Portuguese Year 1: What is the text about? Theme and central ideas
Portuguese, Year 1 (Portugal): A text can amuse, delight or teach; to understand it, say what it is about and the most important ideas.
Texts with different purposes
A text can have different purposes. A rhyme or a riddle is for playing (playful). A poem or a story gives pleasure and makes you feel (aesthetic). A notice or a text about animals gives information (informative). Either way, you can ask: what is it about? The answer is the theme. Then you say the central ideas, which are the most important ones, and put them into one sentence: the summary.
Reading is not just passing your eyes over it
Reading well means understanding. A child can read every word and still not know what the text is about. When you say the theme and the central ideas in your own words, you show that you understood, and you keep the text in your head so that you can tell it to someone else. You do not need to repeat everything: only the most important part.
The Sun and the plants
Text: «O Sol nasce de manhã. Dá-nos luz e calor. As plantas precisam da luz do Sol para crescer.» (The Sun rises in the morning. It gives us light and warmth. Plants need the Sun's light to grow.) Step 1: purpose: it gives information. Step 2: what is it about? About the Sun: that is the theme. Step 3: central ideas: it gives light and warmth; it helps the plants grow. Step 4: summary: «O Sol dá luz e calor e ajuda as plantas a crescer.» The time it rises is only a detail.
Mistaking a detail for the theme
It is easy to pick something you liked and say it is the theme, like «the time the Sun rises». That is a detail. The theme is what the text talks about from beginning to end. Another mistake is to summarise by copying almost the whole text. A summary is short: one or two sentences with only the most important part.
Where you say what a text is about
Choosing a book in the library, telling a friend what a film or a book is about, understanding a notice, telling at home what you learned. Whenever you say «this is about…» you are saying the theme.
Test what you learned
You read a riddle to have fun with your friends. What purpose does it have?
- a) To give information, like a notice
- b) To make us feel beauty, like a poem
- c) To give instructions, like the rules of a game
- d) To play and have fun (playful)
Correct answer: d) To play and have fun (playful) — Yes: rhymes and riddles are playful texts, made for playing with words.
Read: «A Inês tem um gato pequeno. Chama-se Bolinhas. Adora dormir ao sol.» (Inês has a small cat. It is called Bolinhas. It loves sleeping in the sun.) What is the text about?
- a) About Inês's cat
- b) About the sun
- c) About Inês's school
- d) About what Inês eats for dinner
Correct answer: a) About Inês's cat — Yes: all three sentences tell us about her cat, so that is the theme.
Text: «O Sol nasce de manhã. Dá-nos luz e calor. As plantas precisam da luz do Sol para crescer.» (The Sun rises in the morning. It gives us light and warmth. Plants need sunlight to grow.) Which summary is best?
- a) «O Sol nasce de manhã.» (The Sun rises in the morning.)
- b) Copy the whole text again, word for word
- c) «O Sol dá luz e calor e ajuda as plantas a crescer.» (The Sun gives light and warmth and helps plants grow.)
- d) «As plantas.» (The plants.)
Correct answer: c) «O Sol dá luz e calor e ajuda as plantas a crescer.» (The Sun gives light and warmth and helps plants grow.) — Yes: one short sentence with the two central ideas.
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