A Home in Jordan

 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

hill	show (2)	welcome
dine	oriental	salon (2)
plan	cabinet	couple (2)
guest	inside	multi-functional
piece	peace	handmade
sabre	sword	definitely
pearl	decorate	mother-of-pearl
prefer	depict	period (3)
barter	fountain	each other
stool	play (2)	buy/bought/bought
cover	sort of	courtyard
enjoy	souvenir	back then
hope	interior	sit/sat/sat

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Amman, Jordan

A city built on 19 hills

Welcome to Jordan. My name is Sita al-hadid.

First I’ll show you my house. This is the oriental salon, which is the dining and living room together. It’s pretty big because we always have a lot of guests.

We wanted the house to be multifunctional. That’s why we planned the interior this way.

These cabinets are 200 years old. But what’s inside is even older. This cup is more than 200 years old — it’s all handmade.

Every piece has a story: some of the sabres under here are 150 years old. Typically Arabic swords are decorated with mother-of-pearl.

This telephone is really old; definitely more than 100 years. It hasn’t been used in a long long time though. We prefer modern technology now.

This is an old painting; it depicts the Umayyad Period. It’s important to see how people lived back then, how they bartered with each other at the market, and played music together. One is carrying water on his head. Another is buying fruit.

This is the inner courtyard. It’s covered, and we use it as a sort of garden. After meals we come over here and have a coffee together. We set up stools around the fountain, so everyone can sit down and enjoy their coffee.

These photos are my souvenirs. The royal couple actually wrote me this card when they got married.

So now you’ve seen where I live. I enjoyed your visit, and I hope you liked it here Amman.

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Questions

Furniture, Decorations. Sita’s house is completely American in style. True or false?

Courtyard. Does she have many friends?

Cabinet. Are all her furniture and decorations new, and modern or old and antique?

Chairs, Stools. What are some items in Sita’s house?

Dining Room. In the old market, people only buy and sell things. Is this right or wrong?

Water Fountain. Does her family like to drink wine?

Tiles. Is Sita’s family poor, working-class, middle-class, upper-middle-class or rich?

 

Floor. Is your home old and traditional or new and modern?

Wall. Do many people visit your house? Do many guests visit you? Do you visit other people?

Ceiling. There are many antiques and old decorations in my house. Yes or no?

Roof. What sort of drinks are popular among people?

Basement, Cellar. Do you visit the open market? What do people do there?