Author: Shayna

Two words: phrasal verbs.  Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb plus one or more prepositions, and they are nightmares for my students because the meaning of the same …

Ever had that terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad feeling when it’s 15 minutes before class and you have absolutely no material or lesson plan or idea what you’re going to …

My Difficult Student was absent on the date the midterm test was administered. The following week, I had the corrected exams ready to hand back to the other students, …

Most group classes have what I like to call the Difficult Student. It’s the one who’s always playing with their cell phone in class, or who is chronically 30 …

I currently spend about 6 hours per week preparing and planning my English classes. This is time for which I am not paid, and it’s not strictly necessary, since …

A lot of people have complicated relationships with their mothers. I’m often amazed by the powerful influence mothers have even on their adult children, whether for good or ill …

March was the month of Carnaval, for which Brazil is famous. But there are some differences in the way it’s celebrated from region to region. Carnaval in Rio de …

While American companies are Facebooking and Tweeting and falling all over themselves in order to engage more with their customers, many Bahian businesses have yet to master the basics …

For a long time, I would get annoyed at the way people walk on the streets of Salvador: 1) Slowly 2) Illogically – sometimes people seem to change their …

I wrote this article for the website of Teaching House New York, where I got my CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults). I teach in Salvador, capital …