by Jean Unda and a writing team

This booklet was put together by Portuguese women in three different ESL (English as a Second Language) classes in Toronto. The women tell their own stories about their lives in Portugal and in Toronto. They talk about their hopes and their disappointments. The women in the booklet seem very honest and clear about their lives.

The instructors have taken the women's stories and used them to develop language activities which are also included in the booklet.

This book will be particularly interesting to Portuguese women and women living in Toronto, but many other women will also be able to enjoy these stories. The sections such as housework, children, paid jobs, unions and strikes can be used for further discussion. The activities can be adapted to work with other stories.

This book can also be used by women to develop their own material. It has many excellent ideas about how to help women talk about their experiences. The grammar exercises seem to come very naturally out of the writing and show how to combine a more structured and unstructured approach.

Women who want to talk about coming to Canada from other parts of the world may be able to use the booklet as a model. Seeing how other women discuss their experiences - not always positive - may help clear the way.

The emphasis on developing and expressing opinions can provide a good model as well. In many materials, this element of the learning process is left out.

A review by the Halifax Working Group, Halifax, N.S.