Sandra Borges
Sandra Borges has spent the last 20 years teaching English as an additional language. Hailing from São Paulo, Brazil, Borges and her husband looked for opportunities to further their careers in Canada.
The couple were on the hunt for a small city near the ocean, and Halifax was a perfect fit. When she learned about the International Master’s in Teaching English program offered at Saint Mary’s, she knew it was meant to be.
After a year and a half of online classes, immigration delays, balancing work and school full time, Borges will cross the stage at Spring 2022 Convocation as a graduate of the IMTE program and the first recipient of the Eric & Ingeborg Enns Family IMTE Convocation Award.
Passionate about language learning
As an English teacher, and more recently a teacher-trainer, Borges is passionate about sharing her love of language and culture with students. She saw the IMTE as an opportunity to advance herself as a teacher, as the immersive 16-month program combines the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching English.
Launched in 2019, the IMTE program admits international graduate students aspiring to work globally as English language teachers or educators. It is estimated that one in four people in the world now speaks or is learning English, and this global need gives graduates of the program a wealth of international opportunities.
Her classmates, a group of 22 students, represented seven different countries across four continents. She describes the experience of meeting new people, getting to learn about different cultures, languages and dialects as “enriching.”
Supportive learning environment
Borges’ program began in September 2020, while the university was operating virtually due to the pandemic. While some students were able to eventually attend classes in person, Borges completed the entire program from home in Brazil due to visa delays, balancing full-time work with her studies. She credits Dr. Esther Enns, Associate Vice-President of Teaching & Learning and IMTE instructor, and Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor, for working with her throughout the immigration process.
Connecting to real-time virtual classes with students from 12 time zones was a unique challenge for this class. Although she was participating online, Borges never felt alone. She engaged in every discussion and brainstorm with her classmates.
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Students in the program had the opportunity to teach on a service-learning basis in the English language programs offered by the Halifax Public Library, the Halifax Refugee Clinic and the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), as well as the unique opportunity to teach English in a high school in Giessen, Germany. Because of COVID, much of this teaching was done online, which enabled the students to expand the scope of their teaching skills from in-person to online environments.
“The instructors understand what it means to be a teacher of language,” says Borges. “They listened to us and helped us work toward our goals. They provided us with many opportunities and support.”
After completing the program, Sandra and her husband arrived in Halifax in January 2022. “We survived our first winter,” she laughs. Once in Halifax, she continued to receive support from the instructors who helped her find housing, took her to the grocery store, and shared their knowledge of the ELT market in Canada. “These small actions were so meaningful and confirmed to me that Saint Mary’s treats its students with care. I felt at home.”
Convocation award
As the January 2022 convocation ceremonies were postponed due to the pandemic, Borges will join her cohort at the Spring Convocation ceremony on May 17, 2022. There, she will be presented with the Eric & Ingeborg Enns Family IMTE Convocation Award.
This award recognizes a graduate who has excelled in the IMTE program, as they “embark on their journey to become leaders in global language education and intercultural understanding.” It was created by Dr. Esther Enns in honour of her parents, Eric and Ingeborg, who immigrated to Canada. They embraced the challenges of learning a new culture and language with optimism and became “transcultural persons with a global outlook.”
“I feel honoured to receive this award,” says Borges. “Everything I’ve accomplished is inspired by my own parents, who were immigrants inside Brazil, travelling from different states to São Paulo where they met each other and built our family – while their stories are different, their efforts are the same.”
She credits Dr. Enns as an “inspiration” who impressed upon her the importance of becoming a global educator, not only through language but through cultural learning and understanding.
Looking to the future
Currently, Borges works as an EAL writing tutor at Saint Mary’s, where she supports international students with their academic writing. She is also TA for the IMTE program.
She dreams of one day teaching in the IMTE program, as her passion for teaching has only grown. She intends to begin working toward a Doctorate and hopes to remain connected to Saint Mary’s for years to come.
As for her fellow graduates, they have been finding success globally; one is teaching English at a school in Mexico, several are working in China, and others have stayed in Halifax with a post-graduate work permit.