Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Levels: Intermediate/advanced
Stages
Into:
With music played with a traditional 15-string guitar from the island of Terceira, the teacher recites the
poem “João Valente” written by Álamo Oliveira (included below).
Through:
1. Each student gets a cut-a-way of the poem (indicated by the different sections in which the poem
has been divided). Students have 5-7 minutes to line-up according to how the poem is written.
2. Once again, the teacher recites the poem and students may change the order they have lined-up in
order for it to be correct.
3. Students recite the poem collectively. Each student recites the portion that she/he has.
4. Students get a full copy of the poem and are encouraged to read one favorite stanza.
5. In pairs students work on writing as many Portuguese-American words as they can identify in the
text. They write the word expressed in the text, and the corresponding “real words” in English and in
Portuguese. This is followed by a short debrief session with the entire class. The teacher goes through
all the Portuguese-American words in the text.
6. In groups of four the students do a memory activity matching colloquial phrases with translations in
English.
7. Verdade/Falso—students respond to an amalgam of questions regarding the content and the
messages of the poem.
8. In pairs the students answer, in writing, with complete sentences, 20 questions about the poem.
9. Portuguese misspells—students find the words in the poem that the author misspelled in order to be
phonetically close to the pronunciation of a rural “freguesia” in the Azores in the 1960s and 1970s.
10. The students get a hand-out (from the first edition of Portugal, Língua e Cultura) with Portuguese-
American words and volunteers read the dialogue in the hand-out.
11. In pairs students create a small phone dialogue between two relatives, one in the Azores and one in
California. The dialogue must include a few Portuguese-American words and must make reference to
everyday situations, such as the poem does.
Beyond:
1. Students write a 3 paragraph e-mail to a relative (or friend) in a Portuguese speaking country about
everyday situations in their life and ask questions about what is going-on in his/her respective
country/area.
2. Students are given a situation in the Portuguese-American world and they create a dialogue that is
presented to class, either in front of the class or recorded and then played in class. The students are
encouraged to use Portuguese-American words (examples of situations that are relevant to the local
community: four Portuguese-Americans playing cards in a Portuguese-American club; three
Portuguese ladies in a Portuguese church service; three Portuguese-American ladies in a Portuguese-
American Festa; three Portuguese-Americans working in a dairy; a Portuguese-American family at the
dinner table; a Portuguese-American family driving to Pismo Beach., etc.)
Note: This lesson is followed by several others with the theme “Immigration from Portugal to the
United States.” The students read excerpts from Os Açorianos na California by Dr. Mayone Dias, do
an amalgam of written and oral activities around the interviews read, watch and do a Powerpoint
activity around the documentaries “Off the Boat” and “Tradições Portuguesas na Califórnia”; then the
unit culminates with another “Beyond-activity”: The Interview!
Students interview, in Portuguese, an immigrant from Portugal and/or Brazil. Students are given ten
basic questions and then they ask 5 on their own. The interviews are recorded, audio or video (extra-
credit for video). The students are encouraged to use someone in their family. If they aren’t of
Portuguese ancestry or don’t know someone who was an immigrant, the teacher gives a list of people,
who have been previously contacted and are willing to be interviewed.
E agora, se me oives,
Tremino. Vamos cear
O mesmo caldo de coives
Do almoço e do jantar.
E já me chama a Maria
(Eu estou no meio da casa).
Enfim! Inté calquer dia!
Tenho um sono que me arrasa.