São Paulo – The Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center, in Beirut, will start applying tests for the Certificate of Proficiency in Portuguese for Foreigners (Celpe-Bras) in April 2016. The staff of the Center, which is subordinate to the Embassy of Brazil in Lebanon, received training from August 31st to September 3rd, and the facility will be the first and only center to apply the test in the Middle East.
“I believe this is a cutting-edge initiative. Brazil and Lebanon have strong historical ties. This is an innovative, provocative development that will bring in more students and people interested [in learning the language],” says Najua Bazzi, the center’s director regarding the test. According to her, in the past, whenever the organization was contacted by people looking to take the proficiency test, the staff would refer them to a center in Paris.
To her, the possibility to attest proficiency in Portuguese should create relevant opportunities, particularly to young people trying to further their careers. “It becomes much easier for a Lebanese youth to relocate [to Brazil] to study or work once they earn their Celpe-Bras,” says Bazzi.
Besides the Lebanese, Bazzi says she expects people from other countries in the region, such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, to take the test as well.
The Celpe-Bras test is developed by Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep), a Brazilian research and education institute. The test evaluates writing, reading, listening and oral communication skills. It cannot be taken by people at a basic level, and the candidates can be ranked into four levels: intermediate, higher intermediate, advanced, and higher advanced.
The training at the center in Beirut was delivered by Matilde Scaramucci, a full professor at the Department of Applied Linguistics of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and by Eunice Santos, from the Inep. Now, the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center has eight examiners in its staff.
As of October this year, the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center will start offering a preparatory course for the test. “We will work on the four competencies and show how the test is formatted,” says Bazzi.
Celpe-Bras tests are applied twice a year, in April and October. The test lasts three hours and twenty minutes. The examiners in Lebanon will only evaluate the oral communication section; the remaining skills, which are part of the written portion of the test, will be sent to Brazil and graded by Inep professionals. In the center in Lebanon, 60 people can take the test in each sitting.
Bazzi notes that the Celpe-Bras is required by public universities in Brazil for admission of foreigners, and that more and more private companies are demanding the test from non-natives looking to join their ranks.
The Celpe-Bras test can be taken by foreigners of any nationality aged 16 or older. The test costs US$ 50 and prior registration is required online at http://celpebras.inep.gov.br/inscricao/. For additional information please call +961 1 322905.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
