I decided to learn Portuguese as a matter of “survival” after having spent another Christmas alone in the company of my boyfriend’s family – whom, whilst being extremely warm and welcoming, don’t speak any English. Initially, I tried using audio-courses. However, I found that learning set phrases without understanding the sentence structure was quite limiting and didn’t enable me to engage in conversation. I found Carla’s website via a learning Portuguese blog recommendation and booked my first free session. I immediately felt at ease with Carla whose approach is relaxed, flexible, and (importantly for a self-critical person) both encouraging and light humoured. When I first started my lessons, I was living abroad and travelling extensively with work. Having flexible Skype lessons enabled me to fit in language learning and to make progress although I couldn’t dedicate as much time to it as I would have liked. Carla also makes a big effort to help integrate Portuguese learning into everyday life - both to speed up progress and to make it less of a chore. For example, by trying to speak to my boyfriend in Portuguese for 10 minutes a day, to listen to Portuguese music, to watch Portuguese TV, to cook a Portuguese recipe etc. After a year of learning Portuguese with Carla, I returned to Portugal to visit my boyfriend’s family. Although I still struggled to follow conversations (especially as culturally several people tend to speak at the same time AND very fast!) I felt much more engaged. In addition, I saw how much it meant to by boyfriend’s parents that I was making an effort to be part of the family. I would highly recommend Carla to anyone wishing to learn European Portuguese. Muito obrigada Carla! Bj Charlotte x

"Learning with Carla was great fun. It was refreshing to have a relaxed and entertaining teacher who keeps your learning targets on track.

She was strict but very supportive and was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses, and set clear goals depending on them. In only a couple of lessons I had learned useful parts of the language and I look forward to continuing them."

"Carla is the perfect language teacher. She makes the lessons and coursework fun and engaging. The exercises are never boring, and with her patience and encouragement, she helped me start conversing in Portuguese on the very first day. I highly recommend Carla for learning Portuguese, even (or especially) if you think you're "not good" at learning languages."

"Carla is a gem! She’s patient, funny & fun, and give you information in bite-sized pieces so you learn easier. She pushes you— challenges you per se, but in an encouraging way. She puts in as much as you do if not more. Whoever wants to learn Portuguese should use Carla- she’s been great- enjoyed every minute. Obrigada Carla! A million thanks!"

"During our lessons, Carla went above and beyond my expectations. She let the lessons run their natural flow at the same time focusing on explaining the grammatical and cultural points of expressions and rules. I greatly appreciate Carla’s flexibility and adaptability to my particular language level and the goals I have set - thank you very much for everything e até à próxima."

Having absolutely loved visiting Portugal once before many years ago but having felt quite guilty only relying on English – or my missus’ Spanish – I decided that the next time around I would try to come (better) prepared. So I started looking for Portuguese classes, courses, resources and whatnot that were NOT Brazilian – which was a challenge in itself, frankly – and luckily managed to stumbled across the lovely Carla... who’s a local too, as we live in the same city. That was surely a sign! Through a mixture of face-to-face lessons and Skype conversations, roughly 20 in total, Carla was welcoming, patient and skilled enough to get through this old and lazy brain of mine and instil a lot of Portuguese knowledge. From the basics – I was an absolute beginner – to the day to day nitty gritty stuff, the sort of fundamental building blocks that actually help you get things done once in country. On top of that, Carla and her husband Marlon run a weekly free podcast and an insightful website where you can practice your Portuguese skills even more. The humorous banter between the two of them alone will be well worth your time! So, despite my chronic laziness, my pseudo-Russian pronunciation, and my slow moving neurons, I finally went back to Portugal and had an absolute blast. I am no more than a slightly less beginner and it’s all true, they DO speak unbelievably fast and they all seem to speak English. But it’s in those moments when they don’t (like at the local hospital, but that’s a story for another time...), in those moments when those beautifully alien sounds click in your head, it’s in those wax on/wax off moments that it dawned on me what an incredible – and helpful! – feeling it is to know a new language. And for that, I have to thank the wonderful Sabalas. I hope you will have the pleasure of meeting them too, one day. Obrigadinho, Carla e Marlon, um forte abraço!  

"Learning Portuguese with Carla is always enjoyable, and I can thoroughly recommend studying with her! I’ve taken 10 lessons with her to date, and can honestly say I have learned a huge amount and that my Portuguese has improved significantly! Our lessons are always different, focusing on different language skills and Carla is such a positive and cheerful teacher, you cannot help but learn with her and improve. I definitely  intend to continue taking lessons with her indefinitely as with her help I’m sure I can become fluent!"

"I asked Carla to teach me Portuguese in order that I could enjoy my holidays there fully. Her relaxed and informal style worked and I benefited immediately."

"Learning Portuguese with Carla is being enjoyable and very rewarding. I have only done a month of classes, and I can see the improvements. She has a very flexible style and adapts herself to your needs. I personally need to learn Portuguese for Business needs, and she always try to relate everything we learn to my specific needs.  Eu recomendo aprender Português com Carla."

"I was very nervous about trying to learn a new language but soon found it to be an enjoyable experience because of Carla's ability to make it interesting. I feel I can use the lessons I learned to good effect in practise."

"A long time ago I studied Portuguese at University. I'm going to Portugal for my holiday and I wanted to study Portuguese again. I didn't want to travel and I didn't want to learn Brazilian Portuguese. I have a very busy life and when I found Carla's website I found it very convenient. It was easy to book and pay. Carla is a very attentive and kind teacher and although have a lot to learn I now understand much more than before. I can recommend Carla without hesitation.”

I'm a beginner in Portuguese, who's been learning with Carla for just over a year now. Always friendly, encouraging and enthusiastic, her lessons are fun - the perfect balance of conversation and more focused exercises. Outside of classes, she goes above and beyond, making herself available to mark daily Portuguese journal entries, and providing a range of learning materials including weekly podcasts and blog entries. I can't recommend her highly enough. Muito obrigado, Carla.