53rd Annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign LanguagesNew York, March 30 – April 2, 2006

Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-Speaking World

Ana Mendes

Email: anaisabelcmendes@yahoo.com

Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-Speaking World

AbstractThis paper is composed by three moments: first, the understanding of unity and diversity in Portuguese language; second, the characteristics of folk tales; third, how folk tales can be used in the classroom, a description of activities part of a unit plan, followed by the respective materials. This unit plan offers exercises created for the learners to compare and analyze literary, cultural and linguistic contents that can be explored in folk tales written in Portuguese from the South American, European, African and Asian continents.

This unit plan is designed for junior and senior high school students of Portuguese and intermediate-advanced students of Portuguese as a foreign language.

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1. Unity and diversity in Portuguese language

“’Na linguagem é importante o pólo da variedade, que corresponde à expressão individual, mas também o é o da unidade, que corresponde à comunicação inter-individual e é garantia de intercompreensão’”

Eugenio Coseriu citado por CUNHA e CINTRA (1998: 7)

In this text we will briefly discuss two aspects that, while being opposites, complement each other and coexist in linguistic systems without any paradox, allowing the existence, continuity and enrichment of these same systems/natural languages, like the case of the Portuguese language (PL), our focus. These two aspects are unity and diversity.

A language’s unity is not an easy subject to discuss, much less to affirm, if we consider any historic language as a “diassistema” (a diachronic system), therefore never as “a unitary linguistic system, but an ensemble of linguistic systems” (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 3)1. This subject becomes even more complicated when we talk about PL, which, according to Ivo Castro: occupies a discontinuous space, spread over [almost] 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).

Will it be, therefore, possible to speak of unity in a language that acknowledges three norms (European Portuguese, Brazilian and Galician) and covers different geographic spaces in different continents?

In order to answer this question, let’s take a look at a precise moment of the above mentioned Ivo Castro’s excerpt: “two national variants (Portugal and Brazil), subdivided in dialects with only slight differences”. In fact, the linguistic geography, through linguistic maps, is capable of showing this “slight difference”, a smaller heterogeneity of the Portuguese and Brazilian linguistic material. In the European Portuguese case, Isabel Hub Faria states that “It is enough to look at the map where the main Portuguese isophones are represented (map 3) (not reproduced here) to realize that the limits of the dialectal characteristics indicated are far from coinciding. And 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).

Lindley Cintra shares this opinion, while citing a remark by Paiva Boléo, with the goal of proving the “superior unity of our language” (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 9)2, regarding Portugal: “A person, even if not familiar with matters of philology, who has traveled throughout Portugal, from north to south, and has spoken with everyday people, this person cannot but be impressed with the country’s exceptional linguistic homogeneity and its rare dialectal differentiation – as opposed to what happens in other countries, where whether Romance or Germanic languages are spoken”3. This statement finds a clear example in the case of Spain, a country where, besides Castilian, there are two other Romance languages that have institutional recognition4, while in Portugal there is only one which, smothered by Portuguese, achieved this status only at a late 1 In the original “um sistema linguístico unitário, mas um conjunto de sistemas linguísticos”.2 In the original “superior unidade do nosso idioma”.3 In the original “Uma pessoa, mesmo alheia a assuntos filológicos, que haja percorrido Portugal de norte a sul e conversado com gente do povo, não pode deixar de ficar impressionada com a excepcional homogeneidade linguística do País e a sua escassa diferenciação dialectal – ao contrário do que sucede noutros países, quer de língua românica, quer germânica.”4 The division of the political power in Spain, with regions with autonomous governments, facilitated the institutional recognition of the Galician and Catalonian languages.

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stage: it was not until the 1990s that the Mirandese language was granted the status of an official language, coexisting with the majority language in a state of inequality.

PL unity can, therefore, at first be found at a micro/national level, where it exists with all the internal differences and self-varieties, amongst which can be highlighted one that, for several reasons, will be considered the standard. This norm can be seen as a pole of resistance, opposed to the pole of change in the origin of diversity, which reflects itself at a macro/pluricontinental level: “So, in a language there exists, along with the centrifugal force of innovation, the centripetal force of conservation which, countering the other, guarantees the superior unity of a language such as Portuguese, spoken by peoples from the five continents.” (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 4)5

The force of innovation, one of the factors that leads to diversity, has found and still finds current resistance6, although nowadays to a lesser degree: thanks to, but not only to, the contribution of new areas of study, such as Sociolinguistics, the change/variation7 is considered today as inherent to language, allowing its evolution, along with the evolution of the society which uses it as an instrument/means of communication. This variation can be synchronic or diachronic/historical, and it is studied mainly in Historic Linguistics. This subject allows us to understand not only the unity, but also the variety of PL: the origins (from Latin to the birth of Romance languages) and evolution (from Galician-Portuguese to Old Portuguese and then to Classical) bring us to the present moment, to the several dialects and varieties of PL presented by Celso Cunha and Lindley Cintra (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 9-24). According to these authors they are:

- European Portuguese dialects8,- Atlantic islands dialects,- Brazilian dialects and- Creoles (Africa, Asia and Oceania).

