Portuguese is a language very commonly spoken by the natives of the country of Portugal. And learning Portuguese is one of the most knowledgeable experiences.
It is known as the romance language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Portuguese is a very commonly found and spoken language in the world, all thanks to the various invasions carried out by them in the medieval to the early modern times that successfully promoted the language across the globe. That in turn has resulted in the surge in the speakers of the language. There are approximately 220 million native speakers of Portuguese and about 50 million people speak Portuguese as a non-native language. It is not only the official language of Portugal but also of 5 and more countries namely, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Principe, etc. In the list of most-spoken languages, Portuguese stands at number six, making it one of the very popularly spoken languages in the world.
What is the quality of Portuguese taught in Schools?
Despite Portuguese being such a popular language, one can notice that the quality of Portuguese taught in high schools is comparatively terrible. This happens because of various reasons and some of them are discussed below.
Read on to find out why learning Portuguese in High school can be a terrible idea?
The language is forced
As we all know, the basic structure for schools includes a study of 2 or more languages compulsorily, out of which one is a common language that is English, and the second usually has an option between any regional or foreign language or you can also see students being taught a third language that is compulsorily a foreign language.
Forced Learning! A Big NOOOOO!
And Since learning Portuguese is forced on students, one might notice that a lot of them are actually not even interested in learning the language and only learn it for the sake of passing the exams. At the end of the academic year, the students are given a proficiency certificate, but the knowledge of the language is only limited to the examination point of view and not in the day to day situation. This has been the major reason for the decrease in the quality of speakers after High School.
The curriculum being outdated
The syllabus or the curriculum in school does not change in years, making it outdated and difficult for children to learn. To have a better outcome from the students, the schools must at least be updated with the syllabus and pay close attention to the needs of the learners depending on the times and current situations.
Classrooms being overcrowded
A majority of language classes are divided into batches of a handful of students that are genuinely interested in learning Portuguese. The reason this is done is that the tutor can pay enough and equal attention to all its learners. But in a High school classroom, such is not the case.
Student to teacher ratio high
There are numerous students in one single class that are to be handled by one single teacher, which makes teaching Portuguese extremely difficult for the teacher and is not able to pay attention to the individual needs of the learners. This overcrowding also leads to a General study of the language rather than an outcome-oriented study.
Understand your need very well.
While learning Portuguese, it is important to understand the purpose of learning first and then move towards the actual process of learning, however, this purpose goes for a toss in the High school set of learning Portuguese.
To sum up, one can agree that learning Portuguese in High school is a terrible idea for most of us.
However, we can still find quality learners that are highly interested in learning Portuguese and take up the subject seriously instead of doing it for the sake of just passing the exams. The entire process of learning Portuguese is rushed in high school in order to be able to finish it in a year or two. Learning happens at different speeds according to one’s pace of learning and rushing the process simply results in a bad experience and no desirable outcomes can be noticed.
In case you are someone who has had a terrible high school experience in learning Portuguese and wish to learn and enhance your skills further, you can check Multibhashi for their online Portuguese course and learn Portuguese online right from the comfort of your home.