53rd Annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

New York, March 30 – April 2, 2006

Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk

Tales of the Portuguese-Speaking World

Ana Mendes

Email: anaisabelcmendes@yahoo.com
 Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-
Speaking World

Abstract
This paper is composed by three moments: first, the understanding of unity and diversity in
Portuguese language; second, the characteristics of folk tales; third, how folk tales can be used
in the classroom, a description of activities part of a unit plan, followed by the respective
materials. This unit plan offers exercises created for the learners to compare and analyze
literary, cultural and linguistic contents that can be explored in folk tales written in Portuguese
from the South American, European, African and Asian continents.

This unit plan is designed for junior and senior high school students of Portuguese and
intermediate-advanced students of Portuguese as a foreign language.

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 2
1. Unity and diversity in Portuguese language
“’Na linguagem é importante o pólo da variedade, que corresponde à expressão
individual, mas também o é o da unidade, que corresponde à comunicação inter-individual e é
garantia de intercompreensão’”
Eugenio Coseriu citado por CUNHA e CINTRA (1998: 7)

In this text we will briefly discuss two aspects that, while being opposites, complement each
other and coexist in linguistic systems without any paradox, allowing the existence, continuity
and enrichment of these same systems/natural languages, like the case of the Portuguese language
(PL), our focus. These two aspects are unity and diversity.

A language’s unity is not an easy subject to discuss, much less to affirm, if we consider any
historic language as a “diassistema” (a diachronic system), therefore never as “a unitary linguistic
system, but an ensemble of linguistic systems” (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 3)1. This subject
becomes even more complicated when we talk about PL, which, according to Ivo Castro:
occupies a discontinuous space, spread over [almost] every continent, containing two national
variants (from Portugal and Brazil), subdivided into dialects with only slight differences; having a
national variant in embryo (Galicia) and other variants in development (Africa) (CASTRO, 1991:
19).

Will it be, therefore, possible to speak of unity in a language that acknowledges three norms
(European Portuguese, Brazilian and Galician) and covers different geographic spaces in different
continents?

In order to answer this question, let’s take a look at a precise moment of the above mentioned Ivo
Castro’s excerpt: “two national variants (Portugal and Brazil), subdivided in dialects with only
slight differences”. In fact, the linguistic geography, through linguistic maps, is capable of
showing this “slight difference”, a smaller heterogeneity of the Portuguese and Brazilian
linguistic material. In the European Portuguese case, Isabel Hub Faria states that “It is enough to
look at the map where the main Portuguese isophones are represented (map 3) (not reproduced
here) to realize that the limits of the dialectal characteristics indicated are far from coinciding.
And this impossibility of drawing clear borders between its continental dialects is one of the
reasons that allow one to state that Portuguese is a rather unitary language”(FARIA, 1996: 498).

Lindley Cintra shares this opinion, while citing a remark by Paiva Boléo, with the goal of proving
the “superior unity of our language” (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 9)2, regarding Portugal: “A
person, even if not familiar with matters of philology, who has traveled throughout Portugal, from
north to south, and has spoken with everyday people, this person cannot but be impressed with
the country’s exceptional linguistic homogeneity and its rare dialectal differentiation – as
opposed to what happens in other countries, where whether Romance or Germanic languages are
spoken”3. This statement finds a clear example in the case of Spain, a country where, besides
Castilian, there are two other Romance languages that have institutional recognition4, while in
Portugal there is only one which, smothered by Portuguese, achieved this status only at a late
1
In the original “um sistema linguístico unitário, mas um conjunto de sistemas linguísticos”.
2
In the original “superior unidade do nosso idioma”.
3
In the original “Uma pessoa, mesmo alheia a assuntos filológicos, que haja percorrido Portugal de norte a
sul e conversado com gente do povo, não pode deixar de ficar impressionada com a excepcional
homogeneidade linguística do País e a sua escassa diferenciação dialectal – ao contrário do que sucede
noutros países, quer de língua românica, quer germânica.”
4
The division of the political power in Spain, with regions with autonomous governments, facilitated the
institutional recognition of the Galician and Catalonian languages.

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 3
stage: it was not until the 1990s that the Mirandese language was granted the status of an official
language, coexisting with the majority language in a state of inequality.