All these dialects and variants have their specificities (at a phonetic, syntactic, lexical or other level), however there are two main characteristics that unify them and give them cohesion (marking an opposition to dialects from the neighboring countries):

“The dialects and all the Portuguese variants present two fundamental characteristics that differentiate them, together, from Castilian dialects:

- The suppression of Latin inter-vowel /l/ and of /n/;- The retention of Latin brief vowels without creating diphthongs.”9

2. Traditional Literature of Expression and Oral Transmission: Folk tales

5 In the original “Numa língua existe, pois, ao lado da força centrífuga da inovação, a força centrípeta da conservação, que, contra-regrando a primeira, garante a superior unidade de um idioma como o português, falado por povos que se distribuem pelos cinco continentes.”6 About the way linguistic change was faced along times (from the 19th century by Neo-grammaticians, until the 20th by Structuralists and Sociolinguists) see the article “Mudança linguística”, by Rita Marquilhas, in FARIA, 1996.7 We have to mention that PL presents several types of internal differences: “variações diatópicas, diastráticas e diafásicas”. 8 These dialects can be grouped in: Galician dialects, dialectos portugueses setentrionais e dialectos centro-meridionais.9 Maria Helena Mira Mateus, «A língua portuguesa: unidade e diversidade», in Actas I Encontro da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, INIC, Lisboa, 1982, p.147.

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2.1. Folk TalesWe will now discuss literary, cultural and linguistic content related to folk tales and their specific aspects. These are designed to provide teachers with reference texts and the fundamentals of folk tales, which will allow them to use this particular type of story in classroom activities.

2.1.1. The Origin of Folk TalesAccording to the Thesaurus definition, a folk tale is “a tale circulated by word of mouth among the common folk”10. A more detailed definition is provided by Carlos Reis in his Dicionário de Narratologia:

The expression “folk tale” (“conto popular”) contains an explicit allusion to the origin which we assume to be responsible for the making of this sub-group of particular narrative texts: indeed, “folk” (“popular”) alludes immediately to “the people” (“povo”), a relatively ambiguous concept that denotes, in a vague way, a plural being, preferably located in a peripheral rural place, little influenced by urban culture11.

In this last definition of “folk tales”, Carlos Reis calls this type of story “conto popular”, due to its origins (in the people, “povo”). However, the Portuguese denomination also admits the variant “conto tradicional” (“traditional tales”), preferred by other researchers because they consider the origin not to be located in the people, but in mythical or epic narrations very common during the Middle Ages (DINE, 1999: 20).

“Conto popular” or “conto tradicional”, the origins of folk tales are uncertain. These short stories do not have credited authors or definite dates (unlike a written text, folk tales were never published): this is the reason why we find sentences like “Era uma vez…” (“Once upon a time…”) beginning folk tales. They are part of the oral legacy of people and can be found among the different categories of folklore12, sharing common features with other categories, like myths13 or legends14.

2.1.2. The Characteristics of Folk Tales Folk tales are stories to be told; however, during certain historic periods there was an urge to write them down, in order to keep them from being forgotten and forever lost. As 10 Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1). Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.11 In the original:“A expressão conto popular comporta uma alusão explícita à fonte que se presume responsável pela produção deste sub-conjunto peculiar de textos narrativos: de facto, popular reenvia de imediato para povo, conceito relativamente ambíguo que denota, de forma difusa, um ser colectivo preferencialmente situado num espaço rural periférico, pouco permeável a contaminações da cultura urbana.” (REIS, 1987: 79)12 Other categories of folklore can be found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk tales13 It seems to be reasonable to state that folk tales are residues of primitive myths and beliefs that were progressively adapted to new cultural scenarios (REIS, 1987: 82).14 According to Carlos Reis (op. cit.) a “lenda é uma forma de narrativa geralmente breve que pode ser escrita em prosa ou em verso. O seu argumento é tirado da tradição oral, tal como o conto. Está ligada a um espaço geográfico e a uma determinada época, o que não acontece nos contos que são situados num passado indefinido e num espaço indeterminado. Localiza-se quase sempre num castelo, num monte, num ribeiro ou num bosque. Este tipo de narrativa tem pretensões históricas, embora por vezes se forme em torno de um facto conhecido, em que os pormenores reais se perderam na memória do povo e foram substituídos por outros de pura ficção. Na lenda, o maravilhoso e o imaginário superam geralmente o histórico e o verdadeiro. Esta forma de relato explica um hábito colectivo, uma superstição, uma romaria religiosa. Está ligada à vida dos heróis, à sua acção e morte. O traço religioso é uma constante da lenda.”

