"All those who want to learn to communicate and interact in European Portuguese in basic everyday situations, such as introducing themselves and someone, obtaining and giving information, buying a ticket, going to the cafe or the restaurant, shopping, making a reservation or spending your free time,” are invited to take the course.

A source from the University of Porto explained to Lusa that this course is offered by the Faculty of Arts (FLUP) and the Educational Innovation Unit (IE) of the University of Porto to everyone who wants to learn the language, particularly students preparing for come as part of Erasmus, as long as they sign up, also free of charge, on the course page on the edX education platform.

"It is not necessary to have prior knowledge of Portuguese", as this is an introductory language course.

With an estimated dedication and study time of 32 hours, the course's learning itinerary is based on a fictional series consisting of eight weekly episodes/modules, starring professional actors, in typical spaces in the city of Porto.

In addition to learning Portuguese, participants also have the opportunity to get to know the way of life of the people of Porto, with the support of a team of teachers "with extensive experience" in teaching Portuguese as a Foreign Language.

In this course, "we propose a trip to Porto, one of the most beautiful and characteristic cities in Portugal, so that you can get to know the Portuguese language and part of this cultural wealth, with a team of very committed teachers with great experience in teaching Portuguese", led by university professors Fátima Silva and Ana Isabel Fernandes.

The objective is that at the end of this training course students are able to introduce themselves and others, ask questions and give answers about personal information (nationality, place where they live, languages spoken, profession), establish social contacts using appropriate forms of greeting, introduction, and farewell and communicating in a simple way to satisfy basic communicative needs in everyday life, namely going to the cafe and restaurant, buying tickets, shopping, asking for information or getting around the city.

To this end, they will be taught to pronounce, in isolation, most of the sounds of the Portuguese language, and, in context, say words, phrases, and short texts, using a basic repertoire.