E no entanto é preciso cantar! Música popular como mediadora do ensino-aprendizagem de Português Língua Estrangeira (PLE)

Abstract

This paper addresses the elaboration of didactic materials for the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL), from a perspective that considers language and culture as an inseparable interface. The materials available on the market that meet this requirement are rare, especially in an intercultural approach (KRAMSCH; MENDES; FURTOSO), which proposes, in addition to acquiring competence in the language, the dialogue between cultures in contact, avoiding stereotypes, and seeking knowledge about the other. Based on successful teaching experiences, in which popular Brazilian songs were the center of classroom practices, their validity is verified to construct meaningful and adequate didactic materials. Popular songs are artistic-cultural objects of great representativeness in the Brazilian culture and, by themselves, songs arouse foreigner’s curiosity. On the one hand, they represent the talent and creativity of generations of composers and lyricists; on the other hand, they bear the marks of time and place of creation, in addition to the authorial subjectivities. Contextualized, they become more relevant. Songs produced between the years of 1950-2000, considered one of the most prolific periods of Brazilian musical culture, were chosen for the study. From the dozens of lists of "best" songs of that time, thirty of the most expressive ones were selected to compose the corpus of analysis, of varied genres and rhythms. Considering that melody and lyrics form together the meaning of the song, the two languages were explored whenever possible. Thus, it was fairly easy to trace the connections with the everyday culture, with the underlying historical facts, and also with the manifestations of adhesion or resistance to the political system. As authentic materials that incorporate the colloquial level of the language, with their own prosody, idioms and slang, as well as sociological, historical, habits and customs, songs allow the exploration of a wide range of linguistic cultural events. They are flexible by nature, giving the teacher freedom to plan activities and tasks according to the concrete needs and opportunities experienced in the classroom. Intercultural materials should not be thought of as something ready and finished, but rather as support, as a source, as a resource that can be altered whenever necessary. By offering all these possibilities, the song can become a didactic material of great empathy and functionality. They give rise to cultural and artistic experiences that can be contrasted with those of speakers of other languages-cultures in the classroom space, as we have shown in this study. We believe that, by presenting a set of didactic units focused on intercultural work with popular songs, this study is collaborating not only with models of didactic material destined to PFL intercultural teaching, but also, and especially, giving opportunity for teachers and researchers of the area to exercise, from the suggested modus operandi, the elaboration of other materials with songs of their preference, or even with other textual genres.