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written short stories they form a particular genre of the narrative mode and, therefore, have several distinctive features that differentiate them from other types of texts (e.g. novels).

In the following outline can be found two complementary lists of the unique characteristics of folk tales: (i) a list of more general characteristics, drawn by Margarida Dine and (ii) a detailed list of specific characteristics of folk tales.

(i) The general characteristics of folk tales can be defined as general elements:a) all folk tales are narrations, even if not all narrations are folk tales;b) folk tales take place in the past;c) the characters in folk tales possess neither depth nor complexity;a) folk tales have “voicing” potential (i.e. they can always be told).15

(ii) If we were to present a concise list of the characteristics of folk tales (its definition implicit), we would say that a folk tale:

i. is a short story that focuses on one specific situation only and does not have many characters;

ii. is part of the oral legacy and does not have one author, the author being plural and anonymous (the people);

iii. is part of a universal and timeless legacy;iv. exists in different peoples / cultures since ancient times;v. is a text that suffers slight changes because it is transmitted orally from one

person/group/generation to another (the way one narrates the same story will always present idiosyncrasies; some parts/moments can be forgotten16, and the teller will have to recreate it or adjust it to complete the tale17);

vi. has the intent of amusing and/or teaching a lesson;vii. is not dated nor located in a defined geographic area;

viii. has various themes: a woman being stubborn, careless, gluttonous, etc., unfaithfulness, loyalty, dishonesty, a man being controlled by a woman, witchcraft, superstition, magic, faith in destiny, etc.

But folk tales also share the same five categories of any other narrative text, which are: narrator, characters, “acção” (the facts that happen along the story), time and space18. Let’s take a very brief look at these five categories.

15 In the original:“As características gerais dos contos podem ser designadas por elementos constantes:a) todos os contos são narrações, apesar de nem todas as narrações serem contos;b) os contos desenrolam-se no passado;c) os contos são narratives fechadas;d) as personagens dos contos não possuem profundidade ou interioridade;

os contos possuem uma constante potencialidade “oracular” (ou seja, podem sempre passar à oralidade, através da voz).” (DINE, 1999: 23)16 Memory is the most important factor in the transmission of folk tales, when there is no written language involved.17 About this subject, Carlos Reis (REIS, 1987: 81) tells us that:“Qualquer intérprete dispõe de uma certa margem de liberdade no seu acto de actualização discursiva.”18 In English language literature, the main constituent parts of a narrative text are usually considered to be: 1) plot, 2) point of view, 3) setting, 4) character, 5) style and 6) theme.

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1.2.1. Narrator: the narrator is non-participant (tells the story in the 3rd person).

1.2.2. Characters: there are main and secondary characters that can be irreverent, smart, evil, or cunning to achieve their goals.

1.2.3. Time: the time is undetermined, even though there can be found references to times of the day (dawn, morning, afternoon, evening, night, etc.) or of the year (seasons).

1.2.4. Space: the space is undetermined, but there can be found general references to the type of location where the story takes place (mountains, coast, kingdom, castle, etc.).

1.2.5. Narrative structure and Propp’s motif analysis: the structure of narrative texts, including folk tales, has been studied by several authors. There will be an introduction (“introdução”), a middle (“desenvolvimento”), and an ending (“conclusão”). The different moments within the text’s development are pointed out by Carlos Reis in his Dicionário de Narratologia:

As the story begins to develop, there occurs a complication that requires a solution; these two categories form the central part of the narrative text called the event, which, along with the frame within which it takes place, forms the plot, which is part of the story; these categories, along with the values (evaluation) arising from the plot and with a lesson/moral that becomes clear at the end of the story, are shown in the form of a diagram that represents the superstructure of a narrative text (see Figure 1 hereafter).

Having presented the superstructure of narrative texts/folk tales, we are now going to introduce the motifs and their different functions that form this same structure. The

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 7Figure 2 Narrative text's superstructure

Russian folklorist, Vladimir Propp19 found 31 functions20, i.e. unchangeable elements of the folk story, that occur in the same order. We will not mention all of these 31 functions, but only the five that Paul Vehvilainen obtained through simplification of Propp’s model:

1. There is a LACK of something. 2. This forces the hero to go on a QUEST to eliminate the lack. 3. On the quest, the hero encounters a MAGICAL HELPER. 4. (S)he is subjected to one or more TESTS.This may be divided into two: an initial, qualifying test necessary to secure the helpers’ help, and additional tests related to the quest itself. 5. After passing the test, (s)he achieves his/her REWARD.

