Contact Us. Mila Olivier. June 2011 Issue 2

Transcrição

1 June 2011 Issue 2 The Portuguese playgroup is an interactive supervised toddler s group for 0 to 5 years old aimed at stimulating South African children of multilingual families (where at least one parent is fluent in Portuguese) to speak and socially interact in Portuguese. Although mainly designed for children, Portuguese-speaking parents and even grandparents are more than welcome to accompany their young ones during the playgroup sessions. The meetings take place every Wednesday, from 3pm to 5pm at Homestead Villas, Welgedacht, Bellville. Please visit for directions. Contact Us Mila Olivier Phone: Website: milaportuguesegroup@gmail.com

2 Movement Lesson Xavier s mother, Nadine Gomes, organized such a lovely movement class for our kids the other day! She used her ballerina skills to entertain our little ones with songs and play time. Vovó Irene Gomes sang Portuguese children s songs to us. As the children grow older we would like to have a Granny s Day! They could read stories and share moments of wisdom with our angels! Nadine Gomes runs her ballet school in Boston, Bellville. More information on We Are Online! Our website is up and running! Visit for more information about our playgroup. Any suggestions are welcome. We would like to thank all team from the Brazilian Consulate in Cape Town for sponsoring our home page. Our Condolences We are very sad to hear that our dedicated nanny Tea has lost 3 members of her family recently. Her mother, her uncle and her grandmother died within short intervals. Tea, we are thinking of you in this difficult time. Farewell Luciano Carniel went back to São Paulo, Brazil, and we are missing him very much. Luciano was such a pleasant person to have around and the children loved him. He is getting ready to go back to his work. He is a manager on cruise liners. We can follow his adventures around the world accessing his Portuguese and English blog nacabine.blogspot.com 2 Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter

3 Fun In The Pool June 2011 Our swimming lesson was remarkable! We should do it more often next summer. It was a warm day and the temperature of the water was just perfect! The photos say it all! Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter 3

4 Raquel Leal We want to introduce a member of our group each newsletter. It is a wonderful way to get to know a little bit more about each other. This time our Portuguese teacher Raquel Leal is our guest. She has been with us since from the beginning and quickly became our Portuguese language expert. She is writing our program and curriculum and we are going to have lots of new activities to help our children to learn Portuguese soon. Raquel is from Portugal and teaches Portuguese at Curro Private School (Durbanville), CBC St. John s (Parklands), The Settlers HS (Bellville) and Parow HS (Parow). Quem é a Raquel Leal? Who is Raquel Leal? Eu moro na Cidade do Cabo há um pouco mais de um ano. Vim para cá através do Instituto Camões e do Programa de Ensino de Português no Estrangeiro para dar aulas de Língua e Cultura Portuguesa em escolas sulafricanas. A primeira pergunta que me fizeram foi Porquê África do Sul? e a minha resposta foi automática: E porque não?. Depois de treze meses a viver nesta bela cidade tenho a certeza que fiz a escolha certa. I have been living in Cape Town a little over a year now. I came here to teach the Portuguese Language and Culture in South African high schools under the programme of Portuguese Teaching Abroad sponsored by Instituto Camões. During my first weeks here, I was asked why South Africa? and I simply answered why not?. Now, after thirteen months of living in this beautiful city, I am certain I made the right choice. De onde você vem? Where do you come from? Venho de uma pequena cidade chamada Lordelo a 20km do Porto, a segunda maior cidade portuguesa. E, apesar de estar a viver a mais de 55 mil km de casa, não posso dizer que a minha vida tenha mudado muito: continuo a ter os mesmos hobbies, convivo com os novos amigos que aqui conheci, faço desporto nos tempos livres, vou à praia até o oceano é o mesmo! Gosto imenso de ocupar o meu tempo livre a ler romances, especialmente, mas também gosto de passear pela praia ou ir até ao Waterfront para um cafezinho. Sempre que posso visito os museus locais, principalmente o Planetário que tem sempre exposições muito interessantes. Também gosto de fazer desporto, nomeadamente natação e cardio-fitness. Em geral, adoro a vida sem stress que tenho aqui e é disso que vou sentir mais falta quando voltar para Portugal. Isso e também os braais e o rugby! Sou fã dos Stormers e já fui ver vários jogos ao estádio em Newlands. I come from a small town called Lordelo, located 20km away from Porto, the second biggest Portuguese city. Despite the fact that I am living more than 55 thousand km away from home, I cannot say that my life has truly changed: I still have the same hobbies, I go out with my new friends, I practice sports in my free time, go to the beach even the ocean is the same! During my free time, I enjoy reading novels, walk at beach or going to the Waterfront for a coffee or just check the new trends in the stores. Whenever possible I go to the local museums, especially the planetarium which always has interesting exhibitions. I also love sports, specially swimming and cardio-fitness classes. In general, I love the fact that my life here is completely stress-free and that is what I ll miss most when I go back. Well, that and the braais with friends and the rugby! I m a Stormer s fan and 4 Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter

5 I have been to the stadium in Newlands to watch them a couple of times. Como você conheceu o grupo Português pra Você? How have you met the Portuguese for you group? Playtime Sessions O ano passado a Mila encontrou-me através de uma das escolas onde dou aulas e convidou-me para fazer parte deste projecto cheio de mérito, no qual me orgulho em participar. É um projecto simples que pensa no futuro das crianças que nascem em famílias multilingues.num mundo cada vez mais multicultural, é importante que as crianças conheçam as suas origens e que os pais reconheçam a importância de se falar mais do que uma língua nos dias de hoje. O playgroup cria uma oportunidade de aprendizagem natural da língua portuguesa, proporcionando ao mesmo tempo momentos de diversão para as crianças! Estou a gostar imenso desta experiência e espero poder continuar a contribuir para a aprendizagem destas crianças durante muito tempo! Last year, Mila contacted me through one of my schools and invited me to take part in this June 2011 wonderful project, in which I m very proud to participate. It is a simple idea, but one that thinks about the future of children born in multilingual families. In a growing multicultural world, it is important that the children know their origins and that the parents recognise the importance of speaking more than one language in today s world. The playgroup creates a natural learning environment for the Portuguese language, allowing at the same time moments of fun for the children! I love this experience and I hope I can continue to contribute to these children s learning experience for a long time. The couple Eunice and Marcos Rodrigues are bringing so much fun into our playtime sessions. Eunice sings beautifully and Marcos follows her playing guitar. Their son David is so bright - he knows all lyrics in Portuguese and English! His younger sister Sarah enjoys observing her lively family! Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter 5

6 Birthday Party We had lots of fun during Daniel dos Reis birthday. He turned 2 on 27 April and we arranged a celebration to spoil him. His Portuguese grandfather Agnelo dos Reis decorated our playroom with the flag of Portugal. It created an uplifting atmosphere with colorful balloons. The team from Homestead Villas prepared delicious cup cakes and quiches and Daniel enjoyed himself with his new toys which he received from his friends. Parabéns, querido! 6 Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter

7 Our Lovely Grannies June 2011 Research suggests that grandparents play a major role in grandchildren s lives. They are friends, role models and mentors for younger generations. Grandparents share values, traditions, wisdom, family history and show our little ones the meaning of love. Kids who have a strong relationship with their grandparents have a good sense of family and security and also tend to do better in school and feel more comfortable with older people. Our Portuguese grannies are always welcome and we enjoy their presence during our playtime sessions. They are natural Portuguese teachers to our children. Thank grannies Maria do Carmo, Irene Gomes and Agnelo dos Reis for keeping our language alive! Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter 7

8 8 Portuguese Playgroup Newsletter