For Portuguese next semester or next time, another thing we could do is study the history of Brazilian song. That would be enough content to keep me interested, and enough short reading and audio to help the students develop their language.
Teaching foreign languages is terribly tedious but it is not true that the answer is not to prepare the classes. You have to put some love into it, as with everything. This actually saves time. The insistence upon putting fashionable pain into things instead is why I so dislike most academics.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
If you want to do something different then why don’t you try the 1941 trip of Walt Disney and “El Grupo” to Brazil sponsored by the American government in an attempt to lure South America away from fascist sentiments using PR Disney cartoons which were popular with the general audience in the southern hemisphere such as the “Saludos Amigos” and “The Three Caballeros.” You could rent the Portuguese versions of the two cartoons and the students could have fun while you do a little subversive work discussing American interference in Latin American affairs.
There was a documentary on this and here’s a link to a trailer for the movie:
http://youtu.be/b-1pxigK_e4
Because in this class I am still trying to get them away from Disney. And that information would hurt some of their feelings too much at this stage. Where that would be a good unit would be in a different kind of course, with some other contextual material.