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I have worked as an english teacher for quite some time in Brazil and would like to use this opportunity to address the specific problems that I have encountered with Brazilian EFL speakers which I find relatively unique to the country of Brazil versus the other places I have taught. Firstly, I have observed a specific pronunciation requirement that presents Brazilian EFL speakers a big problem. This requirement is the pronunciation of the letter combination 'th' specifically the hard pronunciation at the beginning of words such as 'thought' and 'think'. The logical reason that this sound is a difficult sound is that in the native language of the Brazilian people (Portuguese.) this sound does not exist . This requires a lot of practice to make this sound in the first place, since the muscles in the tongue must learn and build to gain comfortability with jutting the tongue suddenly forward and then back. But it is not only the logical and physical movement of the tongue that cause difficulty. I find that the phycology involved in the movement of sticking your tongue almost out of your mouth, presents a societal awkwardness that many Brazilians do not feel comfortable with. Therefore teaching this sound to Brazilian EFL speakers is as much about building their confidence with the odd appearance of the sound as it is about the physical execution of the movements of the mouth. Next I would like to address the way Brazilian EFL speakers have a tendency to use the word 'make' more liberally than a native english speaker would. To a native english speaker the word make usually refers to the crafting or creating of something. For example we would say " We will make a pie." we would not say "We will make work", whereas to a Brazilian EFL speaker this phrase would be seen as very normal as that is how it directly translates from their native language. Therefore I have found that while with some EFL speakers if you spend time explaining the concept of when we use make, they will often be able to guess where to use it, however with Brazilian EFL speakers specifically I find more time is required for specific memorisation of the instances where it is appropriate to use 'make'. Lastly I would like to address a problem that in my opinion the biggest problem facing Brazilian EFL speakers Which is the problem of vowel pronunciation. In the Portuguese language you by default pronounce nearly every vowel that you see! This holds in stark contrast to the english language in which many of our vowels hold onto their silence. Because of this difference many words which end in a silent letter like 'e' are very difficult for a Brazilian EFL speaker to pronounce without extensive practice. Often times words like 'make' will be pronounced as 'make-e'. This can be a big hurdle to overcome for Brazilian EFL speakers. These are the big differences and problems I have seen and experienced when teaching EFL students who originate from Brazil. In my experience and opinion the best way to overcome these difficulties through practice and persistence, which is similar to many other EFL student difficulties!
