Learning Portuguese

Hi AJackson,

I see you are a fellow West Indian! There are only 5 residents of Carribean descent (3 Jamaicans, 2 Trinis) living here in Cape Verde. You can be the 6th! Welcome to the CV forum.

As you may be aware, Portuguese is the offcial language so it is taught at every educational level here. In addition to this, there are several language schools in Praia and one in Mindelo. But they teach English to the Portuguese speakers. There is only one language school which teaches Portuguese that I know of - I think it is because, naturally, there are substantially fewer potential students ... even though there are many Expats; most Expats want to learn kriolu which is the local dialect that everyone speaks from birth and is the predominant language spoken in most social settings. Portuguese is only spoken in formal settings such as schools, business meetings, etc.

There are tons of people informally teaching English because so many of the locals are now wanting to learn. As I mentioned earlier, there are several language schools which teach mainly English and give diplomas. In addition, there is a degree program in English language offered by one of the local Universities.

Teaching English is not a particularly profitable business proposition because the population is very poor and most who sign up for classes can barely afford them. So you could end up spending lots of hours teaching students with a high degree of non-payment of the school fees.

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Let me know if you have any other questions, or you can send me a private message.

Warm regards,

Angelo

AJackson1303 wrote:

Hi are there language schools or independent teachers, teaching Portuguese? Is there also a need for English language teachers?

Thank you for your information! Just hope this pandemic is more in control soon  so we can start travelling again! 🙏🏻

Interestingly, Cape Verde has no travel restrictions for incoming visitors, except that they need to have a negative PCR test within the prior 72 hours. You can come for any reason, including tourism.

So, as long as the UK government lets its British subjects out of their open coronavirus prison, you can fly here (assuming you can get the flights). Lol.

Best wishes,

Angelo

Yes hopefully by Oct I'll be able to fly there!

Great! Don't forget to look me up. Meanwhile, if there are any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Best regards,

Angelo

AJackson1303 wrote:

Yes hopefully by Oct I'll be able to fly there!

"There are tons of people informally teaching English because so many of the locals are now wanting to learn."

Hello Angelo,

This is a topic I'm interested in. I'm currently teaching English, via internet, to students in Madagascar and hope to do so in Cabo Verde. For me, this will NOT be a major source of income (minor at best  )

I'm curious as to if there are any stipulations to setting up such a hustle.

#DeColonizeTheMind

Hi Geder,

If you teach students informally, say at your home, then there are no requirements whatsoever.

If you plan to do so formally, say in a fixed location with a small classroom setting, you would need to register a small/micro-business. But other than that, their are no formal requirements such as licenses, or qualifications, etc. However, rents here won't be cheap enough to net even a small profit if you only plan to do this in a minor way.

Doing it via internet could be a bit of a challenge, not logistically, but in terms of the local practices. Most of the local population cannot afford even €2.50 monthly internet/calling plans to get on the internet. Yet, everyone uses Viber and Facebook/Messenger, but here they get access to those social edia platforms FOR FREE. So even less incentive to buy a monthly internet plan from the phone companies.

Despite all this, I think you just hit on a minor business idea. I will discuss it with you via a private message.

Regards,

Angelo

Geder wrote:

"There are tons of people informally teaching English because so many of the locals are now wanting to learn."

Hello Angelo,

This is a topic I'm interested in. I'm currently teaching English, via internet, to students in Madagascar and hope to do so in Cabo Verde. For me, this will NOT be a major source of income (minor at best  )

I'm curious as to if there are any stipulations to setting up such a hustle.

#DeColonizeTheMind