Oud Makers

WORKSHEET

1. Suggested Use 

Cultural heritage and traditions focus, followed by closed practice B1+-level vocabulary and grammar activities.

2. Suggested Activities 

A. Project-based learning
Students explore the connection between music, identity, and tradition. After watching the video, they research or discuss a musical instrument or sound that represents their culture or country and how they would explain it to people who don’t know about it. They work with a partner and prepare a short podcast interview script to help listeners find out more information about the instrument. 

B. Mediation task: Processing text 
Write the following words from the video on the board, music, inherit, instrument, generation, factory, tradition. Put students into groups to reconstruct the video they watched using the words. Then, have students watch the video again to confirm their answers or adapt their ideas. 

C. Pronunciation task: Connected sounds
Have students identify verbs that end in consonant sounds followed by words that begin with vowel sounds, e.g. passed on, part of, hundreds of ouds. Ask students what they hear (that the consonant passes onto the vowel sound and connects). Have students read the phrases in context aloud from the script to practise connected speech. 

3. Vocabulary 

Nationalities

• Persian

• Greek

• Somali

• Arabic

Phrasal verbs and expressions

• pass on

• follow suit 

• divide into 

• pass from

Other 

• craft

• workshop

• factory

• produce

• skill

• tradition

• inherit

• profession

• generation

• connection

• skilled 

• heritage

4. Grammar

Tenses:
(present simple) The oud is a six-stringed musical instrument; The Azooz family makes ouds for many countries (present perfect) My children have also learned the profession; I have been in the business for 35 years; (past simple) It began with the grandfather…

Relative clauses:
… who started the craft …; a factory that produces hundreds of ouds every month …; a connection that unites generations …

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TRANSCRIPT
Oud Makers

NARRATOR:
The oud is a six-stringed musical instrument. It has a long history, and appears in stone carvings that are more than 2,000 years old. It is an important part of Arabic music, but is also played in Persian, Greek, and Somali traditions. In Egypt, one family has been making ouds for almost a century. It began with the grandfather, who started the craft, and passed it on to his children.

SOUNDBITE - Khaled Azooz:
"I inherited the job from my father and grandfather. My grandfather was an oud maker and then my father and uncles followed suit. The profession is passed from one generation to another in our family."

NARRATOR:
Khaled Azooz made his first oud when he was just 15 years old. By the time he was 22, he had his own workshop. Now, like his father before him, he has chosen to teach his own children the craft.

SOUNDBITE - Khaled Azooz:
"My children have also learned the profession and they are supposed to continue after me. I am 50 years old now, so I have been in the business for 35 years. My children know this profession next to their education, so the Azooz family will keep the business for generations to come."

NARRATOR:
Oud-making takes patience and skill. Today, Khaled runs a factory that produces hundreds of ouds every month, sending them to 12 countries. The work is divided into different rooms, each for a special step of making the instrument. For the Azooz family, making ouds is more than a job. It is a tradition, a choice, and a connection that unites generations.