English For Today chapter 4: Where are You From

Lesson 4

Where are You From?

After completing the lesson students will be able to

• recognise words and stress on words in sentences
• talk about people, places and familiar objects in short and simple sentences
• ask and answer questions

It is natural that when two persons meet they would engage in a conversation. They may want to know where the other comes from, or what the other person does and so on. Here are some conversations in such everyday situations.

A. Listen to and then practise the conversations below with your class friends.

i) Mamun and his friend Akash have gone to a book fair. A lot of people have also come. They are all talking, laughing and buying books. Mamun introduces Akash to someone. Akash cannot hear his name because of the noise around.

Figure

Labels: [unclear] (sign above the shop, Bangla text) Description: Mamun and Akash stand in the middle of a crowded book fair, shaking hands with a stranger. Bookshelves line the back and a crowd of people browse and talk around them. A sign hangs above the stall.

A1. Imagine that you are at a bus/railway station. A friend introduces you to somebody. You couldn't hear his/her name properly for the sound around. Now, make a conversation among you, your friend and the new person.

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ii) Sometimes the same questions can be asked in a different way. Here is a conversation between an immigration officer and a passenger at the Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka. Listen to the conversation first and then practise it with a partner.

Figure

Labels: [unclear] Description: An immigration officer sits behind a desk with a computer monitor, speaking to a passenger. Two more passengers stand behind him with their luggage, and suitcases lie on the floor in front.

A2. In the above conversation the officer asks the passenger first time "Where do you come from?" and again he asks the passenger "And where are you coming from now?" Why?

iii) It's the first day in the new class after the annual exam. The boy sitting next to Joy is a new student. Listen to and practise the conversation below.

Figure

Labels: [unclear] Description: Two students sit at a table with books in front of them. One, on the left, points with his hand while speaking; the other, on the right, leans forward listening.

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A3. Joy asks Sajed "Where do you come from, Sajed?" What could Joy ask him instead?

iv) Mamun and Akash are talking about Mamun's cousin Ruma. Listen to and practise the conversation in pairs.

Figure

Labels: [unclear] (drawing on the wall, papers and rolls on the table) Description: A woman architect sits at a drawing table, working on a plan with a ruler and set squares. Rolled papers stand on the right, and a drawing of buildings hangs on the wall behind her.

v) Mary and her mother are sitting in their living room. Mary's mother Rabeya Begum is watching TV and Mary is reading a story book. Their neighbour's little boy is crying at the top of his voice.

Rabeya : I just don't understand! That boy is screaming so much! Maybe he is hungry.

Description: A woman sits on a sofa beside a television, and a girl reads a book beside her. A thought bubble above shows a crying child.

A4. Listen to the conversation between Akash and Mamun, and between Rabeya and Mary again. What difference do you find in the questions "what is she doing at the moment?" and "what does she do?"

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Language Focus

Notice that sometimes the answer to "Where do you come from?" or "Where are you from?" is the name of the country one belongs to. But when both the speakers are from the same country, the question would obviously mean what part of the country one belongs to.

Notice the difference between "What do you do?" and "What are you doing?" 'What do you do?' means the same as 'What's your profession?' On the other hand, 'What are you doing' refers to what you are doing at the moment, or something you are doing around that time.

B. Look at the pictures below. Ask and answer questions about what each person's profession is, and what he or she is doing at the moment.

Follow this model:

What's his/her name? What does he/she do? What is he/she doing now? At the moment he/she is ___________. He/she is not ______________. (not doing what he/she usually does, e.g. He is not seeing a patient)

Figure

Labels: Captain Harun, Pilot; Nadia Sultana, Student; Rashid Ahmed, Doctor; Sumana Chowdhury, Lawyer Description: Four pictures, each with a caption. Top left: a man in a uniform and cap stands beside a table of folded shirts and clothes on hangers. Top right: a girl in a skirt swings a racket at a shuttlecock near a net. Bottom left: a man in a white coat sits at a round table with fruit and food on it, beside a refrigerator. Bottom right: a woman in a long dress stands behind a basket of apples and pineapples, holding a folder.