Module Information

Intended for Beginners with little or no language-learning experience in any language. This module offers students an opportunity to study Portuguese at university level, only as an adjunct to their main studies, and to provide them with the vocational benefits which derive from knowledge of a major European and international language.
On completion of this module students will have acquired a foundation in the language, a grasp of its linguistic structures and familiarity with its common vocabulary and high-frequency verbs. They should be able to communicate at a basic level in spoken and written Portuguese and handle the more typical situations of everyday life.

Intensive introduction to the Brazilian/Portuguese language.

This module forms part of the option Level 1 programme in Modern Languages and is the main language course in that year for students who do not have an 'A' level or equivalent in the language. It aims to introduce students to contemporary Brazilian/Portuguese, imparting all four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and developing language awareness, and to bring students up to the standards which may enable them to proceed to a higher level. Students who successfully complete the module should feel that they have a good introductory command of Brazilian/Portuguese.
This module offers an opportunity to study Brazilian/Portuguese at university level, particularly as an adjunct to the language subjects offered in the Department of European Languages.
Students will follow the course book: Beginning Portuguese. Tyson-Ward, S. For grammar reference: Modern Portuguese: a reference grammar. Perini, M. A. In addition to this book students will find a fully integrated course combining audio tapes complemented by multimedia computer programmes and a wide variety of instructional and entertaining videos in the Language Resource Centre.
To make available to a wider constituency the cultural, personal, academic and vocational benefits of an awareness of a major European and international language.

This module is delivered in a form of 2 x 1 hour class per week.
During the first hour (theoretical part) students will cover the main grammatical aspects of the language as well as to learn basic vocabulary which will enable them to start constructing simple sentences.
During the second hour (practical part) students will practice both through listening in the Language Laboratory and conversation exercises the main linguistic aspects which have been covered.
As a thin module, it is expected that students will move from basic vocabulary to a more proficient vocabulary and will use advanced linguistic structures by the end of the first semester.
In order to achieve these objectives, students will engage with:
- the translation of selected passages from Brazilian/Portuguese
- the selected reading passages from a range of different texts, such as journalistic, political, literary styles
- the analysis of distinct grammatical and syntactical structures within different genres
- conversation topics on Portuguese and Brazilian cultural issues and current affairs
- oral distinct structures and a range of colloquial expressions which allow students to understand everyday conversations
- accents and different pronunciations which will make students aware of the standardization of the Brazilian/Portuguese language.
- the production of summaries of oral and written material in Brazilian/Portuguese
- and make both supervised and independent use of the facilities available in the department: video, language laboratory, satellite television