bring the rich language, culture and history or Portugal to hundreds of Portuguese children and Bermudian adults, for seven years.

"My job here is to teach Portuguese, especially to children from Portuguese descendants,'' said Mrs. Botelho, who works for the Portuguese Cultural Association. "I have 80 students whose parents are mostly Portuguese nationals. Most of them understand Portuguese because their parents speak it, but they don't know how to write or read it.'' She also has a class of seven students who are less familiar with the language because their grandparents and great grandparents were Portuguese.

"They come because their parents wanted them to learn Portuguese,'' she said.

"It is a little bit different from the other class, but I think they are enjoying it.'' It means long days for Mrs. Botelho's students who attend Bermuda school during normal school hours and then Portuguese school between four and seven p.m. .

"It means we have to motivate them a lot with songs and stories and things like that,'' said Mrs. Botelho.

Mrs. Botelho said most of her students were proud of their heritage. "I think Bermudians sometimes have the wrong point of view about the Portuguese,'' she said. "Most of the Portuguese who came a long time ago were poor peasants.

"They had no instruction and no education. Sometimes people think we are all still like that.

"Most of the Portuguese people who come to Bermuda are from the Azores. They come here because they can get more money, not because the job is better. Most of them have better jobs in the Azores and come to Bermuda and do menial work.

"Working in Bermuda is a way for them to put money aside, so they can build a house. Some of them enjoy living here, and they would like for their children to stay and live here, but I don't think that will be possible in the near future.'' In addition to her 87 school age pupils, Mrs. Botelho also teaches adults in the evenings.

"They don't find it as easy to learn as the younger students,'' she said.

"In my point of view, it is hard to learn the basics of Portuguese. English is much easier to learn.

"Once they understand the basics of Portuguese it does get easier. Some of them come here and think they are going to learn an entire language in ten weeks.

"That's not possible, especially when the student doesn't practice or study enough. A language takes a long time, and a great deal of practice. But I think they enjoy at least the first contact with the language.'' Mrs. Botelho said with her younger pupils it takes about six years before there is a great difference in the way they speak and write.

She and her husband, Joao, came to Bermuda from Sao Miguel, Azores and they plan to return in a year.

"I like teaching here and I love all my students, but I feel like I need to go home to my family,'' Mrs. Botelho admitted. "I feel alone here, because I am the only teacher here.

"I teach from first to fourth grade in primary school. When we came to Bermuda, the Portuguese Cultural Association was looking for a teacher with my experience, because most of the children here are from primary one to four.

"We teach them so that when they go back they will know exactly what they are doing in the Portuguese classroom.'' When she and her husband and their two-year-old daughter Vanessa, return to the Azores she will go back to being a regular primary school teacher.

"I teach subjects like Portuguese, math and others,'' she said. "Here I find the students are more developed and learn faster, because I think they enter the school by five.

"In Portugal they enter at age six. I notice all the students here start learning to write with print. In Portugal we teach cursive writing from the first grade. I think that takes more time. On the other hand, in Portugal they start to teach the sciences right from the beginning.'' Mrs. Botelho said the Portuguese Cultural Association school teaches the culture, language and history of Portugal, but not math because it is universal.

"I came here because I wanted to know how people live in other places,'' she said. "I also wanted to know how the immigrants lived.

"I wanted to practice my English, but I don't seem to do much of it. I talk Portuguese all the time with my students, with my friends and at home. I went to the Bermuda College and took the Cambridge First Certificate in Language. I did quite well. They wanted me to take the second one, but then I had my daughter and I was very busy.'' The Portuguese School's students began celebrating the 150th anniversary of Portuguese immigration to the island, over a year ago.

They put together a play called O Emigrante about immigrants coming to Bermuda. They also created a parade float of the Golden Rule -- the ship that bought the first boat-load of Madeirans in 1849. They also prepared a display at last year's Agricultural Exhibition.