O ensino do Português em contexto multilingue - o que aprendemos com o Projecto Diversidade Linguística

Abstract

This paper deals with the teaching of a second language, in this specific case, Portuguese language to immigrant children attending the primary education in Portuguese schools. It is well known that the United Nations strongly recommend societies to embrace minority languages, which includes languages spoken by minorities as a consequence of the immigration. This paper also mentions the concern of Portuguese Ministry of Education with the preparation of a legal framework to help these children in the school system and to help teachers know what to do in these circumstances. The acquisition of a second language in school presents some difficulties; this article points that time and interaction will be needed for the child to feel comfortable with the new language. External context and individual features also play a role in learning a non native language. Some strategies and tools the teacher can use to attain the expected results are exposed in the article, along with some examples taken from the project Linguistic Diversity in Portuguese School. In the end, a short presentation of a new project on Bilin-gual Education is also given.