According to Paul Vehvilainen, “We should be able to apply this simplified system, not just to the Russian tales that Propp started with, but to most fairy tales in the Western tradition.”21

Figure 1: Narrative text’ superstructure: Teun Van Dijk by Carlos Reis (REIS, 1987: 269)

19 More about Propp and his work can be found at the following websites: http://mural.uv.es/vifresal/Propp.htm, http://www.brown.edu/Courses/FR0133/Fairytale_Generator/home.html 20 According to Propp, “Estas unidades básicas do conto são definidas como acções que desempenham um papel fulcral no desenrolar global da história. Uma função pode ser assumida por diferentes personagens e sofrer diversas realizações sem no entanto perder o seu estatuto de núcleo fundamental da progressão narrativa (um malefício, por exemplo, pode ser concretizado figurativamente por um roubo, um rapto ou um assassínio; o que interessa é o seu significado no encadeamento global dos eventos narrados).” (REIS, 1987: 178-9). Opposite to functions are the motifs, “múltiplas concretizações figurativas das funções” (REIS, 1987: 235): “a função malefício, por exemplo, pode ser figurativamente representada, entre outros, pelos motives rapto, agressão física ou declaração de guerra.” (REIS, 235)21 In http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/propp.htm

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“(…) no desenrolar de uma acção, verifica-se uma complicação solicitando uma resolução; estas duas categorias formam o núcleo narrativo designado como evento, o qual, juntamente com a moldura em que se desenvolve, forma a intriga, por sua vez englobada na história; completando estas categorias com as atitudes valorativas (avaliação) suscitadas pela intriga e com moralidade eventualmente explicitada”, teremos o diagrama acima apresentado que representa a superestrutura de um texto narrativo.”

Narr

História Moralidade

Intriga Avaliação

Episódio

Moldura Evento

Complicação Resolução

(Teun Van Dijk)

2.1.3. The Cycles of Folk TalesAccording to their idiosyncrasies, folk tales can be grouped / classified by types: enchantment tales, tales that set an example, animal tales, religious tales, jocular tales22, among others. An example of the exhaustive classification/grouping of Portuguese folk tales in different cycles is provided by J. Leite de Vasconcelos in his collection of hundreds of Portuguese folk tales23. According to Vasconcelos, there are fourteen thematic cycles:

1. Animais (Animals)2. A Bela e o Monstro (Beauty and the Beast)3. Cristo e São Pedro (Christ and Saint Peter)4. Enigmas (Enigmas) 5. Entes sobrenaturais (Supernatural Beings)6. Entre Marido e Mulher (Between Husband and Wife)7. Facécias (Jests/Jokes)8. A Gata Borralheira (Cinderella)9. Heranças (Inheritances) 10. Instrumentos maravilhosos (Wonderful Tools)11. Nossa Senhora (Our Lady)12. Pecados Mortais (Mortal Sins)13. O Pedro das Malas-Artes (Peter’s Wrong Doings)14. O Sabor dos Sabores (The Flavor of the Flavors)

We will now mention another category proposal by Adriano Barbosa to the Angolan folk tales he collected in his book Angola imagens e mensagens: contos tradicionais (the folk tales are translations into Portuguese from the originals in Quioco24):

“1 – Contos mitológicos ou relacionados com a mitologia (…) 2 – Contos relacionados com fantasmas ou monstros (…) 3 – Contos relacionados com a magia:

- o adivinho (…)- o nganga (…)- diversos (…)

4 – Contos relacionados com provérbios (…) 5 – Contos etiológicos (…) 6 – Contos onomatopaicos (interpretação das vozes dos animais, etc.) (…) 7 – Contos diversos, cujos protagonistas são:

- só pessoas (…)- pessoas e animais (…)- só animais (…)- coisas (…).”

Regarding the classification of folk tales, many authors have followed, in the organization of their collections of folk tales, the AT classification25. One of these “folk tales’ collectors” was the Brazilian folklorist Luís da Câmara Cascudo, who lists several

22 Contos maravilhosos ou de encantamento, contos de exemplo, contos de animais, contos religiosos, contos etiológicos, facécias, contos de adivinhação, etc.23 VASCONCELLOS, J. Leite de (1964): Contos Populares e Lendas. Coordenação por SOROMENHO, Alda Da Silva, e SOROMENHO, P.C. in http://www.prensajuvenil.org/foro/05/pdf/terror/LA%20CASA%20ENCANTADA.pdf

24 The Quioco or Chokwe (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=AO) is the language spoken by the Lunda-Quioco people (http://www.angola.org/referenc/people.html).