PL unity can, therefore, at first be found at a micro/national level, where it exists with all the
internal differences and self-varieties, amongst which can be highlighted one that, for several
reasons, will be considered the standard. This norm can be seen as a pole of resistance, opposed
to the pole of change in the origin of diversity, which reflects itself at a macro/pluricontinental
level: “So, in a language there exists, along with the centrifugal force of innovation, the
centripetal force of conservation which, countering the other, guarantees the superior unity of a
language such as Portuguese, spoken by peoples from the five continents.” (CUNHA e CINTRA,
1998: 4)5

The force of innovation, one of the factors that leads to diversity, has found and still finds current
resistance6, although nowadays to a lesser degree: thanks to, but not only to, the contribution of
new areas of study, such as Sociolinguistics, the change/variation7 is considered today as inherent
to language, allowing its evolution, along with the evolution of the society which uses it as an
instrument/means of communication. This variation can be synchronic or diachronic/historical,
and it is studied mainly in Historic Linguistics. This subject allows us to understand not only the
unity, but also the variety of PL: the origins (from Latin to the birth of Romance languages) and
evolution (from Galician-Portuguese to Old Portuguese and then to Classical) bring us to the
present moment, to the several dialects and varieties of PL presented by Celso Cunha and Lindley
Cintra (CUNHA e CINTRA, 1998: 9-24). According to these authors they are:

- European Portuguese dialects8,

- Atlantic islands dialects,
- Brazilian dialects and
- Creoles (Africa, Asia and Oceania).

All these dialects and variants have their specificities (at a phonetic, syntactic, lexical or other
level), however there are two main characteristics that unify them and give them cohesion
(marking an opposition to dialects from the neighboring countries):

“The dialects and all the Portuguese variants present two fundamental characteristics that
differentiate them, together, from Castilian dialects:
- The suppression of Latin inter-vowel /l/ and of /n/;
- The retention of Latin brief vowels without creating diphthongs.”9

2. Traditional Literature of Expression and Oral Transmission: Folk tales

5
In the original “Numa língua existe, pois, ao lado da força centrífuga da inovação, a força centrípeta da
conservação, que, contra-regrando a primeira, garante a superior unidade de um idioma como o português,
falado por povos que se distribuem pelos cinco continentes.”
6
About the way linguistic change was faced along times (from the 19th century by Neo-grammaticians,
until the 20th by Structuralists and Sociolinguists) see the article “Mudança linguística”, by Rita
Marquilhas, in FARIA, 1996.
7
We have to mention that PL presents several types of internal differences: “variações diatópicas,
diastráticas e diafásicas”.
8
These dialects can be grouped in: Galician dialects, dialectos portugueses setentrionais e dialectos centro-
meridionais.
9
Maria Helena Mira Mateus, «A língua portuguesa: unidade e diversidade», in Actas I Encontro da
Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, INIC, Lisboa, 1982, p.147.

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 4
2.1. Folk Tales
We will now discuss literary, cultural and linguistic content related to folk tales and their
specific aspects. These are designed to provide teachers with reference texts and the
fundamentals of folk tales, which will allow them to use this particular type of story in
classroom activities.

2.1.1. The Origin of Folk Tales

According to the Thesaurus definition, a folk tale is “a tale circulated by word of mouth
among the common folk”10. A more detailed definition is provided by Carlos Reis in his
Dicionário de Narratologia:

The expression “folk tale” (“conto popular”) contains an explicit allusion to the origin which we assume to
be responsible for the making of this sub-group of particular narrative texts: indeed, “folk” (“popular”)
alludes immediately to “the people” (“povo”), a relatively ambiguous concept that denotes, in a vague way,
a plural being, preferably located in a peripheral rural place, little influenced by urban culture11.

In this last definition of “folk tales”, Carlos Reis calls this type of story “conto popular”,
due to its origins (in the people, “povo”). However, the Portuguese denomination also
admits the variant “conto tradicional” (“traditional tales”), preferred by other researchers
because they consider the origin not to be located in the people, but in mythical or epic
narrations very common during the Middle Ages (DINE, 1999: 20).

“Conto popular” or “conto tradicional”, the origins of folk tales are uncertain. These short
stories do not have credited authors or definite dates (unlike a written text, folk tales were
never published): this is the reason why we find sentences like “Era uma vez…” (“Once
upon a time…”) beginning folk tales. They are part of the oral legacy of people and can
be found among the different categories of folklore12, sharing common features with other
categories, like myths13 or legends14.

2.1.2. The Characteristics of Folk Tales

Folk tales are stories to be told; however, during certain historic periods there was an
urge to write them down, in order to keep them from being forgotten and forever lost. As
10
Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1). Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing
Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
11
In the original:
“A expressão conto popular comporta uma alusão explícita à fonte que se presume responsável pela
produção deste sub-conjunto peculiar de textos narrativos: de facto, popular reenvia de imediato para povo,
conceito relativamente ambíguo que denota, de forma difusa, um ser colectivo preferencialmente situado
num espaço rural periférico, pouco permeável a contaminações da cultura urbana.” (REIS, 1987: 79)
12
Other categories of folklore can be found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk tales
13
It seems to be reasonable to state that folk tales are residues of primitive myths and beliefs that were
progressively adapted to new cultural scenarios (REIS, 1987: 82).
14
According to Carlos Reis (op. cit.) a “lenda é uma forma de narrativa geralmente breve que pode ser
escrita em prosa ou em verso. O seu argumento é tirado da tradição oral, tal como o conto. Está ligada a um
espaço geográfico e a uma determinada época, o que não acontece nos contos que são situados num
passado indefinido e num espaço indeterminado. Localiza-se quase sempre num castelo, num monte, num
ribeiro ou num bosque. Este tipo de narrativa tem pretensões históricas, embora por vezes se forme em
torno de um facto conhecido, em que os pormenores reais se perderam na memória do povo e foram
substituídos por outros de pura ficção. Na lenda, o maravilhoso e o imaginário superam geralmente o
histórico e o verdadeiro. Esta forma de relato explica um hábito colectivo, uma superstição, uma romaria
religiosa. Está ligada à vida dos heróis, à sua acção e morte. O traço religioso é uma constante da lenda.”

