Title of Activity: ‘Adem’s Baba Embarrassed Him’
Resources:
‘Adem’s Baba Embarrassed Him’ story (online)
Greeting Gestures starter activity
Greeting Gestures review clip
Main activities sheet All – Task 1 & 2
Main activities sheet Some – Task 1 & 2 + Extension Task 3
‘World Stories: Turkey’ PowerPoint
Learning aims:
Learning objectives:
To understand how differences between cultures Create a role-play between two people to discuss feelings
can cause embarrassment
Write a letter discussing cultural differences
Curriculum References:
En1:1.2b,e.11a
PSHE:1d.4a,b
Introducing the activity: 10 min
Read the story ‘Adem’s Baba Embarrassed Him’ (see hyperlink on Slide 1). There are ‘thinking points’ on the
presentation that can be used to guide the children’s responses.
Starter Activity: 10 min
A large part of the story deals with how Adem’s Baba greets him in public. The starter activity looks at various
greetings from around the world in a fun ‘find a partner’ game.
Hand out greetings squares.
After children have found their partners review the different greetings by having various pairs demonstrate, OR
by showing the greetings slideshow (movie).
Main Activity:
Task 1: Best Friends (Role-playing) 15 min
Children will work in pairs and create a short conversation between two characters: Adem and Ben. The aim of
the task is for them to discuss how Adem felt about his Baba embarrassing him, and for Ben to suggest some
helpful ideas for how Adem could confront his Baba in a way that would not hurt his feelings.
Depending on time and attitude of the class, it might be of benefit to have a few role-plays shown to the class.
The other pupils could then respond to what they have seen and heard, even asking the pupils performing
questions ‘in role’.
Task 2: Dear Cousin… (Letter writing) 15 min
In this task pupils will write a letter from Adem to his cousin in Turkey. It is intended that they explore the
difficulties Adem had with the Turkish custom of being affectionate in public.
Questions to get pupils started could include:
Would his Turkish cousin have similar problems with these customs?
Or would he/she find some British traditions strange?
Extension Task 3: A Parent’s Conversation (Role-playing) 10 min
This exercise looks at the issues from Baba’s point of view, and also tries to encourage the children to think of
the mum’s point of view as well (although she is not really mentioned in the story).
Pupils who attempt this task should be given chance to review the section of the story where Baba’s feelings are
hurt and how he reacts.
Differentiation:
All:
Worksheet with extra guidance – Tasks 1 & 2
Some: Worksheet with less specific guidance – Tasks 1, 2 and the extension task.
Concluding the Session: 5 min
Turkish vocab
This short plenary can be used to review a few Turkish words and point out to pupils that although different
words are used, there are similarities in both cultures. i.e. saying ‘Merhaba’ is just like saying ‘Hello’.
In a similar way, the embarrassing situation that Adem deals with is one that many children might face across
different cultures; as children grow up it can be hard to make a transition from being a child to being ‘more grown
up’.