ANY QUESTIONS?

1. I am a new student. How do I get started?

Welcome to Boost Brazil! We are proud to have been chosen to guide you in the adventure of speaking Brazilian Portuguese in a natural way, being always oriented by a native and professional instructor.

To get started with lessons, please do the following:

• Register on LOGIN.
• Go the PLANS page and select the plan that better fits your need – Trial, Single, Standard or Premium.
• After you choose your plan, click on the button below of such plan.
• You will be redirected to the SCHEDULE page to book a session. Please open the calendar icon (on the right) and select the better day/time for your FIRST session only. If you chose Standard or Premium Plans, the next sessions will be scheduled later on. You will receive further instructions by email. At this moment, you can’t select all the classes at once. Also, our schedule is considering the time zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Make sure to convert it to your local time, for your control.
• A pop-up will open to confirm your appointment. Follow up the form requests, and click on ‘request appointment’.
• On the CART page, check your shopping cart and click on PROCEED TO CHECKOUT.
• Fill your billing information. Basically, we use this information only to keep your personal records with us. As we use PAYPAL as our third party credit card processor, we don’t store any of your credit card information. If you don’t have a Paypal account, we recommend you to setup one.
• Once your payment is confirmed to us, we will approve the schedule you arranged. This can take up to 1 business day.
• You’re done! You will receive confirmations and further information in the email registered.

2. Can I cancel or reschedule at any time?

You are not allowed to cancel any session on your own. Any cancellations in your schedule will be accepted only if done at least 48 hours before your session. This is necessary because last-minute notices do not allow us to fill the time slot saved for you to another student. Credits on canceled sessions stay active for 30 consecutive days from the original date of the canceled session. After 30 consecutive days, such credits will automatically be forfeited. For cancellations, please send us an email to contact@boostbrazil.com.

Lessons canceled without a 48-hour prior notification will be charged. No-shows will also be charged.

If needed, sessions can be rescheduled in My Account > My Appointments > Change Date button. Have in mind that you may only reschedule a session that is more than 48 hours away from the session’s start time. For all lessons within 48 hours, you can’t any longer cancel or reschedule it, and the lesson will be charged for the reason explained above.

Sessions rescheduled should be in accordance with the Plan you chose. For example, if you are Standard, you should take 1 class per week. If you already have scheduled the other 3 sessions and need to reschedule only one, this will probably be your last session, following your weekly appointments. Maybe you can’t find the same time you scheduled before, which depends on the overall schedule availability. Remember that our schedule is considering the time zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Make sure to convert it to your local time, for your control.

This cancellation/rescheduling policy is valid to all plans.

3. What technology do I need to use?

For the best Boost Brazil experience, we recommend you to download SKYPE or ZOOM software. If you don’t have an account yet, you can set up one – just choose one and run it for FREE >>> DOWNLOAD SKYPE or DOWNLOAD ZOOM. You can use Skype or Zoom on your computer desktop, tablet or phone, and speak Brazilian Portuguese from anywhere with an Internet connection.

We also highly recommend that you use a computer with a microphone and webcam for the best learning experience. Headphones are also recommended.

4. How do I schedule a trial lesson?

Trial lessons are great to see how our session works and also to provide your instructor with details of your main goals, so we can design a customized private session for your next conversation classes. Each person can have a 30 minutes trial once.

See how to book a trial following the instructions of Question 1.

5. How do I purchase lessons?

Please, see Question 1.

6. How do I schedule a lesson?

Please, see Question 1.

7. How do I reschedule my session?

If needed, sessions can be rescheduled in My Account > My Appointments > Change Date button. Have in mind that you may only reschedule a session that is more than 48 hours away from the session’s start time. For all lessons within 48 hours, you can no longer cancel or reschedule it, and the lesson will be charged. Please go to Question 2 and check out our cancellation/reschedule policy.

8. Do purchased plans ever expire?

By default, you will schedule your first session when purchasing your chosen plan. Choose the time/date that better fits your agenda, accordingly to the website schedule availability. If you chose Standard or Premium Plans, the next sessions will be scheduled later on, and you will receive further instructions by email.

So, the first-day session will necessarily be the one scheduled when you purchased a plan. The next sessions should be scheduled up to 30 days from the purchase day.

Please go to Question 2 and check out our cancellation/reschedule policy.

9. How do I pay for my sessions/plans?

We use Paypal as our third party credit card processor, so we don’t need to have your credit card information with us. PayPal is one of the safest and most convenient ways to perform monetary transaction online.

If you don’t have a Paypal account, you can setup one on Paypal website or pay with your credit card inside the Paypal secure server. On Boost Brazil Checkout page, you can click on Proceed to Paypal to access the Paypal payment environment.

To create an account, please go to PAYPAL WEBSITE.

10. Are these the only plans you have?

No, if you have any special needs we can design our sessions for you. For example, if you need intensive classes for Business, Work Presentations, Travel or any other reasons, we can meet your demand, proficiency, and goals.

In many cases, the 4 plans offered are appropriate for the rhythm of people’s life. Based on our experience, taking 1 or 2 sessions per week keeps the learning process in a good pace. If you need more sessions, please send us an email to contact@boostbrazil.com.

11. Do I have to pay a registration fee?

No, there is no registration fee and no charge for class materials used by your instructor during the sessions. You pay only the price of your chosen plan.

12. Are the sessions considering my time zone?

NO, the time shown in the website’s schedule is the local time of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When scheduling your session, you need to convert the time of the chosen session to your local time. For example, if you set 4:00 pm on our calendar and you are in New York, your class will be at 1:00 pm, considering a time zone difference of 3 hours behind from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If you have a smartphone, you can check it easily on the clock settings. You can also click on this TIME ZONE CONVERTER website and compare the time zones between our schedule (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and your local time.

13. How often do I need to practice to speak well?

Everything depends on your commitment and how you deal with too many variables, such as the time you have to attend classes, the contact you have in your daily life with native speakers, the level you wanna achieve based on your goals.

One-on-one private sessions make you focus on exactly what you need – improve your speaking, grow your vocabulary, listening better understanding. Whatever is your goal, combine practice and consistency are the keys to a language learning success.

We recommend starting with at least 1 hour per week, and feel how you are making progress to get fluency.

14. How many lessons do I need to take before my trip to Brazil?

Language learning depends mostly on three factors, the attitude of the learner, the time available, and learner’s attentiveness to the language. So, if you are a beginner and have never had contact with the language, we recommend a minimum of 8-12 hours to learn the basics. Communication in Brazil can be very challenging, and the majority of Brazilian people do not speak any English, especially those with whom you will talk to get information –  attendants of shop/bank/restaurant, taxi/bus drivers, etc. So, if you are coming to Brazil as a tourist it is good to know how to communicate at least in the situations you will need the most.

One thing we guarantee: knowing a little bit Portuguese can make your experience in Brazil much more interesting and enjoyable, and you will be proud of your achievements!