Meet Eugênia—an assistant professor of Portuguese at Florida International University.
“Teaching languages means allowing people to exist fully within them.”
Eugênia Fernandes
Educator Spotlight
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The Start of a Teaching Journey:
I come from a home led by a resilient educator, my mother, who pursued her dream of becoming an Art History teacher after becoming a widow. Growing up on the outskirts of Brasília, Brazil, I found refuge in public schools, where my Portuguese teachers encouraged me to see poetry as a way of expressing myself and making sense of loss.
In second grade, my teacher was Ms. Gondim, a dedicated educator who introduced me to Paulo Freire’s ideas of transformative education. From then on, I understood that only education could open doors for social mobility for me. Later, at the University of Brasília, I discovered the program in Portuguese as a Second Language. It was there that my passion materialized into a bridge to other worlds, identities, and opportunities.
Career Highlight:
There have been many moments, but I am especially moved each time former students write to tell me that Portuguese helped them reach higher levels in their careers. This is why I now do research in Language for Specific Purposes.
It is equally fulfilling to see students who were once shy in the classroom describe how they found a community where they were “not just a number.”
One defining moment was the completion of my Ph.D. As an Indigenous descendant, I knew how rare it was for someone like me to arrive at that milestone, and it felt like I was honoring all my ancestors who had made my path possible.
On Being an ACTFL Member:
Although a relatively small community teaches Portuguese, ACTFL allows me to connect with colleagues across many languages and disciplines. I enjoy seeing how we share the same aspirations: to innovate, to engage students meaningfully, and to affirm the value of multilingualism.
At the annual Convention, I often attend sessions from fields quite different from mine, such as Arabic language programs, and I am always impressed by the creativity and applicability of their approaches to technology. These experiences always remind me that language teaching is a collective effort.
ACTFL has offered to my career in the U.S. a crucial space where educators exchange strategies, affirm our shared mission, and strengthen the visibility of languages that may otherwise be marginalized.
Using Languages Outside the Classroom:
Brazilian Portuguese is not only the language I teach, but it is also the language of my home, identity, and community. Living in Miami, surrounded by a strong Brazilian diaspora, I witness every day how language affirms a sense of belonging. I see this most clearly in my daughter, who speaks Portuguese as a heritage language and recently attended her first class at a community Portuguese school. In her, I recognize a strong desire to reaffirm her heritage forward.
Outside the classroom, Brazilian Portuguese connects me to my family in Brazil, allows me to participate fully in diasporic life, and helps me guide the next generation to be proud of their linguistic roots.
Advice for Next-Gen Teachers:
This is not an easy time to be a language educator, with so many programs being downsized or eliminated. But more strongly than ever, it shows that our work is necessary and deeply relevant. What we do cannot be replaced by machines. Language teaching is key to humanization, empathy, and critical thinking, all essential to democracy and social connection.
To aspiring teachers, please do not be discouraged by institutional challenges. Each student you inspire, each bridge you build across cultures, makes our profession irreplaceable. We are affirming identities, giving people new spaces to echo their voices, and opening worlds that might otherwise remain closed.
Favorite Word or Phrase in Another Language:
My favorite word is epiphany. Although it is a cognate in both English and Portuguese, it captures something very special for me. My career has been shaped by moments of realization, small and profound epiphanies that opened new paths. From discovering Paulo Freire’s words in childhood, to teaching my first class for the Venezuelan embassy in Brazil, to arriving in the United States to begin a new life, I have been guided by these flashes of insight.
Epiphany reminds me that change often comes not in one dramatic gesture, but in many small revelations that, together, shape a life and a vocation.
Get inspired by even more Educator Spotlight profiles in our growing archive of member testimonials! Then explore all the resources available via ACTFL membership.
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