© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 17 Different Cultures and Traditions This icon indicates that detailed teacher’s notes are available in the Notes Page. For

© Boardworks Ltd 20031 of 17

Different Cultures and Traditions

This icon indicates that detailed teacher’s notes are available in the Notes Page.

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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What are the benefits of reading work which has been influenced by other cultures and traditions?

Different cultures and traditions

Write a list of any writers who focus on places and times which are unfamiliar to you:


Authors


When you meet texts from other cultures and traditions, be prepared to work a little harder. You may be unfamiliar with some of the words used because the writer uses dialect.

That’s wicked, man!

Does anyone want a

cheese butty?

Dialects

London

Liverpool


Dialects


Here is an extract from a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah called Body Talk:

Dere’s a sonnet

Under me bonnet

Dere’s an epic

In me ear,

Dere’s a novel

In me navel

Dere’s a Classic

Here somewhere.

Dere’s a Movie

In me left knee

A long story

In me right,

Dere’s a shorty

Inbetweeny

It is tickly

In de night…

1. In what ways is this poem distinct from other poems you have read?

2. Circle all the words that seem different to standard English.

3. Which culture do you think Zephaniah is borrowing his language from?

Benjamin Zephaniah


Merle Collins is another poet who borrows dialect from her own culture when she writes her poetry. Here is an extract from her poem called ‘No Dialects Please’ written in Creole.

But as if dat not enough painfor a body to bearah tink bout de part on de plantations down derewey dey so frighten o de powerin the deep spacesbehind our watching facesdat dey shoutNO AFRICAN LANGUAGES PLEASE!

Merle Collins


Complete the ‘translations’ below using some of the words from the extract:

Creole Standard EnglishDat

Ah

Tink

Bout

De

Dere

Wey

Dey

o

that

Merle Collins


Monica Ali is a new writer who uses dialect for one of her narrator’s voices in her novel Brick Lane:

My sister I have your letter. It mean so much to me know you are well and husband also. Love is grow between you I feel it. And you are good wife. I maybe not good wife but is how I try for always. Only it very hard sometime. Husband do very well at his work. He have already promotion. He is good man and very patient. Sometime I make him lose patience without I mean to. He comes soon to home and I getting ready for him now. God bless you. Hasina.

What do you notice about this character’s voice?

What is the effect of the language on the reader?

Monica Ali


Not only can the dialect be confusing, but sometimes writers use words which are unusual because they describe things which are uncommon to us – the vocabulary is unfamiliar.

This can include names of foods, plants and flowers, places, houses, games and of course people.

Vocabulary


She should be getting on with the evening meal. The lamb curry was prepared. She had made it last night with tomatoes and new potatoes. Dr Azad had been invited but cancelled at the last minute. There was still the dal to make, and the vegetables dishes, the spices to grind, the rice to wash, and the sauce to prepare for the fish that Chanu would bring this evening.

Here is another extract from Brick Lane but from the other narrator’s perspective. Her name is Nazneen.

The narrator uses standard English but how might you still tell that it is about people of other cultures?

Monica Ali


In Spain there are no speeches at weddings!

In Greece it is traditional to pin money to the bride’s wedding dress!

In Cyprus about 2000 people attend each wedding!

In Romania every person at the wedding service holds a candle.

Often in literature we are introduced to the different values and traditions of other cultures.

Did you know?


Ahdaf Soueif describes the night before a wedding in Cairo in the early 1900s. Mabrouka has lit the best amber incense and carried it round the bridal apartments muttering spells and incantations all day and when Anna was dressed, the old woman circled her with the burner and made her step over it seven times and recited every spell and aya she knew to protect her from the evil eye and from misfortune, and Anna submitted to it all with good grace and rewarded Mabrouka with gold made even sweeter by an embrace.

1. What Egyptian rituals and traditions are presented here?

2. Who do you think Mabrouka is?

3. How can you tell that Anna is not Egyptian?

Ahdaf Soueif


Often writers of other cultures try to show the troubles that they or their families have endured.

In this way their subject matter becomes almost as important as the language they use.

It is up to the reader to look for clues about what makes the society described different to your own. Also try to notice how people speak and behave towards each other.

Subject matter


Dumi had marched in the streets with thousands of other schoolchildren. They were protesting that their schools taught them only what the white government wanted them to know.

On the banner that Dumi and his friends carried, they had written:

“BLACKS ARE NOT DUSTBINS.”

This is an extract from a novel by Beverley Naidoo called Journey to Jo’burg.

What is the subject matter of this passage?

Beverley Naidoo


Everything went all right until the police saw the schoolchildren marching, and then the trouble started. The police aimed their guns and began to shoot with real bullets, killing whoever was in the way.

It was terrible. The police shot tear gas too, making everyone’s eyes burn.

People were screaming, bleeding, falling. More police came in great steel tanks…

How are you expected to feel?

Are you meant to feel sorry for the police or for the school children and ordinary people? How do you know this?

Beverley Naidoo


1. Brainstorm the ways in which your own heritage and culture is interesting and distinct from others.

2. Design and write a leaflet which introduces people to the basics of your culture.

Your culture and traditions

Documents

© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 17 Different Cultures and Traditions This icon indicates that detailed teacher’s notes are available in the Notes Page. For