Portuguese is the language of Portugal and Brazil, as well as several other countries in Africa and Asia. It has a long history and a rich literary heritage. Portuguese is based on Latin, though its vocabulary has been influenced by many different cultures. Learners who have some knowledge of Spanish, Italian, or French will encounter some familiar forms and vocabulary. However, it is not necessary for anyone to know these or any other languages to be able to acquire, successfully and enjoyably, a good understanding and use of basic Portuguese.
Umbrellas in Coimbra, Portugal; photo courtesy of Nell Gross, former WAL Advisor and student
Schedule
Registration for Summer 23 will end on June 27, 2023. A class will meet in person if there is a “In Person” in Scheduling Notes. Without the note, all classes will meet online via Zoom.
Class |
Instructor |
Days |
Time |
Start date |
End date |
Scheduling Notes |
| Portuguese 1 | Christina Zubelli | Thur | 6:30 – 8:20PM | 7/6/23 | 9/7/23 |
To sign up for classes other than LVL 1, please first complete our online placement test and let the office know upon completion. Placement tests are reviewed during registration period. If you don’t see a test for the language you are interested in studying, please reach out to wal at cityu.edu We will try to arrange a phone placement with our faculty.
All classes are 18.5 hours. Tuition is $400. Without payment of tuition, your registration is received but remains incomplete. Level 1 classes must have 4 complete registrations to run; level 2+ will run on a minimum of 3 complete registrations.
If you would like a notification when a new schedule becomes available, please enter your email here.
Click here for textbook information.
If you have any questions, please contact wal at cityu.edu
Levels
Portuguese 1
The Portuguese – Novice Low course (a.k.a. Portuguese 1) is a 20-hour introductory course to the language and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. It is intended for learners with little or no experience learning Portuguese. The emphasis is on speaking and getting comfortable with the language, but with a good grammatical foundation. Topics include salutations and introductions, talking about daily activities, asking and providing information, etc. Motivated, diligent students can expect to finish with proficiency levels in the Novice Low (ACTFL) or A1 (CEFR) ranges.
Communicative competence: By the end of the course, learners will be able to maintain simple conversations in the present tense as well as basic reading. They will be able to spell in Portuguese, greet and say good-bye, use expressions of courtesy, use numbers from 0 to 99, express dates and time, ask and provide information, express needs, likes and dislikes, talk about daily activities, ask about and express location, and ask about and describe persons, animals, places and things.
Grammatical competence: In addition to vocabulary and phonetics, the students will be exposed to the essential structure of the language necessary to advance to the other levels. Examples: Present tense of verbs “Ser” and “Estar” (to be), regular verbs ending in “-ar”, “-er” and “-ir”, articles, subject and possessive pronouns, contractions of “a”, “de”, and “em” with articles, adjectives, some idiomatic expressions with “Estar”, nouns gender and number, as well as question words.
Required Textbook* (Portuguese 1-5):
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
*Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2
Portuguese 2
The Portuguese – Novice Mid 1 course (a.k.a. Portuguese 2) is a 20-hour continuation course on the language and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. It is intended for learners who have completed “Portuguese – Novice Low” or who demonstrate equivalent proficiency. The emphasis continues to be on speaking and getting comfortable with the language; however, students will strengthen their grammatical foundation. Topics include discussing activities, making plans, describing routine activities, expressing ongoing actions, etc. Motivated, diligent students can expect to finish with proficiency levels in the Novice Mid (ACTFL) or A1 (CEFR) ranges.
Communicative competence: By the end of the course, learners will be able to maintain more structured conversations in the present, past, and progressive tenses. They will be able to improve their reading abilities, order food in a restaurant, describe possessions and conditions, express obligation, identify and compare family members and structures, describe household items and chores, as well as describe physical and emotional states, and express how long events and states have been going on.
Grammatical competence: In addition to vocabulary and phonetics, the students will be exposed to essential structures of the language necessary to advance to Level 3. Example: Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, future tense with verb “Ir”, adverbs, present tense of irregular verbs such as “Fazer”, “Dizer” “Trazer”, “Sair”, “Por”, present progressive, numbers above 100, the past tense of the regular verbs and “Ir”, and some reflexive verbs and pronouns.
Required Textbook* (Portuguese 1-5):
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
*Chapters 3, 4, and 5
Portuguese 3
The Portuguese – Novice Mid 2 course (a.k.a. Portuguese 3) is a 20-hour continuation course to the language and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. It is intended for learners who have completed “Portuguese – Novice Mid 1” or who demonstrate equivalent proficiency. The emphasis continues to be on speaking and getting comfortable with the language as well as strengthening students’ grammatical foundation. Topics include talking about clothing and shopping, talking about past events, discussing sports and sports events, etc. Motivated, diligent students can expect to finish with proficiency levels in the Novice Mid (ACTFL) or A1 (CEFR) ranges.
Communicative competence: By the end of the course, learners will be able to maintain more structured conversations in the present, past, and progressive tenses. They will be able to improve their reading abilities and pronunciation, discuss consumer goods and markets, express opinions, ask and answer questions about the weather conditions, talk about ongoing past events, make comparisons, and discuss interpersonal relationships.
