modern portuguese faq

The most frequently asked questions and answers

One-to-one £40 per lesson or 10 lessons for £370

Group (minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 people) £25 per person

 

For bespoke offers and any other enquiries, please get in touch.

Each lesson is 50-minutes. If you’d like a longer lesson, you can book two consecutive lessons or as many times in a week as you’d like.

The cancellation policy is 48 hours, but longer notice is appreciated so that the time slot can be made available to other students.

Yes. You’ll receive a Service Order receipt in your e-mail address after each booking. If you require an invoice or receipt in Word/PDF, please let me know and I can provide this.

Normally, I am available early in the mornings and evenings (UK time) most days of the week Mon-Fri. Sometimes my availabilty can be somewhat limited given my commitments as a writer and University tutor. However, as long as you have your lessons booked in advance, there’s nothing to worry about.

 

New days and times can be added in response to demand, so do get in touch if you are keen to have regular classes outside of these times or have another look at my calendar in the bookings section in the lessons page.

You can contact me and submit a piece of writing on a topic of your interest in addition to a brief account of your language learning experience (be it about Portuguese or not).

 

Alternatively, you can book a 20min Consultation for a more in-depth diagnostic (which is refunded if and once you book your first lesson). You can do that in the bookings section of the lessons page.

I’m a native of Brazil and have been teaching Portuguese for 15+ years, the past 12 years at UK universities. Please have a look at my About Me page and LinkedIn profile.

Have a look at the What’s It Like to Learn Portuguese Online in the lessons page. Also, you can read what some of my previous students have said here.

Make sure that your broadband is fast enough and your IT equipment is working. If possible, it’s a good idea to have another device ready as a back-up. If you are new to online lessons/Zoom, you might find it useful to watch an introductory video so you have an idea of how it works (it’s not complicated, though)!

Please use a laptop or tablet for your lesson. Smartphones are not recommended as the screen is too small and you’ll find having a bigger screen much easier to work with.

This depends on you. Yes, doing review and self-study between lessons is recommended if you want to make steady progress. In our first meeting, we will create a personal study plan based on your goals and how much homework you think is manageable.

I am from Brazil and I teach Portuguese language using materials and coursebooks that contain different varieties of Portuguese. People may erroneously  treat these varieties as different languages, but there is one language: Portuguese. Think of the differences between British and American English – essentially they are the same, but people sometimes use words and expressions a little differently. The same goes for Portuguese. So I think it’s important to recognise that the differences don’t matter from a communication perspective – unless you’re an ethnographer, socio-linguist or doing some other sort of language data analysis.

Having said this, I have students who are mainly learning the language to communicate with people in Portugal. With these students, I use European Portuguese materials which are particularly useful for listening training and familiarising with accents.

In general, no. My experience and expertise is in teaching adults.

 

However, I can offer general language tuition or support for heritage learners. Please get in touch so we can discuss your options in more detail.

 

Please note that I don’t currently offer exam preparation courses (e.g. GCSEs/A levels).

I generally try to use Portuguese wherever possible and provide explanations and clarifications in English as needed. This is to give students as much exposure to the language as possible, but I can adapt to whatever you are comfortable with.