Unicamp will participate in the second phase of the Languages without Borders (IsF) program, created in 2012 by the Ministry of Education to boost the internationalization process of Brazilian universities. The University will offer several free face-to-face courses in two languages (English and Portuguese for Foreigners), aimed at an audience made up of the internal community of students (undergraduate and postgraduate), teachers and staff, as well as the external community, made up of English teachers of the public education network. Interested parties can register from September 30th to October 9th at this email address. Registration results will be announced on October 16th and classes will begin on October 23rd.
To develop these activities, at the same time, registrations for scholarship teachers who want to teach the courses will also be open from August 21st to 28th. Candidates for the English course can be linked to Unicamp or other higher education institutions, both public and private. Those who intend to offer the Portuguese for Foreigners course must necessarily have a connection with the University. Undergraduate and postgraduate students and professionals who have already graduated in Literature - English can apply for scholarships.
The IsF was born from another federal program to encourage internationalization, Science without Borders (CsF), focused on promoting exchange and international mobility for undergraduate and postgraduate students. On that occasion, both the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), creators of the initiative, realized that many CsF recipients were not making good use of the content offered by the destination foreign universities because they did not master another language, mainly English. Hence the need to create a program to provide this proficiency to Brazilian students.
Initially, only federal universities were able to participate in the IsF. In this second stage, participation was also open to state universities. Unicamp competed for the program's notice and obtained accreditation to offer English and Portuguese courses for Foreigners for a period of four years. To this end, the University created the Language Center (NucLi-IsF), the administrative part of which is located at the Institute of Language Studies (IEL). NucLi-IsF is linked to the General Coordination of the University (CGU) and has the support of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies (PRG), the Language Teaching Center (CEL) and IEL.
Under the general coordination of professor Ana Cecilia Cossi Bizon, NucLi-IsF has pedagogical coordinators including professors Guilherme Jotto Kawachi (English) and Matilde VR Scaramucci (Portuguese for Foreigners). At Unicamp, according to Kawachi, the program will have nine scholarship teachers, six of whom will receive scholarships from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) and three from PRG, through the Student Support Service (SAE). Each of them will offer three courses. “In other words, we will have 18 English classes and nine Portuguese for Foreigners classes, each with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25 students. The courses will last from 16 to 64 hours”, informs the teacher.
The scholarship teachers, who will undergo a selection process, will dedicate 20 hours per week to the program, including four hours of orientation with the pedagogical coordinators and one hour to publicizing the activities. The other 15 hours will be spent in the classroom. Professor Matilde points out that the contents of the courses will be suitable for each segment and will be very instrumental. “In the case of students and teachers, the production of summaries of scientific texts and oral production for presentation at conferences will be worked on, among other aspects. For employees, topics such as assistance to foreigners in the medical, humanities, exact sciences, etc. will be covered,” she explains.
The classes, according to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Eliana Amaral, will take place in various spaces at Unicamp. There is the possibility, for example, that employees take the course at the Unicamp School of Corporate Education (Educorp). The director notes that one of the modalities foreseen in the notice is also the offering of online courses. “One of the compensations we are going to offer is a non-face-to-face course for English teachers in the public school system, so that we can contribute to improving the training of these educators. This modality is still being analyzed to be offered in the future”, she adds.
NucLi-IsF's English courses, adds Kawachi, are aimed at people who already have some familiarity with the language. Students' level of knowledge will be tested through the platform My English Online (MEO), maintained by the MEC in the context of the IsF. “This way, we will be able to form classes according to the students’ level of knowledge, which can be between basic and advanced.” PRG advisor, professor Daniela Gatti, additionally informs that NucLi-IsF will also be responsible for administering the Toefl IPT and Celpe-Bras exams, which assess proficiency in English and Portuguese for Foreigners, respectively.
Two way street
The general coordinator of Unicamp, professor Teresa Atvars, considers the IsF as an important stimulus to the internationalization process of Brazilian universities. She points out that mastering a second language, especially English, is essential not only for those who intend to participate in an international mobility program, but also for entering the world of work. “Currently, many global companies based in Brazil conduct interviews with job candidates in English. Those who only speak their mother tongue are at a disadvantage in this type of dispute,” she says.
Teresa Atvars also emphasizes the importance of IsF offering the Portuguese for Foreigners course. According to her, the internationalization process of a university works like a two-way street. “In the same way that we want to send students and teachers abroad, we also want to attract foreigners here. The presence of people of other nationalities at Unicamp creates a multicultural environment that is very enriching both from a scientific and academic point of view, as well as social coexistence”, understands the general coordinator.
