Qatar History – Games – Reader’s Theater

Roles:

Omar Grandma Grandpa Noora

Omar: Grandma, what was it like in Qatar when you were a girl?

Grandma: Well, when I was a girl, we did not have TVs, cell phones, cars, ipads or computers.

Noora: How did you live, not having those things?

Grandpa: We played our own games like dahouri where we chased a hoop on a wire and taq taqieh, where we would be in a circle, someone would drop an object behind us, and then we would have to chase them.

Noora: Did you play any other games?

Grandma: There were many other games we played, often with stones, seeds or other things around us. Sometimes my father played a board game called dama.

Omar: Can you teach some of these games to us sometime.

Grandma: Of course.

Omar: Didn’t you get hot, playing all those games outside?

Grandpa: Yes, but we were having so much fun that usually we didn’t mind.

Noora: And I bet you had air conditioning, right?

Grandma: In old Qatar we did not have air conditioning. Many of us lived in tents. In the tents it was cooler than living outside.

Noora: Wow grandma, thanks for telling us all about the games you played in old Qatar.

Omar: Yeah, thank you grandma.

Qatar History – Jobs – Reader’s Theater

Roles:

Abdulla Jassim Shahed Grandpa

Jassim: Grandfather, what kind of job did your father do in Qatar, in the past?

Grandpa: In Qatar, in the past, many people were pearl divers or fishermen.

Shahed: Wow, what did the pearl divers do?

Grandma: My father was also a pearl diver. He would go out on a dhow boat, and sometimes be gone for months at a time.

Shahed: Wow! How did he get the pearls?

Grandpa: He would dive into the water, and get oysters. Then he would bring them back and people on the boat would open them with a special knife.

Abdulla: Did your father have to hold his breath?

Grandpa: He would use a special turtle shell thing in his nose, to stop the water from coming in.

Jassim: Wasn’t it hard, not having your father around?

Grandma: Yes, it was hard. He would dive deep into the ocean, without any air, hoping to find some pearls.

Shahed: What did he drink and eat?

Grandpa: He ate fish. He drank water that was on the boat. He couldn’t drink the water from the ocean, so sometimes he could not take a bath, because it was more important to have water to drink.

Shahed: That sounds like a hard life.

Abdulla: I agree.

Grandma: It was. If he was lucky he came home with pearls that he could sell, in order to get some money.

Qatar History – Food – Reader’s Theater

Roles:

Maryam Grandma Grandpa Abdulaziz Hend

Maryam: Grandma, what are you making?

Grandma: I am making some machboos, do you want to help?

Abdulaziz: Why don’t you just get it from a restaurant?

Grandma: It is so much better homemade, don’t you agree?

Grandpa: I think that your grandma’s machboos is the best.

Grandma: Try my machboos when I am done, and tell me what you think.

Hend: Sure.

Grandma: So will you help me?

Abdulaziz: Ok.

Maryam: Alright.

Hend: Grandma, what kinds of food did your mom make, when you were a girl?

Grandma: Well, when I was a little girl, things were not the way they were today, because we had to use the foods that we could find, grow or catch in Qatar.

Maryam: Did you eat things like kiwis and Galaxy bars and plums?

Abdulaziz: Kiwis and plums come from far away and I don’t think they had Galaxy bars back then.

Grandpa: These days, we get fresh food from all over the world, but we didn’t fifty years ago.

Grandma: We ate a lot of rice, which came dry from other countries. We also ate a lot of fish, because we lived near the sea and we sometimes drank camel milk.

Hend: What about water?

Grandpa: Of course we could not drink water from the sea, so we would drink water from the wells.

Abdulaziz: Did you grow any fruits and vegetables?

Grandma: We ate a lot of dates.

Maryam: Did you drink anything other than milk and water?

Grandpa: My parents sometimes drank coffee and tea, which would come to Qatar by people who brought it on boats. A lot of the time, we would also share our food and drink with our neighbors.

Abdulaziz: Wow!

Maryam: Is the machboos done?

Grandma: All done! Do you like it?

Abdulaziz: It’s delicious!

Maryam: Yum!

Hend: This is fantastic!

Qatar History – Bedouin Life – Reader’s Theater

Roles:

Abdulrahman Grandma Grandpa Dhabya

Abdulrahman: Grandma, how did you live when you were growing up?

Grandma: I lived with my tribe in tents, and we used camels to get from place to place.

Dhabya: Did you buy your tent from Lulu?

Grandpa: Of course not! Women made the tents out of goat hair. When we had to go to a new place, we would pack up our tents and use our camels.

Abdulrahman: Did you keep goats?

Grandma: Many of us did, yes.

Dhabya: What did people do to get food and money?

Grandpa: My father was a pearl diver, but some people were farmers and some fishermen. We stayed in different places for short amounts of time. If we needed food, we stayed where we knew we could get food.

Abdulrahman: Sounds like a hard life.

Grandma: In some ways it was, but we did what we had to, to keep living. We were also closer to our neighbors than many people are today.

Dhabya: What did your mom do?

Grandpa: My mother would take care of the house and tent, and clean and cook. This job was just as important as my father’s job.

Abdulrahman: Sounds like both your mom and dad had important jobs.

Grandpa: You’re right.

Qatar History – Food – Reader’s Theater

Roles:

Maryam Grandma Grandpa Abdulaziz

Maryam: Grandma, what are you making?

Grandma: I am making some machboos, do you want to help?

Abdulaziz: Why don’t you just get it from a restaurant?

Grandma: It is so much better homemade, don’t you agree?

Grandpa: I think that your grandma’s machboos is the best.

Grandma: Try my machboos when I am done, and tell me what you think.

Maryam: Sure.

Grandma: So will you both help me?

Abdulaziz: Ok.

Maryam: Alright.

Abdulaziz: Grandma, what kinds of food did your mom make, when you were a girl?

Grandma: Well, when I was a little girl, things were not the way they were today, because we had to use the foods that we could find, grow or catch in Qatar.

Maryam: Did you eat things like kiwis and Galaxy bars and plums?

Abdulaziz: Kiwis and plums come from far away and I don’t think they had Galaxy bars back then.

Grandpa: These days, we get fresh food from all over the world, but we didn’t fifty years ago.

Grandma: We ate a lot of rice, which came dry from other countries. We also ate a lot of fish, because we lived near the sea and we sometimes drank camel milk.

Maryam: What about water?

Grandpa: Of course we could not drink water from the sea, so we would drink water from the wells.

Abdulaziz: Did you grow any fruits and vegetables?

Grandma: We ate a lot of dates.

Maryam: Did you drink anything other than milk and water?

Grandpa: My parents sometimes drank coffee and tea, which would come to Qatar by people who brought it on boats. A lot of the time, we would also share our food and drink with our neighbors.

Abdulaziz: Wow!

Maryam: Is the machboos done?

Grandma: All done! Do you like it?

Abdulaziz: It’s delicious!

Maryam: Yum!