Amanda Alves

After years of false starts learning Portuguese, Amanda has been a godsend. Like many people looking to learn Brazilian Portuguese in the United States, I came with a significant background in Spanish. As a tutor of both Spanish and Portuguese, Amanda has been a wonderful resource in helping me separate out and improve both languages so that they're no longer just "portunhol" in my head. Lessons have involved a mix of conversations, exercises, and a number of excellent readings. That's been a major highlight. I majored in literature as an undergrad and got an MA, so it's safe to say it's something I love. Amanda has brought in consistently interesting and conversation worthy essays and works of fiction that address important facets of Brazilian culture. Finally, I'll say that I'm a queer and trans person. Finding a tutor who feels comfortable to work with can be difficult. Amanda has made me feel more than comfortable and been consistently supportive.

Amanda has created a free ebook that's a wonderful tool to help her students learn Portuguese. I highly recommend it, and I use it as a reference to help me remember those foundational parts of how to speak Portuguese.

This is now my second lesson with Amanda..... and I am equally pleased. I've had almost 2,000 hour long lessons on iTalki, so I think I can judge pretty well. Amanda is definitely the "cream of the crop!" Amanda is quite smart, yet without arrogance. She understands the educational process without being didactic about it. She is wonderful when it comes to sharing as well as listening. As she mentioned, she loves stories, and I love her stories. Today, I gave Amanda more background on my family and she shared stories about her family. I loved the photos she shared of her travels in Latin America. I'm hoping to here more about her home town of Maceió and that region of Brazil. Amanda is really quite remarkable (see my prior review). Amanda, thanks for being "a mentsch." That's a Yiddish term for a person who has real character, who independent of level of intelligence, is a truly decent, goodhearted person. See you very soon for both Portuguese and Spanish lessons.

I had so much fun with Amanda! Given that I know a little bit of Spanish, she is teaching me through the differences between Spanish and Portuguese. I appreciate the opportunity to expand with both languages,, especially given that I am around many trilingual+ people.

She is an wonderful teacher.

Amanda is a wonderful Portuguese teacher and has really helped me to be excited about my language learning journey.