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 5
written short stories they form a particular genre of the narrative mode and, therefore,
have several distinctive features that differentiate them from other types of texts (e.g.
novels).

In the following outline can be found two complementary lists of the unique
characteristics of folk tales: (i) a list of more general characteristics, drawn by Margarida
Dine and (ii) a detailed list of specific characteristics of folk tales.

(i) The general characteristics of folk tales can be defined as general elements:
a) all folk tales are narrations, even if not all narrations are folk tales;
b) folk tales take place in the past;
c) the characters in folk tales possess neither depth nor complexity;
a) folk tales have “voicing” potential (i.e. they can always be told).15

(ii) If we were to present a concise list of the characteristics of folk tales (its definition
implicit), we would say that a folk tale:
i. is a short story that focuses on one specific situation only and does not have many
characters;
ii. is part of the oral legacy and does not have one author, the author being plural and
anonymous (the people);
iii. is part of a universal and timeless legacy;
iv. exists in different peoples / cultures since ancient times;
v. is a text that suffers slight changes because it is transmitted orally from one
person/group/generation to another (the way one narrates the same story will
always present idiosyncrasies; some parts/moments can be forgotten16, and the
teller will have to recreate it or adjust it to complete the tale17);
vi. has the intent of amusing and/or teaching a lesson;
vii. is not dated nor located in a defined geographic area;
viii. has various themes: a woman being stubborn, careless, gluttonous, etc.,
unfaithfulness, loyalty, dishonesty, a man being controlled by a woman,
witchcraft, superstition, magic, faith in destiny, etc.

But folk tales also share the same five categories of any other narrative text, which are:
narrator, characters, “acção” (the facts that happen along the story), time and space18.
Let’s take a very brief look at these five categories.

15
In the original:
“As características gerais dos contos podem ser designadas por elementos constantes:
a) todos os contos são narrações, apesar de nem todas as narrações serem contos;
b) os contos desenrolam-se no passado;
c) os contos são narratives fechadas;
d) as personagens dos contos não possuem profundidade ou interioridade;
os contos possuem uma constante potencialidade “oracular” (ou seja, podem sempre passar à oralidade,
através da voz).” (DINE, 1999: 23)
16
Memory is the most important factor in the transmission of folk tales, when there is no written language
involved.
17
About this subject, Carlos Reis (REIS, 1987: 81) tells us that:
“Qualquer intérprete dispõe de uma certa margem de liberdade no seu acto de actualização discursiva.”
18
In English language literature, the main constituent parts of a narrative text are usually considered to be:
1) plot, 2) point of view, 3) setting, 4) character, 5) style and 6) theme.

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 6
1.2.1. Narrator: the narrator is non-participant (tells the story in the 3rd person).

1.2.2. Characters: there are main and secondary characters that can be irreverent, smart,
evil, or cunning to achieve their goals.

1.2.3. Time: the time is undetermined, even though there can be found references to times
of the day (dawn, morning, afternoon, evening, night, etc.) or of the year (seasons).

1.2.4. Space: the space is undetermined, but there can be found general references to the
type of location where the story takes place (mountains, coast, kingdom, castle, etc.).

1.2.5. Narrative structure and Propp’s motif analysis: the structure of narrative texts,
including folk tales, has been studied by several authors. There will be an introduction
(“introdução”), a middle (“desenvolvimento”), and an ending (“conclusão”). The
different moments within the text’s development are pointed out by Carlos Reis in his
Dicionário de Narratologia:

As the story begins to develop, there occurs a complication that requires a solution; these two categories
form the central part of the narrative text called the event, which, along with the frame within which it
takes place, forms the plot, which is part of the story; these categories, along with the values (evaluation)
arising from the plot and with a lesson/moral that becomes clear at the end of the story, are shown in the
form of a diagram that represents the superstructure of a narrative text (see Figure 1 hereafter).

