The closing ceremony for the 31st Portuguese Language Summer Course, organized by the University of Macau’s (UM) Department of Portuguese, was held on Friday. According to a statement from UM, over 450 students from ten countries and regions learned the language under the guidance of 23 Portuguese-language instructors during the three- week intensive course.
At the closing ceremony, participants demonstrated what they had learned from the course by giving speeches in Portuguese and performing Portuguese folk dances and songs.
The UM said this year’s course had attracted a record number of students from East Timor, Thailand, the U.S., South Korea, Moldovia, India, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Classes were offered for students at various levels of proficiency – namely beginner, basic, intermediate and advanced – while other students took a class in Chinese-Portuguese translation.
Extracurricular activities included visits to local museums and the historic centre of Macau, lessons on Portuguese folk dances, and seminars on the cultural heritage of Macau.
Course coordinator Ana Nunes said in the UM statement that this course continued to focus on increasing participants’ understanding of the history of Macau and the cultures of Portuguese-speaking countries. She added that participants in this year’s course were very satisfied with the variety of activities both inside and outside the classroom.
Launched in 1986, the Portuguese Language Summer Course aims to train bilingual language professionals and promote Portuguese language and culture, through tailor-made classes to suit individual students’ proficiency levels and characteristics.
This year’s course was supported by the Macau Foundation, the Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, the Tertiary Education Services Office and the International Institute of Macau.
