Braziluk2
Edinaldo do Espírito Santo was born in Brazil, in 1970, in the city of São Paulo. At a very early age he started writing poetry and drawing cartoons. At 10 he discovered the English language and learned about the USA, and the dream of living in North America awoke.
At the age of 16 he started studying drawing at Candido Portinari drawing school in São Paulo, but withdrew just a few months later, after one of his teachers told the students they wouldn't get a job at Mauricio de Souza studio's, the biggest comic publishing in Brazil.
When he was 17 he started studying English at Fisk School, where he studied for 5 years. At the age of 18 he got a job at Associação Comercial de São Paulo and worked in Santana's office in two different occasions, each for 1.5 year. Before stopping studying English he started a degree in 'Letras e Literatura' which would enable him to work as a teacher and teach Brazilian Portuguese and English to young children, teenagers and adults. In 1994 he left his work at Associação Comercial de São Paulo to start teaching at Escola Silva Jardim (Silva Jardim School), in the bourough of Tucuruvi, in São Paulo.
He worked at Silva Jardim for 5 years and was at school every day from Monday to Friday, even on his day off, always engaged in projects with the students. Teaching was more than his career. It was his passion and more than trying to teach a subject he tried to teach values and to share his love for languages.
During the five years he tought in Brazil he worked in many schools, including Angelo Bortolo, in Bortolandia, school where he attended college, and returning to the college as a teacher felt as a great satisfaction, as he had the opportunity to work with colleagues who were his teachers when he was a teenager. Although he loved the environment in many of the schools where he worked he never hid his preference for Silva Jardim.
In 1996, while taking a group of college students to an exhibition about Universities in Brazil, he found out about EF language school and decided to perfect his English in the USA enrolling on a course and went to Miami to study English at FIU - Florida International University. Back in Brazil, his passion for the language increased his determination in living in a foreign Country. In 1998 he met a Brazilian girl who lived in England and after a thirty minute chat he was convinced he wanted to live in England. He then left his work at Silva Jardim school, bought a flight ticket and travelled to the UK, where he was granted a tourist visa. He stayed in England for 5 months, but unable to work due to the visa's restriction, and finding it difficult to stay in London with his parent's support only, he went back to Brazil and resumed his work at Silva Jardim school. He worked then for a year and in 2000 he decided to return to the UK to work as a Brazilian Portuguese teacher in London.
Once in London he was invited to work as a teacher at International House, in Green Park, where he worked for a few months. In 2001 he got a job as a Brazilian Portuguese teacher at North Kingston Centre, in Kingston Upon Thames where he still works at the present moment. He worked as a teacher for several instituitions in London and also worked as an interpreter and translator. For BBC, he worked as a proof-reader for the documentary Brazil, Brazil. He also worked for Gramafilm translating a video about a new software for mobile phones and for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office he worked as a Brazilian Portuguese teacher.
In 2011 he founded London Lessons Ltd, and now he has a classroom in West London in Shepherds Bush - W12 8QQ - where he teaches Brazilian Portuguese to foreigners and descendent of Brazilians living in London. He has a very small and selected team of teachers working for him teaching Brazilian Portuguese for general purposes, business and travelling. Apart from teaching in his classroom he also teaches via Skype.
In September 2011 he and one of his teachers worked as translators/interpreters for 60 officials from the Brazilian forces who came to London for a week of training and conferences at the Defense and Security Exhibition International at Brimshill Police College.
Also in 2011 he wrote and illustrated two children's picture books, the first one called First Friend, which tells a story of a chick scared of flying. The second book is called Brian Brown Bear and the Strange Horrid Smell. The book tells the story of a little bear who didn't want to bathe or listen to his parents. Both books are available in Portuguese and English, in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon in several Countries, including Brazil, USA and Europe.
Plans for 2013 and the future include expanding London Lessons Ltd, opening new classrooms and teaching other languages, such as English, French, Spanish amongst others.
This year (2013) Edinaldo do Espírito Santo will be 43 years old.
More information about him and his teaching on his websites:
1.^ http://www.londonlessons.org.uk 2.^ http://london-portugueselessons.co.uk