Having presented the superstructure of narrative texts/folk tales, we are now going to
introduce the motifs and their different functions that form this same structure. The

Figure 2 Narrative text's superstructure

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 7
Russian folklorist, Vladimir Propp19 found 31 functions20, i.e. unchangeable elements of
the folk story, that occur in the same order. We will not mention all of these 31 functions,
but only the five that Paul Vehvilainen obtained through simplification of Propp’s model:

1. There is a LACK of something.

2. This forces the hero to go on a QUEST to eliminate the lack.
3. On the quest, the hero encounters a MAGICAL HELPER.
4. (S)he is subjected to one or more TESTS.
This may be divided into two: an initial, qualifying test necessary to secure the helpers’ help, and additional
tests related to the quest itself.
5. After passing the test, (s)he achieves his/her REWARD.

According to Paul Vehvilainen, “We should be able to apply this simplified system, not
just to the Russian tales that Propp started with, but to most fairy tales in the Western
tradition.”21

Figure 1: Narrative text’ superstructure: Teun Van Dijk by Carlos Reis (REIS, 1987: 269)
“(…) no desenrolar de uma acção, verifica-se uma complicação solicitando uma resolução; estas duas
categorias formam o núcleo narrativo designado como evento, o qual, juntamente com a moldura em
que se desenvolve, forma a intriga, por sua vez englobada na história; completando estas categorias
com as atitudes valorativas (avaliação) suscitadas pela intriga e com moralidade eventualmente
explicitada”, teremos o diagrama acima apresentado que representa a superestrutura de um texto
narrativo.”

Narr

História Moralidade

Intriga Avaliação

Episódio

Moldura Evento

Complicação Resolução

(Teun Van Dijk)

19
More about Propp and his work can be found at the following websites:
http://mural.uv.es/vifresal/Propp.htm,
http://www.brown.edu/Courses/FR0133/Fairytale_Generator/home.html
20
According to Propp, “Estas unidades básicas do conto são definidas como acções que desempenham um
papel fulcral no desenrolar global da história. Uma função pode ser assumida por diferentes personagens e
sofrer diversas realizações sem no entanto perder o seu estatuto de núcleo fundamental da progressão
narrativa (um malefício, por exemplo, pode ser concretizado figurativamente por um roubo, um rapto ou
um assassínio; o que interessa é o seu significado no encadeamento global dos eventos narrados).” (REIS,
1987: 178-9). Opposite to functions are the motifs, “múltiplas concretizações figurativas das funções”
(REIS, 1987: 235): “a função malefício, por exemplo, pode ser figurativamente representada, entre outros,
pelos motives rapto, agressão física ou declaração de guerra.” (REIS, 235)
21
In http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/propp.htm

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 8
2.1.3. The Cycles of Folk Tales
According to their idiosyncrasies, folk tales can be grouped / classified by types:
enchantment tales, tales that set an example, animal tales, religious tales, jocular tales22,
among others. An example of the exhaustive classification/grouping of Portuguese folk
tales in different cycles is provided by J. Leite de Vasconcelos in his collection of
hundreds of Portuguese folk tales23. According to Vasconcelos, there are fourteen
thematic cycles:

1. Animais (Animals)
2. A Bela e o Monstro (Beauty and the Beast)
3. Cristo e São Pedro (Christ and Saint Peter)
4. Enigmas (Enigmas)
5. Entes sobrenaturais (Supernatural Beings)
6. Entre Marido e Mulher (Between Husband and Wife)
7. Facécias (Jests/Jokes)
8. A Gata Borralheira (Cinderella)
9. Heranças (Inheritances)
10. Instrumentos maravilhosos (Wonderful Tools)
11. Nossa Senhora (Our Lady)
12. Pecados Mortais (Mortal Sins)
13. O Pedro das Malas-Artes (Peter’s Wrong Doings)
14. O Sabor dos Sabores (The Flavor of the Flavors)

We will now mention another category proposal by Adriano Barbosa to the Angolan folk
tales he collected in his book Angola imagens e mensagens: contos tradicionais (the folk
tales are translations into Portuguese from the originals in Quioco24):

“1 – Contos mitológicos ou relacionados com a mitologia (…)

2 – Contos relacionados com fantasmas ou monstros (…)
3 – Contos relacionados com a magia:
- o adivinho (…)
- o nganga (…)
- diversos (…)
4 – Contos relacionados com provérbios (…)
5 – Contos etiológicos (…)
6 – Contos onomatopaicos (interpretação das vozes dos animais, etc.) (…)
7 – Contos diversos, cujos protagonistas são:
- só pessoas (…)
- pessoas e animais (…)
- só animais (…)
- coisas (…).”

Regarding the classification of folk tales, many authors have followed, in the
organization of their collections of folk tales, the AT classification25. One of these “folk
tales’ collectors” was the Brazilian folklorist Luís da Câmara Cascudo, who lists several
22
Contos maravilhosos ou de encantamento, contos de exemplo, contos de animais, contos religiosos,
contos etiológicos, facécias, contos de adivinhação, etc.
23
VASCONCELLOS, J. Leite de (1964): Contos Populares e Lendas. Coordenação por SOROMENHO,
Alda Da Silva, e SOROMENHO, P.C. in http://www.prensajuvenil.org/foro/05/pdf/terror/LA%20CASA
%20ENCANTADA.pdf

24
The Quioco or Chokwe (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=AO) is the language
spoken by the Lunda-Quioco people (http://www.angola.org/referenc/people.html).

