Bem-vindo, @daxbrown! There are many of us in the same boat! I am systematically working through all the PP podcasts as my main material for developing my aural comprehension skills, and they are absolutely the best, in my opinion. For developing conversational abilities, I am working on weekly meetings with a native Portuguese, from Lisbon, who teaches at the local University. This is helping a lot, too. These skills are not easy to learn and just take time. Good luck! 
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I do some of the same things - I meet twice a week with native speakers for conversation - in Portuguese. They tell me I’ve gotten better, but I’m a long way from nearing ‘good’. These sessions are very good for aural comprehension, as well as for having to actually -well - talk. IE produce the spoken language.
The PP Shorties are great (as well as the ‘longies’ 
Helps with listening as well, and the quiz is good to test yourself.
Question - has anyone tried iTalki for speaking with a native speaker? Trying to understand the pros & cons of other options…
I have been using Italki and recommend it wholeheartedly! Skype makes the whole process so easy - you have eye to eye contact and on the RHS of the screen you have a ‘message board’ so the teacher can write things down, take photos of work sheets etc which you can use simultaneously - such a great way to have a lesson!
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Parebéns @David2019, @fionaphome, e @Barbara!!! Muito bom! 
Minha filha e eu já voltámos de Portugal na segunda-feira desta semana e fizemos o exame CIPLE em Leiria na sexta passada. Achamos que correu bem, mas o exame tinha partes que foram mais dificeis do que nós praticávamos, especialmente o parte de Oral Compreenção, particularmente a secção onde os candidatos têm de fazer correspendências entre as frases orais e as frases que podem ser ditas.
No este caso, as frases por selecção eram respostas (e longas, também!) às frases curtas que nós ouvíamos. E muitas das frases foram similares entre outras. Este parte do teste também tinha quatro outras frases, duas com só duas respostas que foram simples, e duas com cinco ou seis respostas que foram um pouco mais difícil por causa de as respostas eram longas e complicadas.
Mas, como já diz, achamos que tudo correu bem. Agora só temos to esperar os resultados… 
Congratulations @David2019, @fionaphome, and @Barbara! Excellent!
My daughter and I just returned from Portugal on Monday and took the CIPLE level exam last Friday in Leiria. We think the exam went well, but the it had parts that were much harder than any of the example exams we had practiced before, especially the Oral Comprehension section, particularly the section where you need to draw the connections between what is spoken and what might be said next.
In this case, the phrases that needed to be selected were in the form of conversational response to what was heard. And many of the phrases were very similar to one another. This part of the test also had 4 other phrases to listen to, two that had just two questions to answer and were pretty simple, and two that had either 5 or 6 questions and were long and complicated.
But as I already said, we think everything went well. Now we need just need to wait for the results…
–Phil
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Bem vindo @daxbrown! I found both “Practice Portuguese” and “Portuguese with Carla” to be extremely beneficial in getting ramped up, especially PP. There are also good podcasts that just have information and readings in Portuguese, just to get used to hearing the spoken word - you won’t get all of it at first, but gradually it gets better and better.
We did also go take an immersive course (“Portuguese Connection”) in Lisbon for over 1 week as a final refresher/prep before the exam we just took. Time will tell how we did, but I have nothing but rave reviews for the teachers and staff at PC.
–Phil
Olá Dax e bem vindo!
Não se estresse! Com certeza, pode passar o próximo teste CIPLE! Eu concordo que alguns exercícios de ouvir vai ajudar-se muito.
The shorties here are a great start as you can even start listening slowly and progress to faster paced ones. For me, the hardest part is the listening as it is very fast and it’s difficult to catch what is being said, let alone answer questions regarding what you just heard. Nevertheless, I also try to watch some Portuguese shows and news.
So, don’t despair! We will all eventually make it 
Boa sorte a nós em Setembro!
Olá @pmfrancisco! Com certeza você e a sua filha passou os exames! Eu vou ter as aulas para rever uma semana anterior do exame também - três horas por dia. Eu espero que vai ajudar-me.
