São Paulo – Beginning in July, Beirut’s Brazil Lebanon Cultural Center will offer Portuguese language classes in corporate settings. The center is affiliated with the embassy of Brazil in Lebanon and already offers Portuguese lessons at its headquarters, to approximately 900 students per year.
“We sustain agreements with corporations that send personnel to Portuguese-speaking countries like Mozambique, Angola, and even Brazil. And they send their people to study here with us. In some cases, there are issues involving the time and travel required. So I realized that by offering [in-company] classes, we could increase our number of students,” says the center’s director Najua Bazzi.
According to her, the companies are mostly industries operating in Portuguese-speaking countries that have ties with Lebanon. There are still lots of people who want to live in Brazil to attend Medical school, particularly plastic surgery. “Many want to take an internship with expert plastic surgeons in Brazil, and they need to speak Portuguese so they can validate their diplomas and take the Celpe-Bras test (a Portuguese language proficiency exam),” Bazzi explains.
Besides the demand from corporations and students, another factor that led to the in-company classes was a strong demand for one-on-one lessons. “Students perform better,” says Bazzi. “Business executives and those with busier schedules would often opt for these lessons,” she explains.
According to the director, the classes are not only about teaching the language. “We teach Portuguese with a cultural angle. We want to teach Portuguese by spreading Brazilian culture. We provide a context in order to change the stereotyped view that Brazil is about Carnival, football, and samba. We discuss film, literature etc.,” she says. The in-company lessons, however, will have more of a business-like focus,” Bazzi notes.
Presently, the center has six Portuguese teachers; six are Brazilian and one is a Lebanese national who lived in Brazil for 12 years. Groups of at least four students are required for the in-company lessons. The corporate lessons are available in the morning and afternoon. The prices are provided on request.
New partnership
The Brazil Lebanon Cultural Center is also in talks for partnership to teach Portuguese in other cities besides Beirut. “We want to offer Portuguese at least once a week to students at Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Usek) and to the people who live near the campus,” Bazzi reveals. The partnership is being discussed with Brazil’s Roberto Khatlab, director of the Usek’s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (Cecal).
The second partnership is being discussed with Safadi Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 2001 to help the development of Lebanese society. The foundation is based in Tripoli, Lebanon. “During the [Iberoamerican] festival [held in May], we had experimental classes with children and adults, and this got people interested [in learning the language],” she says.
“Kaslik and Tripoli are areas we want to cover. At first, we will designate a teacher from the center to those units. If there is a demand, we will hire someone,” Bazzi asserts.
Brazil Lebanon Cultural Center
Website: http://brasiliban.itamaraty.gov.br/pt-br/
Tel.: +961 1 322 905
Email: brasiliban@itamaraty.gov.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
