ABSTRACT
The teaching of Brazilian Portuguese as a Heritage Language (POLH, from the Portuguese Po rtuguês como L íngua de H erança) is a recent phenomenon (Mendes, 2012). This situation is due to emigration from Brazil becoming significant only in the second half of the 1980s, when the U.S. was the main destination for Brazilians venturing abroad. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística [IBGE], 2011), the U.S. is still the country with the largest number of Brazilian emigrants; however, Europe has also emerged as an important destination for this population.
