Portuguese Live

Introduction: Methodology Brazilian Portuguese Lessons We teach specifically Brazilian Portuguese lessons, not European Portuguese. By concentrating only on Brazilian Portuguese, our native Brazilian teachers focus on the rich linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies of the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil. So not only will you learn Brazilian Portuguese, but you will learn about the culture, customs and curiosities of Brazil. Personalized Portuguese Learning Our aim is to increase your conversational fluency in Brazilian Portuguese through a mix of pronunciation training, vocabulary building, grammar exercises and real-time dialogue with your native Brazilian teacher. We use proprietary teaching material that serves as the foundation for each Portuguese lesson. Then we tailor each Portuguese lesson to your goals and individual learning style. Portuguese Lesson Materials Before each class, you will receive a lição, via email. This document outlines the topics to be discussed and the exercises to be covered during your lesson as well as study material. Our lições also serve as an important reference tool in the future. All lições are provided to students free of charge. Although not required, we also recommend that beginning students purchase a Portuguese language book, “Living Language Complete Portuguese: The Basics”, to be used as a supplement to our course materials. This provides you with a second point of reference to help you in your self-study. About Us Our Mission Our mission is to provide an effective, inexpensive and convenient way of learning Brazilian Portuguese with native speakers, and thus open a window of opportunities related to Brazil for our students. Our Story PortugueseLive was co-founded by husband and wife team Veronica Ponce de Leon and Charlie Ferguson. The two met in 2001 when Charlie rented a room in Veronica’s apartment in São Paulo, while he participated in an exchange program at local business school. The two fell in love and eventually moved to Texas. While Charlie finished his MBA, Veronica taught Portuguese in a local coffee shop. Before long, Veronica was teaching private lessons to over a dozen students. The high demand for private Portuguese lessons from quality native speaking Brazilians prompted the couple to target a wider audience via online webconferenceing software. PortugueseLive was born and now teaches students from the US to Dubai. Our Backgrounds Veronica, our Lead Instructor and Teacher Coordinator, is from São Paulo, Brazil and has degrees in Journalism and Public Relations. She worked for Lula’s presidential campaign, served as Project Manager for an online media company and has taught private Portuguese lessons since 2004. She speaks fluent Portuguese, Spanish and English. Veronica’s favorite things about Brazil are eating her mom’s feijão, spending days at the beach and the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants of São Paulo. Charlie, our Chief of Operations, is lover of Brazilian culture from Houston, Texas. He has exhibited an acclaimed photo documentary about São Paulo, managed an outsourcing company and served in the Peace Corps. He holds and MBA and is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese (thanks to Veronica!). As for Brazil, Charlie loves the music of Jorge Ben, meandering along São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista and consuming large bowls of açaí. Our Teachers Our teachers are qualified native Brazilians with university degrees. They have extensive experience teaching one-on-one Portuguese to foreigners, ranging from beginner to advanced levels.