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 9
cycles for Brazilian folk tales (1946: 19-20) and provides the equivalent definition in
other languages, for example:

“contos de encantamento – Correspondem ao Tales of magic, Tales of supernatural, o Cuentos, Racconti,

Fairy Play, Marchen, o mi-soso (…) de Angola, skarki dos russos.
Contos de exemplo – Ordinary Folk-tales, o velho “Exemplo”, Exempli, Stories, Fireside stories, Consejas,
dos espanhóis, empregado igualmento no Folclore ibero-americano, “Un grupo de Consejas Chilenas”, de
Rodolfo Lenz, Santiago de Chile 1912.
Contos de animais – Fábulas, na acepção clássica, Animal Tales.
Facécias – Jokes and Anedoctes, Patranha, schwank, Contrafavole.
Contos religiosos – Religious Tales, contos de intervenção divina. (…)”

2.2. The Culture

Even if we consider folk tales to be “residues of primitive myths and beliefs” (REIS,
1987: 82), they have indeed been adapted to new cultural scenarios, becoming reference
stories in the cultural legacy. If we look, for example, at the version of the folk tale
“Stone Soup” (“Sopa de Pedra”) told in Portugal, we find that the story takes place in a
traditional Portuguese rural scenario. Also, the fact that we can find in Portugal a folk tale
cycle equivalent to the one of the “Love Like Salt Cycle”26 is meaningful of the
importance that salt has in Portuguese culture.

2.3. The Language

We will only highlight some aspects related to the language in folk tales:
- the folk stories are told in the past (usually in the Pretérito Imperfeito and/or Perfeito do
Indicativo, but other tenses can also appear, composed or simple, like the Imperfeito do
Conjuntivo);
- expressions like “Era uma vez…”, “Num reino muito distante…”, “Há muitos, muitos
anos…” can be found in the beginning, demonstrating the unknown time and space;
- sometimes colloquial words/expressions can exist, since folk tales were and are
transmitted by word of mouth;
- there can be found several elocution verbs, e.g., “dizer, afirmar, perguntar, interrogar,
responder, replicar, negar, contestar, exclamar, bradar, pedir, solicitar, mandar, ordenar”,
etc.;
- the folk tales are a good source for learning vocabulary because the story remits to only
one setting (usually summarized in the title) , e.g., “reino, rainha, rei, princesa, torre”,
“bode, onça, papo, mato, caçar, madeira”. In many cases, there can be established a
relationship between the folk tale’s space and the place where the folk tale is told.

2.4. Folk Tales from the Portuguese Speaking World, a Brief Bibliography

25
A stands for Aarne, the name of a Finnish folklorist, and the T stands for Thompson, the American
folklorist Stith Thompson. More about Antti Aarne and the AT classification can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antti_Aarne and http://oaks.nvg.org/ys4ra18.html, respectively.
26
Professor D. L. Ashliman, http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 10
 The Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa - 12.º Ano 27 offers a good
bibliography on literary works from the Portuguese speaking world. However, not all the
mentioned titles can be easily found in the U.S. Therefore, we will present a brief list of
collections of folk tales that exist at the Library of Congress and on-line folk tales from
the eight Portuguese speaking countries:

Angola
Adriano C. Barbosa, Angola imagens e mensagens: contos tradicionais. Edições Ora & Labora,
Santo Tirso, 1990. CALL NUMBER:GR358.3 .B37 1990
http://www.sanzalangola.com/lit010.php

Brazil
Luís da Câmara Cascudo, Contos tradicionais do Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia: Editora
da Universidade de São Paulo, 1986. CALL NUMBER: MLCM 88/08732 (P) FT MEADE
http://memoriaviva.digi.com.br/cascudo/livros.htm
http://ifolk.vilabol.uol.com.br/div/folclore/index.htm
http://www.terrabrasileira.net/folclore/regioes/3contos/entesud.html

Cape Verde
http://verbumimagus.blogspot.com/2005/05/vaca-cabra-e-o-co-conto-tradicional.html
http://www.minerva.uevora.pt/aprenderpt/jogoproj/tilobo.html

East Timor
http://www.cerit.org/gentes_cult_contos.html

Guinea-Bissau
- Viriato Tadeu, Contos do Caramô, Lendas e Fábulas Mandingas da Guiné Portuguesa. Lisboa,
Divisão de Publicações e Biblioteca, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1945. CALL NUMBER:
GR360.G8 T3
- Heriberto Ramón Alvarez García, Leyendas y mitos de Guinea. Madrid, Instituto de Estudios
Africanos, 1951. CALL NUMBER: GR360.G8 A6

