Hospitality Portuguese

This course is intended for all hotel receptionists, current or future, who want to develop knowledge about the specific language used in the hotel sector in direct contact with the client, both oral and written. Regardless of the countries in which the students perform their duties, it is intended that at the end of the course, everyone will be able to interact appropriately in the various discursive tasks that the hotel receptionist performs in their daily lives. Participants must have an intermediate knowledge of the Portuguese language.

The course takes into account the activities and competencies of the Hotel Receptionist profession, as set out in the National Catalogue of Qualifications of the National Agency for the Qualifications of Vocational Education. 

Objectives

At the end of the course, the student must:

  • Know the functioning of the hospitality sector in Portugal;
  • Know how to interact in the most frequent discursive tasks of the daily life of a hotel receptionist;
  • Know how to serve customers in an appropriate way, responding to various requests about accommodation, services, catering, tourist information, or others;
  • Know how to interact proficiently in Portuguese, in order to provide a quality service and satisfy customers.

Methodology

A task-based methodology will be used. For each task, the focus will be on discursive, morphosynthetic, lexical and cultural content. The acts of speech specific to each communication situation, the linguistic mechanisms necessary for its formulation, the useful vocabulary and the notions or habits of Portuguese culture related to the discursive task in question should be worked.

The work to be done by the student autonomously proposes a linguistic immersion in this professional sector in the Portuguese norm of Portugal, through authentic documents and real communication situations that take place at the reception of a hotel.

Although the development of language skills at the oral level is privileged, due to the specificities of the tasks of receptionists to serve the client face-to-face, written work will also be carried out.

Duration

The course is structured in 6 modules.

Participants are expected to spend 6 hours a week on the various course activities that will be placed on the platform:

Self-employed work: Reading and listening to materials related to the modules that make up the course; carrying out tasks and various exercises;

Work with the tutor: 30 minutes per week of oral interaction with the respective guardian; interaction through the platform forum about doubts, difficulties and other aspects of interest of the participants.

The hours of the weekly oral interaction with the tutor will be marked at the beginning of the course and will remain throughout the duration of the course. Exceptional and ad hoc situations of change in this schedule will have to be agreed with the tutor.

Tuition fee

EUR 200.

Assessment

The course assessment is based on a continuous evaluation composed of several items:

  • Regularity of access to the platform/pathways on the platform;
  • Questions submitted by email/forum/comments;
  • Fulfilling the tasks of the platform:
  • Carrying out the various exercises of the platform;
  • Preparation of texts on the subjects of the units (written production exercises will be evaluated by the tutor)
  • Skype interaction – ask and answer on a subject related to the unit’s theme (oral production is measured immediately in interactions with the tutor).

Approval in the course depends on participation in 2/3 of oral interactions and the conduct of 2/3 of the written expression activities.

Certification

Participants who successfully attend this course will receive a certificate.