São Paulo – Every Thursday, Brazilian teacher Magaly Quadros’ Dubai home becomes filled with children. Most are the sons and daughters of Brazilians who live in the United Arab Emirates and come to Quadros’ household to hear stories, watch movies, learn games and nursery rhymes from Brazil. Presently, an average of 20 kids aged from two to 12 visit the teacher’s house once a week. They participate in a project created by Quadros, “The Hour of Tale in Dubai,” which she has run as a volunteer, with no revenue involved, for five years now.
Quadros moved to Dubai in late 2007, after her husband was relocated at work. A Portuguese language teacher with a then-five-year-old daughter, she used to read the girl stories. One day, after she had been in the Arab country for two years, the teacher read her daughter a comic book. The little girl was delighted with the story and wanted his mother to read for two of her friends too. Afterwards, Quadros started inviting kids from the neighbourhood, and then from other areas, to listen to stories at her house.
In Brazil, Quadros worked for 20 years at a private American school, and kept in touch with the director of the Portuguese department, who helped and still helps the teacher stay up-to-date with the latest news in Brazilian children’s literature and culture. She conveys the information to the little ones in Dubai. Mothers also help Quadros bring books, videos and other materials from Brazil for the project.
In the beginning, “The Hour of Tale in Dubai” took place in the apartment where Quadros lived with her family. Later on, she moved into a house a set apart a room, which she dubbed the Brazil Room, for spending time with the kids. The Brazilian teacher has since moved again, but there is also a place in her new house for the project.
The children learn about characters from Brazilian literature, such as Sítio do Pica-pau Amarelo, Turma da Mônica and Cocoricó, through books and videos. They learn to sing Brazilian nursery rhymes, play hopscotch and marbles, among other activities, and celebrate dates such as Children’s Day, September 7th, Festa Junina (a typical Brazilian festival held in June) Christmas. Many of the kids are the children of Brazilians with foreigners, therefore they don’t even speak Portuguese, but wind up learning a word here and there.
“It was my daughter’s desire, and it took over my heart,” Quadros told ANBA about the project. The teacher wants to expand the initiative. The goal is to get a more adequate place and increase the number of children served by the project. Quadros thinks the project could take place at a school and with aid from female Brazilian entrepreneurs who work in the Emirates. She has submitted her project to the Brazilian embassy in Abu Dhabi.
At the mothers’ request, Quadros has also begun teaching private Portuguese lessons to some children. The classes, however, are taught at a cost, on Saturdays, also at the teacher’s house. She has classes for children aged seven to nine and ten to 12. Quadros also teaches Portuguese to adult foreigners.
“I never thought I would teach Portuguese in Dubai,” she says about her expectations prior to moving from Brazil to the United Arab Emirates. In Brazil, Quadros taught Portuguese to Preschool and High School students. A year after she moved to Dubai, a friend of hers offered to transfer her private students to Quadros. She accepted and also taught at a language school for four years. She quit about a year ago to focus on private lessons.
The teacher is also involved in a project titled “Portuguese as a Heritage Language,” which conducts studies on the teaching of Portuguese to children born abroad or who left Portuguese-speaking countries at a young age. The group is based in Europe, even though Quadros lives outside the continent. “I was adopted by them,” she says. The teacher is also trying to bring together other Brazilian educators living in Dubai to work for the education of Brazilian children in the Emirates.
Service:
The Hour of Tale in Dubai
Website: http://horadocontodubai.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://pt-br.facebook.com/AHoraDoContoEmDubai
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