Mozambique
S/A, Contos tradicionais moçambicanos: antologia. Centro de Estudos de Comunicação,
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, 1978. CALL NUMBER: GR356.9 .C66

Portugal
- J. Leite de Vasconcelos, Contos populares portugueses. Estudo, coordenação e classificação de
Alda da Silva Soromenho e Paulo Caratão Soromenho. Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Instituto
Nacional de Investigação Científica, Lisboa, 1984. CALL NUMBER: GR238 .S67 1984
- Zophimo Consiglieri Pedroso, Contos populares portugueses. Vega, Lisboa, 1984.
CALL NUMBER: MLCM 84/0021 (P) FT MEADE
http://www.apena.rcts.pt/aproximar/contos/contos1.htm
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/contos.htm

São Tomé and Príncipe

http://culturastp.blogspot.com/2005/05/conto-tradicional-01.html
27
CARVALHO, Alberto, Carla Ferreira, Eunice Marta, Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa -
12.º Ano, Curso Científico-Humanístico de Línguas e Literaturas. Ministério da Educação, Departamento
do Ensino Secundário. Coordenador: Alberto Carvalho. Ministério da Educação, Departamento do Ensino
Secundário, 08/07/2002
http://www.dgidc.min-edu.pt/programs/prog_hom/literat_lingua_portug_12_homol.pdf

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 11
3. Multicultural Approach in the Teaching of Portuguese

3.1. Portuguese Language, Folk Tales and the Five Cs

After having briefly discussed:

a) the differences and similarities of Portuguese language, which the student should be
aware of since Portuguese is spoken in eight different countries;
b) the main aspects of folk tales and presented a list of easy access folk tales from the
Portuguese-speaking world.

We will now depart to the last moment of this paper: how a) and b) can come together
with c) the standards for foreign language learning.

Folk tales from Portuguese-speaking countries are great a type of text to be used in the
classroom, while targeting the different Standards for Foreign Language Learning28:
Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities. The student will
be able to put into practice the language skills acquired with the study of the folk tale; the
student will be able to establish comparisons between the different Portuguese-speaking
countries/cultures; the student will be able to perceive differences and to establish
connections between the folk tale’s country and his/her own; the student will be able to
tell folktales from other countries, or to perform them in his/her community.

Obviously, the national standards need to be understood in relation with the state
framework29, the district curriculum and the lesson/unit plan. In the following part of this
presentation we will focus on the macro (national standards) and micro (lesson/unit plan)
levels.

Folk tales from Portuguese Speaking Countries’ Unit Plan

Below will be described several activities targeting the Five Cs’ standards. These
activities are part of a Unit Plan provided on pages 14-15, followed by the materials to be
used in the classroom.

Communication
Communicate in Portuguese

1. The student visits an aged relative (or friend) and asks him/her to tell a folk
tale from childhood. The student writes that story down or simply learns it by
heart. The student tells that same story in the classroom.
28
Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century: including Chinese, classical languages,
French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Lawrence, KS: National Standards
in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999. The Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Executive
Summary can be found in http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324.
29
Since the New England states and especially Massachusetts are the ones with one of the highest
concentration of Portuguese people and where it Portuguese is taught in public schools, we suggest here the
reading of the 1999 Massachusetts Foreign Languages Curriculum Framework, which can be found at
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/foreign/1999.pdf

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 12
Standards 1.1 through 1.3 are targeted here, although the emphasis is placed on standards
1.2 and 1.3.

 If there is no opportunity for the student to learn a folktale from a relative

or a friend, the teacher can tell the class a folktale, or ask the students to
write one from guidelines provided (see Build the Folktale, below).

Cultures
Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Portuguese Speaking Cultures

2. The student collects folk tales from two or three of the following Portuguese
Speaking Countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau,
Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor. The student compares
vocabulary (as to the geography, the climate, the fauna, the flora). The student
tries to establish a relationship between the data (vocabulary) and the folk
tales’ country. The student presents the results in class.

Standards 2.1 and 2.2 are the focus of this activity.

Connections
Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information

3. Using the folk tales obtained in 1, the student will analyze them separately,
using the template worksheet (below).

Standard 3.1 is targeted here, since the student will have to use knowledge acquired in the
Literature/Literary Analysis classroom. Also, standard 3.2 is involved in this activity
because there exist differences in the way the analysis of the narrative categories in
English (plot, point of view, setting, character, style and theme) and in Portuguese
(narrador, personagens, acção, tempo e espaço) are presented.

Comparisons
Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture

4. From the results obtained in activity 2, the student draws a table where he/she
writes the words pertaining to a certain semantic field (e.g., fauna) /
expressions / sentences, and writes the same words / expressions / sentences in
another language (it can be the student’s native language, the language in
which the class is imparted, etc.). The student will then determine which ones
are more and less similar to the compared language/culture.

