Orkut is one of the biggest sites on the internet, it’s in the Alexa top 10.  It is by far the most popular site in Brazil.  If you haven’t heard of it before, basically Orkut (launched 3 years ago) was Google’s equivalent to MySpace except it didn’t become popular in the US.  It’s not much different than other social networking sites.  If you already have a gmail account, then you’re all set to go.

On Orkut you’ll find tens of thousands of Brazilians trying to learn English.  For example, the Tecla SAP group has over 14,000 members and the Amo Inglês group has over 17,000.  I’d suggest that you join some of these English learning groups and see if you can help answer some of their questions.  Eventually, you’ll find someone who will want to do a language exchange, either through email, VOIP, or IM (by the way, Brazilians tend to prefer MSN).

I can’t help but think how useful it would be if these groups held weekly online live discussions, like Skypecasts.  If I can think of a good way to organize/advertise something like that, I’ll try.