Every 15 October, I phone Maria Aparecida Yasbec Sebba (Cidinha), a professor of English and teacher trainer I used to have when I attended the Modern Languages course at university.
This year I was unable to phone her. Nevertheless, blogging can be useful to show how important a person can be to another one.
I still remember my first English class at university. Cida came into the room, introduced herself and presented the syllabus along with the material we would use over 2001 and 2002. This first class was an icebreaker and I fell in love with my teacher. It is worth to remark that at that time I could barely read and translate some things in English, but was unable to speak and my listening skills were not good at all.
Cida's lessons were so motivating and so inspiring that I have no words to say how enthusiastic I was for learning another language. Gosh, those classes were the best and the ones I most expected in the week.
I remember how patient, how careful, how organised and how strict she used to be with me and my classmates. Her lessons were so well planned, with the activities well linked, a good warmer and Cida was very kind to all of us. OK, her tests were very difficult, but this has only helped me.
The academic year had passed and in October, she gave us a (quite) difficult assignment: to read the book This is London, by Phillip Prowse and present it in November. When I got the book I thought I wouldn't make it, given I was shy and I considered my English rather poor to present a book to classmates who seemed to be more fluent than me. I got anxious and a bit nervous, but the presentation was a success. Gee, how happy I was. I guess that was the first time I could feel the sense of achievement, after all I was unable to speak in February and in November I was presenting a book. I owe this to Cida, who always encouraged me and my friends.
In 2002 Cidinha invited me, Nilvânia, Marcela and Viviane to take part in the selection process of Centro de Línguas da UFG, but we all chickened out. In 2003, she asked us to take this test again and to my complete surprise, I got 9.0 in the written test, 7.9 in the didactic test and was qualified for the teacher training course.
In 2005, when I was about to graduate I had all sorts of difficulties at university and I really considered the idea of leaving UFG and never ever think of teaching in my life. I remember the day when Cida and I had a tough conversation at the lobby of Faculdade de Letras. She told me not to give up my dream of being a teacher. She was my English VI teacher at that time and she encouraged me to study harder and keep on working so as to improve my English and become a better teacher each passing day.
Nowadays, I still have Cida in my memory and my heart. If I am a teacher at one of the best English courses in my city, I owe this to her. I'm so thankful for having Cida to give me a supporting hand and that is why I will always consider her as the BEST teacher a person can have. I will cherish her for a lifetime.
