The Portuguese Teachers of English Association (APPI) identified an urgent need for help for teachers at secondary level facing the obligatory extensive reading section of the national curriculum.

Client, stakeholders, partners

• The Portuguese Ministry of Education
• Teachers' associations
• The Norwich Institute for Language Education, UK
• State schools' teachers
• British authors and poets

Focus
Contemporary British literature as a language learning and cultural awareness tool.

The project
The Portuguese Teachers of English Association (APPI) identified an urgent need for help for teachers at secondary level facing the obligatory extensive reading section of the national curriculum.

The British Council in Portugal, working with APPI, devised a programme of activities and support which has three main elements: 

1. Short stories and/or poetry from contemporary sources, which form the basis of ELT resource ‘kits' for use in secondary and primary school classrooms. These resources are made available free of charge, on-line and on CD ROM. 
2. The training of teachers to become resource facilitators: writing materials for ‘kits' and training colleagues in the use of the materials. 
3. Authors working with teachers to inspire students and develop creative impact through individual school visits.

The resulting project has developed its own pedagogy, which has become a reference point for masters level courses in Spain and the UK, and has informed course books published for school years 10 and 11 in Portugal.

The Portuguese Ministry of Education has incorporated reference to the project and its resources in its new curriculum and has updated its extensive reading list as a result.

What the stakeholders say

• "The strength of the materials is in their modularity and versatility, and the fact that teachers can use them in a variety of ways rather than be confined to a lockstep lesson plan."
  Dr Amos Paran, IOE, University of London
• "BritLit .. combines everything an effective BC project needs: professional collaboration, long term educational impact, massive reach, genuine cultural exposure and strong ELT support."
  Romesh Gunesekera (author)
• "A brilliant project, absolutely invaluable to promote the teaching of English through the use of British contemporary literature."
  Teresa Pinto de Almeida (National Career Prize Winner, teacher, Portuguese secondary school)
• "BritLit is the best thing to happen to writers and students of English in years."
  Ron Butlin (Poet Laureate, Edinburgh)
• "This was the best thing I've done in all the years at school."
  Laura Mendes, student, Funchal

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