Autor: Paulo Farah

BibliASPA develops a Portuguese language and brazilian culture program for foreigners at its headquarter in São Paulo at Baronesa de Itu Street, 639, Santa Cecília, two blocks away from Marechal Deodoro metro station.

Currently there are eleven turmas de português para refugiados (from different nationalities, including syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Sudanese, Nigerians, Ivorians, Congolese, Senegalese, Ghanaians, Haitians, Afghans, Bolivians, etc.). Foreigners of any nationality are most welcome. It is known that the number of refugees in São Paulo and in other cities of Brazil is increasing and this is one of the most relevant issues nowadays.

The second most spoken Latin language in the world, Portuguese is the official language in Brazil, Portugal and some African countries, such as Angola and Mozambique.

Besides the language, students have the opportunity to know culturas e costumes do Brasil, considering that culture is a fundamental aspect to language learning.

In this course performed by BibliASPA the student learns the different aspects of the language – oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing – in a practical way linked to real situations of everyday life, stimulating communication and the exercise of citizenship.

This way the student can develop communicative skills, acquire phonetic-phonological and lexical structures in oral language and acquire morphosyntactic structures in oral and written language.

The didactic material used in the course is developed by the team of Portuguese language teachers and researchers on Portuguese language for foreigners.

The program consists of four modules and includes assessments at each stage, with an emphasis on the refugee’s ability to handle everyday life.

The Course seeks to offer refugees food and learning material (notebook, pens, pencils, books, etc.). At the moment, BibliASPA seeks support for these actions and also so that it can offer transportation to the refugees, since many of them do not have the money to take the metro or the bus.

BibliASPA looks for a way to offer transportation to refugees, if possible through student tickets, since Portuguese language helps to promote the integration of them and allows them to have a better chance of finding a job, especially in the current crisis situation of the country.

The social relevance of this project is expressive considering that it provides means for the refugees to ensure their rights of access to public services, besides seeking to enable them to find work, housing, and etc.