@aac My pleasure. Practice Portuguese folks have been such a great help to me; it’s lovely to now be able to be of help for someone else. I wish you luck getting into the class, landing with a good instructor, and in a couple of months being DONE with the A2 language certificate. It is a great feeling. Boa sorte!
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sorry me again. I registered with Edpro and contacted the two whatsapp numbers on their page. one came back with a schedule for 4 hours, 5 days a week for 38 days and another came back with 4 hours, 5 days a week for 58 days. Do you think it is because they are different instructors? I find myself panicking at the thought of not having a break for 5 days but the 150 hours does add up. Not with the second schedule - that sounds like maybe more days and perhaps less hours a week. I asked several times but they did not reply to why the length of course is longer (58 days instead of 38 days). Perhaps I have got the wrong course?
so found out that the courses are the same. First schedule I got was rigorous, 4 hours 5 days a week and the other one is a little bit more staggered about 11-14 hours a week.
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Olá! That makes sense and yes, I would imagine it is all about the instructors’ schedules. What I found was the schedule was a starting point with changes along the way.
Feel free to DM me if you hit questions that are not general interest (I think these are!) and boa sorte!
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How is it going for you? Depending on what you signed up for, you should have the end in sight. I’m sure other potential students would love to hear your experience.
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@portugal You were not lying when you said you gnawed on your hands for diversion. After a full working day, 4 hours of concentration has to be summoned with a spell. Thankfully we get a 20-30 minutes break in between, so its not too bad. I have just finished the first module (7 days) and I have learnt plenty. I did have 1-1 lessons before so I was familiar with the grammar but the teacher is good at encouraging us to speak the language. I found listening and speaking the hardest part of CIPLE so this is definitely helping. Especially when you hear 20 people attempt to speak it and get it wrong you get some of the nuances that are difficult to come by with self-study. Luckily we are saying different things, otherwise it could become tiresome. I am tired but I must have liked school more than I thought I did 
If I pass the first module it will give me the motivation to keep course and carry on. I signed up for the 3 day a week course so the end is not in sight yet but I am certainly not regretting the process. This is definitely the better option for me.
Obrigada for this! Especially the description on what you learned …we covered about 300 vocabulary words just for food, which was rather daunting. We worked our way through maybe 20 irregular verbs, and a whole mess of grammar. We’ve covered [ir + infinitive] for the future, and will do [imperative] soon…
I posted earlier asking about a study plan as my topic search didn’t bring up your helpful post. Your description of the EdPro class is encouraging. Although your posts do enforce my fear/dread of falling asleep. 
Dear portugal,
Thank you for posting about the edpro course. As a result of your post I have signed up to do the course starting in late January.
As there is going to be a ton of vocabulary (eg 300 words for food items!) for each exam, I wanted to ask if you knew of anyone who had uploaded the vocab to a flashcard site. I’m thinking of Anki or Quizlet or similar.
Alternatively, did you find a good way to remember the words necessary for each exam?
Thank you.
You might consider this site: https://www.linguno.com/. The words section contains a flashard type reviewing system pre-loaded with CEFR-based word lists up to the C2 level (although I’m not sure what sort of frequency data they’re based on; some items seem a bit random), plus you can easily add your own words lists. Nice features are a spaced repetition algorithm and European Portuguese pronunciation of the items in the pre-loaded word lists. The site also has excellent tools for practicing verb conjugations and dictation-type listening.
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Dear ProfessorCaloiro, thank you for the response. I’ll look into linguno.
I’m still interested to hear from anyone who has tackled the vocab list from the edpro course. Best regards.
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Olá a tudos – Sitting in my EdPro class on Dia 11. My teacher is wonderful. Still, after working thru PP for various A1 & A2 units, can’t say I’ve learned too much from class. The last 11 days is more proving what I’ve already learned from PP. Muito obrigada PP!!
There are a lot of new words in class, but the handouts are clear and can be accessed when needed, yes even during exercises and exams.
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Great to hear! Are you getting many opportunities to practice speaking? And what about reading? Those are the two things I find I really need to supplement my learning in PP.
Olá PC - I can tell you about my EdPro class. Right off the bat, first thing, Day 1, they said we would not become fluent with the course. They were clear on the expectations and level-setting being A1/A2. There are 6 sections. Our final on Section 2 is Monday.
We can speak as much as we want. It is pretty free-flow. Our teacher has her agenda, but she answers questions and will go off-topic as questions come up. I did expect more speaking, but she says that is to come. Module 1 had a lot of english (and easily for half of the 20 students, english is a 2nd or later langauge). In Module 2, Teach has used more portuguese. She has said toward the end of the course, there will be no english.
We have exercises and exams we do on our own, during classtime; these are all in portuguese. At times, Teach proposes a question and then we all must answer; fav food, what’s your weather today, etc. This gets a little long. Some students are clearly fluent and some have no portuguese knowledge and very little english. There has been ample opportunity to listen to portuguese via videos, etc. Some have subtitles for reading, some don’t. We have had a few exercises where we listen to an audio file and then must answer questions just on what we heard.
I’m taking the course for the Certificate at the end to avoid the CIPLE. I know my PP learning has given me a huge boost for the course. If you had no experience with the language, I think it could be a bit overwhelming. Still early days with the course, but if you aren’t wanting/needing the Get-out-of-the-CIPLE Certificate, I don’t think I’d recommend the course. It’s a fair amount of money and time (but the hours do go by quicker than expected), and the information is on high-speed blast.
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Thanks! Really appreciate your insights. Some of what you shared aligns with what I expected, while some was surprising.
I’m asking more from a teacher/program administrator’s perspective rather than as a student, as I’m trying to understand how classroom PFL instruction tends to go in Portugal.
Can I ask which book you’re using? Also, do the speaking practice activities assigned by your teacher align with the grammar and vocabulary you’re currently working on, or do they feel unrelated?
And if you don’t mind another question—what about the interaction pattern? How often does your teacher have you working in pairs or small groups versus the whole class?
I’m taking the course over zoom (well, Moodle actually), not in a physical classroom. We have our zoom-like classroom and then a “platform” for testing, documents, etc. No set book for us, but lots of PDFs, shared notes, videos, some games we can work on outside of classtime. The classroom activity, extra docs and stuff, and the speaking all work together. My class runs 3.5-4hrs M-F.
So far, there has been no small group projects. This is my first time using Moodle so I don’t know if that’s an option. We also have a dedicated WhatsApp chat for everyone on the class. I asked if anyone wanted to get-together and practice, but out of 20 of us, only 3 of us are in Lisboa. Less than half are in Portugal; I found that interesting.
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I was so excited when I heard about the option to take A1 & A2, complete 150 hours and skip the test. Then terribly disappointed when I tried to sign up for online classes from the US at the CIPLE School, only to be told that I was not allowed to take classes without a Residency Permit. I am working towards citizenship through my Portuguese ancestors (grandparents). I do not need a residency to apply through my grandparents, and I do not have a Portuguese address, so I cannot apply for residency. Has anyone else encountered this?
I don’t mind taking the test, but the wait is at least a year to get in in the US.