Even before they start reading the text “Powerful sto...

1Q1032907 | Inglês, Ensino da Língua Estrangeira Inglesa, Habilitação Inglês, SEDUC MT, FGV, 2025

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Powerful storm knocks out power to 1.4 million homes in Brazil’s largest city

SAO PAULO (AP) — Around 1.4 million households in Sao Paulo, Brazil, were without power on Saturday almost 24 hours after a brief but powerful storm swept through South America’s largest metropolis. At least seven people were killed.

Officials in Sao Paulo state said that record winds of up to 67 mph (108 kph) knocked down transmission lines and destroyed trees, causing severe damage in some parts. The storm also shut down several airports and interrupted water service in several areas, according to the state government.

Authorities originally expected to restore power within a few hours. But several neighborhoods in the metropolitan area, which is home to 21 million people, were still in the dark on Saturday, and authorities were urging residents to limit their consumption of water.

https://apnews.com. Adaptado. Acesso em 24.04.2025

Even before they start reading the text “Powerful storm knocks out power to 1.4 million homes in Brazil’s largest city”, some students say they will not be able to understand it. And immediately mention the words “knock”, “households” and “swept”, in the headline and the first paragraph.

The literature about teaching reading in a second language mentions a variety of methods and approaches to deal with unknown vocabulary. Materials and teachers may instruct learners to

I. make use of the dictionary: they will not understand the text properly if they do not know all the words in it.
II. look for the pronunciation of the unknown words: the association between sound and spelling always helps comprehension.
III. ignore vocabulary difficulties and focus on grammar: meaning does not derive from words in isolation but from sentence structures.
IV. Pay attention to context and appeal to background knowledge on the subject: making inferences is key to learning a new language.
V. Concentrate on text meaning rather than word meaning: words may be ignored if not essential to the comprehension of the text’s main points.

A teacher interested in developing their students’ use of reading strategies will, in a reading class with the text “Powerful storm knocks out power to 1.4 million homes in Brazil’s largest city”, focus on the instructions given in items

✂️ a) IV and V.
✂️ b) I and V.
✂️ c) tells students not to worry about verb forms since this is a reading comprehension class, not a ‘grammar comprehension’ one.
✂️ d) suggests the creation of a short glossary, for future reference, containing the past form of the irregular verbs used in the text.
✂️ e) revisits the simple past as a verb tense used to talk about actions and facts completed in a past time, and relates it to the narrative content of the text.