Portuguese: Beginners - Part 1



Overview

Join this interactive course to learn Portuguese language and explore its culture. 

This 10-week course is for complete beginners in the language and those who have acquired some expressions informally through travel or socialising. 

To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on collaborative class activities such as conversations and role-plays.

It is pitched at level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet some of the level requirements. 

Our public programme is open access, and most adult language classes are mixed ability.

Programme details

Course starts: 26 Sept 2023

The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topics likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.

Week 1: Apresentação I. Brief introductions.

  • Portuguese varieties on the map
  • Identification and some personal data: verbs ‘chamar-se’ and ‘ser’
  • Brief greetings and farewells

Week 2: Apresentação II. General introductions.

  • Asking for and giving some more personal information: verb ‘ter’
  • The alphabet, some diphthongs and digraphs 
  • Definite and indefinite articles

Week 3: Apresentação III. Providing basic information with numbers.

  • Cardinal numbers 0-100: age, address and phone numbers.
  • Interrogative pronouns (synthesis)

Week 4: As férias da Rita. Describing very simple routines.

  • Describing simple holidays
  • Simple Present of regular verbs ending in ‘-ar’

Week 5: Como são os filhos da Ana? Describing people and objects.

  • Adjectives for physical attributes
  • Colours

Week 6: Sou do Porto, mas estou em Oxford. ‘Ser’ or ‘Estar’ – that is our question.

  • Verbs ‘ser’ (permanent) vs. ‘estar’ (circumstantial)
  • ‘Ser’ or ‘Estar’ followed by prepositions and adjectives
  • Regular verbs ending in “-er” and “-ir”

Week 7: 'Com licença' ou 'Desculpe'? Expressions of courtesy.

  • Social pleasantries in context
  • Interrupting someone and apologising
  • Reflexive pronouns (full conjugation)

Week 8: Revisões. Consolidation.

Week 9: Que dia é hoje? E que horas são agora? Dates and time.

  • Days of the week; months, seasons
  • Asking for and telling the time
  • Prepositions and prepositional phrases of time

Week 10:  Feliz Natal! Boas férias! Christmas and other festive celebrations and traditions.

  •     A festive message
  •     Language and culture games

Key grammar points:

* ‘Ser’ vs. ‘Estar’

* The Simple Present form of regular verbs ending in ‘-ar’, ‘-er’ and ‘-ir’

* Personal, reflexive and interrogative pronouns

* Definite and indefinite articles

* Some prepositions and prepositional phrases of time and space

Key functions:

* Introducing, greeting and saying goodbye

* Describing people and objects

* Asking for and telling the time

* Describing simple routines

Certification

Students who attend a minimum of 70% of classes will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £251.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Ângela Sarmento-Dingsdale

Ângela Sarmento-Dingsdale is an experienced teacher of Portuguese language and culture. She holds a degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (Portuguese and English Studies) and a Masters in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from the University of Porto. During the curricular stage of her PhD, she attended courses at Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris), where she developed work in the field of Comparative Literature and Interartistic Studies. Ângela is a research member of ILC-ML [Margarida Losa’s Institute for Comparative Literature].

Course aims

To enable participants to communicate at a very basic level with speakers of the target language in a limited range of practical, real-life settings.

Course objectives:

  • To help students develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for very basic routine communication in the target language.
  • To enable students to use a range of high frequency vocabulary and grammar structures for very basic routine interaction in the target language.
  • To equip students with an initial appreciation of the culture and civilisation of the country (or countries) in which the target language is spoken.

Teaching methods

You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small group-work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, friendly and informal learning environment.

The course has been structured to help you primarily to develop your speaking and listening skills and to gradually gain an insight into the culture and daily life of your target language. You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures in a communicative context and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • use very simple phrases and utterances to provide basic personal information, such as name, address, family members and nationality;
  • interact in a simple way using a very basic range of language in routine everyday contexts;
  • understand the gist of very short, simple written texts and audio/video excerpts containing the highest frequency vocabulary items and basic grammar structures;
  • produce simple phrases and very short texts using basic structures and vocabulary items.

Assessment methods

You will be set short, optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.

Application

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Find your language level

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support