Olá, pessoal! Hello, everyone! Como está o janeiro de vocês? How is your January going?

Last post we took a look back at the year 2018 with a retrospective. But how about we focus on the future now and discuss your Portuguese learning aims for 2019? Today I thought it could be a good idea to start by reflecting on some of the most common language learning goals and combine them with a compilation of useful tips and recommendations to help you all achieve what you want!

É hora de aprender! It is time to learn!

Melhore suas habilidades de leitura | Improve your reading skills

1) Leia as notícias | Read the news

Keeping up-to-date with what is going on in a country whose language you are studying is crucial. In addition to that, you can practice your reading abilities and increase your vocabulary while doing so. Make sure to always fazer anotações (take notes) when you come across relevant palavras (words). Here are two of Brazil’s top jornais (newspapers) and revistas (magazines). You are allowed to read a certain number of artigos (articles) free of charge:

• O Globo: https://oglobo.globo.com/
• Folha de São Paulo: https://www.folha.uol.com.br/
• Revista Veja: https://veja.abril.com.br/

2) Leia um livro | Read a book

How many times have we included “read more books” on our New Year’s Resolution list? Well, now there is extra motivation: why not trying to read a novel (or any other genre, for that matter) in Portuguese? Landmark and Autêntica Publishing company have a wide-ranging catalogue of literature classics in bilingual editions so you can compare both languages. It is possible to either purchase them online or download it to your kindle, if you prefer it:

• Landmark: http://www.editoralandmark.com.br/catalogo.php
• Autêntica: https://grupoautentica.com.br/autentica/livros

3) Leia tirinhas | Read comic strips

A while ago, families would fight over the comic strips section of the newspapers. Nowaways you don’t have to fight anymore, and you can even work on your reading skills while having a laugh. Take a look at some popular Brazilian comic strips below and follow them on social media to have their work daily on your feed. You won’t even notice you are aprendendo (learning)!

• Allan Sieber: http://www2.uol.com.br/allansieber/quadrinhos.htm
• Laerte: http://www2.uol.com.br/laerte/
• Adão Iturrusgarai: http://adao-tiras.blog.uol.com.br/
• Depósito de Tirinhas: https://deposito-de-tirinhas.tumblr.com/

Melhore suas habilidades de escuta | Improve your listening skills

1) Ouça Podcasts | Listen to Podcasts

Walking or driving around can be a lot more productive if you load up your device with some interesting, attention-grabbing podcasts in Portuguese to escutar (listen to) while you do your tasks. So here is a list with some of the best rated Brazilian podcasts, with a variety of temas (themes) and conteúdo (content), such as journalism, news, science and curiosities:

• Café da Manhã: https://open.spotify.com/show/6WRTzGhq3uFxMrxHrHh1lo
• Mamilos: https://www.b9.com.br/podcasts/mamilos/
• Nahorodo: https://soundcloud.com/naruhodopodcast
• Xadrez Verbal: https://xadrezverbal.com/category/audio/podcast-do-xadrez-verbal/

I hope this little guide may help you all to estudar mais e melhor (study more and better) for this year to come! Did you know of follow any of these páginas (pages) before? Stay tuned for more tips and advice on next week’s post! Boa semana! Great week!