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Our Stubborn Dad

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My two brothers and I sat and watched him as he slowly scraped his plate clean. ... Dad smiled and put his arms around us all and said, 'If you can guess what is ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Our Stubborn Dad


1
Our Stubborn Dad
  • Our
  • Stubborn
  • Dad
  • by Simon Jenkins

2
Published by U.N.
  • Our
  • Stubborn
  • Dad
  • by Simon Jenkins
  • Illustrated by Roza Djangaracheva
  • Tolerance Education Series Editor Simon Jenkins
  • This book has been approved for use in schools by
    the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of
    the Kyrgyz Republic
  • Published by the
  • UNITED NATIONS
  • HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
  • in the Kyrgyz Republic
  • 1997

3
Last Year
  • Last year when Dad went to Bishkek to sell our
    harvest of watermelons he came home with presents
    for us. There was one beautiful box with English
    writing on it. He said it was special and that he
    would open it later. We couldn't see the sides of
    the box as it was in his bag. "Show us now! Dad!"
    we all pleaded. "Not now. I will show it to you
    later," Dad answered. "Just tell us what it is,"
    my brother replied. "Well it is something very
    interesting," Dad replied, "but you will know
    after dinner, okay?" "Okay!" we all sighed. and
    we started preparing the table.

4
Can we see what is in the box?
  • I couldn't wait. As soon as the last grain of
    rice was in my mouth I said, "Can we see what is
    in the box now?" Dad answered quietly, "No!
    Patience is a great virtue." My two brothers and
    I sat and watched him as he slowly scraped his
    plate clean. We knew that Dad was teasing us, but
    we had to go along with the game. "I want to lie
    down for a while, I am so tired," said Dad. My
    little brother sang outs "But Dad, we are
    waiting!" Dad replied. "What for?" We all begged,
    "To see what is in the box!!! Please Dad!!
    Please!"

5
Dad Smiled
  • Dad smiled and put his arms around us all and
    said, "If you can guess what is inside I will
    show you, and if not then I won't." I was the
    oldest so he asked me to guess first. "I think it
    is a new samovar from America!" I said. Dad
    laughed and then asked my brother. He answered,
    "I guess that it is a pair of roller skates!" Our
    last born brother then said, "I think it is a toy
    truck for me." My father replied, "Perhaps next
    time." He then said, "Nobody guessed correctly,
    but I am going to show you anyway!" Dad pulled
    the box slowly out of the bag. On the side of the
    box I could see a colourful picture of a tape
    recorder. I sang out and clapped my hands as I
    was so happy.

6
Tape
  • Dad then opened the box and took out the shiny
    black tape He then put the batteries and a
    cassette tape in and pressed button. The music
    was so loud and clear. We danced around and sang
    with the music. Mum came in and sat next to Dad
    and laughed at us making tools of ourselves. We
    only had one tape so Dad kept turning it over and
    over until the batteries were flat

7
Batteries
  • Dad kept the tape recorder on a high shelf above
    the plates. He told us that we were not to touch
    it. We had that tape recorder for about nine
    months when one day Dad took it down and pressed
    the play button. Nothing happened except for a
    whirring noise inside. Dad was very annoyed and
    complained, "Well, it's broken now. One of you
    has been fooling around and wrecked it." We all
    said, "No, we haven't touched it." I added
    "Perhaps it needs new batteries." Dad growled,
    "No ! I bought new batteries. The problem is
    little fingers !"

8
Fix it
  • We remained silent. Dad had a screwdriver which
    he now used to take our precious tape recorder
    apart. Normally my brothers and I make ' great
    deal of noise, but we just sat quietly at the
    table and watched r All this time our father was
    mumbling about silly kids and how he would never
    buy us anything again. After about twenty minutes
    the table was covered with small shiny screws and
    we could see the inside of our tape recorder.

9
Broken
  • Suddenly, Dad held up a black rubber belt and
    said,
  • Look, this is what you have broken We looked at
    each other and said nothing. Dad shook his head
    slowly and then put the pieces back together and
    put the tape recorder on the shelf . He had left
    the broken rubber belt out and put it into an
    envelope beside the box. He turned to us and
    growled, "It's no good now!"

