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Brazil - parallel reading

With the world Cup in mind I though I would share with you this parallel reading task I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Although it was written with primary/Y7 in mind, you might find you can use it with some Y8 and Y9 students, depending on their ability. It is a paid resource on frenchteacher.net, but feel free to copy and paste this version if you wish.

Don't forget, although the text may seem a little hard for young ones, the English translation should make the exercises feasible. Any feedback would be welcome.

By the way, in case you missed it, see the previous blog for an advanced level vocab list and match commentray exercise.

Version française

 Son énorme forêt tropicale menacée par le développement, ses énormes villes qui abritent riches et pauvres, le Brésil est un pays de l’avenir. 

Royaume du foot. 

Sur les plages ou les terrains vagues, les petits Brésiliens jouent au foot. Ils rêvent à leurs grands frères, cinq fois champions du monde Les jours de match international, tout est fermé : les magasins, les écoles, la poste… Tous les Brésiliens encouragent leur équipe ! À chaque but, les millions de spectateurs s'enflamment au rythme des tambours. Et quand le coup de sifflet marque la victoire, les rues et les plages se transforment soudain en gigantesques pistes de samba… jusqu'au bout de la nuit.

La plus grande fête du Brésil : le carnaval 

Dans la chaleur humide du mois de février, les rues grouillent de monde. Pendant quatre jours et quatre nuits, les bals et les défilés se succèdent, avec leurs chars colorés, leurs percussionnistes déchaînés et leurs milliers de danseurs aux costumes les plus fous. On chante et on danse au rythme des sambas… jusqu'à l'année suivante 

English version



Its huge tropical rainforest threatened by development, its enormous cities housing rich and poor, Brazil is a country of the future.



The kingdom of football



On the beaches or waste ground young Brazilians play football. They dream about their older brothers, five times champions of the world!



On international match days everything is closed: shops, schools, the post office. Every Brazilian supports their team! With each goal millions of spectators get enthused with the rhythm of the drums. And when the final whistle signals victory, the streets and beaches are suddenly turned into enormous samba dance floors…. The whole night long!



The biggest festival in Brazil; carnival!



In the damp heat of February the streets writhe with people. For four days and four nights dances and parades follow each other with their colourful floats, wild percussionists and thousands of dancers in the craziest costumes. They sing and dance to the rhythm of the samba… until next year.

Exercises



Which of these French sentences are true?



1.          La forêt tropical est important au Brésil.



2.         Dans les villes il y a des personnes riches et pauvres.



3.         Les petits Brésiliens détestent le football.



4.         Le Brésil est fréquemment champion de football.



5.         Les jours de grands matchs les magasins sont ouverts.



6.         Les fans sont excités par les buts.



7.         Les Brésiliens aiment danser.



8.         Ils préfèrent le tango et le cha cha.



9.         Le Carnaval ; est un événement très important.



10.        Le carnaval est en avril.



11.        Pendant le carnaval il y a beaucoup de personnes dans les rues.



12.        Il y a des percussionistes et des danseurs.



Highlight any words you could have guessed the meaning of

without any help. These are called COGNATES.



Complete this list of words



French                                     English



forêt                                         ____________

menacés                                   ____________

riche                                        ____________

pauvre                                      ____________

avenir                                       ____________

royaume                                   ____________

they dream                               ____________

closed                                      ____________

écoles                                       ____________

équipe                                      ____________

sifflet                                       ____________

victoire                                    ____________

plages                                      ____________

nuit                                         ____________

chaleur                                    ____________

rues                                        ____________

défilés                                     ____________

chars                                      ____________



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