Certification

Every student who completes a course with Lusa Language School will receive a certificate of attendance. In addition to this, we also offer special courses to mentor students for specific proficiency exams, such as CAPLE.

Our Accreditations

Lusa Language School is an officially recognised and accredited language institution. The quality of our Portuguese courses and standard of our teachers has been approved by top training and educational associations, ensuring that you’ll be in safe hands when you study with us.
  • Lusa Language School is certified by the Directorate-General for Employment and Labor Relations (DGERT). This means that our procedures and practices are in accordance with a specific quality benchmark for training;
  • It may be useful to cite the school’s certification from DGERT if you are applying for funding to study at our school, or to list this certification for professional purposes, such as on a CV or a job application, which requires proficiency in the Portuguese language;
  • DGERT is a central direct administration service in Portugal which manages the System of Certification of Training Organisations in Portugal. DGERT supports the design of policies on employment, vocational training and certification and professional relations.
  • Lusa Language School is officially recognised for Bildungsurlaub by Germany’s ministries in most Bundesländer. This recognition guarantees that we can deliver high-quality Portuguese courses for our students and that our courses have been officially checked by German ministries of education and meet professional teaching standards;
  • Bildungsurlaub gives German employees five days of educational leave from work for professional training purposes, including language-learning. Employees who have worked for at least six months at their company can apply to take part in Bildungsurlaub and students can apply for up to five days per year of this educational leave;
  • This stamp of approval means that students from Germany who apply for Bildungsurlaub can choose to study Portuguese at Lusa Language School – gaining new language skills and advancing their professional profile while exploring the world.

Levels and Certificates

We have methods in place for our students to be at the correct course level for their Portuguese abilities prior to the beginning of their course.
  • All students with previous knowledge of Portuguese must undertake the school’s placement test;
  • Since our intensive courses maintain a strong focus on speaking skills, students are also assessed orally, through a short phone or face-to-face conversation;
  • We use this information to help us place students in the correct class level, as well as other information, such as whether the student has fluency in Spanish or Italian.

All students at our school will receive a certificate of attendance once they complete a course with our school:
  • The certificate states the dates of the course, the level(s) taken in accordance with the guidelines set out by the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and the number of hours studied at the school;
  • Students that have a Portuguese fiscal tax number (NIF) can also be issued with a professional training certificate, stating that they have completed a course with an accredited school. This is called a SIGO certificate. In order to receive a SIGO certificate, students must demonstrate their level of proficiency at the end of the course. Attendance alone is not sufficient to be issued a SIGO certificate.

At the end of each module there is a short test which will provide feedback for us and the student, including a recommendation for how the student should continue their studies:
  • Students that score 75% or above on the test will be recommended to proceed to the next level of their Portuguese course;
  • On rare occasions we may recommend that a student retakes a module based on a low score on the test or because of a teacher’s recommendation. We may also suggest that they take additional private classes in order to catch up.

Normally, Portuguese language proficiency is a requirement to obtain nationality. We can also help students enrol in the exam.
  • Exam levels correspond to the CEFR levels and candidates who wish to obtain Portuguese citizenship must possess level A2 or higher in Portuguese;
  • Students take their Portuguese exam at CAPLE (Centro de Avaliação de Português Língua Estrangeira or Centre for Evaluation of Portuguese as a Foreign Language);
  • Aside from residency purposes, the CAPLE certificates are often required for students who need to demonstrate their level of command in the Portuguese language, such as for professional reasons.

Portuguese CAPLE Exams

We can help students prepare for official exams in Portuguese as a Foreign Language, at CAPLE (Centro de Avaliação de Português Língua Estrangeira or Centre for Evaluation of Portuguese as a Foreign Language). We can also help students enrol in the exam. CAPLE issues proficiency certificates in European Portuguese as a Second Language. The certificates are often required for students who need to demonstrate their level of command in the Portuguese language, such as for professional or residency purposes. The exam levels also correspond to the CEFR levels and candidates who wish to obtain Portuguese citizenship must possess level A2 or higher in Portuguese.

CIPLE (A2)

Initial Certificate of
Portuguese as a Foreign Language
The CIPLE exam certifies a basic general ability for interaction in a limited number of predictable communication situations in everyday life. It gives you vocabulary related to work, family, shopping and places and its surroundings.

DEPLE (B1)

Elementary Diploma of
Portuguese as a Foreign Language
Language users are able to interact in a number of everyday communicative situations, at work and during their studies, which require the use of mostly predictable language. They can express their feelings and wishes.

DIPLE (B2)

Intermediate Diploma of
Portuguese as a Foreign Language
Understanding oral and written texts goes beyond mere understanding of factual information. You should be able to distinguish between main and secondary meanings. Users are able to produce different texts of various types.

DAPLE (C1)

Advanced Diploma of
Portuguese as a Foreign Language
Language users should be able to produce and recognise, in all different kinds of texts (oral and written) provided for this level, lexical-syntactic and syntactic-semantic structures of the language with confidence and at ease.

DUPLE (C2)

University Diploma of
Portuguese as a Foreign Language
They are able to expand their active and passive vocabulary as well as deepen the different records of production of oral and written texts. This level allows learners to deepen the cultural component of their Portuguese in their linguistic aspects.

More Information?

Reach us through
our website, phone
or email!
If you have any doubts regarding the levels and certifications, don’t hesitate to contact us through our form which is accessible by clicking this link. You can also call us and we will provide you with all the information needed for you to achieve your desired level.

More Information?

Reach us through
our website, phone
or email!
If you have any doubts regarding the levels and certifications, don’t hesitate to contact us through our form which is accessible by clicking this link. You can also call us and we will provide you with all the information needed for you to achieve your desired level.