These can be useful for families wanting to learn Portuguese, or Portuguese families living abroad.

When it comes to learning a language, think: exposure, exposure, exposure. Try to expose your child (and you, if you’re learning too) to as many authentic sources as possible.

1. I think the most important thing to consider is to make learning and speaking Portuguese FUN! Having a positive attitude around speaking or learning Portuguese is, in my opinion, a top priority.

This is relevant for Portuguese immigrant families; When I first had children, we lived in Scotland. In relation to language and bilingualism, my first priority was to nurture a good relationship with my children and for them to communicate with me. I wanted them to feel comfortable talking to me about anything. The second, was for them to be bilingual. This means that even though I spoke with them in Portuguese most of the time, I didn’t force  them to speak to me only in Portuguese. When they spoke to me in English I would ask them to speak to me in Portuguese, multiple times, but if they said, I don’t want to, or I can’t, I would not insist. Again, I wanted them to have a positive attitude towards Portuguese.

2. Create a Portuguese rich home environment where you honour both (or more) languages.

- Have Portuguese books at home. Even if you don’t speak the language, there are youtube channels that read Portuguese books. You can listen together and attempt to read to your child too; they will learn through your example of trying to read, speak and learn. I think that having the books at home is very very beneficial, it gives the child opportunities to leaf through the books and connect with the story and the language. If you are in Portugal you can also make a routine of visiting the library. Sometimes they have story time and other initiatives that can help expose your child to the language.

- You can expand this, by having games in Portuguese, especially the ones that foster language development. For example Brain box or Stop. (find the links for these at the end of the post)

- Watch cartoons or movies in Portuguese. You can add subtitles in Portuguese too. Listen to the radio, podcast, music etc.

3. Try to create meaningful social interactions in Portuguese.

If you live in Portugal, try to prioritise social interactions with Portuguese children. Going to the playpark, enrolling them in local sports, visiting  museums, going to the theatre (remember Portugal is a very child friendly country, so many local theatres set up performances for children)and try to participate in local organised activities (this one is probably harder, but I believe that is very beneficial for our children to see our positive attitude of getting out of our comfort zone and interacting with Portuguese people in Portuguese). If you are a Portuguese family living abroad, could you set up a routine event with family in Portugal where your children could interact with other people in Portuguese? For example, the grandparents reading a book weekly, a virtual dinner with the family, your children sending pictures and messages to the family to talk about their life and what’s been happening?

4. Create a moment in your weekly or daily routine where you only speak Portuguese.

For example, at dinner time we only speak Portuguese; Or at bed time we read one book in Portuguese and one in English; or once a week you cook a Portuguese dish and learn about it? Followed by a movie dubbed in portuguese, perhaps? Make all your shopping lists in Portuguese, and once a week learn a new song… I don’t really know, there are many possibilities, but think about your routine, if daily feels too much, maybe weekly, and try to make it part of your everyday life.

5. One last tip is to try to use your children’s interest as a path to learn Portuguese. 

Do they like music? Could you learn the instruments in Portuguese? Do they like minecraft? Could you learn the names of all the things in the playbox in Portuguese? Could you organise an activity with other Portuguese children to play minecraft together? If they like Pokemon, could you take the cards to the playpark and see if anyone wants to play? Do they like Lego? Is there a lego store nearby where you could check for organised activities? Or organise a Lego meet up in the local library? Here the possibilities are endless, and some will work and probably some won’t, but leading with a subject or area that they are interested in might lead to very meaningful learning experiences.

Happy learning!

Here’s a few resources that you can check out.

Aqui há gato: Portuguese bookstore with youtube videos reading children’s books in Portuguese. 

If you are in Portugal, RTP ZigZag is a children’s Portuguese channel. If you are not in Portugal you can still watch cartoons and movies in Portuguese by changing the language in your streaming service.

Portuguese radio for children.

Brain box, a game where you memorize an image and try to answer the questions correctly

The Happy Gang has many games that could add fun to your Portuguese learning time, for example the "game stop" or “Vamos jogar à mimica” 

And here is my Spotify music list, specially curated for my students and you!