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A Visit to the Walker: Language Learning and the Visual Arts

In the past few years, we have been innovating in the ways we teach Portuguese by presenting students with authentic materials, such as literature, film or visual arts in the language classroom. By enriching our student's cultural experience, these materials also raise their motivation to learn Portuguese language. Recently, we liaised with the Walker Art Gallery to organize a guided visit of our students to Portuguese artist Paula Rego's etchings. Being in contact with these authentic materials was a step further from the classroom experience, and allowed for the enhancement of our students' feelings of empathy towards the important moral and social questions that Rego depicts in her work. Following this success, we wish to establish an annual visit to the Walker Art Gallery, allowing our students an authentic experience of Lusophone culture in the very city where they live and study.