The course will begin on the 8th September 2025, and lessons will run every Monday, from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

The course comprises 24 lessons and the exact end date will be confirmed further into the course, when the Christmas break calendar is released.

Check the special page for the Portuguese Beginners Crash Course for more info

The Beginners Course is delivered in our classroom, in the address below:

The Methodist Church Emanuel Road

Langdon Hills, Essex SS16 6EX

You can find a map with the location in the contact page of this website.

Not at all, this is a course designed to cater for adult students without any previous knowledge of the language.

You will learn the foundation so the language without the commitment to study it as a full course. Should you wish to continue your study, then you will be recommended to join the A1 course.

The course is designed to teach the foundations of Portuguese language to adult students who have no prior knowledge of language study, who wish to try a different laguage for whatever reasons they may have.

Lessons are well paced, according to the group characteristics and student support help is offered via e-mail or telephone to those who wish to obtain extra explanations and help outside the classroom. Portuguese on Demand works under a strict policy of "no student left behind" and offers many different learning tools to suit many learning styles. It doesn't matter if you are 20 or 70 years old, you won't be left behind. My credentials as a language teacher is the satisfaction of my current and past students. Many of whom have started studying Portuguese at a senior age and had no other language skills apart from English.

The book is published by Lidel Editora Técnica, a reputable publisher in Portugal specialised in technical and teaching books.

It brings free downloadable audio tracks accompanying the dialogues which students can play in their mobiles or computers, making it easier to study on the go.

This is not a phrase book or a "listen and repeat" material. The coursebook covers the four abilities: reading, writing, listening and speaking and it is in full colour. It brings, dialogues, texts, exercises, games, role-play activities, glossary (in 4 languages), revision sheets and a fact-sheet explaining some cultural differences influencing the language learned in class.

It has 5 units and each unit may be covered in 4-5 lessons, giving enough time for the teacher to consolidate the content before moving on to the next unit.

Lessons will run for 60 minutes and are typically organised in this way:

First 15 minutes: checking of homework/commentary 40 minutes: introduction of new content and practice

Final minutes: explanation of homework assignment

During the initial lessons, students usually spend more time taking in information and making sense of the language (pronunciation, construction, intonation, cultural aspects etc) than actually making sentences - this happens because I believe adult students need to have a solid foundation of the content they are being exposed to before they feel confident to produce what they've learned.

However, as we progress into the second unit of the book, this "input" time progressively diminishes and gives way to more practice, with special attention to speaking and listening.

Some lessons will focus on exposure to the language rather than production, other lessons will focus more on the oral practice of the content. Some lessons will deal with oral drills to consolidate structure, others will allow free speaking. It all depends on the group's needs and the content being studied.

One thing I can garantee: you won't feel bored. :)

At the end of every lesson, I will assign a short, simple task to be completed for the following session. Students are expected to work with the language independently for at least 1 hour per week, outside their lessons. This can be translated into spending some minutes revising content using our paper or eletronic flashcards, watching films, working with Portuguese supermarket brochures, magazines etc.

This extra study time helps to ensure students retain the content seen in the lesson and return to the classroom feeling more confident and in control of what they have achieved.

Yes, there will be a short, non-compulsory, multiple choice style test at the end of the course.

This test is by no means designed to punish students or add pressure, it is simply a final task to help measure how much they have achieved and which aspects of the course content need to be revised should they wish to continue their journey and enrol in the first level of our regular courses.

Students will receive a certificate of completion provided they have at least 80% of attendance.

Most students enrol in the course because they have family ties with Portuguese people, or they have a holiday home in that country - or plan to retire in there or like to travel to the country often. So they come to the course with a lot of interest in the language and motivated to learn. This makes the whole process much easier as they grow in the language.

The course will cover basic structures of language and simple oral exchanges with vocabulary matching the students' realities and communication needs.

Grammar wise, the course will cover the present tense and the future expression, basic prepositions, questions and answers and some basic expressions.

The progression is paced according to the overal abilities of the members of the group and is made in a logycal order: from the most basic to the more complex.

Students usually are surprised when they realise how much they have achieved by the end of the course. Since the presentation of content is measured and delivered in systematic building blocks, lesson after lesson, students do not feel overhelmed.

As this is a group course, unfortunately catch-up lessons are only available upon payment of a fee. However, the teacher will let you know what aspets of the lesson you can cover on your own if you give plenty of notice of your planned absence. In case of unplanned absence, the teacher will send you an e-mail with a summary of the lesson and the task you need to complete for the following session. Should the student require one to one assistance, private sessions are charged at £28 per hour.

Please, check the T&C for more information.

Please, kindly fill in the form on the Beginners Portuguese Crash Course page, and proceed with the payment of the enrolment fee.

Once you submit your details and your payment reaches us, you will receive a confirmation e-mail and your name will be added to the group.

Monthly invoices for the tuition payments will be sent via e-mail.