Professor Rocha uses PowerPoint presentations illustrated with various photograhps and clip art in his Beginning Portuguese course to guide students in the pronunciation and meaning of Portuguese vocabulary. In the course, the focus is on the development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading,and writing – within the context of the socio-cultural themes practiced in class.

He wanted to allow students access to these presentations outside of the classroom for practice and further skill development. Professor Rocha visited CIRT and used its equipment to record narrations for the slides. CIRT staff then assisted him in converting the PowerPoints to very small java-based files which he makes available to students through Blackboard, so that students can listen and learn at their convenience!

Click on the image to see an example of this method and learn a little Portuguese!