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A database of selected, reviewed, tested, assessed and validated e-learning based language teaching sources addressed to Higher education students for the learning of 18 different European languages.

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Portuguese for speakers of other languages - Suggestion of activities and exercises

Date of Publication

2007

Target Group

Lecturers
Students

Domain Area

Business & Communication

Learning Scenario


Target Language

Portuguese

Language of Instruction

Portuguese

CEFR level

A1

Type of Material

Activity/task
Guiding resources (online course/book)

Linguistic Features

Vocabulary
Grammar
Pragmatics

Skills

Writing
Reading

Description

This is a 60-page-long activity pack with 12 modules that approach the following topics: personal identification and characterisation; everyday life; food, festivities and free time; shopping, services and directions; human body and health; jobs and work; studying and working; past and present; recent habits; news and other texts; citizenship and cultural diversity. Each topic may encompass up to 6 activities. The exercises range from cloze texts, text interpretation to
Even though dated (it still follows the spelling before the new spelling agreement was settled, this can still be a sort of survival kit for immigrants living and looking for a job in Portugal (it has the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education and public entities like “Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional” and “Agência Nacional para a Qualidade”) or other people willing to speak the language.

Case study

This could be tested with a group of students learning Portuguese as a foreign language. The resource should be implemented and practised under a communicative approach where students have the chance of learning the language with a communicative purpose and in real contexts. For example, module 1 should be used after a simulation of situations (close to real contexts) had been tried in class, e.g. Introducing to each other, writing a personal profile (with basic structures and words), etc. The translation of some words into the learners’ language can also be effective, as, in the first stages of the learning, students always need to establish some sort of comparison between their languages and the new language they are learning. That is why the first exercise from module 1 could also be really helpful.

Guidelines

Each module can be dealt with in class or started in class and continued at home for consolidation work or preparation for further in-class activities.
Nonetheless, we suggest the following steps regarding module 1 (personal identification and characterization), for example:
Warmer: L. introduces a (fictional) person (shown on a powerpoint slide) to the students. L. writes some words on the slide to characterise this person (e.g Pedro): ex: “Pedro, médico, 45 anos, 2 filhos, português, casado, mora em Lisboa” – Pedro, doctor, 45 years old, 2 children, married, lives in Lisbon). These key words are useful to introduce Pedro.
Step 1: L. asks students to repeat the words (individual and chorus drill)
Step 3: Students are then asked to write down their own identification, using only keywords.
Step 4: L. draws on the board three columns. In each writes words related to this module in different languages (it also depends on the students’ nationalities): olá / hello / hola; Portuguese / Portuguese / Portugués, etc. L. points to each of the words and students must repeat the word in the language selected.
Step 4: as a way of practising this vocabulary and sentence structures, then students could do the exercises form the resource pack, which they can easily have access to online or could simply download it and print it off.

Review

Category
Rate
Comprehensive approach
Capacity to match the needs of lecturers and students

4

Added value
The provided tangible improvements

4

Motivation enhancement
The capacity to motivate students to improve their language skills

4

Innovation
Effectiveness in introducing innovative, creative and previously unknown approaches to LSP learning

3

Transferability
Measurement of the transferable potential and possibility to be a source of further capitalisation/application for other language projects in different countries

4

Skills assessment and validation
Availability of appropriate tools for lecturers to monitor students’ progress and for students to assess own progress and to reflect on learning

4

Adaptability
Flexibility of the contents and possibilities for the LSP lecturers to adapt the contents to their and to students’ need

4

Usability
Assess the technical usability from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

5

Accessibility
Assess the accessibility from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

5

Comments:
Overall, this resource meets the needs of both students and lecturers. The whole pack is flexible enough to be adapted to different teaching and learning contexts and, though not what we would consider innovative, it has the advantage of being free online and rather comprehensive for beginner’s level. This could only be a basis for further work and development on the existing exercises.
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