102).Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.
Rahe, Marta Banducci. (2006). A disciplina língua inglesa e o "sotaque norte-americano": uma investigação das práticas docentes no Maria Constança (1955-2005). Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul-UFMS.
