Muriel Tavares

I'm 24 years old and have been an English teacher in Brazil since 2021, after three years studying the language in Ireland. Back in Brazil, I also created the Claro Enigma course to teach Brazilian Portuguese to foreigners, with the aim of spreading our culture and language around the world. The name of my Portuguese course is a tribute to one of the greatest classics of Brazilian literature, the work of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, our greatest poet. I am an avid reader, and my biggest passion is travelling. I have been fortunate to have visited 20 different countries, where I could immerse in their cultures and give a piece of my own to the people I've met along the way. I have decided to become a Portuguese tutor to keep exchanging knowledge with people from all over the world and, hopefully, have them fall in love with Brazil's beautiful culture and language. As well as English and Portuguese, I also speak Italian and French, a language I learnt during a year spent in Lyon, France. I've been teaching Portuguese since last year when I decided to use my experience and teaching skills as an English teacher to create a Brazilian Portuguese course from scratch. My students are between 23 and 39 years old, and they come to me either because they are married to Brazilians or to learn what they need to know to visit the country without any difficulties, given that few people here speak English. My lessons cover cultural aspects, grammar and the differences in accent and vocabulary between Portuguese-speaking countries. The aim is to expose students to the cultural aspects that make Brazil such a diverse country and to show how we use the grammar learnt in everyday life. Grammar is taught progressively, as is the introduction to our culture, ranging from the most important tourist attractions and Brazilian artists to the main works of literature and events in our history. I also send weekly homework involving listening or reading activities and exercises covering an aspect of the grammar we use every day.