Apaixonado Mas Pressionado: Passionate But Pressured
Portuguese Education Programs in the United States Struggle with Enrollment Problems
The final class of the semester is a cause for celebration for both professors and students. Cecília Rodrigues, an assistant professor of Portuguese at the University of Georgia, wrapped up her final class of the fall 2017 semester. She went over the final exam and thanked her 10 upper-level students for their hard work the past semester.
Finally, she urged her students to enroll in the next class promptly- if enough students did not enroll, the class would be canceled.
Brooke Stocco, 20, a journalism major and environmental economics and management major who is pursuing a minor in Portuguese at the University of Georgia, sat in Rodrigues’ class and began to worry whether or not the subsequent class would gain enough students. Without the course, she may be unable to finish her minor. This is not the first time she has been worried about her Portuguese classes being canceled.
“Every semester, starting with my first Portuguese class, my professors have encouraged the whole class to sign up for the next level as soon as possible because there is always the chance that our class will get canceled,” Stocco said.
This semester, her Portuguese class has seven total students enrolled."Since my first semester, I don’t think there have ever been more than 12 people in any of my classes," Stocco said.
I, too, have sat in numerous Portuguese class and worried I would be unable to finish my own Portuguese minor.
My own interest in Portuguese education stems from my cultural heritage. My grandparents immigrated from Portugal to the United States in their early twenties, and moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
My father learned Portuguese as his first language, but also took Portuguese language classes outside of his public school education to learn Portuguese writing and grammar. My father was unable to teach me Portuguese as a child due to travel for his job, so I began my own Portuguese education at my high school.
Portuguese at a High School Level
Located on the University of Georgia’s historic north campus in Athens, Georgia, Gilbert Hall is the home of the Department of Romance Languages. UGA offers French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese classes for students to take. The Romance languages major offered at UGA requires students to study two languages within the department; there is no way to major only in Portuguese.
Located on the third floor of Gilbert Hall in Athens, Georgia, Room 309 holds the “PORT 3030 Intro to Lang, Lit and Culture” class. Susan Quinlan, the professor for the course, and student Adam Diaz sit in the small classroom awaiting other students to arrive on March 6, 2018. Upper-level Portuguese classes are often held in small classrooms in Gilbert Hall due to low enrollment numbers.
In the Gilbert Hall lobby in Athens, Georgia, small cards sit on a table. The cards explain why students should study Portuguese. The card briefly details opportunities the Portuguese department provides including interactive classrooms, study abroad opportunities and a community-like appeal. The Portuguese department tries to keep a large presence on the UGA campus. The program consistently advertises the program and why Portuguese is important to learn.
Located on the University of Georgia’s historic north campus in Athens, Georgia, Gilbert Hall is the home of the Department of Romance Languages. UGA offers French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese classes for students to take. The Romance languages major offered at UGA requires students to study two languages within the department; there is no way to major only in Portuguese.
Tatiana Watson sighed after the final bell rang on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, around 3:30 p.m. She sat at her desk and graded a few papers. Behind her, notes from former students decorate her walls.
Tatiana Watson is the only Portuguese teacher in the state of Georgia, and she teaches at North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. Watson has been teaching at North Cobb since 2009, and she said that she has struggled with low student enrollment throughout her entire time at North Cobb High school.
Because of low enrollment at North Cobb, Watson was forced to split her time between two different schools, spending her mornings at North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Georgia and making the 30-minute drive to Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia in the afternoons.
“The problem with the Portuguese program- you don't have enough students in one school, so you have to split to have a full-time position. So, at the time, I had a full-time position but I didn't have the numbers on North Cobb [high school], so I had to drive to Sprayberry [high school] because I didn’t have the numbers,” she said.
Due to low enrollment, Watson often has to teach multiple levels of Portuguese simultaneously, combining both upper-level and lower-level classes both at Sprayberry High School and North Cobb High School.
“Sometimes I have three different levels in one class, and it’s horrible because you can never take the students in Portuguese four [the highest level] to the level they should be if you’re teaching [level] two,” she said.
Watson says her job becomes more management of the classroom than actually teaching the Portuguese language.“It’s impossible because you’re over here with [level] two and then you’re over here with [level] four reading a book. The teacher turns into a clown. I pretend that I’m teaching and they pretend they’re learning because there is not much going on,” she said.
For Watson, she believes the quality of the student is just as important as the amount she has enrolled. She often has students put into her class to boost enrollment who are unwilling to learn the language.
“The kid already comes with an attitude like I didn’t ask for this, why do I have to take this class. I try to get them out, but I cannot because I do not have the number,” she said.
