Meet the Instructors
Marcelo Jarmendia
Marcelo was born in Bauru, a small town in Sao Paulo State, but soon moved with his family to the state capital city of Sao Paulo at the age of two.
Raised as a “Paulistano”, Marcelo lived there until his graduation from high-school, when he left for Florida where he spent a year studying English as second language.
Back in Brazil, Marcelo was admitted into the University of Sao Paulo where he later majored in “Social Sciences”- a combination of Sociology, Anthropology and Political Science. That same year, he started teaching Spanish at a number of businesses in Sao Paulo. Two years later he started teaching Portuguese to Spanish speakers, mostly professionals temporally located in Sao Paulo.
Five years later, still teaching languages but now holding a college degree, Marcelo decided to return to the United States, this time choosing Chicago. Here he has been teaching languages since the third week of his arrival. In addition to his private students, Marcelo has also worked with the Spanish Language Center and the Brazilian Cultural Center prior to starting organizing his own group classes in August, 2006.
Testimonials
Marcelo is simply a great teacher. He has the ability to roll with the conversational punches changing topics in midstream as the student’s interest veers off in another direction. Not only is he a great teacher in conversation, but he also has profound knowledge of grammatical, phonological, dialectal and idiomatic issues in Portuguese, as well, and I say this as a professional linguist.
-Dr. Jeff Dreyfuss, PhD, Michigan 1981
Learn more about Dr. Jeff Dreyfuss successful story doing business in Brazil on an article from Crain’s Chicago Business
I am learning Brazilian Portuguese from the comfort of my own home through the use of video conferencing with Marcelo Jarmendia who is an outstanding instructor that I highly recommend. Marcelo has an excellent command of the English language. Marcelo’s language program covers all aspects of Brazilian Portuguese including reading, writing, speaking, listening and colloquial speech.
-Darryl Howard
Contact Marcelo: jarmendia@brazilinchicago.com
Patrícia Oliveira
Patrícia Oliveira was raised and born in the city of São Paulo. After graduating in Social Communication, she went to South Africa. There she was a student and a voluteer At Care (NGO), where she was responsible for helping the communication between the immigrants from Mozambique and Angola (Portuguese speakers) face to face at the illegal immigration section. Patricia also have plenty of experience in the social communication field, working for more than six years at the Executive Search division at Roland Berger & Partners, a German company specialized in human resources and strategy, located in São Paulo, Brazil.
Contact Patrícia: patricia@brazilinchicago.com
Marco Lucarelli
Marco Lucarelli is a native of São Paulo, Brazil where he resided until the age of 21. He holds a BA in Modern Languages and International Studies from Knox College (Galesburg, IL) and has been teaching a variety of foreign languages for the past 14 years in Brazil, France, and the US. He specializes in Romance Languages such as Italian, French, and Spanish, in addition to Brazilian Portuguese, his native language. Marco is also very active as a translator and interpreter and has obtained a diploma from the Université de Nancy in France. Through his expert knowledge of the Portuguese language and his personal commitment to students, Marco engages his classes, transferring his love for the language and culture of his country in the process. His patience, dedication, and modern methodology are among his greatest assets as an instructor. In his own words “When you study Portuguese you not only gain the knowledge of a new language; but also transport yourself into a different culture. Brazilian Portuguese is charged with the vibrations, harmonies, and flavors that characterize Brazil. Come join us in this journey!”
Contact Marco: marco@brazilinchicago.com
Maristela Lutz Bastarrica
Maristela is from Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil. She has been working as a teacher since 1999, when she graduated in Languages. Besides teaching Portuguese to foreign students, she also teaches Literature and English. Her interest for languages made her enroll in the Master’s Program in Linguistics at UFRGS (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul). She moved to Chicago in July 2007 and is currently writing her thesis on “Linguistics Borrowings”. She is also waiting for acceptance from UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago), where she plans to start another Master’s in Applied Linguistics.
Contact Maristela: maristela@brazilinchicago.com
Casa de Cultura Brasileira
The “Casa” is located at 1022 W. Argyle Street, Suite 202 – in the heart of Little Vietnam, and its mission goes beyond that of a language school. We are constantly in touch with Brazilians working with different aspects of Brazilian culture and are scheduling a number of presentations, workshops, lectures and shows on music, dance, culinary, religion and much more.
Casa de Cultura Brasileira first opened its doors in January 2007 and is proud to announce that by the end of that same month we had eight groups, ranging from a beginner course to conversation classes.
Soon Casa will be also an open space for everyone interested in Brazilian culture. There will be a library with books and videos; live Brazilian TV and, of course, “cafezinho” for our visitors and students.
Please join our mailing list so that we can keep you updated on all the activities going on at Casa de Cultura Brasileira.
See the classroom
Testimonial
Marcelo is simply a great teacher. He has the ability to roll with the conversational punches…”
-Dr. Jeff Dreyfuss, PhD (Private student)
“Quero dizer, LEGAL!...It’s amazing how much Portuguese I learned in just two months. Muito obrigado.”
-Jeremy Cadiz
Marcelo’s ability to patiently transmit his knowledge of teaching and learning languages will allow you to securely use your beginning and emerging skills from the first class.
-Maria Eliza Hamilton Bispo de Jesus Abegunde, Poet
