01/03/24 @Shahbaz Shaikh786https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/edu … he%20city.This is offered by the city for free.I will sign up when I go back to sao paulo -@Canforbra
This will certainly be a very useful course for living in Brazil, and I would encourage anyone who has little or no Portuguese to take it. However, please note that the certificate of completion does not qualify as a certification of proficiency in Portuguese for official purposes -- see answer to Question 13 here:
https://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade … BERTAS.pdf
Generally speaking, there are three types of language course available to immigrants who want to master Portuguese quickly:
- Courses for daily living, which can be free or paid. Some, like the course that @Canforbra cites, look like they're very good; so are the courses offered by SESC. Like anything worthwhile, the good ones require quite a bit of work. Others aren't worth your time, so you should find out exactly what's being offered before you sign up.
- Prep courses for CelpeBras. Can also be free, although many will be paid. Read the course description carefully: unless the description says that completion of the course will be accepted as proof of proficiency in Portuguese for official purposes, ask the people running it before you sign up. If your goal is to avoid taking CelpeBras and they answer you anything except "yes, it is!", then the answer is "NO".
- To be accepted as proof of proficiency in Portuguese for official purposes, a course must:
-- be offered by an institution approved by the Ministry of Culture;
-- have a detailed syllabus of materials to be mastered
-- have graded student evaluations -- tests and grades
-- issue a transcript of grades to the student that is kept on file
-- issue a certificate of successful completion, not simply of attendance.
Distance/online learning is acceptable, as long as there is at least one in-person evaluation during the course. The Federal Institute São Paulo (IFSP) offers a test that can satisfy this requirement for and in-person evaluation:
https://www.ifsp.edu.br/component/conte … refugiados
The relevant regulations appear in Capítulo I, Art. 5, I, § 4&5 of Portaria No. 623 de 13 de Novembro de 2020:
https://www.in.gov.br/en/web/dou/-/port … -288547519
Courses that can be taken in lieu of passing CelpeBras are often offered by federal universities, so check with any in your area for "Português para Estrangeiros" courses. Be sure to specify that you're looking for a course that will be officially accepted as proof of Portuguese proficiency without CelpeBras. UFABC in Santo André (SP) has a well known course of this type:
https://www.ufabc.edu.br/
Others also do, and some Institutos Federais (IF, federal technical schools, at least one in every capital) may have compliant courses, as well.
