Portuguese Language and Culture Courses

Universidade Católica Portuguesa is currently offering two types of courses for international students: Introduction to Portuguese Culture and Language and Portuguese as a Foreign Language.

Here you can find the information about the courses above:

I – Introduction to Portuguese Culture and Language

Involving the integration of several social sciences, the focus of this course is to establish opportunities for knowing the Portuguese culture through direct and indirect contact with some of its forms and expressions. The learning of the Portuguese language is encouraged through lived experiences and other activities, but it is not the main objective of the program.
 

Target Audience

This course is designed for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cycle foreign students, as well as for external students who are willing to get familiar with the local culture and language. The 5 credits (ECTS) granted to this course aim to widen the range of curricular units offered in English at UCP-Porto to mobility students and to enrich the liberal arts curriculum portfolio. The diversity of nationalities and academic backgrounds gathered in this course is also an important asset of its design and expected outcomes.
 

General Objectives

  • To discover Portugal and its culture.
  • To discover the Portuguese cultural presence and heritage all over the world.
  • To promote the interaction with the Portuguese culture in a conscious and lucid way.
  • To consider different ideas and concepts.
  • To promote the Portuguese language learning.

Contents

  • Introduction to Portugal and its culture
  • Portugal history and geography
  • Portugal material and immaterial culture
  • Portugal seen from abroad

 

II – Portuguese as a Foreign Language

The focus of this course is the teaching-learning of Portuguese language. The program starts with a diagnostic test that serves as basis for class constitution – initiation or extended studies of oral and written comprehension and communication. The contact with Portuguese culture, in a broader sense, is not its primary objective. The course has 2.5 ECTS and is accredited at the A1 or A2 level of the Common European Framework.

General Objectives

  • Develop skills in the use of Portuguese – verbal and written.
  • Specific Objectives
  • At the end of training, students should be able to:
    - Develop of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills; acquire, expand and use mew vocabulary, grammatical structures and language functions.
    - Use language skills, so that they are able to express their ideas and opinions about situations in a simple, clear and coherent way.
    - Create communicative situations in order to use Portuguese in professional and everyday contexts.

 

Contents

  • Greetings and salutations
  • Giving personal information
  • Distinguishing between formal and informal language
  • Talking about work and routines
  • Describing people and things
  • Inviting, accepting, and declining
  • Asking and giving direction
  • Expressing tastes and preferences
  • Talking about different situations and experiences in the past
  • Talking about leisure activities
  • Simulation of daily experiences
  • Acquisition of knowledge about the Portuguese culture