UMD program can help meet demand for Portuguese teachers

DARTMOUTH – UMass Dartmouth Portuguese language faculty are hoping the growing demand for qualified teachers to teach Portuguese language and immersion programs around the nation will shine a spotlight on a one-of-a-kind program being offered at the university.

The Dartmouth campus offers an accelerated five-year BA/MAT in Portuguese program, which allows for students to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) with only one more year of studies after the regular Bachelor of Arts (BA) program.

“As far as we know, UMass Dartmouth is the only institution in the country that offers a BA/MAT (also known as 4+1) in Portuguese. There are other institutions that offer MAT degrees (some even combined with a BA), but not focusing on Portuguese,” said Dr. Glaucia Silva, a linguistics expert who coordinates the Portuguese language program at UMass Dartmouth.

By enrolling in the 4+1 Teacher Preparation program, students begin education coursework toward a master’s degree in Teaching in their sophomore year, significantly reducing the time and costs associated with earning a graduate degree.

An added bonus is the ability of program candidates being able to apply for a Provisional Licensure and start teaching upon completion of their Bachelor’s degree. Hence, students may complete the MAT program during the graduate year or they may enter full-time employment as a teacher in a school right out of college and complete the remainder of the MAT coursework part-time. Provisional licenses are valid for five years of employment. 

But the program has not attracted nearly as much interest as it was hoped when the program was developed in 2010. In the past five years, only 14 students have gone through it – a number that does not satisfy the existing demand for Portuguese teachers.

“Every semester we are contacted by schools in the region that are looking for Portuguese teachers,” Dr. Silva said. “It is not uncommon for me to receive 4 to 5 messages per semester looking for Portuguese teachers. We have even been contacted by a school district in New Jersey looking to hire Portuguese language teachers.”

She said the need for Portuguese teachers seems to have increased since the beginning of the pandemic.

“Now that there are more bilingual programs in Massachusetts (because of the overturn, in 2017, of the law that eliminated bilingual education from public schools) some schools bring teachers from Portuguese-speaking countries to work for them for some time,” said Dr. Silva, who keeps close contact with Portuguese instructors in the entire Commonwealth through mutual collaborations and conferences held at UMass Dartmouth aimed at supporting Portuguese instructors in a plethora of pedagogical ways. 

With the pandemic and associated travel restrictions, the need to hire teachers who are already in the United States became much more pressing, she added.

“Anyone who enrolls in the BA/MAT in Portuguese and passes the MTEL (Massachusetts Test for Educator License) is all but guaranteed to have a job upon graduation,” she said. “We wish we had more graduates to refer to the schools that are looking for teachers.”

João Caixinha, the Coordinator for Portuguese Language Programs and Education Affairs in the United States, classified the BA/MAT in Portuguese program as “crucial and essential,” not only for this region but for the whole country.

“These academic opportunities are much needed for the professional development and training of Portuguese teachers,” stressed Caixinha, who is responsible for supporting schools that teach Portuguese in the United States, supervising the activity of Portuguese language and culture teachers and promoting the interaction between the various levels and modalities of education.

“We can only welcome initiatives like this one at UMass Dartmouth. They have enriched and will enhance the Portuguese teaching network in this and other regions of the United States,” said Caixinha, stressing the current demand for Portuguese instructors.

He said more and more schools districts across the nation are offering Portuguese classes and some are even offering dual-language immersion programs like Hudson, Mass., and Hilmar, Calif., or full immersion programs beginning in kindergarten like the UNIDOS program in Brockton, Mass.

“Look at the number of bilingual Portuguese immersion programs that have sprung up recently here in Massachusetts,” he said. “We estimate that 89 percent of the nearly 20,000 students who are learning our language in elementary and secondary schools in the USA are in integrated education, i.e., Portuguese courses which are taught in American schools as part of the curriculum of those schools.”

UMass Dartmouth is one of only two universities in the United States that have a department dedicated to Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies, offering degrees all the way up to a PhD.

Dr. Silva, who has served twice as chairperson for UMass Dartmouth’s Department of Portuguese and as the university’s liaison within the MAT program for many years, said the Dartmouth campus is a great choice for anyone who wants to learn Portuguese because it’s surrounded by native speakers.

“Southeastern New England has received and continues to receive immigrants from Portugal, Brazil, and Cabo Verde,” she said. “These immigrants and their descendants have contributed their culture and their language to enriching the fabric of U.S. society. Anyone interested in the Portuguese language and its related cultures finds limitless opportunities to interact with Portuguese language speakers.”

As an additional benefit, the Dartmouth campus is home to the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture (CPSC), a multidisciplinary international studies and outreach unit dedicated to the study of the language, literatures and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world. CPSC works in close partnership with the Department of Portuguese and the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives. The CPSC is also home to Tagus Press, which publishes groundbreaking translations of Portuguese classics and Portuguese language textbooks as well as an academic journal.

“Together with the Department of Portuguese, the three units that promote studies related to Portuguese make our campus truly unique and an incomparable place to further studies in Portuguese,” said Dr. Silva. “Moreover, if a student desires to study abroad, we can facilitate studies in Portugal and in Brazil as well.”

Undergraduate students who choose to major or to minor in Portuguese can apply for a scholarship made possible by an endowment from the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), which ranges from $500 to $2,000 per year.

“Since there are so many descendants of Portuguese speakers in our region, as well as so many recent immigrants, teaching Portuguese is not only a way to give back to the community, but, in very practical terms, it is a way to guarantee a job that offers security and excellent benefits, not to mention good salaries,” said Dr. Silva.

For more about the BA/MAT in Portuguese program, contact Dr. Gláucia Silva at gsilva@umassd.edu.