The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• Portuguese (Brazilian) Level 1
• Portuguese (Brazilian) Level 2
• Portuguese (Brazilian) Level 3

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Introductions and greetings: “Bom dia, tudo bem?”
• Jobs, colleagues, relatives...
• Likes & dislikes: “Gosto de feijoada mas gosto muito mais de caipirinha.”
• Eating & drinking:” Vamos comer uma feijoada no domingo?”
• Numbers
• Alphabet
• Please & thank you
• Directions
• Time phrases: today, tomorrow…
• Main link words: but, and, then…
• Travel
• Time – hours, days, months
• Home – rooms, house accessories: “Minha casa tem duas salas, dois quartos de casal, dois banheiros e, claro, uma churrasqueira no jardim!”
• Places – shops, important buildings and celebrations:” O Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro e muito bonito e famoso. “
• Daily life – routines, free time
• The weather: basic input
• Making phone calls (ex: to book a hotel)
• Giving instructions
• Key functions – invitation, offer, suggestion, requests

Grammar:

• Pronouns – subject, possessive + the form "a gente"
• To be (ser versus estar)
• Present – simple (1st, 2nd and 3rd conjugations)/continuous
• Future (informal) going to + infinitive (as this is the most used) (ir + infinitive)
• Singular vs. Plural
• Articles + junction with prepositions "de" (da, do…) and "em" (no, na…)
• Questions words - who, what, how, how much, … (main ones)
• Verb "Gostar (de)" - affirmative, negative and interrogative
• Masculine and feminine
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Verbos “gostar de”. “morar”, “ficar”, “ter”...

Cultural content:

• Basic notions of Brazilian culture and celebrations

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Review & practice level 1 vocab
• Talking about self & others:”O Roberto viajou para os Estados Unidos e comprou muitos presentes para toda a familia.”
• Eating & drinking
• Prepositions time phrases
• Colours, patterns and shapes
• Work - (rights, timetable, jobs, applying for a job)
• Body & health/illness:”Hoje não me sinto muito bem, acho que estou com gripe.”
• Clothes and accessories
• Giving instructions/ directions
• Everyday life - some Brazilian cultural hints:”Prefiro ouvir Chico Buarque, gosto das letras e do ritmo...”
• Describing people
• Making phones calls & meetings: “O ramal está ocupado, aguarde um momento por favor.”

Grammar:

• Review & practice level 1 grammar (eg. through mixed tense work – present/past/future "going to")
• More irregular verbs (suggestion: ver, pôr, vir, vestir, trazer…)
• Junctions: prepositions de, em + articles
• Demonstratives (na, da, naquela…)
• Who/which/what/how/when/where/how much/many
• Possessives
• Object pronouns: o, a, lo, la, lhe, lhes
• Past (perfeito) explore in depth
• Past - perfeito (irregular verbs from beginner: ser, estar, poder, ir, querer, fazer, ter, dar…)
• Verb "ter que" (have to)

Cultural content:

• Brazilian society and daily life routine

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Review & practice previous level vocab
• Talking about self & others
• Tourism & Leisure Time
• Health/illness
• Formal meetings (eg. Business purposes)
• Money & shopping
• Describing people
• Making phone calls
• Embalagens: pacotes, potes, saquinhos, caixa…
• Food - recipes Receita de Caipirinha: basta entrar no site
• Word families (noun-verb-adjective-adverb)

Grammar:

• Review & practice previous level grammar
• Simple Past (passado perfeito):more verbs
• Past (Preterito perfeito): explore through exercises and dialogue creation
• More irregular verbs (suggestion: trazer, saber, dizer…)
• Comparative (superiority, equality and inferiority - both affirmative and negative)
• Superlative
• Object pronouns (review) plus “no”, “na... “
• Past (perfeito):more irregular verbs “trazer,” “saber,” “dizer…”)
• Junctions: preposition por + articles (pelo…)
• Double negative
• Indefinite pronouns (alguém, ninguém, algo, todo…)
• Augmentative & diminutive

Cultural content:

• Most common and traditional festivities in Brazil
• Traditional Brazilian food and drinks

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds