Welcome to Língua da Gente, our series of audio podcast lessons that are produced at the University of Texas at Austin, with tremendous support from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the College of Liberal Arts, and COERLL, (The Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning). Língua da Gente falls under the umbrella of BrazilPod, where we find all of the other UT-sponsored materials related to the learning of Portuguese.
In Brazil, the term língua da gente (literally ‘language of the people’) refers to the way that people actually talk in everyday speech. And that, in essence, is the object behind this series. We hope to provide practical lessons that demonstrate how people really speak, and we do this by presenting brief, slice-of-life dialogs, which focus on some daily situation, scenario, or task that we encounter every day.
Each audio podcast, generally between 8-12 minutes, includes the presentation of a brief dialog, a line-by-line English translation, and more in-depth analysis of the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and cultural content in the lesson. Discussion blogs also accompany each lesson, providing community interaction for comments and questions. In broad terms, the lessons are subdivided into three levels of difficulty: Beginning, Elementary, and Intermediate. Additionally we have a cultural show that covers current events and related social issues.
Língua da gente is designed to provide a modular approach to language learning. That is to say, Língua da gente can be used as a stand-alone study tool or it can be incorporated into regular organized courses. The materials are not bound to any specific textbook, and they serve for independent learners as well as students who are enrolled in language courses. All the lessons are completely independent one from another, and as such learners can study as many or as few as they desire. Generally we try to release three new lessons each week, with the end goal of providing hundreds of lessons, and fresh new ones all the time.
Library
The homepage will always show our most recent lessons, but the library is where users can find all of the lessons that are part of Língua da Gente. We sort the lessons in the library by level (Beginning, Elementary, Intermediate). We also package the lessons into suggested courses, which generally combines around 15-20 lessons from a given level. And finally, in the library we can also sort the lessons by general topics. Come back often, because as the total number of lessons grows, our library will continue to evolve with new ways to sort and combine the lessons.
Podcasts
All of the audio lessons and dialogs are available from our online site and homepage. For everyone’s convenience, the lessons are also available by subscription via iTunes. Search for ‘Língua da gente’ and subscribe to the podcast lessons.
Grant
The contents of this website were developed under grant #P229A100014 and #P229A140005 from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents to not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
Credits
Our Língua da Gente team is lead by lesson host Prof. Orlando R. Kelm, who writes all of the lessons and dialogs. He is joined by co-hosts Andreia Lisboa de Sousa (São Paulo), Sonia Roncador (Brasilia), and Daniela Cristina Leal Meireles (Minas Gerais).
Our Língua da Gente community is supported by superb technical assistance, which is begins foremost by the Center for Open Education Resources and Language Learning (COERLL). COERLL is lead by its director Carl Blyth, with specific support provided by its project manager Rachael Gilg and web developer Nathalie Steinfeld. Within the college of Liberal Arts, Língua da Gente enjoys technical support from the Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS). Chief among its contribution is the expert audio recording and digitization from Michael Heidenreich, Jacob Weiss, and Will Kurzner.