46
My childhood
Textbook: Part 3, pp. 37–40
GoalKnow the signs of a memoir text; compare the childhoods of different generations.
New words
memory · xotirageneration · avlodthe past · o‘tmishsimple · sodda
Explanation
In a memoir text the author tells, in the first person, events he or she has seen and lived through. The textbook gives the memoir “Mening bolaligim” (My childhood) by the well-known writer Said Ahmad. We do not repeat it; we read our own text. When reading a memoir we compare the past and the present: what has changed, and what has not?
Worked examples
“Grandfather’s childhood”. My grandfather remembers his childhood with pleasure. In those days there was no television; children played on the street with a rag ball. Grandfather walked two kilometres to school. After lessons he helped his father in the field. Grandfather says: “We had few things, but we were all kind to one another.” I have learned to be grateful, as grandfather is, for the books in my hands.
Comparison: then – rag ball, walking to school; now – football, bus.
Class activity
“Talk of generations”: children ask a family elder 3 questions about their childhood and share in class.
Practice
1
What did children play with in grandfather’s childhood?
A rag ball
2
How did grandfather go to school?
On foot, two kilometres
3
What did grandfather do after lessons?
Helped his father in the field.
4
What does grandfather remember well?
That everyone was kind to one another
5
From which person is a memoir told?
The first person (“I”)