Rites and Rituals: Rooting For Tradi
Rites and Rituals: Rooting For Tradi
Rites and Rituals: Rooting For Tradi
ru
Peking is in C h ina
As Kingston is in Jamaica
As Delhi is in India
As n owhere d o we belong
You and I.
And sho uld we ever run away
Where shall we ru n to?
And sho uld we ever fight a war,
Who shall we fight for
You and I?
At the end of the rain bow
Is a cou ntry of goo d ness
If we form an alliance
W ill we ever be free
To belong?
Or sha ll we alwa ys be carryin g
O ur ancestors ' coffins in a bag?
Searching the g lo be
For a place to belong
You and I.
M eilillg Ji ll
lntroduction 1 Read the poem and discuss what you think it is saying.
2 What is it about a place that makes you feel 'at hom e'?With a partner, make a list of
the thin gs you would miss most about your own culture if you lived in a country
which was very different from your own.
Would you find it hard to do without certain things?
Read ing 1 Qui ckly read th e a rticle opposite. Can yo u name two of the di fficulties th at people
ex pe rie nce w he n the y live in a fore ign culture?
Multiple matching
2 Now look at the to pics below. Sca n the text a nd id entify wh ich sec tio ns (A-H) refer to
whi ch top ics. So me sectio ns may be chosen more than once.
Exam tip '"
Wh ich section refer s to the followin g?
In some multiple
matching tasks, you have Asian attitudes to love and marriage. 1_ _
to scan a text and match Expe riences at sc hoo l. 2_ _ 3_ _
sections of it to particular The influence of co nservatis m. 4_ _
topics. As you scan, look Remaining o n the o uts ide o f society. 5_ _
out for vocabulary that is Re-evaluat ing and accepting Asian culture. 6_ _ 7_ _ 8_ _
relevant to these topic The ad vantages of Asia n custom s. 9_ _ 10_ _
areas.
3 What views a nd att itudes to west ern life ar e mentioned in th e article? In yo ur
opinion, how important is it for people to ret ain their own cus to ms and traditions
when they se ttle in a new count ry?
Vocabulary 1 Forceful langu age is used in thi s a rticle, both by the wr ite r and the people who a re
quoted. What do es it add to th e a rticle? Her e are some exa m p les:
Forceful language
1 leavin g acrimoniously (pa rag ra ph A)
2 her famil y was devastated (pa rag ra ph A)
3 a passionate ad vocate (pa ra grap h E)
4 feelings ... ar e furt her exacerbated (pa ragra ph G)
5 his cu lture is often denigrated (pa rag raph G)
6 yo u a re a distorted im age of yo ur self (pa ragra ph H).
Look at the wo rds in italics. What do yo u think the y mean? Check your an swers in a
di ctionary.
2 Now mat ch th e words from th e article to words with th e opposite meaning on th e right.
1 ac rimo niously a impro ved
2 devastat ed b indiffer ent
3 passiona te c delighted
4 exacerbated d truthful
5 deni grat ed e amicably
6 distorted f acclaimed
Going back to
their roots
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores
changing attitudes in Asian society.
A
a i lTIa hurries along excitedly, a b us sto p. To be part of the b rave
~ 710 words
Reading UNIT 9 11 3