English:  Celisa Canto is a world class, native teacher who lives on the magical island of Florianopolis, Brazil. I recently took weekly Portuguese classes from her while I explored all that Florianopolis has to offer. I looked forward to my classes each week because they were fun and challenging.  Celisa’s flat is a comfortable place to learn and Celisa makes you feel at home there. The main reason I highly recommend Celisa is that she develops the curriculum around you. She doesn’t try to fit you into a pre-determined plan. Only the best language teachers can do this. What you get are lessons tailor-made for you, your interests and your language goals. Because I love live music, she took me to several local concerts. Celisa is patient and enthusiastic in class and loves to share her knowledge of Brazilian history and culture as it relates to the language. Over the course of my studies with Celisa I learned to speak, read and write Portuguese in the present, past and future tenses. That’s really all I needed to talk with friends, shopkeepers and Brazilians I met on my travels. Brazilians are very friendly and being able to converse with them made my travels around Florianopolis easier and more enjoyable. Florianopolis is a 55 kilometer long Island off the southern coast of Brazil. It has a mild climate which is great for surfing and boating off its 42 famous beaches. Celisa lives in the district of Lagoa da Conceição which is centrally located near a beautiful lagoon and affords easy access to the rest of the island. The district is full of great bars and restaurants. My favorite beach on Florianopolis is Matadeiro Beach. It can only be reached by hiking along the shore from the district of Armação. The surfing is great and the sense of isolation contributes to the overall magic of the place. The food on the island is delicious. Restaurants range from raw oyster bars on the beach to Brazilian steakhouses in the downtown area. My favorite restaurant is The Meat Shop where Chef Beth serves up homemade sausages and juicy picanha, a beef filet that Brazilians adore. The national drink, the caipirinha, has also become my favorite go-to drink. It is refreshing mixture of cane alcohol, sugar and fresh limes. If I drink more than one, I usually end up dancing with strangers, not that that’s a bad idea. You, too, can experience life on the chill island of Florianopolis and learn Portuguese at the same time from Celisa Canto. Seriously, I can’t imagine a better way to do it!