How to help a child with no Portuguese: PLNM and settling in at school
A guide for parents whose child is starting at a Portuguese school without the language or is still struggling with school vocabulary. You will learn how to request PLNM in writing, check the timetable and level, arrange extra support and plan ahead for exams.
Tell the school your child needs language support
When enrolling through the Portal das Matrículas (school enrolment portal), state that your child’s first language is not Portuguese and how long they have studied it. Once a place has been allocated, write a separate letter to the school asking for your child to be assessed for Português Língua Não Materna — PLNM (Portuguese as a non-native language). It is better not to rely on a conversation alone.
Contact the Professor Titular (class teacher) at primary school or the Diretor de Turma (form tutor) from the second cycle on, and also the Direção do Agrupamento de Escolas (management of the school cluster). Ask them to confirm they have received the request and to name the person responsible for PLNM.
“They tested us before year 1 and said the level was native, no extra lessons needed (there’s no plnm at the private school). Now it’s year 2 — no problems, I wonder how it will go from here.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal02.10.2025
“My daughter started year 3 here. And despite the tutor and some basics she already had, at school they started from A1, if not A0. In 1.5 years they got to B1”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal05.02.2026
Have the school assess your child’s language level
The school should draw up a language profile and decide your child’s level. It usually goes by the Common European Framework: A1 and A2 are the beginner level, B1 intermediate. The formal decision is made by the school based on the assessment, not just on what parents or a tutor say.
Under the model in Decreto-Lei n.º 55/2018 (the decree on the school curriculum), pupils at levels A1–B1 can study PLNM instead of the subject Português (Portuguese). At a higher level a child is usually moved to the general Portuguese programme, keeping extra support if needed. Ask for a copy of the result, or at least a written message stating the level set.
“I only found out about my son when I asked the form teacher when to expect his PLNM marks. She just wrote to me that he’d simply carry on with regular Portuguese and was already taking tests with all his classmates (this was in the second cycle). He doesn’t go to PLNM. My daughter, on the other hand, told me at the end of one year that she and a classmate had been given a B1 test and had written it. After that, based on the results, they were moved to regular Portuguese the following year (that was the 3rd cycle).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal05.12.2025
“He isn’t assessed, there’s only a mark for plnm. My daughter is in her second year and goes not only to plnm but also to regular Portuguese and does all the work, but in the term marks this year too there’s still only plnm. Regular Portuguese is the teacher’s initiative, because she can see my daughter can already cope.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal05.02.2026
Find out how PLNM fits into the timetable
Ask how many lessons there will be a week, whether they replace ordinary Portuguese or come on top of it, and whether they clash with maths and other subjects. In practice every arrangement turns up: separate groups by level, one lesson a week, intensive lessons or PLNM during other lessons.
If your child is taken out of main subjects, agree straight away where to get the materials and how to catch up on missed work. Keep an eye on faltas (absences): missing a main lesson because of a badly planned timetable should not quietly turn into a problem with assessment.
“for the link! I’ll share our experience since the topic is so hot. The child does PLNM at a state school, at the moment outside standard lessons (nobody takes them out of regular subjects, as happened in the first year). As a result, last year they got the only certificate in the class for Concurso de Leitura 25, fase escolar. This year we again found ourselves on the PLNM lists, were given a QR code for the textbook, we got it, and the teacher said it wasn’t needed. Through face-to-face talks at the agrupamento they resent us a code for the regular Portuguese textbook. What they study in the lessons — no idea. I can find out.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal02.10.2025
“Escola Camões. There’s apoio in all subjects, but they can overlap. PLNM went wrong for us, for some reason they didn’t see the note in the matrícula that we needed it, so in the end there’s none in our class timetable, my son goes with some year 12 pupils, because most PLNM lessons clash with the main timetable. But on the whole we’re happy with the school.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal09.02.2025
Get the PLNM textbook or materials
Ask the teacher whether a separate PLNM textbook is needed: some schools work from printouts. If the school has chosen a textbook, the voucher may appear in the MEGA system — Manuais Escolares Gratuitos (free school textbooks) — later than the vouchers for main subjects.
If there is no voucher, write to the person responsible for textbooks at the Agrupamento de Escolas (school cluster). Do not rush to buy the book yourself: first check the author, publisher and level, and whether the teacher will actually use it. Workbooks and other consumables are not always covered by free vouchers.
