Words that Travel: Building Intercultural Bridges through Teaching and Translation
This BRAZ-TESOL Intercultural Language Education SIG event invites teachers and translators to explore how meaning, culture, and identity travel across languages and contexts. Together, we will reflect on the power of words to connect (or disconnect) people, and discover practical ways to bring intercultural awareness into classrooms and translation practices. Join us to share experiences, exchange perspectives, and build bridges through the transformative act of communication.
Our speakers:
- JANE GODWIN COURY - Navigating Bias in English Language Teaching and Translation
This workshop explores how unconscious bias shapes perception in English language teaching and translation. Drawing on Deardorff’s intercultural competence model, participants will be able to examine real classroom and translation scenarios, reflect on assumptions, and engage in interactive activities to develop cultural awareness, flexibility, and more mindful, inclusive professional practices.
Jane Godwin Coury is an English teacher, teacher educator, ELT author, translator, and proofreader. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and a postgraduate diploma in Education. Jane teaches on the BA in Translation and Interpreting program and postgraduate programs at Faculdade Phorte. She also co-leads the BRAZ-TESOL Intercultural Language Education study group. Originally from the UK, she has lived in Brazil since 1994 and draws on professional experience in France, Germany, and the USA.
- SUSAN CLEMESHA - From Words to Worlds: Translanguaging as a Bridge Between Languages, Cultures, and Classrooms
Languages do not travel alone - they carry experiences, identities, and ways of seeing the world. This presentation explores translanguaging as both a pedagogical stance and an intercultural practice, showing how learners draw on their full linguistic repertoires to negotiate meaning across languages. Challenging traditional views of language separation, the talk argues that effective English language teaching and bilingual education must go beyond language structures to engage with learners’ lived experiences, dynamic language use, and intercultural awareness.
Susan Clemesha has been working in the field of international education for over 20 years and currently serves as Head of Academic Development at Sphere International Schools. She is a member of the IB Educator Network (IBEN), acting as both workshop leader and programme leader. Her passion for multilingualism and multiculturalism has guided her work in curriculum development and professional learning across diverse educational contexts. Susan is also a member of the Language in Activity in the School Context (LACE) research group at PUC-SP, where she engages in studies on language, culture, and learning. She has organized and contributed to numerous educational conferences in Brazil, exploring themes such as International Mindedness, Multilingualism, Differentiation and Inquiry-Based Learning.
- TÂNIA ARRUDA MENDES - From Classroom to Publishing: How Intercultural Competence Shapes Teaching, Translation, and Educational Content Creation
Drawing on lived classroom experience at Sphere International School, alongside professional work as a translator, editor, and content developer, this session demonstrates how meaning, identity, and culture travel across languages, curricula, and learning environments. Participants will be invited to reflect on their own intercultural positioning and consider practical strategies for strengthening intercultural understanding in teaching, translation, and material design.
Tânia Arruda Mendes is an educator, editor, translator, and educational content creator with over 20 years of experience in bilingual and international education. Currently working within the IB Middle Years Programme at Sphere International School, she designs learning experiences that foreground intercultural understanding, student agency, and inclusive pedagogy. Alongside her teaching practice, she works as an English–Portuguese (Brazil) translator and editor, collaborating with publishers and educational institutions. Her professional work is grounded in the belief that teaching, translation, and content creation are interconnected acts of intercultural mediation.