Winners of high school blog contest to visit Portugal
This post is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)
BOSTON — A new contest will reward teachers and students with trips to Portugal and the United States for the best blogs produced by high schools in both countries in order to promote Portuguese literacy.
Recently created by a Portuguese consortium, the “Read in Portuguese” contest aims to promote the Portuguese language, to encourage reading in Portuguese and to strengthen interchanges between students and teachers in the United States and Portugal.
“The aim is to create reading habits and allow U.S. schools to be in contact with Portuguese schools,” explained João Caixinha, Deputy Coordinator for the Portuguese Language Program and Education Affairs in the United States of America.
Caixinha, who works out of the Consulate General of Portugal in Boston, said the project has already attracted interest from dozens of schools, which are currently working on their entries.
“Many teachers have contacted us because they want partnerships and exchanges with Portugal and they did not know how to start them,” said Caixinha, while stressing the contest’s potential for building close relationships between schools in both countries since teams will be mixed up.
Each team will be formed by eight members — one teacher and three students from Portugal and the same number from the United States. Members must possess basic skills in both Portuguese and English.
The competition was launched by the Luso-American Foundation of Lisbon, the Network of School Libraries and the National Reading Plan in partnership with the Camões Institute and the Offices of the Regional Secretaries for Education in the Azores and Madeira.
The theme for this first edition is “Freedom and Safety in a Plural Society.” Only high schools are eligible to participate this year, but the contest may be opened to middle schools in the future.
According to the rules, each blog must post two Portuguese entries each week until May 15.
Teams must also present a final project, which may contain images, videos, audio or entries in other formats and preferably utilizing the physical and digital resources made available for school libraries.
Winning teams will be awarded with “an exchange program between Portugal and the United States of America to learn in loco the culture and the customs of the two countries, as well as the dynamics and reading and literacy projects developed by the respective schools and school libraries,” according to the contest rules.
Contest enrollment ends in March.
For more information about the contest, please send you inquiries to info@lerportugues.net or visit leremportugues.net
Some information from LUSA used in this report.
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