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cycles for Brazilian folk tales (1946: 19-20) and provides the equivalent definition in other languages, for example:

“contos de encantamento – Correspondem ao Tales of magic, Tales of supernatural, o Cuentos, Racconti, Fairy Play, Marchen, o mi-soso (…) de Angola, skarki dos russos.Contos de exemplo – Ordinary Folk-tales, o velho “Exemplo”, Exempli, Stories, Fireside stories, Consejas, dos espanhóis, empregado igualmento no Folclore ibero-americano, “Un grupo de Consejas Chilenas”, de Rodolfo Lenz, Santiago de Chile 1912.Contos de animais – Fábulas, na acepção clássica, Animal Tales. Facécias – Jokes and Anedoctes, Patranha, schwank, Contrafavole.Contos religiosos – Religious Tales, contos de intervenção divina. (…)”

2.2. The CultureEven if we consider folk tales to be “residues of primitive myths and beliefs” (REIS, 1987: 82), they have indeed been adapted to new cultural scenarios, becoming reference stories in the cultural legacy. If we look, for example, at the version of the folk tale “Stone Soup” (“Sopa de Pedra”) told in Portugal, we find that the story takes place in a traditional Portuguese rural scenario. Also, the fact that we can find in Portugal a folk tale cycle equivalent to the one of the “Love Like Salt Cycle”26 is meaningful of the importance that salt has in Portuguese culture.

2.3. The LanguageWe will only highlight some aspects related to the language in folk tales:- the folk stories are told in the past (usually in the Pretérito Imperfeito and/or Perfeito do Indicativo, but other tenses can also appear, composed or simple, like the Imperfeito do Conjuntivo);- 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.

2.4. Folk Tales from the Portuguese Speaking World, a Brief Bibliography

25 A stands for Aarne, the name of a Finnish folklorist, and the T stands for Thompson, the American folklorist Stith Thompson. More about Antti Aarne and the AT classification can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antti_Aarne and http://oaks.nvg.org/ys4ra18.html, respectively. 26 Professor D. L. Ashliman, http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

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The Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa - 12.º Ano 27 offers a good bibliography on literary works from the Portuguese speaking world. However, not all the mentioned titles can be easily found in the U.S. Therefore, we will present a brief list of collections of folk tales that exist at the Library of Congress and on-line folk tales from the eight Portuguese speaking countries:

AngolaAdriano C. Barbosa, Angola imagens e mensagens: contos tradicionais. Edições Ora & Labora, Santo Tirso, 1990. CALL NUMBER:GR358.3 .B37 1990http://www.sanzalangola.com/lit010.php

BrazilLuís da Câmara Cascudo, Contos tradicionais do Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 1986. CALL NUMBER: MLCM 88/08732 (P) FT MEADEhttp://memoriaviva.digi.com.br/cascudo/livros.htm http://ifolk.vilabol.uol.com.br/div/folclore/index.htm http://www.terrabrasileira.net/folclore/regioes/3contos/entesud.html

Cape Verdehttp://verbumimagus.blogspot.com/2005/05/vaca-cabra-e-o-co-conto-tradicional.htmlhttp://www.minerva.uevora.pt/aprenderpt/jogoproj/tilobo.html

East Timor http://www.cerit.org/gentes_cult_contos.html

Guinea-Bissau- Viriato Tadeu, Contos do Caramô, Lendas e Fábulas Mandingas da Guiné Portuguesa. Lisboa, Divisão de Publicações e Biblioteca, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1945. CALL NUMBER: GR360.G8 T3- Heriberto Ramón Alvarez García, Leyendas y mitos de Guinea. Madrid, Instituto de Estudios Africanos, 1951. CALL NUMBER: GR360.G8 A6

MozambiqueS/A, Contos tradicionais moçambicanos: antologia. Centro de Estudos de Comunicação, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, 1978. CALL NUMBER: GR356.9 .C66

Portugal- J. Leite de Vasconcelos, Contos populares portugueses. Estudo, coordenação e classificação de Alda da Silva Soromenho e Paulo Caratão Soromenho. Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Científica, Lisboa, 1984. CALL NUMBER: GR238 .S67 1984- Zophimo Consiglieri Pedroso, Contos populares portugueses. Vega, Lisboa, 1984.CALL NUMBER: MLCM 84/0021 (P) FT MEADEhttp://www.apena.rcts.pt/aproximar/contos/contos1.htm http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/contos.htm

