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UCL Centre for Languages & International Education (CLIE)

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Portuguese Level 1+

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.