I was born in South Africa to a Portuguese family as Bianca Garrana Ramos, and I guess that is where my sense for languages first arose. Curiously I was not interested in learning Portuguese since my whole life was in English until I had to move to Portugal and was dropped as a 4-year-old in a school where no English was spoken and at that tender age discovered how essential it is to be able to express yourself. Luckily, I was fortunate to have been brought up in an environment where various languages and the education of these were promoted. By the end of my school life, I was completely bilingual in English and Portuguese as well as a basic level of French.
Adding to this I later on in my life had the blessing of being in contact with many cultures, visited many countries, and once again, experienced first-hand the importance of being able to communicate. During this time, I discovered not only the power of communication but the power of knowledge! I had the opportunity to be involved with training and basically teaching and passing on information and fell in love with not only the feeling it gives you but the receiving end as well. I have seen how it has improved people’s lives by broadening their opportunities worldwide.
It is in this context of knowing and having felt the necessity of languages, especially nowadays when the world has become smaller and everyone is so easily in touch with others and the need for clear communication intensifies, that I have taken this course and developed the motivation to teach.