Trevor Pettit

Trevor Pettit’s journey with Portuguese began in 2018 with his mission in Brazil. This experience ignited a passion for Portuguese and shaped his approach to language learning.

During his mission, regular interactions with native speakers provided invaluable real-world practice. After returning home, he actively sought ways to keep Portuguese in his daily life. One of the most impactful experiences was working as an in-field tutor at the Missionary Training Center (MTC), where he taught Portuguese to missionaries. Teaching forced him to move beyond the basics, deepening his understanding of the language. In addition to tutoring, he taught classroom lessons at the MTC and worked on social media content, which helped him expand his vocabulary and grasp more advanced concepts.

Trevor also took a proactive approach to self-study. He made it a habit to narrate his surroundings in Portuguese and looked up unfamiliar words as he encountered them. He took Portuguese classes, read scriptures in Portuguese daily, listened to conference talks, and used social media to reinforce his learning.

He embraced mistakes as a natural part of the process, seeing them as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks. He actively sought corrections from native speakers, understanding that feedback was key to improvement. His long-term goal was to maintain fluency. To stay engaged, he kept in touch with former companions and Brazilian friends, regularly practicing through conversations.

When preparing for the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), Trevor took a strategic approach. He emphasized the importance of understanding the OPI rubric and practicing vocabulary and sentence structures tied to different proficiency levels. By knowing what evaluators look for, test-takers can tailor their responses to demonstrate their skills effectively.

Trevor recommends practicing real-life scenarios and anticipating common questions. He stresses the importance of being verbose—saying more rather than less—to fully showcase language ability. He also suggests reviewing vocabulary related to the OPI rubric to articulate complex ideas with confidence.

Trevor’s experience demonstrates that immersion, consistency, and a passion for the language are essential to language mastery. His journey highlights the importance of staying engaged, finding personal meaning in learning, and pushing past discomfort to achieve long-term fluency.