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Wow. I did not know about iTalki and just checked it out now. I will book a review soon!
Thank you for the recommendation!
Another CIPLE question - does the certification ever expire? Hypothetically, if I pass and then don’t speak portuguese for 10+ years, is the certificate still valid?
It sounds like there is a great business opportunity for @joelrendall and @ruicoimbra to start an online tutoring section for conversational skills; where we can book in with weekly tutoring or language exchange with native speakers; to help with exams, as well as coping when in the country. I am LOVING the site so far, so thanks to the team.
I will return to Portugal in early September and will doing my best to NOT speak English at all for at least three months, to force my hand. I would love to have easy access to a native speaker to practice with in the meantime, so just a thought guys. As very much a beginner, I have to say I am terrified. But my partner is Portuguese & my adult son is learning too; so we figure if we ONLY speak Portuguese for at least three months, it will help. Aaargh, let the frustration begin. Help!!
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Thanks for your kind words, Melinda! And props for diving in head first to prepare for the trip.
An idea similar to what you’re saying is definitely on the radar. The main challenge that makes it a bit challenging to tackle is that it’s hard to set this up in a way that is scalable for our members, conducive to the various timezones, while also maintaining quality. But we do have some ideas for overcoming these challenges, those are just some of the reasons as to why we haven’t been able to tackle it quite yet.
It sounds like you’ll be in good hands practicing with your partner and son! Just be sure to always go easy on yourself. Everyone here already deserves a lot of credit for learning a challenging language as an adult, because we always have 100 reasons/excuses to not make it a daily priority. So every day that you do make some small effort to learn and improve is a success. Speak often, and consider each failure just as much of a success for having tried (instead of just having taken the easy route).
For many adults, a small failure like making a mistake or not understanding something can be a bit of a blow to our motivation levels, so how you recover from those moments is just as important as the moments you get something correct.
Even though I’ve been at this for years now, I still need to overcome feeling like a dork on an almost-daily basis (from making a mistake). At this point, I’ve accepted that it just comes with this ongoing pursuit to keep improving, and that any time I’m expecting perfection from myself, I’m setting myself up to be demotivated.
Anyways, hope something in that unsolicited ramble made some sense!
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We have basically vowed not to speak in English at all (eek!). I will be in the Alentejo and my partner’s family don’t speak English, so it will force my hand. But yes, I am more than a little daunted. I am only a beginner!
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Hi Joel
I have booked my CIPLE exam in Lisbon on 21 September! I am flying into Porto on 10 September which gives me 10 days to attend CIPLE exam workshops/practice etc…
The problem is that I cannot find a language school that claims a great knowledge of the exam itself, nor offers intensive pre-exam coaching (aimed specifically at the exam!)
So, Please can you give me some advice as to where to go for this type of training? I can do it in Porto or Lisbon - either is fine.
Lusa Language School (where I did my intensive language course earlier this year) has on their website that they provide focussed ‘exam’ lessons but they didn’t really have much knowledge on the exam, the format, past exam papers etc.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you!
Daryn
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@daxbrown - I strongly recommend the school my daughter and I attended – Portuguese Connection! Fabulous staff and great teaching in a fun environment and a great location in Lisboa. We did one full week of immersion classes (4 hours of group classes + 1 hour 1:1 per day) to prepare and then followed it the next week with one more immersive day on Tuesday before our exam that Thursday. We don’t have our CIPLE exam results back yet, but our experience with the school was simply EXCELLENT.
Boa sorte com o seu exame!
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Congratulations David! I’m happy for you. 
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Question - has anyone tried iTalki for speaking with a native speaker? Trying to understand the pros & cons of other options…
Regarding the iTalki site, there were very few European Portuguese natives. I met several nice Brasilians though.
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Update: I’m very glad to say that this past Friday we finally found out that both my daughter and I had PASSED the CIPLE level exam we took back in late July! We’re both so happy and excited!
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Parabéns! Can’t believe it took this long to find out!
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