Break the paragraph into short sections, practise reading it. Prepare model reading of the passage

I was fifteen. He was nineteen and already doing well. He was a tailor like his father and worked with him. One day my grandmother came and called me she took me to one side and said,

‘Zeina, you’re going to marry Sobhi.’

‘But, Setti, how do I marry him?’ I asked.

He was my cousin: the son of my dead mother’s sister, but I knew nothing of marriage.

‘You’ll be his wife and he’ll be your husband and you’ll serve him and do what he tells you.’

I started to cry.

‘Will I have to leave you, Setti?’

The old woman took me in her arms.

‘No, no, you’ll have your own room in the house and I’ll always be with you. You’re a big girl now. You can cook and clean and look after a man and he’s your cousin, child, he’s not a stranger.’

Well… I went out to the other girls in the yard but my heart was full of my new importance. I didn’t say anything but in a few hours everyone knew anyway and Sobhi stopped coming to our part of the house. From the time Setti told me, I only saw him again on the wedding night.

Learn the poem:

Sledging by Starlight

By Alexander Reid

Good-bye to the days of the bicycle

The days that are blue and are gold.

And welcome the nights of the icicle

And stars sharpened bright by the cold.

To bathe I warm seas in bright summer

Is pleasant enough in a way.

But what can compare with the rush through the air

As you dash down a hill on a sleigh.

One push – and you’re off, you’re flying!

Hold tight! How the starts stream away!

Oh what can compare with the rush through the air

As you dash down a hill on a sleigh.