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Fred P. Ellison (1922–2014) was a pioneer in the field of Luso-Brazilian Studies in North America. This cluster of short essays by teacher-scholars who studied and/or worked with Ellison examines his multifaceted leadership in the field and his contributions to Portuguese language instruction, literary criticism, and translation. Colleagues relate his trail-blazing work, and long-term activities for over four decades (c.1950–c.1990), to the current state of Luso-Brazilian affairs in higher education.

Cooperative learning has a fifteen year history of research and application in primary and middle schools throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel. This paper briefly describes that history in terms of research conducted in primary education and in foreign- and second-language education. It also outlines the components that make up cooperative learning. The discussion then describes a specific application of some cooperative learning structures in a post-secondary foreign language classroom. The paper notes examples of successful structures as well as student reactions to the experiment and an assessment of the results.

abroad increased during the 1980s while at the same time its clientele broadened from foreign language majors to students from business and engineering (6: p. 92). The strengths of summer study abroad programs suggest why many institutions are sponsoring them: the visibility and prestige they bring to the university, the cost relative to full-year programs, the opportunity for faculty to travel and conduct research abroad, and the profitability to the institution. Criticisms of summer study abroad programs are tied to what are also program features: brevity and lack of traditional structure. The shortness of the summer study experience can limit student contact with the host culture, which in turn limits the opportunity for language practice and the potential impact on student values (5: p. 261). From an administrator's standpoint, summer study abroad programs are problematic since they do not compare easily with on-campus summer study. Do summer study abroad programs offer classwork equal in rigor and content to coursework given on campus? Most summer study directors who have published their views on academic rigor in summer language programs believe that coursework can and should be rigorous, but not in the same ways that counterparts on campus would be.1 Geitz argues that students must be given equal opportunity both to assimilate information about their new environment and to experiment with how that information works so that neither academics nor the richness of the for

Consuelo de Castro's play A Prova de Fogo (1968) communicates the student experience during the dictatorship to students of Brazilian theater today allowing for a sense of participation in the struggles for gender equality and political action. In spite of the passage of time, students can identify with the characters when they apply specific reading approaches outlined by Juan Villegas. There is a dialog then between the play's focus on Brazilian student life in the sixties, the play's critique of sexual politics, and the response to the play in the classroom. From the safe distance of more than thirty years, Brazil's dictatorship again has become a subject for scholarly examination as can be witnessed by the recent panels at the 2001 convention of the Modern Language Association. While for many the best response to the horrors of the past is to leave them there, this attention seems warranted since there is much to be learned from the dictatorship about the history of the country and the development of its national literature. As a researcher and instructor of theater, I recently tested the classroom, rather than the conference panel, as a site for discussing the dictatorship. In this context it is difficult to create an environment conducive to analysis about plays written during the dictatorship since most of them portray violence and inhumanity. In the exchange with students, I learned important lessons about theater and about teaching the dictatorship that my own research had not revealed. This essay will develop a conversation between my analysis of the play's critique of gender and power relations and my students' insights based on their readings and imagined dramatization of those two themes.

men study program. The study has three main ence expressed a significantly greaten degree of foci: a) to determine the validity of the ACTFLcomfort when using the language in a listening or based Portuguese Speaking Test as a placement speaking situation. tool for a short study abroad program; and b) to The findings of Carroll and Graman affirm assess gains in oral proficiency among particithe important role foreign study plays in depants in the University of Tennessee's summer veloping language skills that are needed for study abroad program in Brazil; and c) to assess, advanced language courses. While efforts have where possible, other issues related to the initial been made to make the foreign language classstudy abroad experience, room more communicative and to improve student's proficiency so as to better prepare Overview of Research students for advanced language classes, foreign study serves as an irreplaceable linguistic and John Carroll (1967) in his study of the lancultural experience. guage proficiency of foreign language majors in The traditional foreign study program detheir senior year, noted that most of the majors in signed for language learners includes study at a his sample had at least one foreign study expeniforeign institution in regular or specially deence. Even with this experience, most did not signed classes, placement with families, and surpass the level of 2+ on the FSI scale. This often additional scheduled travel. The cost of rating is equivalent to a scone of Advanced Plus these programs coupled with the time students on the ACTFL scale (Liskin-Gasparro, 1987). must commit to foreign study has led to a shorten, Graman (1987) noted the same phenomenon more intensive version of foreign study, the _________ summer study program. Unlike academic year 5Members are invited to send material to: Dr. Douglas K. programs, summer programs typically arrange Benson, Dept. of Modern Languages, Eisenhower Hall 104, for special classes for students at foreign instituKansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS 66506. Maximum tions that would normally be on vacation. Sumlength is 15 double-spaced pages, in either 1985 MLA or men study is attractive to faculty and students linguistics format. Please send a typed original and acopy alikebecauseitnequineslesstimeandlessmoney. for each paper submitted, and include a self-addressed envelope and loose stamps to cover return mailing of the However, summer study programs have been manuscript, criticized for their brevity, intensity, and lack of

