Olá! Uau! - Wow- We’ve been experiencing very unusual extreme weather here in Central Portugal, and it will take a long time to restore the normality that we have been used to. Successive storms have destroyed and damaged infrastructure and houses and challenged repair work. Many areas are currenly under flood alert, thousands have been moved from areas near the major rivers, many thousands still without power after tempestade Kristin, and most people are feeling the effects of this ‘comboio de tempestades’ . You can read about it here on Wikipedia. What we see and hear here though is so much soledariadade - many people helping others, giving their time and sharing resources to help each other get though this difficult time.
Speaking personally, we were lucky, just a few tiles skipped off the roof - voaram - (damaging others on their way) and only one tree - uma laranjeira - partly destoyed. We were sem luz for cinco dias and sem internet dez dias. The persistent torrential rain is making its way into the house… through windows, chimney and weak points in the (new…) roof. Ainda não temos - We still don’t have any phone signal, so today in order to check my data usage (I’m using my backup internet system which is limited usage, as is the whole household) the usual 3 minute process of logging into the site and needing a phone verification code meant a 1.5 hour round trip to finally find a place with both phone and internet signal… and I live in a well populated area with a lot of towns and villages. For those living further out life is very tricky, we’ve become very reliant on having phone and internet for our everyday life!
So, here at Portuguese Language Lessons, we are taking a little bit of time to get back up to speed with the ‘back office’ of tasks such as this blog post and the usual weekly emails. The regular online lessons and classes have all been running as usual since the beginning of last week, but due to the persistent adverse weather the in person classes have been cancelled and admin tasks have fallen behind.
So with all this in mind, I thought the theme for the week could be adverse weather! Let’s get on with the usual blog post :)
Every week we send out an email with a weekly theme containing: words; a link to a Quizlet set to practise and play with the words; stories or dialogues at 3 different levels and an invitation to join the weekly chat group. Now you can find all this here in one place. ** If you’d like to sign up to the email, you can do so here.
Related to this week’s theme are some words:
a tempestade the storm
chuva rain
vento wind
trovão thunder
relâmpago lightning
a inundação flood
o guarda-chuva umbrella
a eletricidade electricity
estragos damages
aviso meteorológico weather warning
Here’s a link to a Quizlet set with the phrases above (and more) 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!)
The texts for this week with the translations below are here:
A0 / A1
A Ana vive em Lisboa. Hoje há uma tempestade forte. Chove muito e faz muito vento. As árvores mexem-se e algumas folhas caem no chão. A Ana ouve o som da chuva na janela. Na rua, há pouca gente. Muitos carros andam devagar.
A Ana não vai ao trabalho de carro. Ela vai de metro, porque é mais seguro. No caminho, ela vê guarda-chuvas partidos. Algumas lojas fecham mais cedo. A Ana compra pão e leite no supermercado. Em casa, ela fecha bem as janelas e liga a televisão. O apresentador fala da tempestade e dá conselhos. A Ana bebe um chá quente e fica tranquila. Ela envia uma mensagem à mãe para saber se está bem.
A2
O Miguel vive no Porto e ontem houve uma grande tempestade. De manhã, ele ouviu trovões e viu chuva forte. Quando saiu de casa, o vento quase levou o seu guarda-chuva. Na rua, algumas pessoas ficaram molhadas e procuraram abrigo.
O Miguel foi trabalhar, mas os transportes tiveram atrasos. No escritório, todos falaram do mau tempo. À tarde, a eletricidade falhou durante alguns minutos e os computadores desligaram-se. Mais tarde, Miguel recebeu uma chamada da irmã, a Sofia. Ela disse que uma árvore caiu perto da escola do filho.
À noite, Miguel voltou para casa com cuidado. Viu estradas com água e alguns sinais caídos. Em casa, ele preparou sopa e ficou a ouvir as notícias. Ele sentiu-se cansado, mas feliz por estar seguro.
B1
A Carla mora em Coimbra e trabalha num pequeno café perto do rio. Durante a última semana, várias tempestades passaram por Portugal e a cidade mudou muito. A chuva intensa encheu as ruas de água e o vento forte partiu ramos de árvores. Algumas pessoas ficaram sem eletricidade e muitas escolas fecharam por um dia.
No café, a Carla recebeu clientes preocupados. Um senhor idoso, o Sr. António, contou que a sua garagem ficou inundada. Uma jovem chamada Beatriz mostrou fotos de um telhado danificado. Todos falavam da mesma coisa: o tempo está mais extremo e imprevisível.
A Carla também teve problemas. A porta do café não fechava bem por causa do vento e entrou água no chão. Ela limpou tudo com calma e continuou a trabalhar. No final do dia, a rua ficou mais silenciosa e o céu abriu um pouco.
Translations:A0/A1Ana lives in Lisbon. Today there is a strong storm. It rains a lot and it is very windy. The trees move and some leaves fall on the ground. Ana hears the sound of rain on the window. In the street, there are few people. Many cars drive slowly.Ana does not go to work by car. She goes by metro, because it is safer. On the way, she sees broken umbrellas. Some shops close earlier. Ana buys bread and milk at the supermarket. At home, she closes the windows well and turns on the television. The presenter talks about the storm and gives advice. Ana drinks a hot tea and feels calm. She sends a message to her mother to check if she is alright.A2Miguel lives in Porto and yesterday there was a big storm. In the morning, he heard thunder and saw heavy rain. When he left home, the wind almost took his umbrella away. In the street, some people got wet and looked for shelter.Miguel went to work, but public transport had delays. In the office, everyone talked about the bad weather. In the afternoon, the electricity failed for a few minutes and the computers switched off. Later, Miguel received a call from his sister, Sofia. She said that a tree fell near her son’s school.At night, Miguel returned home carefully. He saw roads with water and some fallen signs. At home, he made soup and listened to the news. He felt tired, but happy to be safe.B1 Carla lives in Coimbra and works in a small café near the river. During the last week, several storms passed through Portugal and the city changed a lot. The heavy rain filled the streets with water and the strong wind broke tree branches. Some people were left without electricity and many schools closed for a day.In the café, Carla received worried customers. An elderly man, Mr António, said that his garage was flooded. A young woman called Beatriz showed photos of a damaged roof. Everyone talked about the same thing: the weather is becoming more extreme and unpredictable.Carla also had problems. The café door did not close properly because of the wind and water came in onto the floor. She cleaned everything calmly and continued working. At the end of the day, the street became quieter and the sky cleared a little.
