On-line speaking and pronunciation resources for Portuguese

Here are my favorites to teach speaking and/or pronunciation:

1. Tá falado is a prize-winner website created by UT-Austin professor Orlando Kelm. Besides being a lot of fun it is a great resource for beginners who are Spanish-speakers, as the lessons are built around the differences between Spanish and Portuguese (intonation, pronunciation and grammar). Do yourself a favor, check it out!

2. Sonia-Portuguese offers a good pronunciation guide of the alphabet, perfect for beginners first week of class. If you want to contrast with the European pronunciation, check this youtube video (my kids love it!) or this site by Instituto Camões.

3. In Rede Globo, you can find tones of clips about almost anything (news, telenovelas, sitcoms, sports, food, etc.). A great activity is to ask students (in pairs) to choose a short clip, transcribe it, memorize it and then enact it to the class. They should also bring a list of the new vocabulary they have learned (to be presented to the class prior to the enactment) and a list of questions about the clip to be asked to their colleagues right after). After the presentation the class watches the original clip. This is a very funny activity!

4. Show this commercial without any sound to your students. Then ask them to work in pairs and imagine a dialogue between the two characters, to be enacted to the class. After all the pairs have presented their version of the commercial, show the real thing again (this time with sound, please!).

5. Choose some clips from the Portuguese Communication Exercises that are appropriated for your class level and ask your students to watch them for homework (writing down new vocabulary). In class, ask your students to speak about themselves, based on the clips they have watched at home.