The Basic Portuguese Course, offered to indigenous migrants and refugees by the Fraternity – Internacional Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), in collaboration with Visão Mundial and Inspire Rebeca, goes beyond grammatical rules and seeks to be a tool to welcome, empower, include and transform the realities of these people.
The training took place at the Indigenous Cultural and Training Centre (CCFI), from March 13 to 31, with a workload of 60 hours, and had the participation of 21 indigenous people from the Wayú, Warao, Taurepang and Kariña ethnic groups.
According to Professor Mônica, “in addition to providing a basic understanding of the language, training will help to develop social skills, thus generating interaction between people and groups in different contexts and needs.”
“I always think of this course as a survival tool that will enable indigenous people to overcome challenges and prejudices,” points out the professor.
The Venezuelan native of the Taurepang ethnic group, José Leonel, speaks with enthusiasm and with a much less pronounced accent, about how the course helped him a lot in communicating with other people, speaking and accentuating words correctly.
“Through training, I was able to go far beyond what I already knew. I learned new expressions and counting symbols. And since there were several indigenous ethnic groups, we were able to exchange ideas, help each other with translation and understanding difficulties,” reports Leonel.
The power of words
Learning the language of the host country helps to create ties with the local community and guarantees a better and longer-lasting economic insertion in the place where they wish to stay. Several studies demonstrate that more diverse communities are more resilient and more conducive to development.
Faced with language difficulties, teaching Portuguese to migrants is a form of acceptance and, at the same time, the first step towards achieving human rights.
Knowing how to teach Portuguese to indigenous migrants and refugees helps to make the language naturalization process simpler and more fluid. This is because, as we well know, Brazilian Portuguese is full of particularities that can make learning difficult.
“This course is evidence of the transforming power of words and education, which open doors to new opportunities and a fresh start in life. It is a small but significant step towards achieving their goals. And so they can say: ‘I can learn, I can advance, I can be whoever I want to be,'” emphasizes Mônica.
“With the course, I feel more motivated to keep moving forward and pass on what I’ve learned to other people. I tell my countrymen that it is very important to know the language, to study, instead of standing still. In addition to facilitating communication, we can also talk about our culture and our traditional knowledge.”