Standards 4.1 and 4.2 are the focus of this activity.

Communities
Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the World

5. The Portuguese teacher will try:

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 13
 - to find an adequate occasion30 for the students to perform (in Portuguese) one of
the folk tales learned;
- to create a folktale time calendar to take place either at the school library or at a public
library. The student can tell the folk tales in English, after providing a simple
explanation about the relation of the folk tale and the Portuguese-speaking world.

Standards 5.1 and 5.2 are the focus of these suggested activities.

30
The teacher can contact: local newspapers, local groups of Portuguese-speakers, associations, etc. The
PALCUS can provide useful information http://www.palcus.org/

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 14
 Portuguese
Unit Plan: Folk tales from the Portuguese-Speaking World 2006

Skills Framing in the

Listening/Speaking Reading Writing Thinking about the Language and the Time
Language Culture
Specific Goals
Learns folk tales from Telling a folktale 2
Portuguese Speaking previously learned from lessons
Countries another person (individual
assignment)

Writing a folk tale

Uses writing from the guidelines
strategies to build an provided (Build the
existing folktale Folktale)
(individual
assignment)

Perceives and Collecting one or more 2

understands folk tales from lessons
differences in Portuguese-Speaking
different folk tales Countries (pair
from different assignment)
countries
Comparing vocabulary (as to Establishing a
geography, fauna and flora) relationship between
(pair assignment) the results obtained
and the folk tales’
countries (pair
 assignment)

Presenting the results

in class. (group/pair
assignment)

Analyses folk tales as Analyzing folk tales 1

to the main according to the main lesson
constituent part of constituent parts of the
narrative texts narrative text through
the worksheet
(individual
assignment)

Expands his/her Drawing a table of semantic 1

vocabulary and fields (family words), to be lesson
establishes filled with words/ expressions
morphologic, / sentences for comparison
phonetic, semantic (differences and similarities)
and syntactic with English (or another
comparisons language) (group assignment)

Becomes familiar Performing (in 1

with a story told in Portuguese) one of the lesson
Portuguese and tells it folk tales learned (group
to others assignment)

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 16
 Ficha de Trabalho Modelo para a Análise das Categorias da Narrativa

Template Worksheet for Analysis of the Main Constituent Parts of a Narrative Text

Lê o texto:

(...)

1. Personagens
1.1. Classifica as personagens, quanto ao relevo (principal/secundária/figurante) e à composição
(plana/modelada).
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

1.2. Preenche o quadro de caracterização da personagem:

___________________________(Personagem)
Palavras/expressões/frases /

Caracterização física /

Caracterização psicológica /

2. Narrador

Presença (participante / não-participante) Focalização (externa / interna; parcial/imparcial;

narrador objectivo/narrador subjectivo)

Diz porquê Diz porquê

Dá exemplos Dá exemplos

3. Acção
Preenche o quadro com os momentos do conto “________________________”:

Momentos da Acção / Moments Texto Assunto

Introdução " __________________________ Introdução da situação inicial e
___________________________ apresentação de… (personagem
________________________” principal).
4. Tempo
Faz o levantamento de marcas temporais (cronológicas / meteorológicas) (palavras/expressões).

5. Espaço
Completa o quadro com elementos capazes de nomear e caracterizar os diferentes espaços:

Espaço macro Espaço micro

• __________________ Exterior Interior
• __________________ • __________________ • __________________
• __________________ • __________________ • __________________
• __________________ • __________________

6. “O conto popular é uma narrativa de pequena extensão, com um número reduzido de personagens, sem
qualquer fundo histórico, e cuja acção se situa num espaço indeterminado e num tempo passado indefinido.
A intervenção do maravilhoso ocorre em alguns dos contos, mas não na sua generalidade. Sob o ponto de
vista histórico, considera-se que os contos populares assentam em crenças e mitos primitivos que se foram
progressivamente adaptando a novos cenários.”

In http://ciberduvidas.sapo.pt/php/resposta.php?id=7846&palavras=conto+popular

Concordas ou discordas desta definição? Fundamenta a tua opinião com base no conto “_____________”
(título).

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 18
 Dramatização do conto “A sopa de pedra” /
Dramatization of the folktale “Stone soup”

Below can be found the Portuguese folk tale “O Caldo de Pedra” (“Stone Soup”), a folk
tale that can be easily turned into a short play, engaging the student in a short
conversation. We say “easily” because the story takes place inside a house and the few
actors involved will need very few accessories: a monk’s habit (this can be improvised), a
stone, a pan and ingredients. The highlighted parts correspond to the “Frade” and “Gente
da casa”’s speech (this last one highlighted and underlined).
This activity can also become an interdisciplinary project with Drama.

