Nahielly Palacios

Equipped with a BA (Hons) in Tourism and with a BA (Hons) in Secondary Education with Major in English, I became an EFL (English Foreign Language) teacher in Mexico at a secondary school level as well as at a University level in the Universidad Pedagogica Nacional (UPN) of Guadalajara Jalisco. After five years of teaching experience (2007-2011), I participated in the Foreign Language Assistant Programme between Mexico and the UK promoted by the SEP (Ministry of Education in Mexico) and the British council. My participation in this project encouraged me to pursue a master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at the University of Manchester (2013-1024).

During my MA studies, I became interested in the issue of language teaching and its relation to the ‘intercultural dimension’. I wondered how Mexican EFL teachers, who participated in the FLAP sojourn, had experienced the ‘intercultural turn’ in language teaching education and how they had changed (or if they had changed) their ideas, beliefs, as well as their teaching practices after their FLAP participation. Therefore, I undertook a small-scale research whose title is “Exploring the influences of professional sojourns on teachers’ practices, assumptions and beliefs about intercultural communication”.  After my MA studies I had the opportunity to undertake a PhD project in which I further explored the lived experiences of Mexican EFL teachers living and working in the UK as Foreign Language Assistants of Spanish. My PhD thesis title is “Mexican EFL teachers narrating their professional development during their sojourn in the UK”. Through this project I contributed to the fields of professional sojourns -also known intercultural sojourns/journeys- teacher professional development and narration. 

Currently, I am a Lecturer in Education at the University of Manchester. I am leading on the development and facilitation of group reflective practice for postgradstudents across different programmes in the Manchester Institute of Education. I also teach and support the facilitation of a number of MA modules including Developing Researcher Reflexivity, Language Learning and Technology and Teaching and Learning Online. My research in areas such as group reflective practice, teacher professional development and intercultural education.