Page 103 - Prime Time 1-5 Leaflet

9

a

1

It is said that the 2 – 3,000 Moken or ‘sea gypsies’

who have lived for hundreds of years off the coasts

of southern Thailand and Myanmar are born on the

sea, live on the sea and die on the sea. Settling in

temporary

stilt huts only during the monsoon

season, they live more than half of each year in

hand-built wooden boats using simple nets and

spears to catch fish to eat and to sell. While spending

6 weeks photographing Moken families in Thailand,

what struck me most was the simplicity of their lives.

They have few possessions and don’t even have a

word for ‘want’ because they have always taken

everything they need from the sea. They

treated

me as family, sharing what little they had. I learnt

that the Moken can see twice as clearly

and stay underwater twice as long as

normal. So deep is their knowledge of the

sea, that they recognised the signs of the

2004 Asian tsunami coming and

fled

to

higher ground before anyone else.

Unfortunately the Moken are facing

problems which are reducing their

population.

There are no words for hello or

goodbye in the Moken language

so I just left. I was grateful for

my experience, but sad that the

future of these unique people is

so uncertain.

Jill Bradley, photographer

4

Choose the correct words.

1 Offer/Help

yourself to a cup of tea, Jim!

2

My hosts

treated/behaved

me very well.

3

Mongolians

show/indicate

hospitality.

4

The nomads are always on the

move/go

.

5

Don’t take it for

granted/sure

that everyone

has a home to live in.

The Sea Gypsies of the Andaman Sea

B

S

peaking &

W

riting

7

Read the text again. Tell your partner two

things that impressed you about each

community.

8

Work in pairs. You are a radio journalist

interviewing a member of one of the

communities. Prepare questions and answers.

Present your radio interview to the class.

Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world

and 40% of its population lives a life of nomadic herding,

moving from place to place. A Mongolian proverb says

‘Happy is the one who has guests’ and in fact this was

proven to me from the moment I first entered the

traditional circular tent of my hosts. The first thing they

did was serve me a cup of horse milk, Mongolia’s

favourite drink. I later learnt that showing hospitality is

so important to the Mongolians that it’s rude to pass

an empty tent without going in to help yourself to

refreshments! I participated in every aspect of daily

life during my stay, watching over, milking, shearing

and combing the family’s 40 goats, 20 horses, 4 camels

and over 200 sheep. The nomads spend all day caring for

these animals which they

rear

for meat, dairy products

and clothes. Still, one thing showed me that the nomads

aren’t totally untouched by the 21st century – the

satellite dish attached to the outside of the tent!

Ian Cauldly, tourist

C

The Mongolian nomads

G

rammar

Present tenses

6

a) Put the verbs in brackets into the

correct present form. Explain the use of

each tense.

b) Compare your lifestyle to the Sami

people.

Vocabulary Bank 1 pp. VB1-VB2

5

Fill in:

stilt

,

sparsely

,

witness

,

monsoon

,

show

,

dairy

,

struck

. Use the phrases to make

sentences related to the texts.

1

to .................................. first-hand;

2

immediately

............................. by;

3

............................... huts;

4

................................ season;

5

...............................

populated country;

6

to ..........................................

hospitality;

7

............................... products

The Sami people

1) .................................. (live)

in northern

Europe for over 2,500 years. They

2) ..............................

(hunt)

reindeer and

3) .................................. (catch)

fish to

survive. Climate change

4) ...................................... (threat)

their way of life these days. The atmosphere in the Arctic

5) ............................. (get)

warmer and warmer. 90% of the

reindeer

6) ....................................... (already/starve)

to

death. Olav Mathias-Eira, a scientist,

7) ..............................

(try)

to fight climate change for a long time now. Olav

8) .............................. (believe)

that the whole Sami culture

is at risk.

2

3

see

p. GR1