XPOX1000 Survival Portuguese (2 cr)

This course is for beginners in Portuguese and focuses on Brazilian Portuguese. In this course, learners will develop their language skills while also exploring Brazilian culture.

Each class session is a mixture of lectures, discussions and in-class individual and group participation. When in class, learners are expected to actively participate and engage in coursework. In addition, students are also expected to complete simple homework assignments as part of their coursework. It is important to note that while this course focuses on developing the four language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing), grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and culture are integrated into the course syllabus in a natural and meaningful way.

By the end of the course, learners are expected to:

• be able to ask and answer simple questions about self, their immediate needs, and very familiar topics
• be able to introduce themselves, including information about who they are and where they live, as well as information about their interests
• understand most common written and spoken texts involved in everyday situations such as buying food, clothes or bus tickets
• be able to use simple sentences to ask for clarification, repetition, or help
• understand and follow simple instructions associated with everyday situations
• understand the main idea and some details of short written texts
• feel comfortable in an environment where Portuguese is spoken
• understand a little about Brazilian culture and manners.

The course material used is a learning package developed to meet the needs of beginner-level learners. The package will be available on Moodle for printing and consultation.