Portuguese for foreigners, Online classes – ruby academy

Innovative methodology step-by-step

Therefore, the first step is an interview with our team so we can understand the real needs of each professional and respectively company, and from there we analyze the goals, desires, and expectation of each student. Finally, we design a target with clear aims and strategies to achieve them through our personalized lessons.

The student in the center of their learning process

Our lessons have as a foundation the “student-centered classes”, which means, the teacher is the mediator, where the student is encouraged to act independently, therefore, the acquisition to master Portuguese is stimulated since the very first lessons. 

Learning and acquiring the real language

At Ruby Academy we distinguish knowledge from acquisition, the first one happens mechanically, the student gets to succeed in an exam, however soon after that knowledge, if not applied, is easily forgotten. 

In acquisition, on the other hand, the student is always encouraged to think one level ahead of, where the teacher, as a mediator, “strolls” through this level returning to the student´s level through right inputs (lesson). Within these inputs we generate the study, and the student is capable to replicate the speech and writing (output). Moreover, through self-led study (work) the student can advance in his objectives. After this cycle, the teacher can give feedback on the student´s performance (feedback).

And from this journey, we reach our exclusive method, the FLOW: Feedback, Lesson, Output & Work.

In order to reach the FLOW we use different techniques within the communicative approach, described below:

• Task-Based Learning – the process of learning with specific tasks to be completed by the student
• Learn by association – where the student learns by association
• Concept Checking Questions (CQC) – checking together with the student about the understanding of the material proposed in class
• Incidental Learning – when the student learns by accident (without intention)
• Enough exposure to a clear input – which contains structures one level above of the actual student´s level
• Focus on practical and realistic teaching of the idiom – working on small individual tasks that can be done individually, in couples, or small groups

Exclusive Methodology of Business Brazilian Portuguese 

We apply our exclusive methodology, Take Ownership of your Learning Process (TOLP), which means to encourage the student to actively participate in the language acquisition, giving him tools to identify which materials are correct to study outside the classroom environment, one of the greatest challenges of the students is to keep on learning even when they are not regularly studying Portuguese. 

Independence to learn

It is common for the students to stop their studies for one reason or another and then returning sometime later. However, they must return their studies some levels below where they had stopped, because the knowledge acquired did not result in an acquisition of the language, and this brings lots of frustration for the students that restart their studies already feeling discouraged. 

However, at Ruby Academy, you can walk with your own feet with your studies after a while, as you are going to know the right materials to study and can search them independently and autonomously.

Apart from the fact that many occasions the student is in Brazil, which makes the volume of information in Portuguese very high. Many opportunity to practice will be available of the student: do the groceries, go to the bank, and open an account, Interact in a coffee shop among many others. If the student wishes, there is always the possibility to have immersion classes, accompanied by a teacher to places and public facilities to practice the truly Brazilian Portuguese.

Brazilian Portuguese x Business Portuguese

What does it mean Portuguese for Business and how it is different from a regular Portuguese course?

When it comes to Business Portuguese, the vocabulary is centered in the Portuguese used in the corporate environment, including jargon, idiomatic expressions, and even slangs appropriated for this type of context, being these the major differences.

Furthermore, grammar is a little bit left behind (not totally) to open space for dialogues, texts, audios, and all the appropriate vocabulary for the corporate context. There is no need that the student should have a certain level in the Portuguese language to acquire Business Portuguese. The focus of the Corporate Portuguese is not the grammar itself, plus, with the input naturally acquired living in Brazil it is possible to start from scratch and learn the language using Portuguese for the business world.

In case the student is living overseas we guarantee distant learning in a light and fluid way with lots of recommendations of videos, texts, podcasts, in other words, an experience of true immersion even considering the distance.

Personalized Portuguese course for the challenges of your work 

Each student must go through the needs analysis, which means the assessment of the needs and alignment of objectives, tasks, and deadlines. 

Examples of authentic materials are vocabulary and training for interviews in Portuguese, meetings, writing a correct email, negotiation, presentations, and also topics related to the field of the student such as marketing, sales, customer service, tourism & hotel, investments, finances, etc.