Teach Portuguese online in English

Portuguese looks friendly to an English speaker at first. Whole families of words arrive already half-understood: importante, universidade, possível, informação. Then the learner tries to say them. The nasal vowel in não has no equivalent in English, a single vowel can change the meaning of a word (avó is a grandmother, avô a grandfather), and a verb such as falar has dozens of forms where English gets by with five.

Portuguese also has two standard varieties. European Portuguese swallows many of its unstressed vowels, so telefone can come out close to “tlfon”, and it puts object pronouns after the verb: diz-me. Brazilian Portuguese keeps its vowels full, in most of the country turns the t of tia into the ch of “cheese”, and says me diz. Both are correct, and a good tutor knows which one they teach and can show where the other one differs.

Why we are looking for Portuguese tutors who teach in English

Clasora shows students the tutors who teach in the language they use the site in. A student reading Clasora in English is shown tutors who teach in English, so if you explain Portuguese in English, those are the students who find you.

With a foreign language, that matters in a practical way. Beginners need grammar explained in words they already understand, and English speakers stumble in predictable places. They expect one verb “to be” and meet two, ser and estar. They trust false friends: pretender means to intend, puxar means pull rather than push, livraria is a bookshop and atualmente means currently. They meet a subjunctive that English has nearly lost, including a future subjunctive (quando puder, se fizer sol), and a personal infinitive that changes with the person (para eles saberem). A tutor who knows both languages can name each trap before the student walks into it.

Clasora does not employ tutors, and this is an opening rather than a job. You work independently: you set your own prices and your own hours, and you teach as much or as little as you like. Some tutors keep it to a few evenings a week as a side income. Others teach enough hours for it to stand in for a job.

What teaching Portuguese online on Clasora looks like

The opening is fully remote. Every lesson happens online, and you teach from wherever you live, be it Lisbon, Recife or Leeds.

Students book from your calendar. They only see the times you have marked as free, shown in their own time zone, so a student in London never has to work out what time it is in São Paulo. You decide how much notice you need before a booking and how far ahead people can book.

Lessons run in the browser, and neither of you installs anything. Most of a language lesson is talk, so a good microphone matters more than anything on the screen. When you do need the screen, share it: a document where you correct the student's sentences as they type them, a short news article, the lyrics of a fado or a bossa nova song. The in-call chat is handy for writing down a word the student has just heard, tilde and cedilla included, so they can see how coração is spelt. Background blur keeps your room out of view.

Between lessons, each student has a conversation with you. They can send the paragraph they wrote over the weekend, and you can send it back with corrections or a list of new vocabulary. Messages, files and shared links sit next to the sessions they belong to, so the podcast you recommended a month ago is still easy to find. Your worksheets and verb tables can live in your personal file area, and documents can come across from Google Drive. If you plan your week in Google Calendar, it can sync with your Clasora calendar.

What students usually want help with

Pronunciation: nasal vowels (pão, mãe, põe), open and closed vowels, the two r sounds in caro and carro, and the reduced vowels of European Portuguese.

Verbs: regular and irregular conjugations, and when the past needs the pretérito perfeito and when the imperfeito.

Ser, estar and ficar, and why ele é chato and ele está chato say different things about someone.

The subjunctive: its present, past and future forms, and the personal infinitive in phrases such as é melhor irmos.

Pronouns and forms of address: tu, você, o senhor and a gente, and where object pronouns go in each variety.

Listening and conversation: following native speakers at full speed and answering without translating first.

Portuguese for work or a move: emails and meetings with colleagues in Portugal, Brazil, Angola or Mozambique, or renting a flat and seeing a doctor after moving there.

Writing: spelling, accents, and the differences the 1990 spelling agreement left in place (facto and fato, económico and econômico).

Family and heritage: adults who grew up hearing Portuguese at home and want to speak it with confidence.

Preparing for a test or an exam: reading, listening and writing practice against the clock.

Who we are looking for

You speak Portuguese at a native or near-native level, whether European, Brazilian or from another Portuguese-speaking country, and you know which variety you teach.

You explain grammar clearly in English and know where English speakers tend to go wrong.

You correct without discouraging, and you can tell which mistake needs work today and which can wait.

You might already teach Portuguese, work as a translator or interpreter, hold a degree in languages or linguistics, be at university, or be a native speaker who has lived in an English-speaking country for years.

You have a computer with a camera, a microphone and a steady internet connection. A headset helps students catch every vowel.

You are 18 or older.

Teaching experience helps, but it is not required.

What you get

No commission. Clasora takes nothing from the price you set.

Free to join and to publish. There is no subscription and no listing fee.

Your own prices. You set a price for each session length, and you can offer a free first session.

Your own hours. You choose your weekly hours and days off, the notice you need and how far ahead students can book.

A public listing page. Your listing is a page of its own that search engines can find, shown in the language each visitor reads. It carries your photo, an intro video, what you teach, the languages you speak and your price for each session length.

Reviews that mean something. Students rate you on knowledge, clarity and engagement.

Checked qualifications. You can add your degrees and teaching qualifications to your profile, and a moderator checks them.

Lessons in the browser. Video with screen sharing, background blur and in-call chat, with nothing for you or your students to install.

How to start

Create an account with the button on this page.

Publish a listing for Portuguese, and say in it which variety you teach.

Open your calendar and mark the hours you are free.

It takes a few minutes. You accept the terms when you become a tutor, and a moderator checks your listing before it goes live.

Questions tutors ask

Do I have to be a native speaker of Portuguese?

No. You need natural, secure Portuguese and the ability to explain it clearly in English. People who learned Portuguese as adults often remember exactly which parts were hard, and that helps in a lesson.

I speak Brazilian Portuguese. Can I teach someone who is moving to Portugal?

Yes. Say in your listing which variety you teach, so each student can choose the one they need. The grammar is largely shared, and you can point out differences in pronunciation and vocabulary as they come up: a train is a trem in Brazil and a comboio in Portugal. The same goes the other way round.

Do I need a teaching qualification?

No, though if you have one, or a degree in languages, add it to your profile and a moderator will check it.

How do I get paid?

Card payments are not switched on yet. For now a booking is confirmed without a card, and you and the student settle payment directly between you. Clasora takes no commission on what you charge.