Estratégias para o ensino do PLE: o teatro como ferramenta linguística e agente intercultural.

STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING PORTUGUESE TO FOREIGNERS: THEATRE AS A LINGUISTIC TOOL AND AN INTERCULTURAL AGENT Theatrical practice makes it possible to experience and explore some of the most hidden areas of our own being whenever we wish, including exploring those things that produce more anxiety and fear because we consider them to be negative. Going onto a stage, however small it may be, helps us to protect ourselves from fear in order to build a broader personality. Theatrical activity is formative and is an instrument of growth for all ages and all stages of life. Among the younger generations, it becomes a place of discovery presenting a possibility of being and doing many other things that would not otherwise be possible, creating a space in which fantasy and creativity are likely to be expressed with the greatest freedom in a joint journey with fellow actors. It was at a meeting of these two realities that the university theatre laboratory in Forlì was born in 2009; it was seen as a therapeutic path that separated the real world from the possible and fantastical without rules, or from a place with rules typical of imaginary environments and thus ideal for learning or improving a new language. With its own techniques, theatre thus promotes the learning and stabilization of foreign languages, because, thanks to magic and spontaneous or directed interaction, participants naturally let themselves be carried away, using expressions and terms learned and written by themselves without having a fear of making mistakes.