A Summer Internship in Portugal
RIC senior Felix Fonseca Garcia (in foreground of photo above) was awarded a $5,000 Beatrice S. Demers Foreign Language Fellowship, administered by the Rhode Island Foundation, and a $6,000 Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies Scholarship to fund his internship in Lisbon, Portugal, this summer. His career goal is to teach Portuguese and Spanish at the high school level.
Born in Cape Verde, Fonseca Garcia immigrated to Rhode Island at age 17. He is fluent in both Cape Verdean and Portuguese, but when he arrived, he was unable to speak English. Due to his natural gift for languages, he was speaking English fluently within four and a half months.
After graduating from Central Falls High School, Fonseca Garcia was hired by his former high school to interpret and translate for Cape Verdean and Portuguese-speaking students and parents. From 2020 to 2024, this work ignited his passion for education and languages.
Today, the 25-year-old is entering his final year at Rhode Island College, double majoring in world languages education and modern languages/Portuguese, with a minor in Spanish.
With the scholarship monies he received, he paid the Foundation for Lusophone and American Development to arrange a two-month, summer internship for him in Portugal through the Study in Portugal Network (SIPN). SIPN paired him with organizations that best fit his interests and prepared his itinerary.
“The site that best suited me was CAZA, a nonprofit agency in Lisbon that does social intervention for a large neighborhood. The neighborhood is made up of housing projects with a mix of Portuguese, Cape Verdean and Romani (gypsy) people. The majority of the buildings are owned by the government.”
CAZA had Fonseca Garcia teaching adult ESL classes and leading tours of their ongoing public art project.
“The art project consisted of urban artists [muralists], street artists [graffiti artists] and fine artists painting 17 murals throughout the neighborhood – one mural for each of the 17 goals of the United Nations’ sustainability development,” he says.
“Among the groups requesting a tour was a cadre of Rhode Island and Massachusetts representatives and senators of Portuguese and Cape Verdean descent,” he says.
CAZA then lent him to another nonprofit – CESIS, a social work agency that works with teens. His tasks included assisting the teens with their academics, leading workshops and guiding field trips.
Looking back, he reflected on his experiences:
“As a child growing up in Cape Verde, who’s never been off the island, the picture in my mind of Portugal was always of a much more developed country,” he says. “To Cape Verdeans, Portugal is the land of opportunity.
“I didn’t know about the more problematic side of Portugal until I got there. It was shocking to see, but at the same time, it showed me how much we all have in common as human beings. It doesn’t matter what part of the planet you live on. The United States, Cape Verde and Portugal have the same social problems and the same dedicated people who want to change things and turn things around.
“As an interpreter for Central Falls High School and instructor for CAZA and CESIS, I was also able to see how powerful education is as a tool to change a community.
Currently, Fonseca Garcia is a substitute teacher for Pawtucket and Central Falls – two cities with large Cape Verdean and Spanish communities. He hopes to find a permanent teaching position in one of these locations when he graduates from RIC.
“I believe teachers can make a difference,” he says. “I definitely had teachers who made a difference in my life. I would love to be the person who makes a difference in theirs.”
Learn more about RIC’s world languages education and modern languages programs.