English and Song; the best combination

The aisles of International House are different since a new class started; English through Song! Do you know who that fault is? The big guilty one is Victor Botelho, a Brazilian teacher. But he doesn’t speak Portuguese here, ok? Only English, guys!

Victor was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but he lived for many years in the capital Brasilia. He and his wife immigrated to Canada four years ago. Both of them were English teachers. There were many reasons that he changed his mind about Brazil; violence, traffic jams, and everything was expensive. Now, he has more reasons to continue living in Vancouver; Victor and his wife are expecting their first baby.

Victor is the owner of a pretty beautiful voice and he discovered his talent to sing a long time ago. He has been in four Rock Bands; he used to be a lead singer. In his ESL class, he keeps being a singer and now has a big group of anxious students! Sometimes Victor plays guitar and sings with them. The class is not boring at all. His students love him. In his definition, he is lucky to have a fun job; “It’s not like an office job, sit down, deal number, even if you are tired you can find energy to teach, it’s much funner”!

He started teaching English 17 years ago. 17! That’s it! In the beginning as teacher, he taught Spanish. For this reason he lived for a couple months in Argentina.

At 20 years old, he started teaching English and he hasn’t stopped since. He has always had an interest to teach international students. In Brazil, he taught EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and here ESL (English as a Second Language). This is a big opportunity to know more about different cultures, what happens in another countries, etc.

He loves living abroad and to know different places. He has been to Europe, South America, and the USA. By the way, Victor also did an exchange in 1996! He lived for one year in the USA. This was the most important experience in his life, because it encouraged and helped him to be a teacher.

For him, Vancouver is safe, clean, has fresh air, and doesn't have a lot of people everywhere. When he has free time, he likes to work out, to go to pubs and restaurants, play guitar, and of course, sing songs!  “English and songs walk hand and hand”, he emphasizes.

I asked him what are his future goals and the answer cannot be different; “I’m going to be a teacher for the rest of my life!”

 You can watch a clip of Victor's class here;