Gracia is a ‘Carioca’ from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She earned a BA (Hons) in Education and did a Post Graduate Programme (MA equivalent) in Philosophy of Education at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She started her career as a primary teacher in a Jesuit school and within five years became the head teacher where she was responsible for the pedagogical leadership of 80 teachers serving 2000 students. During that time she visited other Jesuit schools throughout South America where offered pedagogical advice and led teacher training as a new curriculum was introduced by the Jesuit Order. (This was her first exposure to international education!) She then returned to her alma mater, the Federal University in Rio, as an Assistant Lecturer in Education, and became a Consultant/Advisor on pedagogical matters relating to curriculum and teacher training for the Department of Education of the State of Rio de Janeiro where she worked with a wide range of secondary schools. Gracia moved to England in the mid-eighties and began to teach the IB in 1986 as a teacher of Portuguese Language A and B at one of the earliest IB-authorised schools in the UK, the International School of London. She also gained an Advanced Diploma in Education from the Institute of Education, University of London to add to her impressive credentials. During her time in the UK, in addition to her work at IB World Schools as an IB Diploma and IB Middle Years teacher at the American Community School in Hillingdon, International School of London, International Community School and Southbank International School, she has done translations for the Open University, the BBC, and some major international companies. Gracia has also taught A-Level Portuguese in a London independent school and to private students, and has been responsible for running teacher training workshop at some of the London international schools. She has attended many IB Language A and TOK workshops over the years, including the new IB SSST Lit A (SL) training in Oxford, and has supervised several Extended Essays and IBMYP Personal Projects. Gracia claims that her most important achievement is that all of her students have been successful, and many continue to regard her as a valued mentor!
Gracia also serves as Founding Academic Advisor for ILLTC and in that capacity helped to manage the ILLTC mother tongue consultants working with IBMYP students at Halcyon London International School during its first two years.
ILLTC Languages: Portuguese