São Tomé and Príncipehttp://culturastp.blogspot.com/2005/05/conto-tradicional-01.html

27 CARVALHO, Alberto, Carla Ferreira, Eunice Marta, Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa - 12.º Ano, Curso Científico-Humanístico de Línguas e Literaturas. Ministério da Educação, Departamento do Ensino Secundário. Coordenador: Alberto Carvalho. Ministério da Educação, Departamento do Ensino Secundário, 08/07/2002 http://www.dgidc.min-edu.pt/programs/prog_hom/literat_lingua_portug_12_homol.pdf

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3. Multicultural Approach in the Teaching of Portuguese

3.1. Portuguese Language, Folk Tales and the Five Cs After having briefly discussed:

a) the differences and similarities of Portuguese language, which the student should be aware of since Portuguese is spoken in eight different countries;b) the main aspects of folk tales and presented a list of easy access folk tales from the Portuguese-speaking world.

We will now depart to the last moment of this paper: how a) and b) can come together with c) the standards for foreign language learning.

Folk tales from Portuguese-speaking countries are great a type of text to be used in the classroom, while targeting the different Standards for Foreign Language Learning28: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities. The student will be able to put into practice the language skills acquired with the study of the folk tale; the student will be able to establish comparisons between the different Portuguese-speaking countries/cultures; the student will be able to perceive differences and to establish connections between the folk tale’s country and his/her own; the student will be able to tell folktales from other countries, or to perform them in his/her community.

Obviously, the national standards need to be understood in relation with the state framework29, the district curriculum and the lesson/unit plan. In the following part of this presentation we will focus on the macro (national standards) and micro (lesson/unit plan) levels.

Folk tales from Portuguese Speaking Countries’ Unit PlanBelow will be described several activities targeting the Five Cs’ standards. These activities are part of a Unit Plan provided on pages 14-15, followed by the materials to be used in the classroom.

CommunicationCommunicate in Portuguese

1. The student visits an aged relative (or friend) and asks him/her to tell a folk tale from childhood. The student writes that story down or simply learns it by heart. The student tells that same story in the classroom.

28 Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century: including Chinese, classical languages, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Lawrence, KS: National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999. The Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Executive Summary can be found in http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324.29 Since the New England states and especially Massachusetts are the ones with one of the highest concentration of Portuguese people and where it Portuguese is taught in public schools, we suggest here the reading of the 1999 Massachusetts Foreign Languages Curriculum Framework, which can be found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/foreign/1999.pdf

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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 folktale from a relative or a friend, the teacher can tell the class a folktale, or ask the students to write one from guidelines provided (see Build the Folktale, below).

CulturesGain Knowledge and Understanding of Portuguese Speaking Cultures

2. The student collects folk tales from two or three of the following Portuguese Speaking Countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor. The student compares vocabulary (as to the geography, the climate, the fauna, the flora). The student tries to establish a relationship between the data (vocabulary) and the folk tales’ country. The student presents the results in class.

Standards 2.1 and 2.2 are the focus of this activity.

ConnectionsConnect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information

3. Using the folk tales obtained in 1, the student will analyze them separately, using the template worksheet (below).

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 way the analysis of the narrative categories in English (plot, point of view, setting, character, style and theme) and in Portuguese (narrador, personagens, acção, tempo e espaço) are presented.

ComparisonsDevelop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture

4. 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 imparted, etc.). The student 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.

CommunitiesParticipate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the World

5. The Portuguese teacher will try:

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 13

- to find an adequate occasion30 for the students to perform (in Portuguese) one of the folk tales learned;- to create a folktale time calendar to take place either at the school library or at a public library. 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 world.

Standards 5.1 and 5.2 are the focus of these suggested activities.

30 The teacher can contact: local newspapers, local groups of Portuguese-speakers, associations, etc. The PALCUS can provide useful information http://www.palcus.org/

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 14

PortugueseUnit Plan: Folk tales from the Portuguese-Speaking World 2006

Skills

Specific Goals

Listening/Speaking Reading Writing Thinking about the Language

Framing in the Language and the

CultureTime

Learns folk tales from Portuguese Speaking Countries

Uses writing strategies to build an existing folktale

Telling a folktale previously learned from another person (individual assignment)

Writing a folk tale from the guidelines provided (Build the Folktale) (individual assignment)

2 lessons

Perceives and understands differences in different folk tales from different countries

Comparing vocabulary (as to geography, fauna and flora) (pair assignment)

