Teaching aids and classroom resources

Teaching Aids and Classroom Resources for Kristang and Eurasian Culture, Identity & Language

All resources listed are either (a) in the public domain, (b) publicly accessible, or (c) belong to the 13th Kabesa Kevin Martens Wong and are made publicly accessible under his rights as author or creator of the work. This list is not exhaustive and is meant to be a starting point for educators interested in exploring Kristang or Eurasian perspectives in the classroom.

NIE-aligned Lesson Plans for Social Studies, History and/or Civics Education

  • Enrichment lessons/materials for exploring the Eurasian community, by Liu Shuyun & Teddy Sim (2022): This NIE-funded compilation provides a structured, curriculum-aligned set of enrichment lesson plans for teaching Eurasian history, culture, language, and identity in Singapore schools (Primary 4, Secondary 1, Secondary 2, Secondary 3, but can be adapted to other levels)

Short Videos (<3 min)

Longer Videos, Films and Documentaries (>3 min)

  • “How these cousins keep their endangered language alive” (2025): Introduction to Kristang language, culture and identity and the concepts of intangible cultural heritage preservation and revitalisation, featuring Kapitang / Indigenous Elders and cousins Agnes Pereira and Deborah Conceicao [documentary duration 03:24]
  • “Explaining Heritage to the Next Gen through Branyo” (2022): Introduction to the branyo dance form and historical and contemporary efforts to preserve it, featuring Veron Ann Lincoln and in memory of Melaka Kapitang / Indigenous Elder Christie Rodrigues-Seah [documentary duration 03:32]
  • “Curry Favours: Devil’s curry from a Eurasian family in Singapore“ (2021): Introduction to the Kristang dish kari debal or devil curry, its preparation and its history, featuring Pamela Hoeden [documentary duration 03:50]
  • “Better Said in Kristang – Cultura Obscura (Ep. 2): Bringing Back the Cool in Kristang” (2022): Overview of Kristang culture, identity, food and language featuring Olive Edema, Petrina Edema, Victoria Scully, Stephanie Holland, Cheyenne Holland and Quentin Pereira [documentary duration 06:57]
  • Nina Boboi (2019). Pioneering short film directed by Kristang filmmaker Victoria Elizabeth Scully that tells the story of a Eurasian kampong girl finding unlikely love in a British man during the British colonial administration of Malaya, and with period-accurate costuming and set design; won the Gold Award in Film & Photography/Short Film and the Gold Award in Art Direction at the 2018 Crowbar Awards, and a Bronze Award at the New York Festivals TV and Film Awards 2019 [film duration 19:03].
  • Voices of the Forgotten (2025, with subtitles in English): Grassroots / indie / community-initiated documentary focusing on Padri sa Chang / the Portuguese Settlement of Melaka and contemporary challenges faced by its Kristang residents, published by The Other Stories and directed by Kristang filmmaker Nathaniel Nonis [film duration 25:33]

Also available but not publicly accessible: Saudade (2020), by Russell Adam Morton and commissioned by the Asian Film Archive (trailer available on Youtube)

Literature and Text Samples

See also the Kristang theatre, film, poetry, short story, and novel and graphic novel pages, which have hyperlinks to publicly accessible works.

  • “Reclaiming My Portuguese-Eurasian Mother Tongue, Kristang” (2016), a non-fiction piece by Melissa De Silva that explores her own journey of returning to the Kristang language, and which was later incorporated into the Singapore Literature Prize-winning anthology Others Is Not A Race (2017)
  • “Kristang dah Kodrah di rentu yo” (2017), a poem by Kapitang / Indigenous Elder Martha Fernandez that won second place in the Kristang Language Festival Poetry Writing Competition in 2017, and which was later published in the international anthology Poems from the edge of extinction (2021). Includes a recording of Martha reading the poem, and a second explaining the poem.
  • “The Gut Demons / Diabu kum Tripa” (2021), a Kristang folktale told and translated by Kapitang / Indigenous Elder Sara Frederica Santa Maria on Words Without Borders. Provides text in both English and Kristang and a video of Sara telling the story in Kristang.
  • “Amateurs” (2023), a short story by Kabesa Kevin Martens Wong published in The Second Link: An Anthology of Malaysian and Singaporean Writing that introduces, exemplifies and updates major elements of Kristang theatre, culture, philosophy and history in a speculative fiction / magic realism setting.
  • “Toward a Kristang/Portuguese-Eurasian Literature: Contestations, Challenges and Characteristics” (2023), a book chapter by Kabesa Kevin Martens Wong published in World Literature: Past, Present and Future that gives an overview of the major characteristics of Kristang literature.

Academic Readings

Syllabi