COURSE CONTENT AND DESCRIPTION
A little background to the language:
Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language worldwide, with 215 million native speakers, mostly in Portugal and Brazil, but also in several African countries. Understanding Portuguese has a knock-on effect when starting to learn any other Romance language like Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian. Knowledge of one makes it much easier to pick up any of the others, since they all evolved from Latin and still share grammar and syntax, and have lots of similar vocabulary. So if you have some knowledge of any of the Latin languages, you may find that you pick up Portuguese easily!
Our course is designed that you take two hours of classes daily, Monday to Friday. (If you'd like to add more hours of lessons to your schedule, this can be arranged for an extra lesson fee.)
Depending on your location and schedule, the lessons will either be arranged at your accommodation or at the teachers' studio. The experienced and dedicated teachers are incredibly friendly and will go out of their way to ensure that you have an enjoyable experience learning Portuguese in Brazil.
Most of the time your lessons will be during the day on Monday to Friday, but it is possible that occasionally your lesson times will vary slightly. You will receive individual tuition and lessons are prepared especially for you depending upon your preferences.
The lessons will be planned according to your interest and level of knowledge and will include grammar, practice listening and conversation. You'll have private lessons giving you individual attention for a full immersion into the language, making your learning process a lot faster.
Teachers try, where possible, to hold classes predominantly in Portuguese, but most teachers are fluent English speakers and will assist you in English if or when you get stuck. The fact that the classes are held in Portuguese helps to immerse you in the language and encourages you to converse and gain confidence in speaking Portuguese.
Portuguese lessons are strongly recommended if you are a complete beginner or if you are undertaking a teaching/care/football placement and want to improve your Portuguese at the same time. Speaking a little Portuguese will go a long way and will be highly appreciated.
For combination programmes, we will ensure that your timetable is arranged to give you plenty of time in between your different placements. When taking classes in conjunction with a main project, your classes will be split 50/50 between vocabulary and grammar which will help you at your project, and survival phrases for immersing you into the Brazilian culture.
When you're living, working, socializing and breathing a new language, you learn fast – and the whole process is exciting, memorable and a lot of fun, especially in Brazil! There are many benefits to learning a foreign language abroad. You can interact with the local people and understand and appreciate the greater subtleties of a culture, such as the local literature, music, art, and folklore.
... And it's an excellent addition to your CV that might give you an advantage over your competitors in a tough job market!