note: this is a recording of your private coaching session with Alexia. No one will see it except you, Alexia, and Foster 🙏
Video
Audio
Session summary
This was our first class together, and what a conversation. We covered your whole journey, from teaching English in Berlin the night the Wall fell, to Harrow House in Swanage (where, small world, Alexia studied English as a teenager from Rio), to your move from Ipswich to London to Berlin to Brighton, plus your recent Rio trip, your Brasília conference, and what you noticed about Brazil's public and private schools. Most of the real work was turning single words into full phrases and smoothing out a few sounds. That phrase-building is exactly what you named afterward as your main goal, so we are already on it.
🎯 Your focus: speak in blocks, not single words
The single biggest unlock for sounding fluent is grabbing whole chunks of language instead of one word at a time. Almost every correction below is really the same lesson: say the full phrase.
que queriam ir para o estrangeiro — who wanted to go abroad (the whole clause as one unit)
para fora do país — out of the country (a ready-made block to reuse)
no início eu tinha só cinco alunos — at the start I only had five students
🗣️ Pronunciation we worked on
Em, também, tem — smile with the M (the nasal M lives at the front of the mouth)
trabalhei — I worked (LH sound: tongue always behind your upper teeth)
experiência — experience (the X here sounds like "eish": eish-periência)
meu ex namorado, meu ex marido, meu ex professor — my ex boyfriend, ex husband, ex teacher (same X)
horrível — horrible (the carioca R is close to the French R, so your French gives you a head start)
cem = sem — one hundred and without sound identical
morar / morrer — to live / to die (careful: "onde queria morar," not "morrer")
🧱 Your story: starting out in Berlin
eu comecei há muitos anos — I started many years ago (with "há" you do not need "atrás"; "há muitos anos atrás" doubles up)
numa empresa que queria uma pessoa inglesa ou americana — at a company that wanted an English or American person
eu comecei depois que o Muro de Berlim caiu, e eu estava lá nessa noite — I started after the Berlin Wall fell, and I was there that night
anos mais tarde eu tinha cem alunos — years later I had a hundred students
🏫 Swanage, Harrow House, and a lovely connection
existia o Harrow House — Harrow House used to exist (it's gone now)
os alunos aprendiam também no prédio do Swanage School — students also learned in the Swanage School building
cliffs = penhascos — cliffs
há cinco anos eu tinha alunos na escola, mas hoje em dia não — five years ago I had students at the school, but not these days
Worth savoring: Alexia studied English in Rio at a school called Britânia and chose to spend a month abroad at Harrow House in Swanage. You ran the place she learned in. Small world.
🎓 From Ipswich to Brighton
eu nasci em Ipswich, uma cidade ao norte de Londres — I was born in Ipswich, a city north of London
fiz faculdade em Londres — I did university in London
o segundo ano de faculdade foi em Berlim — my second year of university was in Berlin
eu amei Berlim e fiquei lá — I loved Berlin and stayed
eu tive a possibilidade de escolher onde queria morar — I had the chance to choose where I wanted to live
Brighton é uma cidade única e diversificada — Brighton is a unique and diverse city (example you gave: the Gay Pride march)
Berlim e Brighton têm uma vibe similar — Berlin and Brighton have a similar vibe
🇧🇷 Learning Portuguese and your Rio trip
eu aprendi português por seis semanas online e no último mês eu fui para o Rio só por dez dias — I studied Portuguese online for six weeks and last month I went to Rio for just ten days
no começo foi horrível, era difícil de concentração — at first it was horrible, hard to concentrate
o francês é uma vantagem grande — French is a big advantage (vantagem = advantage)
hoje em dia eu já consigo escutar os sons típicos — these days I can already hear the typical sounds (escutar = to hear/listen)
na semana passada eu estava na praia, escutei um grupo de brasileiros e soube imediatamente — last week I was at the beach, heard a group of Brazilians, and knew right away (soube = past of saber)
o Brasil está na moda, e eu acho que sempre esteve — Brazil is in fashion, and I think it always has been (na moda = in fashion)
as pessoas britânicas querem ser mais leves — British people want to be lighter (leves = lighter)
é mais fácil esconder o sotaque — it's easier to hide the accent (esconder = to hide)
eu preciso escrever para absorver — I need to write in order to absorb (caneta = pen, lápis = pencil)
🚗 Narrow streets: Rio and Foz Velha
os motoristas não queriam passar — the drivers didn't want to come through
não era perigoso, a rua era muito estreita — it wasn't dangerous, the street was very narrow (estreita = narrow)
na Foz Velha você tem que fechar o retrovisor para passar — in Foz Velha you have to fold in your mirror to get through (retrovisor = rearview mirror)
🏛️ Brasília and Brazil's school system
eu fui para Brasília por dois dias para uma conferência — I went to Brasília for two days for a conference
antes de ir, eu fiz um curso intensivo — before going, I did an intensive course
eu sabia que ia encontrar pessoas de Estados diferentes do Brasil — I knew I'd meet people from different Brazilian states
o meu professor me apresentou a muitas pessoas — my teacher introduced me to many people (apresentar = to introduce)
eu queria escutar o sotaque de Minas, o sotaque de São Paulo — I wanted to hear the Minas accent, the São Paulo accent
como foram os anos de escola no seu Estado? — what were your school years like in your state?
eu queria saber sobre o sistema público, mas a maioria estudou em escola particular — I wanted to know about the public system, but most had studied at private school (escola particular = private school; direito = law)
as secretarias dizem que o inglês é importante, mas no ENEM são só cinco perguntas de inglês — the education boards say English matters, but the ENEM has only five English questions
📚 Recommendations for homework
1. Practice speaking in blocks
Pick three or four full phrases from this page (for example "que queriam ir para o estrangeiro" or "eu tive a possibilidade de escolher onde queria morar") and say them out loud as single units until they feel automatic. Resist building sentences word by word. This is the direct path to the faster, more fluid speech you're after.
2. Shadow the podcast
You already listen, so make it active: play a short stretch, pause, and repeat the whole phrase out loud, copying the rhythm and the sounds we worked on (the nasal M, the carioca R). Five minutes a day beats one long session.
3. Tailored materials coming on WhatsApp
We'll send you specific episodes and a reading recommendation matched to what you love: coaching, Deep Work, Tiny Experiments, education, and good book conversation. We'll keep the small talk low-stakes too, since you mentioned that's the hard part in any language.
Want more homework or have any questions? Message us on WhatsApp anytime.