Culture club Vasco Da Gama this week reignited an age-old debate over whether Portuguese should be taught in Bermuda’s schools. Club president Andrea Moniz-DeSouza told The Royal Gazette of the organisation’s plans to hold a public meeting this month in hopes of getting the language taught at Bermuda College. Yesterday we took to the streets to canvass residents on their thoughts.“Yes. Definitely,” said St David’s resident Natacha Kneeland.The 21-year-old argued that residents wouldn’t be able to communicate with the “high prevalence of Portuguese” on the Island unless it was taught in schools. She also believed that knowing Portuguese was especially important in “medical and government customer service jobs”.Others believed that Portuguese lessons should at least be an option in the school curriculum.“I think it should be included for a choice because it’s so widely spoken on the Island and [the Island] has ties to Portugal,” said 27-year-old Pete Robey of Smith’s.Kevin Roberts, who is half-Portuguese, had a similar opinion.“Yeah, I think so,” said the Warwick resident.“I don’t see why not. They want to teach French but who in Bermuda speaks French?” the 43-year-old asked.A Devonshire woman agreed.“I think it’s more important for schools to teach Portuguese than Spanish or French because it’s part of our heritage,” said 26-year-old Alexis Hall.Piggy-backing on the notion of ancestry, Stacey Pitcher agreed.“It’s pretty much our second language here,” said the 25-year-old.“At least at the school I went to we had an option, so [students] should have an option to possibly take Portuguese and see if there’s an interest in it,” added the Devonshire resident who is half-Portuguese.Nicholle Moniz, of Pembroke, who is also half-Portuguese, agreed.“Yes, there should be an option to take [Portuguese] in schools,” said the 27-year-old. Asked why she explained: “Just so that [people] would be able to communicate better with the people around [them]. There are a lot of Portuguese on the Island. You can also get a feeling for [the Portuguese] culture.”Paget resident Lorraine Nanud also thought that it should be an option in Bermuda schools.“Just to give the Portuguese children the opportunity to learn their culture and their own language,” she explained.Dijaun Simons said it was important because of the large Portuguese population here.“I think that with the amount of Portuguese that we have in Bermuda living and working that it should be taught in schools,” said the 36-year-old Southampton resident.Two other men disagreed.“If you’re going to teach Portuguese than you’re going to have to teach an African language like Kiswahili or Yoruba or some African dialect,” said Miles Manders.The Pembroke resident said that an African language should be taught locally because there are “predominantly African people here”.Said Warwick resident Richard Brangman: “No we shouldn’t teach Portuguese. Portuguese should be taught in Portugal. I think we should teach African culture to children of African descent because the public school system is predominantly black. If the Portuguese want to be taught their language, then they should do it privately.”