Meet Eugênia—an assistant professor of Portuguese at Florida International University.
“Teaching languages means allowing people to exist fully within them.”
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.
