O tema esta semana é livros - The theme this week is books.
Inspiration this week is from a love of reading and preparation for a new class I will be running in person here in Central Portugal. We’re going to read a book over a 12 week course in Portuguese, and have a focus on one verb per week. This, I hope, will help everyone in the A2 - B1 + group in their goal to get more accurate with the verbs and by reading a book where we can read natural dialogues between people, come closer to the goal of fluency and having meaningful conversations here. Check out the course calendar for details of the courses running - we restart the week of April 13th with new courses online and in person.
How many of these words related to books did you know? If you want to lay about with the words, check out the Quizlet set I’ve made. You can hear the audio of the words, do learning activities, tests and games - when learning is fun, it is usually very effective :)
capa - cover
página - page
lombada - spine
autor - author
editor - publisher
biblioteca - library
livraria - bookshop
romance - work of fiction
conto - tale
poesia - poetry
Here’s a link to a Quizlet set with the words for you to play about with. Enjoy!
If you would like to join one of the weekly chat groups - we run two weekly - A0/A1 Weds 13h-13h30, A2/B1 - Thurs 13h-13h45, all details are in the weekly newsletter - sign up here.
AND because we learn really well from stories and seeing examples of correct language, every week I put together 3 stories or dialogues on the week’s theme with examples of the week’s words and phrases in a useful context. I strongly believe that we can learn a lot from reading, these mini-texts with translations are just the right length for you to digest easily. (look at the translations first if that helps!)
This week we’ve have quirky stories inspired by the author Douglas Adams. Já leste À Boleia pela Galaxia? You can see the book here and read an extract in Portuguese (click Ler)
A0 / A1
O João vive num apartamento pequeno em Lisboa com uma torradeira muito estranha. A torradeira fala. Todas as manhãs, ela diz “Bom dia, João” e pergunta sobre o sentido da vida. O João não gosta muito disso, mas precisa de torradas.
Hoje, o João quer apenas um pequeno-almoço simples. Ele coloca pão na torradeira. A torradeira suspira e diz: “O pão é apenas o início.” O João olha para a torradeira. Ele pensa: “Isto não é normal.”
A vizinha, a Dona Maria, toca à porta. Ela traz um gato e um mapa do universo. O João abre a porta e diz: “Eu só quero comer.” A torradeira responde: “Ninguém quer só isso.”
A2
A Inês sempre pensou que a sua vida era perfeitamente normal até ao dia em que encontrou um elevador que não respeitava andares. O prédio tinha cinco pisos, mas o elevador mostrava botões como “Ontem”, “Talvez” e “Nunca Mais”.
No início, ela achou que era uma brincadeira. Carregou em “Talvez” e o elevador começou a tocar música clássica enquanto subia — ou descia, ela nunca percebeu bem. Quando as portas abriram, a Inês viu um escritório cheio de plantas que discutiam política.
Um homem chamado Rui estava sentado numa cadeira giratória e disse: “Demoraste.” A Inês ficou confusa. Ela nunca tinha estado ali antes, mas o Rui agia como se isso não fosse importante.
B1+
O Carlos descobriu um problema sério na terça-feira de manhã: o seu relógio decidiu avançar cinco minutos sempre que ele pensava demasiado. No início, pareceu uma coincidência, mas depois de perder três reuniões e um café, ele aceitou a situação.
O relógio não fazia barulho nem dava sinais especiais. Apenas avançava. Carlos tentou pensar em coisas simples, como pão ou sapatos, mas a sua mente insistia em perguntas difíceis, como “porque existem segundas-feiras?”
Na quarta tentativa de sair de casa a horas, ele encontrou a Sofia no elevador. Ela olhou para o relógio dele e disse: “Ah, já tens um desses.” Carlos ficou em silêncio durante alguns segundos, o que, infelizmente, fez o relógio avançar mais cinco minutos.
Translations of the stories:A0/A1João lives in a small apartment in Lisbon with a very strange toaster. The toaster talks. Every morning, it says “Good morning, João” and asks about the meaning of life. João does not like this very much, but he needs toast.Today, João only wants a simple breakfast. He puts bread in the toaster. The toaster sighs and says: “Bread is only the beginning.” João looks at the toaster. He thinks: “This is not normal.”His neighbour, Dona Maria, knocks on the door. She brings a cat and a map of the universe. João opens the door and says: “I just want to eat.” The toaster replies: “Nobody wants only that.”A2Inês had always thought her life was perfectly normal until the day she found a lift that did not respect floors. The building had five levels, but the lift showed buttons like “Yesterday”, “Maybe” and “Never Again”.At first, she thought it was a joke. She pressed “Maybe” and the lift began to play classical music while going up — or down, she never quite understood. When the doors opened, Inês saw an office full of plants discussing politics.A man called Rui was sitting in a swivel chair and said: “You’re late.” Inês was confused. She had never been there before, but Rui behaved as if that did not matter.B1+Carlos discovered a serious problem on Tuesday morning: his watch decided to move forward five minutes whenever he thought too much. At first, it seemed like a coincidence, but after missing three meetings and a coffee, he accepted the situation.The watch made no noise and gave no special signs. It simply moved forward. Carlos tried to think about simple things, like bread or shoes, but his mind insisted on difficult questions, such as “why do Mondays exist?”On his fourth attempt to leave home on time, he met Sofia in the lift. She looked at his watch and said: “Ah, you already have one of those.” Carlos stayed silent for a few seconds, which, unfortunately, made the watch move forward another five minutes.