53rd Annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

New York, March 30 – April 2, 2006

Teaching / Learning Portuguese

Through Folk Tales of the
Portuguese-speaking World
 

 
Ana Mendes e Land
 

 
 Agenda:

• Unity and diversity in Portuguese language

• Traditional literature of expression and oral

transmission: folk tales

• Portuguese, folk tales and the five Cs: a unit

plan
Unity and Diversity in
Portuguese Language
PL “occupies a discontinuous
space, spread over every
continent, containing two
national variants (from
Portugal and Brazil),
subdivided into dialects with
only slight differences; having
a national variant in embryo
(Galicia) and other variants in
development (Africa)”
(CASTRO, 1991: 19).
Unity and Diversity in
Portuguese Language
“ (…) this impossibility
of drawing clear
borders between its
continental dialects is
one of the reasons
that allow one to state
that Portuguese is a
rather unitary
language” (FARIA,
1996: 498).
Traditional Literature of Expression and
Oral Transmission: Folk Tales
Agenda:

• Origins

• Definition

• Cycles

• Functions & “Sequência”

• Language Remarks
Origins
• People?
• Mythical or epic
narrations?

UNCERTAIN
 Definition
“O conto popular é uma narrativa de pequena
extensão, com um número reduzido de
personagens, sem qualquer fundo histórico, e cuja
acção se situa num espaço indeterminado e num
tempo passado indefinido. A intervenção do
maravilhoso ocorre em alguns dos contos, mas não
na sua generalidade. Sob o ponto de vista histórico,
considera-se que os contos populares assentam
em crenças e mitos primitivos que se foram
progressivamente adaptando a novos cenários.”

In http://ciberduvidas.sapo.pt/php/resposta.php?id=7846&palavras=conto+popular
 Cycles
Animais (Animals) Heranças (Inheritances)

A Bela e o Monstro (Beauty and the

Beast) Instrumentos maravilhosos
(Wonderful Tools)
Cristo e São Pedro (Christ and Saint
Peter) Nossa Senhora (Our Lady)

Enigmas (Enigmas) Pecados Mortais (Mortal Sins)

Entes sobrenaturais (Supernatural

Beings) O Pedro das Malas-Artes (Peter’s
Wrong Doings)
Entre Marido e Mulher (Between Husband
and Wife) O Sabor dos Sabores (The Flavor of
the Flavors)
Facécias (Jests/Jokes)

A Gata Borralheira (Cinderella)

 Functions & “Sequência
There is a LACK of something. Situação Inicial
This forces the hero to go on a
QUEST to eliminate the lack.
Perturbação
On the quest, the hero
encounters a MAGICAL
HELPER. Transformação
(S)he is subjected to one or more
TESTS. This may be divided
Resolução
into two: an initial, qualifying
test necessary to secure the
helpers’ help, and additional Situação final
tests related to the quest
itself.
After passing the test, (s)he
achieves his/her REWARD.
 Language Remarks
• the folk tales are told in the past (Pretérito Imperfeito and/or Perfeito
do Indicativo, Imperfeito do Conjuntivo, etc.);
• expressions like “Era uma vez…”, “Num reino muito distante…”, “Há
muitos, muitos anos…” can be found in the beginning, demonstrating
the unknown time and space;
• sometimes colloquial words/expressions can exist, since folk tales
were and are transmitted by word of mouth;
• there can be found several elocution verbs, e.g., “dizer, afirmar,
perguntar, interrogar, responder, replicar, negar, contestar, exclamar,
bradar, pedir, solicitar, mandar, ordenar”, etc.;
• the folk tales are a good source for learning vocabulary because the
story remits to only one setting (usually summarized in the title) , e.g.,
“reino, rainha, rei, princesa, torre”, “bode, onça, papo, mato, caçar,
madeira”. In many cases, there can be established a relationship
between the folk tale’s space and the place where the folk tale is told.
 Portuguese, Folk Tales and the
Five Cs: a Unit Plan

Below will be described several activities for learning

Portuguese Language and Culture
while targeting the Five Cs’ standards:
Focus, therefore, on the macro (national standards) and
micro (lesson/unit plan) levels.
 Communication
Communicate in Portuguese
The student:
- asks a person from a Portuguese-speaking country to tell
him/her a folk tale from the origin country;
- writes that story down/tapes it or simply learns it by
heart;
- tells/plays that same story in the classroom.
 
 Standards 1.1 through 1.3 are targeted here, although the
emphasis is placed on standards 1.2 and 1.3.
 
If there is no opportunity for the student to learn a folk tale from a
Portuguese-speaking country, the teacher can tell the class a folk
tale, or ask the students to write one from guidelines provided (see
Build the Folk Tale).
 Cultures
Gain Knowledge and Understanding of
Portuguese Speaking Cultures
The student:
- collects folk tales from two or three Portuguese
Speaking Countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde,
Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé
and Príncipe, Timor);
- compares vocabulary (geography, fauna, flora, etc.);
- tries to establish a relationship between the data
(vocabulary) and the folk tales’ country;
- presents the results in class. 

 Standards 2.1 and 2.2 are the focus of this activity.

 Connections
Connect with Other Disciplines and
Acquire Information
Using the folk tales obtained in 1, the student:
- analyzes the stories separately, as to its main
constituent parts, using the template worksheet (see
Template Worksheet).
 
 Standard 3.1 is targeted here, since the student will
have to use knowledge acquired in the
Literature/Literary Analysis classroom. Also, standard
3.2 is involved in this activity because there exist
differences in the main constituent parts of a narrative
text in English (plot, point of view, setting, character,
style and theme) and in Portuguese (narrador,
personagens, acção, tempo e espaço).
 Comparisons
Develop Insight into the Nature of
Language and Culture
From the results obtained in activity 2, the student:
- draws a table where he/she writes the words
pertaining to a certain semantic field (e.g., fauna) /
expressions / sentences, and writes the same
words / expressions / sentences in another language
(it can be the student’s native language, the
language in which the class is taught, etc.);
- will then determine which ones are more and less
similar to the compared language/culture.
 
 Standards 4.1 and 4.2 are the focus of this activity.
 Communities
Participate in Multilingual Communities
at Home & Around the World
The Portuguese teacher helps the students with: 
- finding an adequate occasion to perform (in
Portuguese) one of the folk tales learned;
- creating a folk tale time calendar to take place either
at the school library or at a public library. In this
case, the student can tell the folk tales in English,
after providing a simple explanation about the
relation of the folk tale and the Portuguese-speaking
country.
 
 Standards 5.1 and 5.2 are the focus of these
suggested activities.