O CALDO DE PEDRA

Um dia, um frade andava ao peditório; chegou à porta de um lavrador, mas não lhe quiseram aí
dar nada. O frade estava a cair com fome, e disse:
- Vou ver se faço um caldinho de pedra. E pegou numa pedra do chão, sacudiu-lhe a terra e pôs-se
a olhar para ela para ver se era boa para fazer um caldo. A gente da casa pôs-se a rir do frade e daquela
lembrança. Diz o frade:
- Então nunca comeram caldo de pedra? Só lhes digo que é uma coisa muito boa.
Responderam-lhe:
- Sempre queremos ver isso.
Foi o que o frade quis ouvir. Depois de ter lavado a pedra, disse:
- Se me emprestassem aí um pucarinho.
Deram-lhe uma panela de barro. Ele encheu-a de água e deitou-lhe a pedra dentro.
- Agora se me deixassem estar a panelinha aí ao pé das brasas.
Deixaram. Assim que a panela começou a chiar, disse ele:
- Com um bocadinho de unto é que o caldo ficava de primor.
Foram-lhe buscar um pedaço de unto. Ferveu, ferveu, e a gente da casa pasmada para o que via.
Diz o frade, provando o caldo:
- Está um bocadinho insosso; bem precisa de uma pedrinha de sal.
Também lhe deram o sal. Temperou, provou, e disse:
- Agora é que com uns olhinhos de couve ficava que os anjos o comeriam.
A dona da casa foi à horta e trouxe-lhe duas couves tenras. O frade limpou-as, e ripou-as com os
dedos deitando as folhas na panela.
Quando os olhos já estavam aferventados disse o frade:
- Ai, um naquinho de chouriço é que lhe dava uma graça...
Trouxeram-lhe um pedaço de chouriço; ele botou-o à panela, e enquanto se cozia, tirou do alforge
pão, e arranjou-se para comer com vagar. O caldo cheirava que era um regalo. Comeu e lambeu o beiço;
depois de despejada a panela ficou a pedra no fundo; a gente da casa, que estava com os olhos nele,
perguntou-lhe:
- Ó senhor frade, então a pedra?
Respondeu o frade:
- A pedra lavo-a e levo-a comigo para outra vez.
E assim comeu onde não lhe queriam dar nada.

Teófilo Braga, Contos Tradicionais do Povo Português 31

31
Este conto pode ser encontrado em http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/teofilo.html, a versão em
inglês em http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html#proverb / This folk tale can be found at
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/vercial/infantil/teofilo.html, the English version at
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html#proverb
Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 19
 Constrói o Conto Popular / Build the Folktale

The following are guidelines for writing a folktale (hereafter). The teacher can create
guidelines for any folktale.

 Constrói um conto popular e dá-lhe um título, seguindo as instruções: /

Build a folktale and give it a title, following the instructions:

Pepo-(Iya-Landa)-o-Esperto no ocidente

tem uma pele de onça quer comprar duas enxadas

(uma pele de onça = uma enxada)

corta o rabo em duas tiras e enrola a pele

Pepo-(Iya-Ngangela)-o-Esperto no oriente

tem uma enxada quer comprar duas peles de onça

(uma enxada = uma pele de onça)

mete dois cabos na mesma enxada

Encontro e Transacção dos dois produtos

Enxada(s) Pele(s)

MAS…

Chegada a casa:

Uma enxada = dois cabos

Uma pele de onça = duas tiras

Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 20
 BIBLIOGRAFIA / BIBLIOGRAPHY

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2002 Programa de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa - 12.º Ano, Curso Científico-
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CASCUDO, Luís da Câmara

1946 Contos tradicionais do Brasil, confrontos e notas. Americ-Edit., Rio de Janeiro.

CASTRO, Ivo
1991 Curso de História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade Aberta, Lisboa.

CUNHA, C. & CINTRA, L. F. Lindley

1998 Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo, Sá da Costa, Lisboa.

FARIA, I. H., E. R. PEDRO, I. DUARTE & C. A. M. GOUVEIA (org.)

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1977-1986 Literaturas africanas de expressão portuguesa. Instituto de Cultura Portuguesa, M.E.I.C.,
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GUERREIRO, Manuel V.
1983 Para a História da Literatura Popular Portuguesa. Biblioteca Breve, Instituto de Cultura
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LAWRENCE, KS
1999 Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century: including Chinese, classical
languages, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. National Standards in
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MADUREIRA, João, Ana Maria Vilhena, Leonor Castro Lopo & Fernanda Teixeira
2000 A Literatura de Expressão Oral. Chaves.

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REIS, Carlos & Ana Cristina M. Lopes

1987 Dicionário de narratologia. Coimbra, Livraria Almedina.

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1984 Contos populares portugueses. Estudo, coordenação e classificação de Alda da Silva
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Ana Mendes Teaching/Learning Portuguese through Folk Tales of the Portuguese-speaking World 21