History
❖Signing of MOU via Skype. Lesley University, MA USA and Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal are jointly offering the Portuguese Global Studies Program. Contact Dr. Serpa mserpa@lesley.edu for more information.
❖Visit of Dr. Maria de Lourdes Rodrigues, former Minister of Education of Portugal and current President of FLAD Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal in May 2011.
❖Portuguese Language & Culture I, II & III Courses for Lesley University Faculty and Staff. The first two courses were taught by Dr. Carolina Baptista and Dr. Solange Lira. A trip to S. Miguel, Azores was the culminating event during June 2010 in collaboration with the University of the Azores under the leadership of the Portuguese World Language Institute and the Friends of Language & Cultural Diversity. The third course is being taught by professor Athanassiou
❖Portuguese Heritage Day Celebration at Lesley University sponsored by the Diversity Initiative and the President’s Office with the participation of the LU community at large.
❖Portuguese Language and Cultures for Lesley University faculty (an experiment in the marketing of Portuguese) who took a year long course in Portuguese with Dr. Solange de Azambuja Lira. The project was funded by the Luso-American Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal and co-sponsored by the School of Education at Lesley University
❖Portuguese Literacy graduate course in collaboration with the Lowell Public Schools, Lowell, MA. This was the first graduate 3 credit course on the teaching of Literacy in Portuguese in the United States.
❖ Portuguese-American Student Authors Program was made a reality with a grant from O Departamento de Imigração, Presidência do Governo Regional dos Açores and co-sponsored by Lesley University. The project was aimed at students between 10 and 18 years of age living in the United States. Participants were involved in researching and writing biographies of Portuguese Heritage persons, of their choice, who had made a significant contribution to our democratic, multiethnic, multicultural American society. Participating students and their teachers were honored at a banquet where the Keynote Speaker was Mr. Ron Goulart, one of America’s most famous science fiction writers whose father is from an Azorean a Portuguese Heritage background.
❖Portuguese 2005 Teacher Project a collaboration between the Office of Education, Embassy of Portugal, Washington DC and Lesley University School of Education.
❖Professional development for teachers of Portuguese language and cultures with notable speakers such as Professor Sérgio Niza from Lisbon Portugal; Prof. Ana. M. Viveiros and Dr. Graça Castanho from the Azores; and Dean Rita Marino, PhD. from the USA.
❖Lesley University School of Education co-sponsors the 15th Portuguese Language & Cultures Conference.
❖Lesley University gives Honorary Doctoral Degree to Dr. Maria de Jesus Barroso Soares, first Lady of Portugal in recognition of her major contributions to the “world community” (1996).
❖Lesley University collaborates with the Cambridge Public Schools in providing professional development to teachers of Portuguese.
❖Lesley University School of Education, Bilingual Education Department of the Cambridge Public Schools developed a re-certification model program for ESL grandfathered teachers, where more than half taught in the Portuguese Bilingual Program. The Massachusetts Department of Education then adopted this re-certification model for the Commonwealth.
❖Other Portuguese speaking dignitaries that have visited Lesley University include: A past President of the Azores, the former Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Paulo Freire, a world renowned Brazilian educator, an Education delegation from several provinces in Angola, the Secretary of Education of the Azores, the Director of Serviços de Emigração (now called Direção Regional das Comunidades), the Councilor of Education at Washington DC. and the President of FLAD.
Portuguese at Lesley University
The vision for the Portuguese World Language Institute began in 2004. Dr. Maria de Lourdes B. Serpa and Dr. Carolina Baptista joined efforts to create the Portuguese World Language Institute to promote global understanding and excellence in the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a world language in the United States and beyond. This initiative became a reality thanks to a gift from Professor Warren Teixeira of Rhode Island College, RI, USA.
Lesley University, the home of the Portuguese World Language Institute, has had an active role in affirming the presence of the Portuguese language and cultures for over three decades. It began with the National Assessment and Dissemination Center for Bilingual Education, funded by the US Department of Education. This national center was instrumental in the creation and publication of high quality instructional materials to teach Portuguese in Bilingual Education programs across the USA.
About Lesley University
Lesley University was founded in 1909 as Lesley College, in Cambridge, MA, USA and is comprised of four schools: School of Education, Arts Institute of Boston, Lesley College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Lesley University has pioneered several innovative programs in undergraduate and graduate education and the arts and is one of the largest graduate Teacher Education Universities in the USA.
World Language Institute, Lesley University, MA USA