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NEW BEDFORD – College students from the Discovery Language Academy carried out Portuguese conventional folklore dances and a few folks waved Portuguese flags on June 10 in entrance of New Bedford Metropolis Corridor as Portuguese Schooling Minister João Costa paid a particular go to to town and joined within the celebration of the Day of Portugal.
Addressing the group gathered on the Portuguese flag elevating ceremony, Costa mentioned that every Portuguese dwelling overseas is “an envoy of Portuguese tradition locally the place they reside.”
“On behalf of the Portuguese authorities, I thanks very a lot for taking the Portuguese tradition all over the place,” the minister mentioned. “My presence right here can also be recognition of how the Portuguese communities on the planet make Portugal a higher nation for us who by no means left it… your contributions and experiences make Portugal even a higher nation.”
Costa additionally had just a few phrases for non-Portuguese people within the crowd.
“I’d prefer to thanks for making this Portuguese group even higher,” he mentioned. “Know our tradition, know our language, and know our folks as a result of they’re all extraordinary.”
Costa’s go to to the Whaling Metropolis was a part of an ongoing effort from the Portuguese authorities to extend its proximity to Portuguese communities scattered around the globe. This yr, 10 ministers visited as many Diaspora communities on the Day of Portugal, which is formally celebrated on June 10.
After the flag elevating ceremony, Costa toured the amenities of the Discovery Language Academy on Union Road, the place its govt director Leslie Vicente gave him an outline of the college’s enrollment, curriculum and actions. The minister additionally visited ‘The Azorean Spirit: The Artwork of Domingos Rebêlo’ exhibition on show on the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Earlier than coming to New Bedford, Costa was in Hudson, Mass., to go to a brand new twin language Portuguese program at Farley Elementary Faculty.
“We’re becoming a member of the celebrations of the Day of Portugal and of the Communities to extend information and proximity to the Portuguese group, however I’m additionally profiting from my features as Minister of Schooling to get to know some packages which might be being developed right here to show Portuguese, not solely to the youngsters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our emigrants, but in addition to everybody who desires to know the Portuguese language and tradition,” mentioned the minister, who was accompanied on this go to by the brand new Consul Basic of Portugal in Boston Tiago Araújo and João Caixinha, the Coordinator for the Portuguese Language Packages and Schooling Affairs in the USA.
One of many targets, he mentioned, is to ascertain stronger hyperlinks between college students studying Portuguese in the USA and college students in Portugal, “in order that they will get to know one another higher” and in addition in order that “Portuguese college students can worth the Portuguese communities increasingly.”
From Hudson he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT) in Cambridge to ship a lecture on “Language Acquisition and Schooling Insurance policies.”
“Multilingualism is an asset. It’s superb for youngsters to study multiple language,” mentioned Costa, who was a Full Professor of Linguistics on the Nova College of Lisbon earlier than becoming a member of the Portuguese authorities, and was a visiting scholar at MIT in 1995.
Through the lecture, Costa acknowledged that some dad and mom could have issues about bilingualism and its destructive influence on a toddler’s language improvement.
“Some folks suppose that if a toddler goes to study two languages, they’ll be confused,’” he famous. “Scientific proof reveals that it’s good, even in cognitive phrases, to study multiple language.”
Costa’s go to to Massachusetts additionally included a cease by the Fall River Day of Portugal commemoration on the Metropolis Gates on June 11, the place he was joined by Rita Faden, president of the Luso-American Growth Basis (FLAD).
On June 12, he visited the artwork set up “Valkyrie Mumbet” by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos on show on the MassArt Artwork Museum in Boston.
Earlier than departing for Portugal, Costa supplied some appreciation phrases to the native Portuguese group for the “nice work they do in preserving the id of the Portuguese language and tradition.”
Lurdes C. da Silva could also be reached at ldasilva@ojornal.com. To learn extra tales concerning the Portuguese-speaking group in English and Portuguese, please go to ojornal.com.
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