Portuguese Year 2: Understanding a story, retelling it and saying what you think
Portuguese, Year 2 (Portugal): Who, what happens and what it teaches: understand a story, retell it in order and explain how it made you feel.
What a narrative has
A narrative tells what happens to someone. It has characters (who), a time and a place, and events in order: a beginning, a middle (the problem) and an end (how it finishes). Besides what happens, a story has a theme (what it is about, such as friendship or fear), experiences you may also live, and values, what it shows to be good or bad, such as courage or honesty. To retell is to say the story again in your own words, in the same order.
Understanding goes beyond the words
Reading or hearing a story well is not only knowing who appeared: it is understanding what happened and why, and what the story wants to say. Stories help us think about things that also happen to us. Retelling shows that you understood, because only whoever understands the order of events can tell them well. And saying how you felt and why («Gostei porque…», I liked it because…; «Fiquei triste quando…», I was sad when…) helps you discover what the story made you think.
The Hare and the Tortoise
A fable attributed to Aesop. Step 1, characters: the hare, fast and boastful, and the tortoise, slow but steady. Step 2, beginning: the hare makes fun of the tortoise and they agree on a race. Step 3, middle: the hare is far ahead and falls asleep; the tortoise does not stop. Step 4, end: the tortoise crosses the line first. Step 5, theme and value: perseverance is worth more than haste and pride. Step 6, retell: «Era uma vez… Primeiro… Depois… Por fim…» (Once upon a time… First… Then… In the end…). Step 7, your reaction: «Gostei do fim, porque…» (I liked the ending, because…).
Retelling is not memorising or inventing
There are two mistakes. One is saying everything, sentence by sentence, as if you had memorised it: it gets long and the main things are lost. The other is changing the order of events, for example telling the end before the middle. To retell is to say the main events in the right order, in your own words. One more mistake: thinking the theme is only «what happens» («a race»). The theme is what the story is about («perseverance»), and the values are what it shows to be good or bad.
Where you retell and say what you think
You retell when you tell your family about a film, about what happened at break or about a library book. Understanding the values helps you choose what to do: honesty, courage, friendship. And saying what you felt is what you do when you recommend a book to a classmate: «Lê este, é muito engraçado, porque…» (Read this one, it is very funny, because…). The people listening will follow you better if you tell things in order.
Test what you learned
What should a good retelling of a story include?
- a) Every sentence of the story, word for word
- b) The main events, in order, in your own words
- c) Only the ending
Correct answer: b) The main events, in order, in your own words — Yes: beginning, middle and end, said in the right order with your own words.
In «A Lebre e a Tartaruga» (The Hare and the Tortoise), the hare falls asleep and the tortoise wins the race. Which sentence gives the lesson of the story?
- a) The hare falls asleep during the race
- b) Hares run faster than tortoises
- c) Perseverance is worth more than haste and pride
Correct answer: c) Perseverance is worth more than haste and pride — Yes: the tortoise does not stop and wins; the boastful hare rests and loses.
Mia retells: «No fim, a tartaruga ganhou. Antes, a lebre adormeceu. Antes disso, marcaram uma corrida.» (In the end, the tortoise won. Before that, the hare fell asleep. Before that, they set up a race.) What is wrong?
- a) The events are out of order: a retelling follows the order in which things happened
- b) She used her own words instead of the book's
- c) She said too little: every detail must be included
Correct answer: a) The events are out of order: a retelling follows the order in which things happened — Yes: she started from the end. The order is: they set up a race, the hare falls asleep, the tortoise wins.
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