Lesson 4

ACTIVITY 1: Read the text and do the activities.

San Jose has about 1 million inhabitants and is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S.A. The city is located in Santa Clara County at the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay. San Jose is the largest city within Silicon Valley, which is a major component of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and is also the most populous city in Northern California. Originally inhabited by Ohlone Native Americans, it was first colonized by the Spanish. San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first civilian town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California. By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the booming local technology industry earned the city its nickname, Capital of Silicon Valley. Among the civic and architectural profile of San Jose are the HP Pavilion (home rink of the NHL's San Jose Sharks), the massive San Jose McEnery Convention Center, the Tech Museum of Innovation, Children's Discovery Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose Center for Performing Arts, and San Jose Repertory Theater. In addition to being a cultural and entertainment magnet, San Jose is a working downtown: software giant Adobe occupies Adobe Towers, which covers a highly conspicuous block of valuable real estate; the nearby Park Center Plaza is home to a number of financial and technical enterprises. The San Jose area is home to the largest concentration of technology expertise in the world with more than 6,600 technology companies employing more than 254,000 people.

Adapted from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose,_California) and 
City of San Jose site (http://www.sanjoseca.gov )

PART A. Write T (true) or F (false) according to the text:

(  ) The population of San Jose City is about 1 million.

(  ) The nickname Capital of Silicon Valley is from 1980.

(  ) San Jose is the second civilian town in the Spanish colony.

(  ) San Jose concentrates a lot of technology expertise.

PART B. Match the columns.

( 1 ) largest ( 2 ) entertainment ( 3 ) valuable ( 4 ) expertise ( 5 ) booming ( 6 ) enterprise ( 7 ) earn

( ) entretenimento ( ) ganhar ( ) empresa ( ) maior ( ) valioso ( ) conhecimento ( ) em expansão

PART C. Name some attractions of San Jose city.

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PART D. Why San Jose earned its nickname, Capital of Silicon Valley?

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PART E. Which places would you like to visit in San Jose?

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PART F. Talk to a classmate.

1. Você já tinha alguma informação sobre San Jose antes de ler o texto? O que você aprendeu? 2. Você considera importante informações como esta? Por quê?

Adapted from “Take your Time 3” by Rocha and Ferrari.