The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists SPRING 2023 The Linguist 33 INSTITUTE MATTERS Meet our members AS SHE TAKES OVER AS DIRECTOR OF CAMÕES UK, CÁTIA VERGUETE OUTLINES A LIFE DEDICATED TO LANGUAGES EDUCATION What early experiences sparked your interest in languages? The linguistic variation within the Portuguese language in Portugal. One side of my family is from Oliveira de Frades, a small village in the north of Portugal; the other side is from the southeast in the border city of Vila Real de Santo António. We lived in Lisbon but visited during school holidays. It fascinated me that my grandparents, on each side, used different words for most objects and events – from domestic animals to household goods. When they used the same words, the pronunciation, morphology, syntax and semantics were different. So was I. I had to adapt. This regional variation was when I first began to pay attention to language. So how did that lead to a career in language education? Soon after I completed my first degree in Modern Languages and Literature (Portuguese and English), I got a part-time teaching position in Bournemouth on one of the Portuguese Government courses offered to children of Portuguese-speaking heritage living abroad. My first ever students lived in poor housing conditions and their parents worked long hours. Their school experience was very much shaped by their relationship with their two languages. The after-school classes offered them, and their families, solace and a valued connection to people with similar narratives. This was the starting point of my interest in issues around multilingualism and intercultural understanding, specifically in pedagogical practice and educational policy. I have always been involved in these areas – as a student, teacher, researcher and, now, administrator. Yes, you were recently appointed Director of Camões UK. Congratulations! Tell us a little about that… It was the natural next step in my career. Camões is the Portuguese organisation for cooperation and the promotion of Portuguese language and culture worldwide. Operating from the embassy in London, my role is to coordinate a network of 27 fully qualified teachers and 3,500 students in 60 schools across the UK and the Channel Islands. We also fund 18 teaching positions in British universities, with around 1,300 students. Part of my role is to partner with local cultural agents to support Portuguese artists and authors. It is the most exciting and fulfilling role I have ever had. What are your priorities for Camões UK? Against a political and socio-economic backdrop of global epidemics, inflation and war, our work impacts positively on fundamental social matters like education, identity, well-being, social cohesion, and international and intercultural relations. At a time when communities are said to be identity-based and geographically unbounded, one of my priorities is to work on community building: on empowering community language speakers and improving Portuguese language learning and teaching internationally. This links to my two other priorities, which relate to embracing technological advances in education and developing an international network that is rooted in local know-how and relevance. What changes would you like to see in languages education more broadly? There is nothing about certain languages or language varieties that makes them better than others. It is the way we speak about languages that creates hierarchies and valuations. This is particularly problematic in education, where we end up privileging those who speak standard or dominant languages at the expense of those who speak minority languages or non-standard varieties. So I would like to see schools embracing all languages equally as educational resources, without labelling them into fixed categories like Modern Foreign Languages, Home Languages, Additional Languages. If you could go back and talk to your teenage self, what advice would you give? I have always been a passionate learner of languages but I felt apprehensive about a career in languages. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor and I felt I might

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