Collecting one or more folk tales from Portuguese-Speaking Countries (pair assignment)

Establishing a relationship between the results obtained and the folk tales’ countries (pair assignment)

2 lessons

Presenting the results in class. (group/pair assignment)

Analyses folk tales as to the main constituent part of narrative texts

Analyzing folk tales according to the main constituent parts of the narrative text through the worksheet (individual assignment)

1 lesson

Expands his/her vocabulary and establishes morphologic, phonetic, semantic and syntactic comparisons

Drawing a table of semantic fields (family words), to be filled with words/ expressions / sentences for comparison (differences and similarities) with English (or another language) (group assignment)

1 lesson

Becomes familiar with a story told in Portuguese and tells it to others

Performing (in Portuguese) one of the folk tales learned (group assignment)

1 lesson

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 16

Ficha de Trabalho Modelo para a Análise das Categorias da Narrativa

Template Worksheet for Analysis of the Main Constituent Parts of a Narrative Text

Lê o texto:

(...)

1. Personagens1.1. Classifica as personagens, quanto ao relevo (principal/secundária/figurante) e à composição

(plana/modelada). _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.2. Preenche o quadro de caracterização da personagem:

___________________________(Personagem)Palavras/expressões/frases /

Caracterização física /

Caracterização psicológica /

2. Narrador

Presença (participante / não-participante) Focalização (externa / interna; parcial/imparcial; narrador objectivo/narrador subjectivo)

Diz porquê Diz porquê

Dá exemplos Dá exemplos

3. AcçãoPreenche o quadro com os momentos do conto “________________________”:

Momentos da Acção / Moments Texto Assunto Introdução " __________________________

___________________________________________________”

Introdução da situação inicial e apresentação de… (personagem principal).

4. Tempo

Faz o levantamento de marcas temporais (cronológicas / meteorológicas) (palavras/expressões).

5. Espaço Completa o quadro com elementos capazes de nomear e caracterizar os diferentes espaços:

Espaço macro Espaço micro __________________ __________________ __________________

Exterior Interior __________________ __________________ __________________

__________________ __________________ __________________

6. “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

Concordas ou discordas desta definição? Fundamenta a tua opinião com base no conto “_____________” (título).

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 18

Dramatização do conto “A sopa de pedra” / Dramatization of the folktale “Stone soup”

Below can be found the Portuguese folk tale “O Caldo de Pedra” (“Stone Soup”), a folk tale that can be easily turned into a short play, engaging the student in a short conversation. We say “easily” because the story takes place inside a house and the few actors involved will need very few accessories: a monk’s habit (this can be improvised), a stone, a pan and ingredients. The highlighted parts correspond to the “Frade” and “Gente da casa”’s speech (this last one highlighted and underlined).

This activity can also become an interdisciplinary project with Drama.

O CALDO DE PEDRA

Um dia, um frade andava ao peditório; chegou à porta de um lavrador, mas não lhe quiseram aí dar nada. O frade estava a cair com fome, e disse:

- Vou ver se faço um caldinho de pedra. E pegou numa pedra do chão, sacudiu-lhe a terra e pôs-se a olhar para ela para ver se era boa para fazer um caldo. A gente da casa pôs-se a rir do frade e daquela lembrança. Diz o frade:

- Então nunca comeram caldo de pedra? Só lhes digo que é uma coisa muito boa.Responderam-lhe:- Sempre queremos ver isso.Foi o que o frade quis ouvir. Depois de ter lavado a pedra, disse:- Se me emprestassem aí um pucarinho.Deram-lhe uma panela de barro. Ele encheu-a de água e deitou-lhe a pedra dentro.- Agora se me deixassem estar a panelinha aí ao pé das brasas.Deixaram. Assim que a panela começou a chiar, disse ele:- Com um bocadinho de unto é que o caldo ficava de primor.Foram-lhe buscar um pedaço de unto. Ferveu, ferveu, e a gente da casa pasmada para o que via.

Diz o frade, provando o caldo:- Está um bocadinho insosso; bem precisa de uma pedrinha de sal.Também lhe deram o sal. Temperou, provou, e disse:- Agora é que com uns olhinhos de couve ficava que os anjos o comeriam.A dona da casa foi à horta e trouxe-lhe duas couves tenras. O frade limpou-as, e ripou-as com os

dedos deitando as folhas na panela.Quando os olhos já estavam aferventados disse o frade:- Ai, um naquinho de chouriço é que lhe dava uma graça...Trouxeram-lhe um pedaço de chouriço; ele botou-o à panela, e enquanto se cozia, tirou do alforge

pão, e arranjou-se para comer com vagar. O caldo cheirava que era um regalo. Comeu e lambeu o beiço; depois de despejada a panela ficou a pedra no fundo; a gente da casa, que estava com os olhos nele, perguntou-lhe:

- Ó senhor frade, então a pedra?Respondeu o frade:- A pedra lavo-a e levo-a comigo para outra vez.E assim comeu onde não lhe queriam dar nada.