“I emailed the agrupamento and they replied by sending vouchers for the main books (I didn’t have a finanças password then either).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal17.08.2026
“last year we bought the PLNM textbook. because the school was ‘dragging its feet’ with these vouchers for ages, the teacher asked us to buy these textbooks if we could afford it. this year the eldest got her textbooks ‘in batches’. in mid-August 5 vouchers came for ‘collect at school’. then another 5 or so — new ones at school and at the publisher. and 4 vouchers were blocked — we had to go to the person in charge of vouchers when he came back from holiday — and there was a queue for him. he pressed a button — and the next day the vouchers for the new textbooks arrived.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal11.09.2024
Add language support outside school if needed
PLNM is not equally intensive everywhere: the group may be large, and the children at different levels. After a few weeks, judge whether your child understands instructions, can ask for help and can do the work. If progress is not enough, add a tutor, lessons in a small group or regular practice at home.
Pay particular attention to teenagers and pupils in the upper years: they have to master the language and a demanding subject programme at the same time. But not everyone needs a tutor — younger children after a Portuguese nursery and sociable primary school children often settle in without one.
“We had a positive experience with a state school too. We arrived last September, at the end of October my daughters went to a state school with zero knowledge of the language, years 2 and 6. Now they both chatter away in Portuguese. Both have PLNM at their schools, plus two hours with a tutor a week.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal14.08.2026
“I agree with the comment above about the tutor, although ‘understanding half’ in the upper years is optimistic))) We arrived last summer, the children were 9 and 12, I had exactly the same thoughts about the environment and the language, and they went to a camp too — it didn’t help with the language at all, if anything it had the opposite effect. Before the camp they’d done a bit with a tutor in spring and hoped they knew something, but in practice it was harder than expected. Neither the leaders nor the children really bothered my kids, they were sort of on their own there.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal29.06.2025
Help your child join in school life
In the first months it is not only marks that matter. Ask the teacher to give your child a classmate as a buddy, to explain the canteen and break-time rules in advance, and to show them the toilets, the library and where to meet after lessons. Find a club where contact is built around a clear activity — sport, music, drama or art.
Keep in touch with the Diretor de Turma (form tutor), and if there is anxiety, isolation or refusal to go to school, contact the Serviço de Psicologia e Orientação — SPO (school psychology service). The first year is often the hardest psychologically, especially for teenagers and children who find it difficult to start conversations themselves.
“A lot depends on attitude, including the family’s. We moved with two almost-teenagers who had started learning the language in advance. In the first year both went to school in Amadora and nobody picked on them there😁👍, they’re still friends and in touch! The elder one has already moved to another school after year 7. PLNM lessons help, but from personal experience you need a tutor. Psychologically the first year is the hardest for settling in, but in the end everything’s great!”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal02.09.2025
Check school language, not just everyday speech
A child can chat freely at break and still misunderstand a maths problem, a textbook passage or an instruction to write a full answer. Every few weeks, ask teachers separately about reading, writing, vocabulary and understanding the wording in maths, science and Estudo do Meio (social and environmental studies).
If your child struggles after moving to general Portuguese, request Apoio Educativo (learning support) or other help available at the school in writing. It depends on the school’s resources and is not assigned automatically. It helps to ask teachers to tell apart not knowing the subject and a child who understood the topic but not the wording.
“my daughter started school here in year 2 She already understood a lot in the first month, was slowly speaking too, there were no problems with the language, but it’s worth saying that she’s sociable, always in contact with the children and teachers (it’ll be harder for an introvert) Now in year 5 her level of the language is like her classmates’, only some hard grammar topics, which are tough for natives too, she goes over with a tutor in addition to school”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal25.03.2026
Keep an eye on the move from PLNM to ordinary Portuguese
The level can be reviewed during the school year. Before a move, ask for the assessment results, the date of the change and an explanation of how marks will now be given. Schools do not always use the labels precisely: formally B1 belongs to the intermediate level of PLNM, so the phrase «passed B1 — must leave» needs checking: what level was your child actually given, and on what basis was the decision made.
Do not count on a universal rule that «PLNM is given for exactly three years». How long it lasts depends on the level set, the school’s decision and the specific support rules. If the school refuses without an assessment or fails to arrange lessons for months, first write to its management, then to the Agência para a Gestão do Sistema Educativo, I. P. — AGSE (the agency for managing the education system). Older guides may send you to DGEstE, but after the reorganisation of the system that name may no longer apply.
“The school told me that after a pupil passes the B1 exam, they’re moved to regular Portuguese with everyone else. They have no grounds to teach them under PLNM if B1 has been passed.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal05.12.2025
Check PLNM against exams and university admission in advance
In year 9 the type of exam depends on the subject and level your child is officially registered for: it may be Português (Portuguese) or the corresponding PLNM exam. Before the exam year, ask the school to confirm in writing the subject, level and exam code under the current calendar of the Instituto de Educação, Qualidade e Avaliação (the institute for assessing the quality of education).
In upper secondary school, check the requirements of the future degree course. A PLNM exam may count for the school leaving assessment, but it does not replace the national Português (Portuguese) exam if the university requires exactly that as a prova de ingresso (entrance exam). Check the current requirements with the Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior — DGES (Directorate-General for Higher Education) and the chosen university before switching programmes.
