Databases

Portuguese and French in the Primary School

The project «An Approach to Intercultural Awareness - Portuguese and French in the primary School» started with an Interchange between Portuguese teachers from Alentejo schools (Évora, Montemor-o-Novo and Beja) and French teachers from Grenoble district, involving pupils of primary schools (134 pupils of seven classes).The aim of the project was the early learning of foreign languages, the multicultural education and the acceptance of personal and social differences. So, the methodologies settled were: two visits of the groups of teachers in different occasions - two language courses for teachers (the French attended a Portuguese course and the Portuguese attended a French one) - taking part of the penfriend's everyday life during the stay in the host country - exchange of pedagogic experiences, for instance, as far as the activities in mixed ability classes and methods and techniques for the teaching of mother and foreign languages are concerned - trying the value of the story books for children (the «Albums Illustés») in the learning of the foreign language. The playful aspect was always present in the experience. The natural curiosity of this age-group and the very good emotional/affective relationship between the teachers turned out in a progressive and quick oral comprehension of the foreign language. Communication was often in the two languages at the same time. The usage of the «Albums Illustrés» as a pedagogic tool was experimented. Based on traditional and transcultural children's stories (such as «Little Red Riding Hood») allowed a quick comprehension of the message and the further work in the mother language and Art lessons (this work lead to the production of a small puppet show and masks). We'd like to underline some aims already achieved: the teachers have improved their communicative skills in the foreign language, the French learning in primary schools of Alentejo has increased, the Portuguese learning in primary schools on the Grenoble district was setlled.