Lisbon Language Cafe

This is my second time studying Portuguese in Lisbon. When I was here in 2014, I took a one-month intensive course at the University of Lisbon's ICLP (Instituto de Culturo e Lingua Portuguesa), which gave me a great foundation in Portuguese. This time, I wanted to try a less-structured and more conversational approach to learning the language. A friend here told me about the Lisbon Language Cafe, and that's where I've been studying for the last few months. The premise of this school is that the best way to practice a language is to get together in a group of 4 or less (plus the instructor) and work on listening and conversation. I think it's a great method and I feel like the teachers at Lisbon Language Cafe really take their work seriously. Each time I attended, the instructor had a well-planned topic with vocabulary support and a variety of different exercises. And, you have the choice to attend when you have time and are not obligated to attend every week if you are busy. That allowed me to travel and still maintain my studies.

I have been going to two language groups every week and also taking one private lesson a week. It's been challenging because a lot of the students in my groups seem more fluent than I am. But, it's also been really fun, interesting, and satisfying to have the focus on conversational fluency. One location is at the LX Factory, where many of the classes and conversation groups meet, but other locations include Vertigo Cafe in the Chiado neighborhood and for Portuguese speakers practicing English, the cafe at the Maria Matos theater near Avenida Roma.

Here are a few pictures from the Vertigo Cafe group in Chiado:

One thing I really like about Lisbon Language Cafe is that the conversation groups meet in a cafe. That makes it really relaxing because it feels like a social occasion and you only meet for one hour. I think that's the perfect amount of time to try and practice a new language.  

I was also asked to help moderate the English language group at the MM theater cafe two times and it was really rewarding to talk to Portuguese adults learning English and see the other side of the coin. Needless to say, their English is way better than my Portuguese !

I'm so happy I found this school. It's provided a flexible, stimulating, and expansive way to learn language. Thanks to Frederico and Susanna for all their hard work !!!

Lisbon Language Cafe

Here are a few more photos of the LX Factory, a former thread and fabric factory, that has become a very interesting creative space for new businesses, start-ups with shared work spaces, art studios, restaurants and one of the best bookstores in Lisbon, Ler Devager. It's been great to spend time here studying Portuguese. 

Here's the cafe where we meet...and there's a great view of the bridge from the cafe window !

And, speaking of what a creative space this is, check out the restroom art for this month:

LX Factory

Às Aulas de Violão

One of the best connections I've made on this visit to Portugal is meeting Nicholas, my guitar teacher, and his mother Margarida. Margarida runs a volunteer Portuguese conversation group once a week in her home. I told her I wanted to buy a guitar while I was in Portugal and she introduced me to her son Nicky, who is a very accomplished musician and composer and gives guitar lessons.

He teaches me classical guitar songs which focus on finger-picking. It's been so much fun to go to his studio on Avenida de Roma and study with him and talk about music. He can play many different genres of music like, classical, rock, jazz and others. He's also a gifted instructor.

He also has a band, Cafe D'Alma, that I got to see perform last weekend. It was a wonderful performance and I'm so glad that I got to see them live.

Check out the Cafe D'Alma website here:


Sometimes after my lesson, we go down the street to a little "tasca" or restaurant called Vitta Roma for lunch. The food is great and very inexpensive. I feel much more like a native Lisboeta when I go out with Nicky and Margarida because they live in a part of Lisbon that isn't so touristy. Margarida always speaks to me in Portuguese so I get to practice.

I'm really going to miss these guys when I leave. I told Nicky maybe we can continue to do lessons on Skype after I'm back in SF. 

Uma Entrega Especial !

One of my favorite students at CCSF has family in Portugal. She asked me to bring them a backpack with some gifts for them and especially for her new baby brother, Santiago. They live in Costa da Caparica, which is about 45 minutes from Lisbon by bus. Luckily, my friend Shelly went with me because my Portuguese is still not good enough to communicate well. 

We had a really nice time meeting Vania, Lindemar, Ingrid, Yasmin, and baby Santiago. Vania prepared an amazing lunch which included very delicious Brazilian-style food such as a stew with "maniocas", an orange vegetable (cassava) like a sweet potato, feijoada (beans with some meat), rice and of course there was some excellent Portuguese wine. We were so impressed with their hospitality. They made us feel so comfortable and welcome.

It was very special for me to meet this family and to get to see where my student Fran is from. So often, I teach people from all over the world and though they sometimes show me pictures of their families and where they are from, this is the first time I have actually visited a student's family. It was such a great experience for me and I'm very grateful to Fran, and her family, and to my friend Shelly for making this possible.

After lunch, Shelly and I wanted to go to the beach and Yasmin decided to go with us. Lindemar gave us a ride to a little train that you can take to different beaches along the Costa da Caparica. It was so nice there. It was a sunny day and the water was warm. Yasmin wanted to go in the water over and over again so I went with her. We had a great day at the beach.

Later, when we returned from the beach, Vania had prepared a wonderful sobremesa (dessert) for us. It was a "maracuja" (passionfruit) tart. I have remembered that word, maracuja, because of that delicious treat.

But, the biggest treat of the day was meeting Santiago. He is a beautiful boy and I know Fran is really looking forward to meeting him very soon.

I'm so glad that Fran asked me to make this special delivery. It was a window into the life of a hard-working and accomplished student who I know will go very far. Now I can understand more about the lives of my students and where they come from. Thanks Fran and special thanks again to Shelly for everything !!!

Here is the surf beach cam for Costa da Caparica !