Prerequisite for entry
Basic knowledge of Portuguese (successful completion of Portuguese syllabus 1 at UCL Language Centre or GCSE a long time ago).
Term duration
10 x 2-hour classes.
Progression
After 20 hours students may progress to level 2
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to enable students to function at a basic everyday survival level (basic vocabulary and grammar). Students should be able to communicate in and understand Portuguese on a number of practical everyday matters. Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach some authentic material, will be enhanced. Some transferable skills will also be covered.
Functions
- Expressing wishes; preferences and doubts; asking for directions/locations confirming and complaining
- Describing and identifying things; expressing contentment and discontentment; comparing and locating
- Talking about activities in the past and the daily routine
Course content
Main topics/themes to be covered:
- Hotel reservations; complaining about services in a hotel; orientation and
- traffic in cities; numbers up to one billion
- Houses/flats; estate agency; house decoration; the classroom; dwellings
- Daily routine; the Brazilian and international calendars; Brazilian and Portuguese
- poetry and art
Phonetics
Basic rules of the pronunciation of spoken Portuguese
Grammar and linguistic structures
- Verbs to go(ir), to make/to do(fazer), to prefer(preferir), to stay/to be located/to become(ficar); the gerund; the imperative; possessive pronouns: his(dele), hers(dela) + plural; comparative with “more” (mais)
- Past simple tense of verbs ending in: ar, er, ir; comparative tense with more, less, as…as; prepositions of places
- Past simple tense of irregular verbs: ser/ir/estar/ter/dar/fazer/querer/poder; direct objet complement pronouns(o, a, lo, la, no, na + plural)
Learning resources
Books
- Main textbook: Novo Avenida Brasil 1 Curso Básico de Português para Estrangeiros
- The tutor will be using different books and handouts for extra exercises.