Board Members
Claudia Tamsky- Vice- Chair,
Representing the Brazilian community
Rodrigo Sathler- Treasurer,
Representing the Brazilian Community
Jane Giovannucci- Clerk,
Representing Epiphany Episcopal Church, Walpole
Bill Carnes- Member,
Representing St Luke's Episcopal Church, Hudson
From left to right: Penn Young, Rodrigo Sathler, Ana Sandra Pereira Alonso, Claudia Tamsky, Jane Giovannucci and Bill Carnes.
Adminstrative Staff
Lilhian Borba , Program Director
**Lilhian Borba** is an experienced language educator with a strong academic foundation in both Portuguese and English. Holding degrees in both languages, she has spent several years honing her teaching skills and developing a passion for helping students achieve fluency and confidence. Lilhian’s approach to teaching is characterized by a blend of creativity, patience, and adaptability, ensuring that each learner receives personalized attention to reach their language goals. In addition to her teaching career, Lilhian is deeply involved with the Brazilian and intercultural communities, working to foster integration and support language learning across diverse groups. As the Program Director of *ProGente Connections*, she leads initiatives that bridge cultural gaps, creating opportunities for individuals to connect, learn, and thrive in multicultural environments. Her role at ProGente allows her to further her commitment to community-building, helping people from various backgrounds navigate the challenges of language acquisition while also embracing cultural exchange. With a passion for both education and community development, Lilhian continues to be a driving force in supporting individuals’ personal and professional growth through language and intercultural understanding.
ESL Program Volunteers
Lori Mills-Curran
Lori is one of the original founders of ProGente Connections. She is the former Executive Director of the non-profit and a retired Deacon of the Episcopal Church. Lori had been teaching a class while she worked for ProGente Connections and found she did not want to give it up. Working with the students hands on is one of the best parts of the job. It is super-rewarding to be helpful in a way that is so simple, but so meaningful for the students. She loves them and they return again and again. Lori is a quilter and she loves embroidery. She also loves to travel.
Mr. Harding
Mr. Harding heard about the program when Lori Mills-Curran spoke at his Church. He is currently retired from a marketing, communications and consulting career. He started as a volunteer in November 2020. He enjoys conversations and interactions with other individuals. He has also been a volunteer teacher working with Haitian kids in English, Math, Social Studies and Drama. When that activity ended, he was looking fo a similar program. Our program offered a volunteer position without having to undergo multi weeks of training. He enjoys photography, fly and salt water fishing, gardening, music, bike riding, tennis and traveling.
Ian Cho
He is a high school student attending St. Mark’s School, Southborough. Ian first heard about Progente Connections through a Saturday Class program at his school. Over the summer of 2024, he reached out to Lilhian to learn more about Progente. He was born in Michigan but grew up in South Korea and Singapore. He can currently speak English, Korean, and Chinese fluently and hopes to gain proficiency in Spanish and Portuguese. He is passionate about learning languages, AI literacy, brainrot, philosophy, and magical realism. In his free time, he enjoys playing the trombone and ukulele, singing, and whistling.
This program is on hiatus for the 2019-2022 school year. Contact us for more information.
Português Plus Teachers
Eliane Vaz Louison - São Paulo Group, Framingham
Eliane has been teaching Portuguese to children ages 5 to 8 in our program since 2014. She works constantly to help her students learn in a friendly and creative environment.
She took courses on Early Childhood Development in high school, and she holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas. Eliane is a member of the American Organization of Portuguese Teachers (AOTP) in the United States.
Eliane has worked as a Portuguese Storyteller for Framingham Public Libraries, presenting poems, songs, and popular culture to preschoolers. Currently Eliane works for Hudson Public Schools as a Portuguese Teaching Assistant.
Eliane never misses the opportunity to improve her teaching skills. In 2017 and 2018, she actively participated in a training program for Portuguese teachers called STARTALK, sponsored by Boston University and the NSA. Eliane has also taken several Portuguese as a Heritage Language workshops. Since 2014, Eliane has attended the Visions of Community Conference, a conference for families with children with special needs. She has also taken Positive Solutions (POS) courses through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.
Eliane loves to be with her family, friends, and her dogs, Mocinha and Sunny Boy. She also enjoys traveling, cooking, teaching and learning.
Marta Abrenhosa Dos Santos - São Paulo Group, Marlborough
Marta joined Português Plus as a teaching intern in 2013. She also interned for a year at Assabet Valley High School in Hudson, MA, in a Portuguese as a Second Language Program. Martha completed her Bachelor’s Degree through Catholic University of Brasilia in 2015, and in the same year was hired as a regular teacher for Português Plus for children four to six.
Marta especially enjoys watching the children progress through the learning process in the Portuguese language, and loves sparking their interest in Brazilian culture as a whole.
Marta was born in Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil and currently resides in Marlborough. She is married and has two children. Marta enjoys hiking, walking and experiencing the outdoors.
Vanessa Austin - Rio de Janeiro Group, Framingham
Vanessa graduated as a Portuguese and English Teacher at UFTM (Universidade Féederal do Triangulo Mineiro) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. While in college, she worked for two years as a substitute Portuguese teacher in a public high school. After graduating from college, she moved to Boston and earned her Masters in Education from Cambridge College.
Vanessa also taught Portuguese at Hudson High School and at Kefee Technical School, where she still works in the Portuguese program for adults. In the summer of 2017, Vanessa participated in the highly selective STARTALK program, sponsored by Boston University and by the NSA.
She is enjoying life being a mom of a little boy and having her daily big helper, Crokett, her dog. She loves to travel to meet new people and encounter new cultures around the world.
Gizely Viana - Rio de Janeiro Group, Marlborough
Gizely was born in Goiás, Brazil, where she lived through her childhood and youth. Gizely graduated from the College of Teaching at the State University of Goiás.
In Brazil, Gizely taught various ages in public and private elementary schools for several years. She immigrated to the United States in 2000 along with her husband and son.
Gizely has taught in our predecessor program since 2012, and transitioned with us when Português Plus opened in 2015 in Marlborough.
Eva Santos - Brasília Group, Framingham
Eva is from the West-Center area of Brazil. She and her husband came to the US in 1995. She is the mother of three beautiful children.
In 2006, Eva earned her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell. Teaching has always been Eva’s passion, and she is employed by the Wayland Public Schools as a Data Base Manager.
Eva has been a member of the Português Plus community since 2012, both as a parent and teacher in our predecessor program. When our current program was launched in 2015, she fell in love with its pedagogical techniques. Eva finds it a great pleasure to teach Portuguese as a heritage language to teenagers, especially when she shares Brazilian folklore, culture and music with her students.
She is also a very active member of the Brazilian Community at St. Tarcisius Church in Framingham, where she has been teaching as a catechist for the past 10 years.
Selma Erlandson - Brasília Group, Marlborough
Selma has been part of Pro Gente Connections since 2015. She is a teacher for both Português Plus and Portuguese as a Second Language for Adults in Framingham.
Selma was first hired as a teacher in 1990 at the age of 17, right after graduating from high school, where she became licensed to teach grades 1 to 5 in Brazil. In 1997, Selma graduated from The State University of Bahia (UNEB), Brazil, receiving her degree in Teaching Portuguese and Literature.
Selma is passionate about languages. She has worked for years as a medical interpreter and translator. She founded the interpretation ministry at Bethel Presbyterian Church where she interpreted the services simultaneously for many years.
Among other things, Selma loves travel, camping, spending time with her husband and her four boys. She also appreciates and is amazed by cultural diversity and by how beautiful the world is due to our differences.