“he didn’t start in February, he started in December in year 12 of the artes visuais course at the António Sérgio secundária in Gaia. And there was very intensive PLNM there last year (5 days a week). At first they weren’t going to let him sit the final exams, but then they changed their minds. In the end he passed PLNM, History of Culture and Arts, and Drawing. And got a Portuguese school certificate.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal16.01.2026
“Yes, they discussed it at the meeting yesterday. And my son, who’s being moved up from B1, wasn’t allowed to take PLNM( they gave him a ‘summer reading list’. He’ll have to take regular Portuguese”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal14.02.2025
What it costs, according to community conversations
| 5 textbooks without PLNM | €130 for a set of five textbooks in September 2024; the PLNM textbook was not included in this sum | source |
| lessons, child aged 5½ | €55 a month for lessons three times a week entirely in Portuguese, May 2024 | source |
What to bring
- your child’s identity document and confirmation of enrolment at the school
- reports and a transcript of marks from the previous school
- the decision on equivalência de habilitações (recognition of school years completed), if you already have it
- a short note: first language, date of arrival and how long your child has studied Portuguese
- a written request for a PLNM assessment
- the result of the language assessment and the decision on the level assigned
- the PLNM timetable and the contact details of the teacher in charge
- a MEGA voucher (the free textbook scheme), if the school needs a separate textbook
Where people most often trip up
- PLNM is not added automatically: it is better to make the request in writing.
- The school may not have a teacher or a group at the right level when lessons start.
- PLNM is sometimes timetabled at the same time as maths and other compulsory subjects.
- Speaking fluently does not mean your child understands textbooks and the wording of problems.
- Children with very different language levels may be in the same group.
- The school may move your child to general Portuguese without explaining the results in detail.
- The voucher for the PLNM textbook sometimes comes later than the others, or not at all unless you contact the school.
- A PLNM exam is not always accepted as an entrance exam by the chosen university.
- After the move to ordinary Portuguese, extra support is not assigned automatically.
- Portuguese can quickly push out the home language: reading and talking in Russian will need keeping up too.
How it went for people
Three years to master the language fully
A daughter started at a Portuguese school at 6, in year 1, and was fully at home with the language in her third year. In the first year the teacher translated the work, but there was almost no understanding; at the end of the year they took on a tutor. In year 2 she worked with the tutor all year and went to PLNM once a week, after which things got much better. In year 3 she gave up the tutor, joined a drama club in Portuguese and now reads fluently in both languages.
PLNM got in one child’s way and helped another
In year 2 a child was taken out of main lessons for PLNM, but sat the social and environmental studies tests on the same terms as everyone else. The parents had to go over at home the material the class had covered while he was out. From the next year he was taken off PLNM, and it did him good; the private school offered paid language lessons after school. His sister in year 6 was kept on PLNM, and her tests are adapted for her as a foreign pupil.
Marks went up after PLNM lessons
In year 3 a child got a 3 in Portuguese for the first term and had extra PLNM lessons. The other marks were also mostly 3–4 at first, because the child did not understand the work. By the end of the school year the marks had risen to 4–5, after which the extra Portuguese lessons were stopped.
A tutor achieved what PLNM did not
A son was moving to a Portuguese school from a Russian online school; the family decided not to try to keep up with both programmes at once — the workload would have been impossible. The first thing they did was find a Portuguese tutor, who helped not only with the language but also with subject terminology and the finer points of communication. Their hopes for PLNM (Portuguese as a non-native language) lessons were not met: according to the son, without the tutor he would have understood almost nothing, and PLNM worked more as revision of what he had already covered. In the first half-year his results dipped because of the language, then gradually recovered.
PLNM almost every day in year 3, no Portuguese teacher in year 7
In year 3 the PLNM (Portuguese as a non-native language) teacher works with the child almost every day, brings lots of materials and small presents, and the class teacher explains and translates as well. In year 7 another child had no Portuguese teacher for almost the whole year — other state schools in the town have the same problem — but PLNM was taught by two teachers at once: one for grammar, the other for speaking practice. The approach to learning is unfamiliar: nobody chases anyone for homework, there are few marks in the register, so each test weighs heavily in the final mark, and there are no resits. Another difficulty is the ban on using a phone for translation.
Taught in Portuguese since year 1 — and lost track at secondary school
A child had been at a Portuguese school from the very start, but at secondary school began to have trouble understanding. The parents were surprised: he speaks, reads and understands Portuguese, but the tests showed that a maths problem was easy to misunderstand purely because of the language. Retelling and describing are harder: facts, yes, but coherently and in lively language, no. In year 4 he was moved from PLNM (Portuguese as a non-native language) to ordinary Portuguese lessons, and in his mother’s view that was a mistake.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.