ABSTRACT
Language is an integral part of one’s identity and for many people living in Brazil, one can only claim to be Brazilian if one speaks Portuguese, the official language. This monolingual bias has prevailed for years, even though over 200 Indigenous and immigrant languages have been documented in the country. Language policies in Brazil rightly acknowledge the country’s multilingual nature and suggest that any foreign language be taught from a pluricentric standpoint, but the reality is different. Bem-vindos offers language courses in four languages: Arabic, Spanish, French and English. The landscape of both language programmes had an aesthetic plurilingual and pluricultural appeal, with decoration representing several languages and cultures. In countries with increasing multilingualism such as Brazil, language programmes need to go beyond the aesthetic level of plurilingualism to provide effective plurilingual pedagogy training for in-service and pre-service teachers who, despite showing openness to plurilingualism, are not yet equipped with practical classroom knowledge.
