Fifth anniversary year --2007

[Click here to read Em outras palavras..., the Portuguese School's Weekly Newspaper.]

This summer the Portuguese School is celebrating its fifth year at Middlebury College.  We are very excited to welcome our largest group of students in our history. 

We kicked off the program with a fantastic concert by the renowned Cape Verdian singer Lura, who stayed after to sign programs and cds.






After the concert and the autograph session, our students formally committed themselves to their studies by signing the Language Pledge.  This contract states that the students agree to communicate only in the target language for the duration of the program.  Here we see the director, Carmen Tesser, talking to the students for the last time in English:



We have a very dedicated group this year.  Even a power outage which affected the campus and surrounding areas did not deter them from studying.  You can see in this photo a small light that they used to illuminate their work:

Others opted to spend their time relaxing, such as this group playing chess (it was actually very dark in the room - the camera has a very good flash):

On Saturday morning, a small group of our students went hiking in the nearby mountains.  Here you can see them on the top, with a view of the town in the distance behind them:





Later that day, we celebrated our Festa Junina (June Festival).  This is a traditional harvest party, celebrating the saints São João, São Pedro, and Santo Antônio.  The night featured many traditional games and dances, including the Quadrilha, which is similar to American square dancing. 

We laid out a buffet of Brazilian sweets that are popular during the Festa Junina, and decorated our social space:
 

And here are some shots from the party:

 



On Friday, July 13, we played our first volleyball game, against the Italian School.  Here are some shots of the team and the cheering section:





That Saturday, we took the students on a picnic to Branbury Park at Lake Dunmore.  We had a beautiful day, and everyone had a wonderful time.








On Sunday, we played our first soccer game, this one against the Japanese School. 





We have a great group of students this year, who enjoy spending time together.  Here is a group sitting out in front of our dining hall, chatting:



Our students are able to participate in a number of different co-curricular activities in addition to their classes.  Here you see one of our students leading a group in the art of capoeira, which resembles a cross between dancing and martial arts.

 


On Saturday, July 21, we celebrated Carnaval with a costume party.  The students were very creative and danced all night.












The good times continued on Sunday, when we won our volleyball game against the French school, marking our first sports victory of the summer!






On Saturday, July 28, we had our annual Feijoada, a traditional dish in Brazil.  The dining staff prepared the room beautifully for us, and even made specially decorated cakes for the occasion.







The following week included two lectures, given by two Middlebury professors who were instrumental in getting the Portuguese School founded here at Middlebury.

The first to present (on Tuesday, July 31) was Jeff Cason, a professor in Political Science, who talked about current Brazilian politics.  After the formal part of his talk, he had the students engage in a debate concerning the idea of presidential re-elections.



On Thursday, professor Darién Davis from the History department spoke about the way in which Brazil and Brazilians are portrayed in American cinema.



Friday night we had our Talent Show, and boy do our students have talent.  They did everything from singing, dancing, and playing traditional instruments to juggling and performing skits parodying our professors.  Here are just a few shots from that night:













From Wednesday, August 1, through Sunday, August 5, we were privileged to welcome two special guests - Russell and Cherie Hamilton.  He is a leading authority on Luso-Africa, and visited some of our classes to share his knowledge with our students.



On Saturday, August 4, our students were given a lesson in Lusophone cooking by Cherie.  She also autographed copies of her cookbook for our students.

 








One of our regular professors also gave a cooking class later that week, teacing the students how to prepare moqueca, a traditional dish from the state of Bahia.






On Thursday night we had our final banquet, which is always a special event.



On Friday, August 10, we had our third lecture, this one from Professor Victor Mendes - "Violence and Moral Software in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Fiction."