Portuguese does have “porém”, I wonder if that’s cognate to “pero”.
CIPLE Master were able to completely tailor a course to fit our (family of four) totally different time requirements. Altogether we essentially have only 2 hours per week when we could all do an online class at the same time and it had to be a late weekday evening afterwork UK time as we did not want to disrupt our weekends. It will be just the four of us in the classes. I thought it would cost even more than their already high prices, however they offered us the same price as we’d pay for their regular classes and they even offered us a discount.
We start in January so I will be able to report back as to the quality of teaching once we get going. But overall the lady I dealt with by email was extremely helpful, replying quickly to all my messages and very helpful with regards to customising the class scheduling around our needs. We will also be able to arrange makeup classes on an as needed basis, in the event anyone has to miss a class from time to time.
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Sounds great, and both the provider and your lawyer confirmed their course certificate is accepted by IRN?
Yes … it’s a PLA course … they sent me an example of the certificate you get at the end …
PLA certificate example.jpg.pdf (224.3 KB)
Also my lawyer … in a one line virtually one word answer - I get she’s busy - also confirmed that the course and certificate would be suitable for citizenship - in fact I have just re-read our emails email and she confirmed that she has made successful citizenship applications with the CIPLE Master certificate.
Screenshots from the CIPLE Master website -
And here are their FAQs with more course information at the bottom of this page -
CIPLE Courses - CipleMaster…_gaMTMxMzQ5OTg1Ny4xNzM0MDAxMTAw*_ga_BBEVRQHFX1*MTczNDAwMTA5OS4xLjEuMTczNDAwMTI5My4wLjAuMA…
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So you’re doing 2 hours per week at a time of your choosing? Do you mind if I ask what the cost per person is please?
Thanks
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Apart from CIPLEmaster, are there any PLA courses that are on weekends only?
Can EdPro do weekends only?
There wasn’t such an option when I did mine a few months ago. The Ed Pro course is meant to be an intensive course, and if it were weekend only, it would take almost a year to complete. Also, the course provider would have to find an instructor who would be willing to give up their entire weekend for almost a year, which I would imagine is a rarity.
we are at LUSA, taking the 150 hour course. We have been advised that it meets the SIGO certificate requirements by LUSA and verified by our attorney. You should verify everything yourself to be sure. The only way we will know with 100% certainty is when we submit the certificate.
Сan anyone advise some relevant online test, similar to CIPLE, to make a rough check of the current level?
I am somewhere between B1 and B2 in Spanish, which is my 5th foreign language, and the short tests of Portuguese I did online (which were just for reading/understanding part though) are showing B1/B2 too… Considering this, I wanted to run through A2-level textbook briefly, spend some hours listening to the exercises for the textbook and then podcasts, and then try to pass CIPLE exam in May, maybe having some 8-10 hours with private tutor prior to that.
My citizenship application won’t happen before mid-2026, so even if I fail in the first attempt, I will still have time to do the exam again. Looks like a low-cost option anyway…
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Apologies if I somehow lost this in the thread- I see everything you did and I thank you for these great suggestions (LUSA, the podcasts and app etc)-
But: how did you do on the CIPLE? 
Nevermind- I found above where you passed. Cheers and Happy Holidays 
Not necessarily, anyone who registers for a course with SIGO credentials should receive a SIGO platform activation email with the activation code. Not a mandatory option to register but it is advised to keep the SIGO account active and verify every qualification earned within PT territory.
thank you for this important detail.
Where did you find the short tests online to check your level?
I’d suggest booking one session with a tutor who specialises in CIPLE to check your level.
The dates for A2 exams in 2025 are now on the CAPLE website, although it looks like registrations are not open yet (at least when I tried to sign up for one outside Portugal)
I need to ask as I live in California. Where do you live that this is after work? If that was the case, it would be done versus getting up at 5AM so that I can go to work after the class.
Hi @AlamoMustang , I am based in the UK, which meant that I was in the same timezone as Lisbon. The classes would start at 6pm and end at 9.40pm local time, with a 30 mins break for dinner. Technically the class times were 6-10pm, but because a majority of the class were committed to learning, we got through the materials much quicker (according to our instructor), hence she would frequently bring the class to an end by 9:30/9:40pm.
We did have one person who was joining from PST, but she seemed to be a college student (and the timing of the class was over her summer holiday I would imagine).
We are taking the 7pm-10 pm class, which is 11 am-2 pm here in California.
9am-1pm would be 5pm-9pm, 2 pm-6 pm would be 6 am-10 am. As far as I know, those are the timeslots offered every class term .
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In case anybody needs more information about the Edpro course: I finished it in October '24 and thought it was easy. I did it online which, personally, I don’t think is ideal, but I was outside the country and was my only option. There were 19 students (a lot) so I listened to a lot of bad pronunciation. The teacher worked hard and cleared up some esoteric questions I had. But she hadn’t enough time to correct all the mistakes. There were no tests! Students would write essays or dialogues and complete exercises. Attempts to “illegally” use computer translators were often caught by their Brazilian Portuguese. Most students were there for the certificate. At 750 euros I wanted to learn, too. Some funny moments were when students were watching TV, not realizing their mikes weren’t muted. Haha I think everybody but maybe 1 passed.
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I passed the CIPLE less than one point short of “Bom”
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