{"id":13482,"date":"2021-04-19T12:05:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T18:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/?p=13482"},"modified":"2026-02-06T19:22:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:22:04","slug":"jose-from-brazil-teaching-english-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/jose-from-brazil-teaching-english-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9, From Brazil, Teaching English Online in His Home Country"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deciding to leave his job and live abroad in London paved the way for Bridge grad Jos\u00e9 Henriquez Alvarez, from Brazil, to discover his love for teaching English. A current ESL teacher for a renowned language institute in S\u00e3o Paulo, he also teaches private students on the side. He tells us about the advantages and joy of teaching his fellow Brazilians, as well as his plans to further his English teaching skills. (Scroll to the bottom of this article to watch the full video interview.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi, Jos\u00e9! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in English?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m from Presidente Prudente, S\u00e3o Paolo, which is in the countryside of Brazil. I was born there, and then I lived in Fortaleza, which is in Cear\u00e1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned English for six months in Fortaleza. I did an intensive course at Berlitz<\/a>, which is a prestigious language center in Brazil and in the world too. I also lived in London for two years, where I did an advanced course, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been an English teacher for more than ten years. And of course, when you teach, you also learn a lot. Nowadays, I teach privately \u2013 I have my own students \u2013 and I also teach at Berlitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m married. I don\u2019t have any kids. I have two cats. I have a rock and roll band, and I like to play the acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to get into the English teaching field?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If I think about what inspired me, it wasn\u2019t something natural. I actually did business administration for almost two years, but when I started teaching, I just loved it, so I would say that I got inspired to teach when I started teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long time ago, around 2003, I was working at a company, doing accounting, and I hated my job. The company was being relocated to another state in Brazil and they were offering packages for the employees to either stay at the company and move or quit and get the severance package. I decided to take the second option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I came to my parents and said, \u201cI want to live abroad.\u201d I remember exactly when I said that. I was expecting them to say, \u201dAre you mad? What are you thinking?\u201d But they supported me. So, I decided to live in London because at this time, in 2003, it was not difficult to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our step-by-step guide to teaching English abroad.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jos\u00e9<\/a>
Jos\u00e9 in S\u00e3o Paulo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Landing his first TEFL job<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I came back to Brazil after two years, my brother-in-law and sister said, \u201cYou could come here. You could start teaching. Would you like to do that?\u201d And I said, \u201cWhy not?\u201d I started in 2005 and I loved it. I taught English at Berlitz in Fortaleza for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, I worked for the cruise ship company, Royal Caribbean. I was a bartender for only three months, and then I decided to come to S\u00e3o Paolo. I had already taught at Berlitz before so I called several schools and said, \u201cI\u2019m looking for a job in S\u00e3o Paolo as a Berlitz teacher.\u201d One of these schools accepted me, so I continued to teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you like best about teaching in your home country?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n