Portuguese at Princeton University
Posted by Elena Como with Atlantico Books on April 12, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Princeton April 2011
Yesterday I visited two intermediate Portuguese classes with Professor Luis Gonçalves at Princeton University in New Jersey. Luis is very active in all kinds of Portuguese cultural and language events and activities, and I visited his “Culturas Africanas Lusófonas e Afro-Brasileiras” class two years ago at Columbia, when I was just starting to blog. Both of the classes I observed yesterday were intermediate Portuguese for Spanish-speakers, second semester. The first group was six students, and the second had 12 students.
They showed off their pretérito skills in a quick chat about how everyone spent their weekends. I learned that a favorite hangout in Princeton is Prospect Avenue, where students like to go out and dance on Saturday nights.
Next they read an article about Benedita da Silva, the Brazilian senator and first woman (& woman of color) in the Brazilian senate. They discussed issues that Benedita has championed, such as equal rights for women, stopping the exploitation of children in Brazil, and rights for disabled people in Brazil. They practiced the future subjunctive:
“O Brasil vai conseguir igualdade entre mulheres e homens quando houver mais entendimento da desigualdade.”
“A violência contra mulheres vai parar quando houverem castigos maiores para os criminosos.”
After the exercises, they split into two teams to play “Jeopardy,” testing their comprehension of an article they’d read for homework about East Timor. Questions varied in difficulty and topic, and one example is in this picture: “Em quanto estão avaliadas as reservas de petróleo de Timor-Leste?” (if you know the answer, respond by “comment” below!). In the first group, I joined a team– and I realized I needed to study up a lot on East Timor! The students were extremely well-versed in the geography, politics, economy, and culture of Timor-Leste. They got most of the questions correct and the winning team won by just 100 points–a close match!
Portuguese students at Princeton
It was a pleasure to get to see the Princeton campus in spring, and to meet these dedicated Portuguese students. Princeton’s Spanish and Portuguese Department offers a liberal arts major in Portuguese designed to give students a thorough grounding in the language, literature, and cultures. Students are encouraged to complement their courses in Portuguese with related and varied courses in other literatures, as well as in art history, anthropology, sociology, comparative literature, and other humanities subjects.
Portuguese at Princeton is taught in mostly small classes and seminars, allowing extensive student/teacher interaction. Portuguese students at Princeton become equipped to use their Portuguese skills in many walks of life, including journalism, business, law, government service, and international affairs. For non-majors, the department offers a rich set of language, literature and culture courses, from introductory to very advanced. It also offers a popular certificate program, allowing the study of Spanish and Portuguese to be combined with concentration in history, architecture, English, politics, or any other subject available at Princeton.