Beyond literary books

Teaching Portuguese language and literature in public and private schools is a great challenge, especially for novice teachers, because being a teacher goes beyond transmitting knowledge to students and preparing lessons. In order to teach, teachers need to be willing to learn and accept new challenges from their students, always trying to design lessons that motivate them so that the goal, which is teaching and learning, happens. Teachers cannot simply reproduce the same way of teaching for years on end. Teaching is the union of theory and practice, hence the need for students to experience different teaching methodologies, which are fundamental to the development of the syllabus in daily classroom activities. In an attempt not to reproduce traditional models for teaching the mother tongue, proposals were developed to work on literary works in an interactive way, using music, theatrical presentations and plastic arts to encourage students to read, with the aim of making Portuguese language and literature classes more productive and enjoyable.