Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language

The Ponto de Encontro textbook provides students with precise language skills from the first lesson. Although, because Spanish is my native language, it feels easier to connect the grammar and logic of the Portuguese language with Spanish, both being of the same origin. But generally speaking, the book is a really good reference source.

This is an excellent Portuguese grammar. The exercises are very good, and the format of each lesson is student-friendly. I like the approach using grammatical usage from both European and Brazilian Portuguese, and the vocabulary building is superb. This is the best Portuguese grammar that I have seen and would recommend its classroom use.

After over a decade away from teaching foreign languages, I was asked to teach Portuguese (my native language) to a North American friend. When I used to teach English and Portuguese as a foreign language, there was huge gap between the quality of the EFL books (communication and usage oriented, dynamic, attractive) and the Portuguese ones (translation - grammar based, boring, filled with language no-one actually uses...). I was dismayed with what looked like no evolution at all during the last 15 yeards until I came accross Ponto de Encontro. It's attractive, easy to adapt to different audiences (with exercises that challenge more or less to choose from), features great authentic and natural materials and invites students to reflect and learn actively. The companion website is great with self-correcting exercises that are a great aid for students wanting to advance on their own. There are Brazilian and Portuguese separate tracks and exercises which make it a viable book to use by both audiences. I just wish the publishers would be easier to communicate with if you're a private teacher not affiliated with a school, which is the case of many of us. I just can't get a hold of them and am interested in examining the test and activity books and there's no way to log in if you're not affiliated with an institution. All in all though, it's by far the best Portuguese as a Foreign language book available out there. Not that the competition is stiff, but even if it were, it would still be in the running!