Have you ever thought about how many countries there are in the world?
Or how many languages are spoken on this planet?
What about the differences in rituals, customs and traditions?
And the varieties of food?
But the most important question we are going to ask ourselves is,
“just because somebody dresses and speaks differently, is there nothing in common between us?”
Inside all of us is a heart, that beats in the same way – identical, actually.
That heart carries within it, emotions and feelings – like love and resentment, sadness and happiness, fear and trust.
Everyone everywhere belongs to a family.
We are all somebody’s son or daughter, brother or sister.
Today our friends are from our school and neighbourhood.
But one day, soon, we could befriend somebody from England, USA, Bhutan, or Singapore.
We can tell them about Eid and Diwali. They can tell us about Christmas and the Chinese New Year.
The more we learn about the people in different countries, the more we understand
and appreciate them.
Differences are superficial. Let’s celebrate our similarities!
(A) Vocabulary: Please make your own sentences with the following words:
Ritual – Ceremony with a set of fixed actions and words.
Tradition – Custom, belief story that is passed on through generations.
Identical – Exactly the same.
Resentment/Resent – To feel annoyed about something.
Appreciate – To be grateful for something.
Superficial – Only seen on the surface.
Similarity/Similar – Alike or like something or someone else.
(B) Mentor and mentee to decide together what country they would li like to
discuss or write a few lines about.
(C) Match the language with the country:
Spain – Portuguese
Mexico – Urdu
Portugal – German
France – Spanish
Germany – Mexican
Pakistan – French
(D) Fill in the Blanks:
1. The only way I can go to Spain is ____ plane.
2. Many tourists from around the world come ___ India.
3. India is a part ___the continent called Asia.