Many students ask us about the best books to learn Portuguese. This is a smart question, because that chose will have a big influence on learning success. That’s our topic today.
Introduction
There are many factors that make books suitable for a foreign student. It depends on its approach but also on the level and proposes. So we will express our opinion (pros and cons) about different ones in the market.
To use in a classroom
These ones are much better to be used with a teacher, because many tasks could be difficult to be understood without help. In addition, they have tasks for oral interaction and conversation, so student cannot do it alone.
Passaporte para Português 1 (A1/A2) & 2 (B1)
+ It presents high pedagogical accuracy, the topics are current and interesting, the subjects are presented in a simple and clear way, the design is attractive and the learning process takes place step by step. It includes audio exercises and an exercise book, which allows the student to practice the subjects which are covered. It is, without doubt, very focused on communicative skills.
– It uses an intuitive approach, so at the beginning could look a little bit confusing, despite it is quite complete and organized. Unfortunately there is not (yet?) versions for higher levels.
Português em Foco 3 (B2) & 4 (C1/C2)
+ It’s a well-structured and organized, with four versions covering all level (from A1 to C2). They also have exercise books and audio exercises. In addition, it approaches many aspects of Portuguese culture and lifestyle.
– The approach could be more engaging and texts better adapted to foreign students.
Português em direto (B1/B2)
+ It addresses different topics of daily life and focuses on the development of oral comprehension. Audio features consist of spontaneous, unscripted statements from native and non-native speakers, reproduced in their original form. It contains exercises for oral expression, vocabulary and some texts. It’s a great book to help understanding native speakers and developing communicative skills, especially oral expression and interaction.
– Some texts could be quite difficult to understand.
To use at home
These ones are more suitable for those students who want to study by yourself, because they don’t have so many tasks involving interaction. Also, tasks are easier to understand without teacher’s help. They can also be partially used at classroom.
Aprender Português 1 (A1/A2), 2 (B1) & 3 (B2)
This is a wide collection that includes textbooks with the respective exercise books, specific books for oral, grammars and even for children (Aprender a brincar 1 & 2).
+ Very complete, organized, with clear explanations, full of different exercises, including audio exercises. It includes an exercise book. Moreover, is possible use the different books simultaneously, which boost different competences.
– Some texts are not enough suitable for students. The third book focuses too much on Portugal.
Grammars
This serves as a supplement for grammar, in which the student can study, practice and organize the subjects learned in classes.
Gramática Ativa 1 (A1/A2) & 2 (B1/B2)
+ It’s well structured and allows students to practice the most of grammar subjects, with quite good explanations and enough examples. It’s very complete and quite attractive.
– The sequence of information can be different from the sequence at textbooks. With teacher’s help, this won’t be a minus.
Gramática Aplicada (A1/A2) & 2 (B1/B2)
+ It’s similar to the first one. It’s part of the collection “Aprender Português”, so if you use this one as the main textbook, the sequence of information will be quite similar.
– It’s complete, but not so much as the first one.
To improve oral comprehension
Some students could neglect this part, but probably they won’t be able to improve all them skills without specific exercises to improve oral comprehension. So, don’t be afraid to use (and abuse) of these resources.
Dialogar em Português (A1/A2)
+ Very suitable to start to improve oral comprehension. It’s very practical with focus on daily life situations and on the meaning (instead of word by word).
– The design could be more engaging.
Aprender Português 1 (A1/A2) & 2 (B1) – compreensão oral
+ They have a rich content that allows students to have a lot of practice and learn a lot of new vocabulary as well. It’s a good complement of the lessons and works as pretty well as homework, where students can practice some lesson’s subjects and improve oral comprehension.
– In some exercises students must stop audio all the time, because it takes too much time to write what is said.
Adapted
Adapted books are rewritten with the goal to be more suitable for a foreign language student. They allows to improve text comprehension in a more relaxed way. We won’t make a review about some of them because we have our own ones, adapted by us, which we use in our courses. In future we will publish some of them.
Conclusion
Finally, we’d like to say that we don’t have any propose or benefit to promote any of these books. In addition, if a book isn’t in this list, it doesn’t mean it is not good. It means we don’t know it well enough to express an opinion based on our experience.
Therefore, our goal was just to share our experience and point of view, and help students to choose suitable ones for them.
We will be glad to know your opinion and have your feedback.