Lesson 5 : Bangladeshi cuisine

Lesson 5 : Bangladeshi cuisine

Key words: cuisine   platter   molasses

A   Look at the pictures and discuss in pairs.

1.       What do you see in the pictures?

2.       Which foods are seen in the pictures? Do you prepare/eat them at home?

3.       Of the foods, which one is your favourite? Why?

B   Read the text below and answer the following true-false questions.

Bangladeshi cuisine is rich and varied with the use of many spices. We have delicious and appetizing food, snacks and sweets.

Boiled rice is our staple food. It is served with a variety of vegetables, curry, lentil soups, fish and meat. Fish is the main source of protein. Fishes are now cultivated in ponds. Also we have fresh-water fishes in the lakes and rivers. More then 40 types of fishes are common. Some of them are carp, rui, katla, magur (catfish), chingri (prawn or shrimp). Shutki or dried fishes are popular among the people of Bangladesh.

Lesson 4: Our ethnic friends (2)

Lesson 4:   Our ethnic friends (2)

Keywords: characteristics     communities     maize     poultry

A   Look at the picture and talk with your partner about them. Then read the text.

Most of these ethnic people living in Bangladesh have some common characteristics. They have their own lifestyles.

They build their houses on bamboo or wooden platforms called ‘machang’. Rice is their staple food. They eat vegetables, maize and fish, poultry and meat. Their kitchen utensils are bamboo, wooden and earthen pots which they make themselves. Men wear lungis and women wear thamis or sarongs and angis. Women weave their own clothes.

 Hunting and fishing are their favourite pastimes. They are fond of songs, music, dances, theatre and fairs. Traditional musical instruments used are bugles made from buffalo horns, drums and bamboo flutes. Wrestling is a popular sport for them.

B   Find the answers from column B to the questions in column A and write them in complete sentences.

A	B
1.       Where do the ethnic people build their houses?	A traditional musical
2.       What are their favourite pastimes?
3.       What is a bugle?
4.       What do the women wear?
5.       What are their kitchen utensils made of?
6.       What are their staple food?

Lesson 3: Our ethnic friends (1)

Lesson 3:  Our ethnic friends (1)

Key words:   ethnic   region   majority   shifting

A   Look at the question and discuss in groups:

      Have you heard the word ‘ethnic people’? Can you tell what it means?

      Now look at the pictures. Then discuss the following questions.

1.       Do you know where these people live in Bangladesh?

2.       What are they called?

B   Now read the text.

The ethnic people in Bangladesh hold a very important place in the culture of the country. The majority of this people live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The other live  in  regions  of  Mymensingh, Rajshahi and Sylhet. They live in forest areas, in the hills and in rural areas. They practice Jhum cultivation. They clear a piece of land in forest, prepare it and sow seeds in it. They are mostly farmers. By religion they are Hindus, Christians or Buddhist. They speak their own mother tongues. Some of them are the Chakmas, the Marmans, the Tipperas and the Moorangs who live in the Hill tracts. The Santals live in Rajshahi. The Khasias and the Monipuries live in Sylhet and the Hajongs and the Garos in Mymensingh.    

C   True or false? If false, give the correct information.

1.       All the ethnic people of the country live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

2.       Most of them are farmers.

3.       By religion all of them are Buddhists.

4.       The Moorangs are an ethnic group.

5.       They practice jhum cultivation.   

D   Ask and answer the question in pairs.

1.       Where do you find the Marmans?

2.       What language do you speak at home?

3.       Where and how do they do the Jhum cultivation?

Write a paragraph describing how the nakshi kantha is made

C  Write a paragraph describing how the nakshi kantha is made. Start like this: Old or new cloth and coloured thread are needed. First the cloth is folded, then ……

D  Do you like a nakshi Kantha or an ordinary Kantha? Why?

E  Complete the sentence with clues given

Bengali       patterns       embroidery       years       fashion       art      rural        designs       quilt       noksha

1.       Naksha means artistic ……………… .

2.       The name was taken from a ………….. word ……………. .

3.       The art has been practiced in …………… Bengal for …………….. .

4.       Nakshi Kanthas are now sold in …………. Shops.

5.       Nakshi kanthas are in great demand because of their colourful ………… and ………… .

6.       Nakshi kanthas are a kind of …………… .

                                                                                                                                                                                     

          

F  Write down five questions for the completed statements in E above.

One is done for you.

1.        What dose naksha means?

G  Work in pairs. Ask and answer all the questions. Now write 3-4 more questions on the text given in B above.