Barbara Christiano

I was born in São Paulo and lived there until I moved to Australia in 2019. I started learning English when I was nine years old and never stopped since then. When I was 17 I started teaching English to kids, teenagers and adults at a language school in Brazil and it was an amazing experience. That was when I decided I wanted to pursue a career in Teaching so I got a degree in Languages (Portuguese/English) and I worked as an English teacher at some well-known schools in São Paulo for 14 years. During this time, I got more qualifications in order to help students with the preparation for the Cambridge Exams and I got trained to assess some Cambridge Speaking Exams as a Speaking Examiner. For a couple of years I also went to some ‘English immersion’ campings with the students for the weekend. And in 2018, I was one of the chosen teachers to go to Los Angeles with a group of students who were going to study English at UCLA for 2 weeks.

Living abroad was one of my biggest dreams and choosing Gold Coast in Australia as my destination was quite easy. I love going to the beach and feeling the sea breeze. Blue skies, sunsets and hot weather are also things that make me happy. Gold Coast seemed to have it all and honestly it hasn’t disappointed me.

When I got here in Australia, I had the opportunity to start teaching Portuguese to Australians and other native English speakers and I simply loved the idea of teaching my beautiful native language and sharing Brazil’s unique culture and traditions with the students. It makes me feel closer to my home country 🙂