Basic Portuguese 1
For true beginners, students who know very basic Portuguese, or speak Spanish.
If you studied only via apps before, with no formal training, this course is highly recommended!
Fill out an application form, and the instructor will send you a link to register: https://forms.gle/Niy8GHAsJJKcwyJ96. An assessment is not needed for this class
DETAILS
Plan for a weekly hour of required individual practice exercises
Fill out an application form at: https://forms.gle/Niy8GHAsJJKcwyJ96
After you complete the application, you will be invited via email to register for Basic 1. Check your email often! This class fills up quickly!
Returning students, contact your instructor: [email protected] to get the registration link to skip the application form.
*For Basic 2, 3 or Intermediate and Advanced levels, also fill out the Application form, followed by an assessment form.
Português Básico 1 is a beginner’s class, designed by Natalia de Campos for The People’s Forum, with a focus on listening, speaking and developing communication skills in Portuguese from the first day, without resorting to translating into one’s native language.
This course will give you a solid base and allow you to start communicating with Portuguese native speakers.
The instructor will use visual materials, music, and conversation between participants during the learning process, focusing on her native Brazilian
Portuguese, and also examine some differences between Brazilian, African, South Asian and Continental (European) Portuguese. The program will introduce grammar structures in practical ways, and some writing exercises. The course runs weekly, with 2 hours on Zoom, and an extra hour of required individual practice exercises.
As you develop your language skills, we will also engage with the history of Brazilian people, its revolutionary struggles, and other means of resistance.
Join us for an introductory course on the basics of Portuguese with a glimpse on historical and contemporary contexts of the working classes and social movements in Brazil, and other Portuguese-speaking countries.
More information:
Portuguese is a language with roots in Portugal and also the official language spoken today in 10 countries: Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Portuguese is arguably among the 9 or 10 most spoken languages in the world, but only 5 percent of its speakers live in its original home Portugal. It is estimated that 270 million people
speak Portuguese today, amongst which nearly 254 million are native
speakers. It is the second most spoken Romance language, after Spanish. Brazil’s 211 million people is the largest Portuguese-speaking population in the world.
As a colonial language, it suffered many transformations, particular to each locale. It is nowadays also a result of cultural resistance of the indigenous and enslaved people during colonialism. It is spoken in the U.S particularly in the Northeast, in California and in Florida, where native Portuguese speakers, who are immigrants from Africa, South Asia, Europe and Brazil have concentrated historically. In nearby regions, it is more widely spoken in areas of Newark, New Jersey; Astoria, Queens; in the coastal regions of
Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
If you have any questions, you can contact the instructor at: [email protected]
About the instructor:
Natalia de Campos, born in São Paulo, Brazil, is a performance artist, producer, writer, educator, language interpreter, translator, and activist. Natalia has taught English and Portuguese to non-native speakers for decades in multiple settings. Living in New York since 1998, she founded the multidisciplinary arts collaborative Syncretic Pleasures to continue to teach, while also translating, producing and performing works by Brazilian authors, including her own. In 2016 she co-founded the Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee in New York (DDB-NY) with a group of activists who fight for democracy, social justice, and defend social movements in Brazil. DDB is a member of The People’s Forum since it opened. Natalia is also a Lecturer of Portuguese at City College/CUNY, and has lectured at NYU, Rutgers University, Columbia University, in Portuguese language, social engagement, collaboration, solo performance & activism. She has a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of São Paulo and a Master’s degree in Performance & Interactive Media Arts from CUNY/ Brooklyn College.
