Her Story
About Paula
Paula Sena is an ESL teacher based in New York with more than 15 years of experience in the field of education. She teaches English to foreign students at New York Global Center in Manhattan and Forest Hills while also providing Spanish and Portuguese instruction to members of the Brazilian community in Newark, New Jersey. Sena earned post-graduate credentials in Portuguese and English after studying literature at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She furthered her language skills by studying Spanish at a university in Mexico and German during time spent in Germany. In addition to her classroom work, Sena maintains memberships in TESOL and the American Translators Association and has volunteered as an ESL instructor at a Christian church in Newark for over one year. She also offers online language classes to the Brazilian community at reduced rates. Sena attributes her success to her faith in God, the support of her family and friends, and a passion for connecting with others through language learning.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Paula
01What do you attribute your success to?
First, God. I still have faith in God, and every time that I felt like even moving my life, because I was in the middle of a lot of gunshots out there in a poor neighborhood, I was just praying to God. God, family, and love. Friends. My friends, they always loved me a lot. I was loved like my whole life. God gave me this, my friends, my family, so I have to give that back.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My literature teacher in high school named Andre told me 'you were born to work with literature, and you were born to be a teacher.' At the time I denied it but later realized he was right when I enrolled in university for literature and became a teacher.
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