In the past, Portugal had "pockets" of foreign students in some areas of the country, but currently this situation is widespread throughout the territory, said the coordinator, giving the example of the Francisco de Arruda School Group in Lisbon, Alcântara, currently with students from around 40 nationalities.

"This is a reality in all our schools and we really have to face it and have adequate answers", stressed the coordinator of the school libraries, classifying the school as a place where better integration can work, better knowledge among the students who arrive and those who are from the school, and the integration of what is diverse in each of their cultures.

The Alcântara school, the group's headquarters, like others spread across the country, has many students who do not speak Portuguese and for whom the library is the great support.

Manuela Pargana da Silva highlighted the increase in the last decade of school library activities aimed at immigrant students, who have to be prepared to receive students who arrive at any time of the school year from the most diverse geographical points and are completely unaware of the Portuguese language.

At the Francisco Arruda school, where many Brazilian students used to arrive, students from Ukraine, Latin America, Colombia, North Africa (Algeria and Morocco), South Africa, Argentina, India, Nepal, Bangladesh or the Philippines are now arriving.

Depending on the students' countries of origin, the school library's activities are adapted and diversified, explained the school librarian at Francisco de Arruda, Lurdes Caria, highlighting the integration work that is done at the level of affections and, then, little by little, at the level curricular.

Especially the youngest students, from the first cycle, who arrive at school without speaking a word of Portuguese, are quick to learn the new language and are often the great support and guide for families for tasks such as completing official documents, such as the citizen's card, or a trip to the parish council.

"These students come to the library a lot to ask for this type of help, such as knowing where they can go with their father to solve a problem related to water, gas or electricity at home, or for an older brother to be able to get a driving license (...) these little ones, perhaps because they are less ashamed, are very supportive of the family in the first years they arrive at school", said Lurdes Caria.

Coming from Bangladesh, in Asia, to Portugal almost three years ago, together with his family, Fayeeza Nureen, a 13-year-old student at Francisco Arruda school, recalled how it took almost seven months to be able to speak Portuguese and that it was with his family, teachers and colleagues that he was able to learn the language.

"When I arrived, I didn't even know how to say 'hello, how are you'. I remember asking my father what 'how are you' meant", said this 7th grade student from a class with less than 30 students of various nationalities, such as India, Nepal, Ukraine or Russia, and which has a minority of Portuguese students.

His 14-year-old colleague Yashvir Patel, from India, said that it was at home, in Lisbon, that he managed to learn to speak Portuguese, because at school he could not use a mobile phone and a translator, and confessed that he likes Indian food more than Portuguese food, because he is a vegetarian and not because Portuguese food is bad.

In the school library, where a French lesson was taking place for a class of non-native Portuguese students, Portuguese could be heard mixed with other languages and even the teacher resorted to English to communicate with the students when French and Portuguese did not work.

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