Sociologist creates a foreign language conversation course for workers in Porto de Galinhas

Photo Credit: Disclosure

By: Eduarda Nunes / Lupa do Bem – Favela em Pauta

Recognized as one of the most beautiful tourist spots in Pernambuco and Brazil, Porto de Galinhas has been increasingly visited by Argentine tourists and businessmen. With the covid-19 pandemic, there was a pause in the reception of the ‘hermanos’ in this part of the south coast of Pernambuco, but efforts have been made so that the visits are resumed and the bond between Pernambuco and Argentina becomes increasingly stronger.

In this context, Alyne Nunes, historian, sociologist and self-taught in Spanish language, developed the Hablando Lindo project, a basic Spanish conversation course for native workers. This is an attempt to minimally reduce the disadvantages of the population of Ipojuca, the city where the Porto de Galinhas district is located, concerning jobs in the city.

The teacher has a 14-year history with the place. It all began when she started teaching a few times a week there is a community college entrance exam course. Four years ago she decided to move for good. And that’s how perceptions about the presence of people from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay — Spanish-speakers, in general — in the city attracted more attention.

Upon becoming a resident, Alyne realized that the city was very easy for foreigners to come and visit, but that didn’t offer support or any protection for the local people, who make up the region’s technical service — making them more vulnerable to exploitation of different orders.

In September 2019, “Hablando Lindo” began to be developed and, in November, the first edition of the course took place. From the beginning, the project had the support of the NGO Ecoassociados for the Conservation of Sea Turtles, which provided the space for the classes to take place.

The course lasts one month and there are four meetings in all. Counting on the interactions of the classes via WhatsApp, however, the edits last much longer. The focus of Hablando Lindo is conversation and performance. Among the students who have already attended are jangadeiros, taxi drivers, workers in stores, restaurants, hotels and other professionals who are related to the tourist and hotel structure of the city.

Alyne says that the main return of the course is affective: students feel welcomed by the didactics and methodology of the classes and gain more confidence to take risks in the language.

Some tourists, especially Argentines, “have a very peculiar habit of correcting. This ends up generating that shyness and insecurity. There is no understanding of trying to understand the specific communication of the place, intonation, language”, reveals Girleide Rolim, entertainer of a hotel in the region, one of the greatest examples of the expected impact of this course.

After classes, she and her supervisor could see an improvement in guest service: Girleide was promoted to a bilingual worker, getting a raise in salary and responsibility at the hotel.

Challenges: distance learning and new languages

Even with the break due to the pandemic, Hablando Lindo was already able to directly serve about forty students.

When classes resumed in 2021, there was something new: the initiative started to offer conversation classes in English. Completely free, the idea is to be able to expand. In addition, there is the objective of creating more modules in conversation and even the distance learning modality (EAD) to be able to reach people from cities close to Ipojuca, who also interact with the municipality through work. The project is open to new contributions and volunteers.

Until now, who has most access to the classes is the female public, but people from varied professions, such as jangadeiros, receptionists, taxi drivers, are part of the history of “Hablando Lindo”.