Lenir Neiva dos Santos is originally from São Paulo, Brazil, but has been living in the US since 2001. She holds a M.S.Ed. in TESOL from Temple University and a bachelor’s degree in Letras (Literature, Portuguese and English), with a minor in Portuguese-English-Portuguese translation and interpretation, from Universidade Ibero Americana (UNIBERO), São Paulo, Brazil.
In the Fall of 2010, she began teaching Portuguese in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences (SAS). In addition to teaching at SAS and The Lauder Institute, Lenir also teaches ESL courses in the English Language Programs at Penn.
She is a member of the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) as a certified Limited Portuguese OPI tester/rater and a Certified Portuguese ILS (Interpersonal Listening/Speaking) and PW (Presentational Writing) Rater for The ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL).
Her areas of interests and research are focused on Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism.
