Portuguese Courses
The first of a two-semester sequence for students with no previous Portuguese instruction in which students complete three semesters in two, this course emphasizes the development of communication skills and acquisition of basic vocabulary. Classroom activities, daily homework, compositions, and weekly quizzes reinforce grammatical structures. The conversation component promotes student comprehension of native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and develops student fluency. The course includes a mandatory one-hour weekly group conversation class with a tutor for nine weeks of the semester outside of the class meeting time.
The second semester of a two-semester sequence in Intensive Portuguese, this course places increased emphasis on reading skills and writing competence. Using news sources, Brazilian music and film, short stories, and cultural readings, the course presents increasingly specialized vocabulary in context. Exams, compositions, and daily homework enhance student engagement with the readings. The conversation and audio components promote student comprehension of native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and help students build fluency and confidence. The course includes a mandatory one-hour weekly group conversation class with a tutor for nine weeks of the semester outside of the class meeting time.
This course surveys works of Brazilian literature from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries. The texts, representing different genres, are viewed in their historical, cultural, social, and aesthetic contexts. Themes include colonialism and empire, race, negritude, and slavery.
