Cristiane Jacobs, Teacher
Welcome to Portuguese on Demand
It's incredible to realise 32 years have passed since I first stepped inside a classroom as a teacher. Throughout these years I have met so many different faces, stories, personalities; each one of them helping me to become a better professional, and grow as a human being. It feels to me like it all started yesterday
Olá, como estás?
I am Cristiane Jacobs, your Portuguese teacher at Portuguese on Demand.
I have been teaching Portuguese as a foreign language in England since 2006.
Teaching languages is something I have always wanted to do and I have invested a lot of time and effort to make this wish come true. I started teaching at the age of 18 while attending Portuguese language and literature at University and since then, I have never stopped. In 2023, I will complete 32 years of classroom practice!
My journey in England so far...
Since arriving in England in 2006, I have been working with students of all ages, backgrounds and language abilities. Teaching such a diverse public demands the teacher to adapt programs and methodology to match different needs, personal characteristics and learning styles. As a result, I have worked with a considerable number of different coursebooks and methods, which proved invaluable to improve my classroom technique and students' assessment, matching coursebooks and method according to the profile and learning styles of each student. This was how the portfolio of courses I offer was built. In 2013, I opened my own classroom and, due to demand, I designed 2 special courses to help teenagers and adults who wish to prepare for the Portuguese GCSE and A-Level exams. In 2014, I started to receive invitations from mainstream schools to conduct the speaking unit for the Portuguese GCSE for their pupils which provided me with real-life exam experience and helped me to improve the Exam Preparation Courses I offer.
Today, I offer a comprehensive portfolio of Regular and Exam Preparation courses which I invite you to check here in this website, as well as a useful Student's area, filled with resources, exercises, quizzes, a forum space, podcasts and, coming soon, short video lessons students can access to revise content seen in class.
The classroom
My teaching approach
Learning a new language as an adult can be very intimidating to many students. It can surely feel like an initial challenging task for some of them, as students have to deal with their own confidence levels and anxiety.
Throughout my career, I have observed that success in language learning owes a great deal to the positive emotional links learners build to the target language and the culture it expresses. Students perform better when they feel happy about their learning experience as a whole. A way to promote this is to offer a friendly and supportive atmosphere where students feel looked after and relaxed to experience the language.
Nowadays, foreign language teaching is understood more as a contact of different cultures than as a code to be mastered.
The Portuguese courses I offer highlight the teaching of the Portuguese language linked to Portuguese culture and its social, historical and cultural aspects.
What are the lessons like?
The best method is the one that fits a student's learning style and classroom experience expectations.
For this reason, I tailor my teaching style to suit my students needs and the objectives of the lessons. My students are exposed to what works best for them: to some, a more traditional approach works wonders and to others, a straight communicative approach is best. There isn't one 'right' or 'fixed' way to present content.
Portuguese beyond the classroom
The idea is to study Portuguese as a tool that opens to a whole new universe of views of the world, sounds, smells, tastes and emotion experiences. To promote this, I offer a biannual guided study trip to a Portuguese speaking city, where students spend a week studying the language during the mornings and in the afternoons we all engage in practical speaking activities around the city. Information about the 2023 Study Trip to Lisbon is already available here.
Portuguese on Demand is proud to be the only independent language provider that offers a dedicated classroom for the teaching of Portuguese as a second language! This means that students have a place especially created for the learning of the language and culture of Portugal and Brasil. In the classroom, students have free access to:
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library with resource books, comics, magazines and brochures
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film and audio CD collection with both Portuguese and Brazilian tittles
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board games and card games in Portuguese
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flashcards for all levels
The classroom is located in Langdon Hills, south of Essex, inside the Methodist Church and there is free parking for your convenience.
My students' profile
From the very beginners to advanced speakers, the Portuguese courses I offer suit everyone interested in starting a language course for the first time or improving previously acquired abilities.
My students range from pre-teenagers to senior learners. Many wish to study Portuguese as a heritage language as well as those who are interested in learning more about Portugal or Brazil. Most students start at the beginners level and many of them are taking their first language course or are senior citizens returning to the classroom for the first time since leaving school.
Are you ready to give Portuguese a try?
Contact me today to book a free, no-obligation consultation session and see for yourself how enjoyable and rewarding learning Portuguese is!