Teófilo Braga, Contos Tradicionais do Povo Português 31

31 Este conto pode ser encontrado em http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/teofilo.html, a versão em inglês em http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html#proverb / This folk tale can be found at http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/teofilo.html, the English version at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html#proverbAna Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 19

Constrói o Conto Popular / Build the Folktale

The following are guidelines for writing a folktale (hereafter). The teacher can create guidelines for any folktale.

Constrói um conto popular e dá-lhe um título, seguindo as instruções: /Build a folktale and give it a title, following the instructions:

Pepo-(Iya-Landa)-o-Esperto no ocidente

tem uma pele de onça quer comprar duas enxadas

(uma pele de onça = uma enxada)

corta o rabo em duas tiras e enrola a pele

+

Pepo-(Iya-Ngangela)-o-Esperto no oriente

tem uma enxada quer comprar duas peles de onça

(uma enxada = uma pele de onça)

mete dois cabos na mesma enxada

Encontro e Transacção dos dois produtosEnxada(s) Pele(s)

MAS…

Chegada a casa:

Uma enxada = dois cabosUma pele de onça = duas tiras

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 20

BIBLIOGRAFIA / BIBLIOGRAPHY

CARVALHO, Alberto, Carla Ferreira & Eunice Marta2002 Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa - 12.º Ano, Curso Científico-Humanístico de Línguas e Literaturas. Ministério da Educação, Departamento do Ensino Secundário.

CASCUDO, Luís da Câmara1946 Contos tradicionais do Brasil, confrontos e notas. Americ-Edit., Rio de Janeiro.

CASTRO, Ivo1991 Curso de História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade Aberta, Lisboa.

CUNHA, C. & CINTRA, L. F. Lindley1998 Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo, Sá da Costa, Lisboa.

FARIA, I. H., E. R. PEDRO, I. DUARTE & C. A. M. GOUVEIA (org.)1996 Introdução à Linguística Geral e Portuguesa, Colecção Universitária Série Linguística, Editorial Caminho, Lisboa.

DINE, Madalena Jorge & Maria Sequeira Fernandes1999 Para uma leitura dos contos tradicionais portugueses: aspectos gerais e teorias sobre a origem, tipologias, interpretaçãOo simbólica, sugestoes de trabalho. Lisboa, Editorial Presença.

FERREIRA, Manuel1977-1986 Literaturas africanas de expressão portuguesa. Instituto de Cultura Portuguesa, M.E.I.C., Secretaria de Estado da Investigação Científica, 1a. ed. Lisboa. http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/bvc/bibbreve/006/bb06.pdf

GUERREIRO, Manuel V.1983 Para a História da Literatura Popular Portuguesa. Biblioteca Breve, Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa. http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/bvc/bibbreve/bib19.pdf

LAWRENCE, KS1999 Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century: including Chinese, classical languages, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project.

MADUREIRA, João, Ana Maria Vilhena, Leonor Castro Lopo & Fernanda Teixeira2000 A Literatura de Expressão Oral. Chaves.

CONSIGLIERI PEDROSO, Zophimo1984 Contos populares portugueses. Vega, Lisboa.

REIS, Carlos & Ana Cristina M. Lopes1987 Dicionário de narratologia. Coimbra, Livraria Almedina.

VASCONCELOS, J. Leite de 1984 Contos populares portugueses. Estudo, coordenação e classificação de Alda da Silva Soromenho e Paulo Caratão Soromenho. Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Científica, Lisboa.

VECCHI, Roberto2004 Letterature Lusofone d’Africa - Per connoscere gli scrittori di Angola, Capo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambico, São Tomé. Comune di Bologna, Centro Amilcar Cabral Sull’Asia, l’Africa e l’America Latina, Bologna. http://www.centrocabral.com/adon/files/lusofoni_integrato.pdf

La Casa Encantada – Estudios sobre cuentos, mitos y leyendas de España y Portugal. Seminario Interuniversitario de Estudios sobre la Tradición. Coordinadores: Dr. Eloy Martos Núñez (UEX), Dr. Vitor Manuel De Sousa Trindade (U. Évora). Editora Regional de Extremadura, Mérida, 1997http://www.prensajuvenil.org/foro/05/pdf/terror/LA%20CASA%20ENCANTADA.pdf

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 21