About Clarice Deal
My name is Clarice
Deal. I have been living in USA since July, 1989. When I
started to teach Portuguese at Arizona State University I had the desire to
develop my own material, incorporating cultural elements into the language
program and making it interesting. One day my dream came true. I had the
pleasure of meeting Anamaria Teixeira, who had been teaching Portuguese at The
American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). This changed my life. We began to work
together, creating “Canta Brasil,” a music-based method for teaching Portuguese
through songs. Today, both of us use this material for beginning and
intermediate students learning Portuguese.
At present I am working on my Phd in Rhetoric and Linguistics in the
English Department.
Awards and Honors
Multicultural Student Center Statement
I
have been teaching Portuguese at ASU since 1990. These last ten years have been
a wonderful time. I cannot measure
the joy my wonderful students have brought me and it has been a great pleasure
to teach them the about the language and culture of my native country,
Brazil. It is wonderful tto
be at this great school and see the value that is placed on each and every
individual and their own experiences and culture. As a woman of color,
African-Indian–Brazilian, Hispanic, and now American, I can truly say that most of all I am grateful
for the wonderful students that I been apart of my life here at ASU. They are, after all, the reason we are
here.
As a language Instructor I have observed the continual struggle between the human need to communicate and the cultural elements involved in achieving that goal. This conflict is nowhere more evident than in processes associated with learning another language and absorbing the fundamental elements of another culture. Experience has taught me that effective language teaching requires a cultural context into which vocabulary and word structures can be properly situated. All students are capable of meeting the instructor’s expectations if taught correctly and if they apply themselves in a reasonable way to their studies. Some students will require extra help. I pledge myself to do everything possible to give all students the chance to succeed in class. It is also my hope that they will not only learn Portuguese, but also learn lessons and experiences that will add value and insight to their personal lives.
It has always
been my philosophy to bring as much of Brazil as possible into the classroom,
because the cultural element is an essential part of any language. I also try to take students out of the
classroom and into a part of Brazil that we have here in Arizona
Contact me: clarice@asu.edu