Grammatical competence: In addition to vocabulary and phonetics, the students will be exposed to essential structures of the language necessary to advance to Level 4. Example: preterit tense of regular verbs, “Ir”, and “Ser”, direct and indirect object nouns and pronouns, interrogative expressions (tags), some irregular preterits, imperfect tense of regular and irregular verbs, the preterit and imperfect, comparisons of inequality and equality, the superlative, pronouns after prepositions, and reflexive verbs and pronouns.
Required Textbook* (Levels 1-5):
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
*Chapters 6, 7, and 8
Portuguese 4
The Portuguese – Novice High 1 course (a.k.a. Portuguese 4) is a 20-hour continuation course on the language and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. It is intended for learners who have completed “Portuguese – Novice Mid 2” or who demonstrate equivalent proficiency. The emphasis continues to be on speaking and getting comfortable with the language; however, the students will be exposed to more advanced grammar than previous courses. Topics include talking about the workplace and professions, discuss and compare culinary traditions, discuss and compare health-care systems, etc. Motivated, diligent students can expect to finish with proficiency levels in the Novice Mid (ACTFL) or A2 (CEFR) ranges.
Communicative competence: By the end of the course, learners will be able to maintain a more structured conversation using both modes (indicative and subjunctive). They will continue to improve their reading abilities and pronunciation, discuss job skills and abilities, discuss national, regional, and global economies, express wishes and hopes, express doubts and opinions, discuss food, shopping, and planning menus, describe the body, health, and medical treatments, express collective suggestions and requests as well as state goals and purposes.
Grammatical competence: In addition to vocabulary, phonetics, and a deeper control of the verb tenses in the indicative, the students will be exposed to the tenses and concepts of the subjunctive. Example: “Se” as impersonal subject, more on the preterit and the imperfect, the present of the subjunctive, the subjunctive to express wishes and hope, the subjunctive with verbs and expressions of doubt, the subjunctive with expressions of emotion, the equivalent of let’s, and the relative pronouns.
Required Textbook* (Levels 1-5):
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
*Chapters 9, 10, and 11
Portuguese 5
The Portuguese – Novice High 2 course (a.k.a. Portuguese 5) is a 20-hour continuation course on the language and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. It is intended for learners who have completed “Portuguese – Novice High 1” or who demonstrate equivalent proficiency. The emphasis continues to be on speaking and getting comfortable with the language; however, in this level the students will advance their knowledge in grammar and take a deeper look of the subjunctive and other tenses. Topics include expressing denial and uncertainty; talking about past expectations, wishes, and demands; talking about the future; describing states and conditions; expressing hypothetical conditions; expressing political opinions; taking about the past from a past perspective; describing ongoing states and activities; expressing contrary-to-fact conditions in the present; expressing subjective perceptions and attitudes; etc. Motivated, diligent students can expect to finish with proficiency levels in the Novice High (ACTFL) or A2 (CEFR) ranges.
Communicative competence: By the end of the course, students will be able to maintain an even more structured conversation using both modes (indicative and subjunctive). They will continue to improve their reading abilities and pronunciation, and they will be able to write simple dialogues using the tenses learned so far. In addition, students will be able to give opinions and make suggestions, hypothesize about the present and the future, communicate about object-oriented events and actions, give opinions, discuss environmental issues, make travel arrangements and discuss itineraries, etc.
Grammatical competence: In addition to vocabulary, phonetics, and a deeper control of the verb tenses in the indicative and subjunctive, the students will be exposed to the present and future if-clause sentences, the personal infinitive, uses of the impersonal infinitive, diminutives and augmentatives, the past participle, the passive voice, the present perfect, the past perfect, the future tense, the future subjunctive, the conditional, reciprocal verbs and pronouns, affirmative and negative expressions the indicative and the subjunctive in adjective clauses, the subjunctive in adverbial clauses, and the past subjunctive.
Required Textbook* (Levels 1-5):
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
*Chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15
Portuguese Intermediate Conversation
At the direction of the instructor, students will exercise and improve speaking and interaction skills on the basis of selected thematic topics and materials. Motivated, diligent students can expect to develop their speaking/listening skills within the Intermediate (ACTFL) or B1-B2 (CEFR) proficiency ranges.
Conversational Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
Prerequisite: Must be an intermediate high Spanish speaker.
At the direction of the instructor, students will exercise and improve speaking and interaction skills on the basis of selected thematic topics and materials. Students will be able to move quickly due to their previous knowledge base.
Required Textbook:
Klobucka, A. (2007). Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 9780131894051)
Custom Program
Custom Programs may be contracted in 10-hour blocks that must be used within 5 weeks. Request a Custom Program here.
Corporate Programs
Communication is always key, especially in the world of business. Our experienced instructors are ready to come to your office with a tailored, industry-specific approach to language instruction. Program content is customized to meet the needs of individual companies.
Instruction requires a minimum of 10 hours total and a minimum of 1.5 hours per lesson. Programs are generally scheduled on weekdays. Meeting dates and times are flexible. Instruction can be delivered at corporate sites or at our downtown office.
Please contact us at 206-239-4789 or wal@cityu.edu for more information or to receive quote.
Tuition
| Class Type | Cost |
| Evening & Day Classes | $400 (effective 7/1/2019) |
| Custom Programs | $700/10 hours (effective 7/1/2017) |
| Shared Custom Programs | $450/10 hours per person (2-3 students) |
| Specialized Programs | $750/10 hours |