10
Crying
  • My little brother began to cry, so we took him
    outside. The tape recorder stayed on the shelf
    for the next three months. Occasionally Dad would
    take it down and listen to the radio part which
    still worked. Sometimes he would press the play
    button just hoping that would work. Of course, d
    didn't and then he would remind us how he thought
    we were to blame for breaking it

11
At school
  • After our Holidays our teacher asked if anybody
    could bring a tape recorder for our concert. I
    thought about ours sitting broken on the shelf.
  • At school I sit next to my friend Alina who lives
    at the other end of our village. The people there
    speak a different language.

12
Two tapes
  • After the teacher asked us for a tape recorder I
    told Alina about what happened to ours. She then
    told me that they has a similar thing happen in
    her family. Her father had bought a tape recorder
    about a year ago and one day it was left outside
    an it rained. After that it not work.

13
Idea
  • Alina then said, "I have an idea. If they are the
    same then
  • we might be able to take the rubber belt from our
    tape recorder and put it into yours. What do you
    think?" "Why not? Its a really great idea! !" I
    answered. We then planned how we would do it.
    After school,
  • Alina asked her father if she could have the
    broken tape recorder. He agreed and the next day
    Alina brought it to school. We asked the teacher
    if we could stay inside after the lessons. She
    said it was okay as long as we were
  • quiet. The teacher went out and then Alina took
    the tape recorder out of her bag and put it on
    our table.

14
Disappointed
  • I looked at it and sighed, "Oh no! They are not
    the same!" "Are you sure?" Alina asked, obviously
    disappointed. "Yes! I'm sure! What we do?" I
    replied. Alina sat and stroked her hair with her
    hand and then she turned and said. "Okay, so it
    is different, but perhaps this has a similar
    rubber belt that we can use. What do you think?
    Show we take it apart anyway?"
  • "Okay, let's do it," I answered smiling. For my
    part, I had taken the screwdriver and the
    envelope containing the broken rubber
  • belt from home.

15
New rubber
  • After taking out some screws, we removed the
    cover. We just stared for a minute at the inside
    of the tape recorder. I could see several rubber
    belts but none of them looked suitable. Suddenly,
    Alina cried out, "Look at that one under the
    others ! It looks as though it might be the
    same!" I unscrewed a few more parts until we
    could see it more clearly. Alina then carefully
    removed the belt and compared it to the broken
    rubber belt from my father's tape recorder. It
    was very similar. "I think this will be just
    right," I said, "but to be sure let's just check
    to see if there are any others that might tit."
    We looked, but we didn't find any so we
    reassembled the tape recorder. Alina put it back
    in her bag and I put the new rubber belt in my
    pocket. We then went outside and I ran back to my
    house.

16
That night
  • That night before Dad came home, I took the tape
    recorder from t shelf. I took it apart and then
    put the rubber belt from Alina's fathers tape
    recorder into ours. After reassembling it, I put
    in a cassette and pressed the play button.
    Nothing happened! I realized I had forgotten to
    put the batteries back in. I tried again and the
    tape recorder sang! ! ! Suddenly, my mother came
    in and said, "What did you do?"
  • "Mum, I have to tell you something." I replied.
    Then I explained what Alina and I had done. Mum,
    smiled and said, "Don't worry! it's okay. Dad
    will be so pleased that you managed to fix the
    tape recorder." I felt very relieved. The next
    day I took it to school in a plastic bag. The
    teacher, was very happy and that day we practised
    for the concert using the tape recorder.

17
Concert
  • A few days later all the parents came to the
    concert. My Dad and Alina's Dad sat at opposite
    sides of the room. When our Dads saw the tape
    recorder playing they said nothing, but
    afterwards I heard Dad saying to a friend,
    "Whoever bought that tape recorder has wasted
    their money. I bought one and it only lasted a
    couple of months and then it broke!" Alina's Dad
    who was quite close, heard this and then said,
    "He's right you know, I bought one almost exactly
    the same. Mine got a bit wet and never worked
    again!" Just then our teacher stood up and
    thanked the parents for coming and for allowing
    their children to bring the tape recorder to
    school. Alina and I smiled.
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