Nearly 70 teachers and educators from Worthington Schools will begin the school year with a deepened knowledge of Brazil and Brazilian Portuguese language.

Throughout the summer, CLAS staff offered professional development sessions to teach educators in Worthington about Brazil, cultural differences between Brazil and the United States, and pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese. Teachers put themselves in the place of students as they practiced greetings and classroom vocabulary, as well as how to pronounce vowels and consonant sounds in the language. For one of the teachers who participated in the workshop, "This was one of the most worthwhile professional learning sessions that I have experienced in many years.  I learned so much that will help me understand and communicate with my students!"

Since Worthington Schools has seen an increase in the number of students with ties to Brazil, CLAS and the district have partnered up to give educators tools to better connect with these students and understand where they're coming from. As CLAS Director Dr. Scott Schwenter states, "We are extremely grateful for this collaboration with the Worthington School District and very much appreciate their interest in learning more about Brazilian geography and culture as well as the Portuguese language as spoken in Brazil. This collaboration has provided the perfect opportunity to carry out our mission of expanding knowledge about Latin America in the community and, most importantly, promoting K-12 teacher engagement with and understanding of Brazilian students in the school district and their families."

The sessions ended with a short interactive capoeira musical demonstration, which gave educators a taste of the Capoeira in the Classroom workshop series, led by CLAS Outreach Coordinator Julio Beltran. "The Capoeira in the Classroom workshop teaches students not only about this Afro-Brazilian practice, but also about Afro-Brazilian culture and history, and Portuguese language. Students learn to sing the songs, play the instruments, and do the movements of capoeira during our class visits," Beltran explains.

Ben Rule, EL Curriculum Leader for Worthington Schools, believes the sessions were extremely beneficial for the district's teachers and staff. He states that, "Partnering with CLAS to learn more about Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language was incredibly helpful for our staff who are working to empower our multilingual students and their families.  It is so valuable to know the sounds of a language so that we can say our students' names correctly, and to know specific details about cultural norms so that we can create welcoming environments for learning.  Most importantly, this workshop reminds us that our students are not only resilient, but brilliant as they come to our community with a foundation in one language and culture... and are now building an additional language and cultural fluency."

CLAS would like to thank all teachers and administrators who participated in the workshop, and hope you'll continue learning about Brazil and the Portuguese language!