Private Lessons in Brazilian
Portuguese Language

:: Methodology
Our methodology is objective and leads to a quick and efficient learning of Portuguese as required by a foreigner living in Brazil: it is a practical program which prepares a student for daily social and professional life.

A student accomplishing the full course will reach an excellent communicative status, which will enable him or her to a real socio-cultural and professional integration in Brazil.

Our methodology is interactive, focusing on vocabulary aspects, understanding and current communicative practices and idioms. Grammar plays a role related to time and place and it is thus taught. Since grammar is always complex, we have opted for teaching it in the most "organic" way, integrated into current communicative and interactive situations, taking contemporary Portuguese for a basis, as spoken by cultured Brazilians.Already in first class, the student "talks" and uses Portuguese language, in a very personal way. We do not support tiresome memorization drills as usual in the so-called direct methods.

:: Learning materials
Brazilian popular songs, ads, press news, DVD's, CD's, movies, videos, TV and radio news. All learning materials are very concrete, the real stuff a student faces in his or her daily life. This leads to a stronger motivation.

:: Three stages
The course is divided in three stages, each one taking 60 hours: basic, intermediate and advanced.

:: Basic
The greatest concern at this stage is how to survive and get along on one's own in daily life: how to shop, to talk at the telephone, to ask for information on the street, to order at a restaurant, and so on. At the end of this first level, the student will be able to hold a simple conversation, to understand the main focus and context of social communications and to make himself (or herself) understood without fear in a job environment or anywhere else.
He or she will be able to understand and write simple messages, memos, faxes and e-mails.

:: Intermediate
At this stage the student will be able to understand and express his or her wishes and opinions in a deeper and more elaborate way. By the end of it reading papers and magazines and watching TV will be effortless activities as well as participating more effectively in social and work meetings. He or she will also be able to interact more and to acknowledge different levels of informality in the way his or her interlocutors speak the language.

:: Advanced
The student becomes now fully capable of participating in social, professional and cultural life in Brazil. He or she will be able to write reports, to understand more delicate and current political issues and to feel fluent enough to take part in both formal and informal meetings, using proper language and expressions. The student will then be able to read easily, with little resort to dictionaries, as well as to identify social variations in spoken Portuguese.

The courses may, according to the student's wish, include tours to markets and shops so that he or she may put into practice what has been learnt. There is also a possibility of arranging cultural visits.