Teaching Portuguese As a Host Language for Immigrants / Refugees in Situations of Social Vulnerability in Gois / Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting a project held at Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goias, Brazil, which works with vulnerable immigrants/refugees in Goiania and surrounding cities. These people come to Goias in search of better conditions of life and depend on the Portuguese language as an instrument of social and labor insertion. For this reason, this project has two main goals: to provide college students (teachers-to-be) with teaching education and experience, and to improve the acquisition of Portuguese as a host language (PHL) by immigrants/refugees, i.e., as an instrument of mediation between immigrants/refugees and society, allied in the process of adaptation and belonging to the new environment. The team is composed of linguists, professionals from the fields of arts, health, human rights, psychology, hospitality and computer science and by under-graduate students of Portuguese and Dance. The activities are organized in two parts: (1) training workshops for the students on immigrant rights, health, culture, cultural conflicts, and teaching-learning theories of PHL, and (2) PHL and culture classes and for immigrants/refugees, taught by students under the supervision of linguists/teachers. Immigrants living in Goias face significant difficulties in terms of integration, particularly regarding entry into the labor market. These difficulties translate into a high rate of unemployment, downward professional mobility and a process of loss of self-esteem and social exclusion. This project is relevant as an attempt to minimize these difficulties and help immigrants/refugees adaptation/integration process.

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Author Information
Paula Graciano Pereira, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goias, Brazil
Suelene Vaz da Silva, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goias, Brazil
Mirelle Amaral de Sao Bernardo, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology Goiano, Brazil

• Category: ACCS2018, Uncategorised

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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