English and the World · Spain · 37 · Algarve, Portugal · A1–C2 · A1–A2 free
A red castle above orange groves, a poet-king who missed his palace, crusaders who stopped on their way to Jerusalem, and a walled town by a lagoon where Portugal’s Reconquista ended. Choose your level.
Silves
We are in the Algarve, in the south of Portugal. Look at this castle on the hill: it is red, because it is made of red stone. This is Silves. About a thousand years ago it was the capital of the Algarve, and Muslim kings lived here. That river down there is the Arade. Big ships came up it from the sea.
Do you see those trees around the town? Those are orange trees. The Algarve is famous for its fruit: oranges, figs and almonds. These fruits are on every market stall.
Faro, 1249
Now we are in Faro, by a big lagoon. This gate is the Arco da Vila, the entrance to the old town. Inside the walls there is a cathedral, built where a mosque once stood. In 1249 King Afonso III of Portugal took Faro. It was the last town of the Reconquista in Portugal, one year after Seville fell in Spain.
Look up! Those big white and black birds on the roofs are storks. They build their nests on churches and towers. And these small boats take visitors to the islands of the Ria Formosa.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains this, that, these, those and the other little words before nouns in A Box, The Box, No Box At All (Philo & Sophia, Lesson 21).
Language: this, that, these, those
| near (here) | far (there) | |
|---|---|---|
| singular | this castle, this gate | that river, that tower |
| plural | these fruits, these boats | those trees, those birds |
| alone (no noun) | This is Silves. | Those are orange trees. |
⚠️ The sound matters: this /ɪ/ (short) and these /iː/ (long). And use the plural verb with these and those: These are storks, not ✗ These is storks.
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Why is the castle of Silves red?
2. What was Silves about a thousand years ago?
3. What happened in Faro in 1249?
4. Where do the storks build their nests?
Write this or these.
5. Look at castle. It’s red!
6. oranges are from Silves.
7. gate is the Arco da Vila.
8. boats go to the islands.
Write that or those.
9. river down there is the Arade.
10. birds on the roof are storks.
11. Do you see trees? They’re orange trees.
12. tower over there is very old.
Go there!
Visit: in Silves, walk on the red walls of the castle and visit the cathedral below it. In Faro, go through the Arco da Vila into the old town, climb the cathedral tower to see the lagoon, and take a boat to the islands of the Ria Formosa.
Your task: imagine you are a guide. Write six sentences about the things you can see from a window, with this, that, these and those.
It tells how the far west of al-Andalus gave the Algarve its name, how a poet-king remembered his palace in Silves, how crusaders on their way to Jerusalem stopped to besiege it, and how Faro became the last town of Portugal’s Reconquista, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.
It tells how the far west of al-Andalus gave the Algarve its name, how a poet-king remembered his palace in Silves, how crusaders on their way to Jerusalem stopped to besiege it, and how Faro became the last town of Portugal’s Reconquista, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.