Program development for attracting and retaining students is not the exclusive concern of those teaching Portuguese. Certainly, instructors of languages with large enrollments also must address this concern. But minor programs, like Portuguese, have been especially resourceful in making their programs known on college and university campuses. Most of the efforts over the past thirty years have focused on building visibility for Portuguese and on creating a cultural community for those who decided to study the language. The history of that resourcefulness provides valuable examples to others who might want to start a Portuguese program. Recent developments in French and Spanish applied linguistics have produced new teaching methodologies that are now being adapted for use in Portuguese. Soon these new materials, that can strengthen program development from within the classroom, will be accessible to all Portuguese instructors. The potential of these new teaching materials to do a better job preparing students and building bridges between lowerand upper-division classes bodes well for small programs like Portuguese.

As promised in our preliminary review (Hispania, December 1985), we propose to make a more detailed commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of this integrated software package. We now have had several months experience with Nota Bene, and base our observations in this review on two kinds of activities: 1) the note-taking, documentation, and word processing involved in the production of foreign language research materials; 2) the establishment and manipulation of an extensive free-form and multi-lingual database. The second activity, now in its initial stages, will lead to an annotated bibliographic guide to the avant-garde in Latin America, and brings with it special needs for integrating word processing and database management. The hardware on which we are using Nota Bene, as indicated in the earlier review, is an expanded IBM PC-XT (512KB internal memory, two disk drives, and 20MB fixed disk capacity) with an IBM Color Graphics printer and an Enhanced Color Display. Initially we installed Nota Bene for use on the floppy-disk drives, but we have since reinstalled it on the hard disk in order to organize our files better and to facilitate the transfer of files from other systems. We had earlier expressed disappointment with the printed support materials provided with Nota Bene, a concern which added use has not dispelled. However, in direct contacts with support personnel over the telephone, we received effective assistance in resolving questions regarding reinstallation procedures and other matters. Dragonfly Software maintains a number (not toll-free) in Brooklyn, New York, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST. The staff will answer questions about uses of Nota Bene, but consultations on programming are charged at current rates. We also understand that the MLA is providing support for Nota Bene, although we have not yet tried to use this service. We mentioned, also in our earlier review, our search for a single software package that would handle all the demands of an extended research/bibliographic project like ours. We originally chose Nota Bene because it had attractive basic features in an integrated package. After using it for several months we realize that neither Nota Bene nor any other package we know of can fill all our complex requirements. However, in learning to use Nota Bene we have discovered a very useful feature, a programming language which will facilitate making changes in our files and in the software so as to better meet our specific needs. Therefore, we have decided to invest the time necessary to learn both the fundamentals of programming and the effective use of Nota Bene's programming language. We perceive important benefits, both for the project and for our individual work. Becoming more familiar with programming concepts will allow us in the short run to manipulate our various files more efficiently, and for the long run will force us to analyze and organize in

In a recent newsletter (Summer, 1985) and a subsequent special announcement to its members, the Modern Language Association has endorsed for the first time, and is currently marketing, an integrated word processing and data base management package for use on microcomputers (Nota Bene, Dragonfly Software Company, $495 list price, special price of $396 to MLA members). Writing for PC Magazine (July 23, 1985, p. 64), Stephen Manes takes note of that unusual endorsement and underlines the Association's intention to market directly to its own members and those of related organizations. We found the MLA announcement to be of immediate interest, since we are in the initial stages of an extensive annotated bibliography on the avant-garde in Latin America. We have available for project use an IBM PC-XT (20 MB hard disk capacity), but up to this point our searches for adequate software support have been largely unsuccessful. Most packages have been designed for business use and are not adaptable to our needs. The excellent Finder/Search Companion retrieval system, designed by Aaron/Smith Associates for library use, was promising as an integrated system, but the entire package would have cost nearly $2,000. In that context Nota Bene appeared to offer integration of various important functions, multilingual word processing, and the generation of cross-listings and indexes at a price which was acceptable. On the strength of those announced capabilities we ordered Nota Bene, have installed it on our system, and have begun to make use of it in our project. We should note that we are not programmers nor computer scientists, but we do have several years combined experience in word processing and data base management on both microcomputers and mainframe systems. It is precisely our intention to use Nota Bene extensively that motivates our comments in the pages of Hispania. This review is a preliminary assessment of the package as we have installed it and have been able to use it up to this point. After we have had an opportunity to test Nota Bene's capabilities with materials from our own project, we will provide a more complete evaluation. At this moment, however, we will describe the package for potential AATSP users, omment on the installation process, and provide an evaluation of the support and training materials.