Watson estimates that only four of her former students have gone on to study Portuguese at the collegiate level, two of these students being myself and my older brother.
Many of her students begin taking Portuguese, like I did, because their older siblings, cousins or friends recommended the class to them.
Portuguese education programs are rare in the United States, specifically at the high school level. This podcast illustrates the struggles Portuguese educator, Tatiana Watson, faces in her job.
“The kid already comes with an attitude like I didn’t ask for this, why do I have to take this class. I try to get them out, but I cannot because I do not have the numbers.”-Tatiana Watson, Portuguese Teacher
University Programs Face Similar Issues
Less than one percent of universities offer Portuguese as an area of study. Roughly 30 universities across the country offer Portuguese as a major.
At the University of Georgia, Portuguese is offered as a minor or as part of a major in Romance languages where students choose to study two or more Romance languages.
Sarah Lucena is a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia who came to the United States to pursue her higher education on a Fulbright scholarship, an American scholarship that works as an exchange program for students and instructors from Brazil.
Lucena described the Portuguese department at the University of Georgia as small, but full of passionate educators and students.
“It can be challenging for us because if you don’t have the number of students required we can’t offer the class, so that makes the department to work really hard,” she said.
Lucena commented that the Portuguese department does not have much say in enrollment issues as the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, which the department is a part of, decides the minimum number of students required. “We can’t really do much about that, we just have to grab students and tell them to keep taking Portuguese otherwise we won’t be able to offer it anymore,” she said.
An Unlikely Competitor
Lucena credits many of the problems that Portuguese education has to the prominence of Spanish education in the United States. Many students take Spanish as they believe that it will enhance their opportunities in the professional world, so Lucena says the Portuguese department spends much of its time convincing students that Portuguese is just as important to learn as Spanish.
Lucena typically teaches introductory level Portuguese, but because of low enrollment of students, she teaches Spanish this semester.“The biggest struggle is that- people, if their first option is to learn Spanish, they all want to learn Spanish because they think it’s more important and it’s better for professional reasons. And then, somehow, some of them end up taking Portuguese, and then you have to make this effort to show them that Portuguese can be as useful and as interesting for their personal and professional growth as Spanish is,” she said.
It is not uncommon for Portuguese instructors to have to teach other languages if they have the ability to do so. Tatiana Watson has also begun to teach introductory Spanish at North Cobb High School.While Lucena stated that she enjoys the opportunity of adding Spanish instruction to her resumé, Watson does not feel similarly.
“I don’t have enough students, and I want to be a full-time teacher, so they put me to teach Spanish [level] one, I teach level one, and then I teach Portuguese. And they are talking about giving me two classes of Spanish. I don’t want to teach Spanish, because I’m a Portuguese teacher- that’s my passion, that’s what I want to teach, but I want to keep the job.”
Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world with 260 million speakers worldwide. Many consider Brazil an emerging economic superpower. Companies and employers, especially those who work internationally, are seeking more Portuguese speakers.
Many Portuguese speakers in the United States have learned Portuguese as a native language in their homes and not through their public education systems.
Portuguese education programs, especially at the high school level, are rare. These programs are most commonly found in the Northeastern United States due to large Portuguese or Brazilian communities living in these areas, and the programs may not be facilitated through public schools.
Portuguese at Large
In the United States, scholarship opportunities are available to students who study Portuguese through the United States government. A grant from the federal National Security Education Program allows University of Georgia students to participate in the Portuguese Flagship Program, which sponsors students to spend a year in Brazil. Students are enrolled in a Brazilian university for a semester, and then complete an internship in their area of study the following semester, according to the program’s website.
“Doing business with Brazil has been a growing interest for American students, so if you have this ability to speak Portuguese you stand out,” said Lucena.
While Portuguese has become increasingly important to learn, Portuguese programs still continue to suffer. Where the problem lies is variable as is how it is to be fixed. Watson believes that a problem lies within the school administration and the way it treats the program.
“I think I need someone up top at the administrative level that can believe in this program,” she said. “I don’t feel like I have support here. You know, everyone is, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, but if I have someone that is like, let’s put some kids in Portuguese- let’s pick some good kids in here and put them in Portuguese,” she said the program could be improved.
Despite passionate educators, the Portuguese programs both at North Cobb High School and at the University of Georgia will continue to suffer without major change. Students, like Stocco, may continue to fear they will not be permitted to continue their studies in Portuguese.
“Trying to complete my minor with the fear that the classes I need won’t be offered is really frustrating and stressful. A few times I’ve had to rearrange my entire schedule because they only ever offer Portuguese class I need at one time per semester. It’s frustrating enough to do that, let alone be scared that UGA will cancel it,” Stocco concluded.