bilingual teaching in needy communities in RJ

With tuition fees for private bilingual high schools costing up to R$ 12 thousand per month, an initiative from the state of Rio de Janeiro has made this type of intercultural education free for teenagers who would not have access otherwise. “Our school, for example, is located in a community in Niterói, Preventório, which is a high-risk place and a zone of conflict with the police and drug traffickers”, reports professor Cícero Tauil Queiroz.

Director of the Integrated Center for Public Education (CIEP) Intercultural Brazil-France — first of 20 schools of this model opened by the state —, he explains that the initiative began in 2014, when several French companies set up shop in Rio.

“The idea of ​​a partnership between the Rio de Janeiro government and the French government then emerged, through the embassy in Brazil and also the consulate”, reports the educator, who saw the project begin with three classes of 32 students each.

According to him, the institution’s routine is similar to other comprehensive schools in the state network – with classes from 7am to 5pm and four meals served during the day –, but the students’ contact with the French language is what sets it apart, as part of the of the content of all subjects in the normal high school curriculum is transmitted in French, in addition to other activities aimed at learning the language during the day.

“Mainly in projects aimed solely at learning the French language, such as the classes at the Linguistic Integration Center”, points out the professor, while also mentioning programs such as Vida e Cultura, which deals with French culture “with classes entirely in French”, he adds .

Furthermore, he explains that the teachers who work at the school went through a selection process to verify, in addition to their expertise in the area, their level of proficiency in French. After being chosen, the teachers underwent initial training in Brazil and France to understand the innovative teaching methodology, and the process continued after classes began.

“And the professor’s dedication to the project was 30 hours weekly, being 22 in discipline and eight in integration actions, ideas and planning”, reports Queiroz, stating that this “increased the teacher’s contact with the students and enabled the development of other strategies and fieldwork”.

The result, according to him, is that students begin to become fluent in their first year, and the majority complete high school with an advanced intermediate level. In fact, “when they take the language proficiency test applied by the French Alliance, the average has been 96% approval”, celebrates the professor, citing high grades in the Basic Education Development Index (Ideb), with results 53% above the state average, and great demand for places at the school.

Partnership between Seeduc-RJ, embassies, consulates and foreign companies

Today, CIEP Intercultural Brazil-France has around 250 students and has been a model for the opening of bilingual schools such as Intercultural Brasil-Inglês. In this unit, the partnership is between the State Department of Education of Rio de Janeiro (Seeduc-RJ) and the North American consulate, in which the state is responsible for the administrative part of the institution, such as directing the curriculum, maintaining the building and hiring teachers.

“The consulate carries out educational activities such as lectures and encourages students to participate in competitions such as the Young Ambassadors Program, which selects public school students for a two-week exchange in the USA”, explains Professor Dayse Lucide, director of the institution. According to her, the objective is to offer “a globalizing education, where the development of skills and competencies in the English language are the central focuses”.

Almost 7 thousand students served in eight languages

According to the State Department of Education (Seeduc-RJ), the model currently meets 6,726 students from the state network and offers curricula focused on teaching English, French, Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, German and Italian.

According to professor Roberta Barreto, secretary of the department, students receive all the contents of the National Common Curricular Base “and each school still seeks to develop a specific area of ​​knowledge”, he explains, informing that some institutions emphasize teaching the environment and sustainability, exact sciences and technology, business and also in software programming.

For her, this proposal “aims at the full training of students” and, therefore, should continue to grow in the state with the opening of more four units until 2024. Furthermore, municipalities such as Duque de Caxias have already approached the secretariat to create municipal schools with the same intercultural model. “A proposal that must be replicated”, he encourages.