-Study revealed interest for Portuguese language courses-

OSOYOOS TIMES-December 19, 2007-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

Students in Grades 10, 11 and 12 at Osoyoos Secondary School will have the opportunity to determine whether a Portuguese language course will be offered in their classrooms in the next school year.
School District 53 Superintendent Juleen McElgunn said there will be a Portuguese language option in the course-planning booklets students fill out in January and February to determine their courses for the following year.
If enough of them choose to study the language, the district will consider adding Portuguese to the curriculum at secondary schools in Osoyoos and Oliver.
Obviously when there's an interest we'd like to offer it, McElgunn said. It's really student-driven in that regard.rnShe added that should Portuguese become a course, it would be offered as an elective to students in Grades 10, 11 and 12. It would be an introductory class available alongside other language courses such as French and Spanish.
McElgunn said the district made the decision this fall to see how much interest there is in the subject. At least 18 to 20 students would need to pick it in their selection booklets for the district to move ahead in offering the course.
We hope there'd be more than that.rnThe district could also offer Portuguese courses outside of regular school hours, depending on how much time students need for compulsory courses, McElgunn said.
There's not a lot of room in their timetable, she said. So we offer courses outside the timetable.rnRight now, the choice is only being offered at the high school level.
We thought it would be easier to do this at the secondary level because it's a course offered in other school districts, McElgunn said, adding that administrators here can look at the experiences of other schools in running the course.
We'd be able to tap into that know-how and expertise.rnMcElgunn said it was Louisa Carvalho of Osoyoos who persuaded the district to look into offering a Portuguese-language component.
She brought it forward. She said there's significant interest in the community.rnLast May, Carvalho made a presentation to the school district asking for their support in kicking off a Portuguese program in local schools.
She brought forward a study by Carlos Teixeira, assistant professor of urban, social and human geography at UBC Okanagan, which pointed out that, unlike in larger urban areas, Portuguese people in rural communities often lose their culture as they integrate into Canadian society.
Because we've integrated so well into Canadian society, we find that kids aren't picking up the (Portuguese) language, Carvalho said in a Dec. 17 interview. It's very sad that we're losing the culture.rnCarvalho said she feels the third-generation descendents of Portuguese families who immigrated to the South Okanagan in the 1950s and 1960s need the chance to explore their heritage.
She said she conducted an informal survey of local Portuguese families where one or both parents spoke the language of their homeland and found there was significant interest in giving kids the chance to learn Portuguese.
She's delighted the district is making steps towards the language component.
I was really happy to see they're going to make an attempt, she said. I think we should at least be given the opportunity to see if there's an interest and go from there.rnMcElgunn said once the district has an idea of how much of that interest there actually is among the students, it would then begin to look at possible candidates for teaching the language.