These are scripts that were written about Qatar's past, from the perspective of children talking to their grandparents.

1. Qatar History – Games – Reader’s Theater
Roles:
Omar Grandma Grandpa Noora
Omar: Grandma, whatwas it like in Qatar when you were a girl?
Grandma: Well, when I was a girl, we did not have TVs, cell phones, cars, ipads or computers.
Noora: How did you live, not having thosethings?
Grandpa: We played our own games like dahouri wherewechased a hoop on a wire and taq
taqieh, where wewould be in a circle, someonewould drop an object behind us, and then we
would have to chase them.
Noora: Did you play any other games?
Grandma: There weremany other games we played, often with stones, seeds or other things
around us. Sometimes my father played a board game called dama.
Omar: Can you teach someof these games to us sometime.
Grandma: Of course.
Omar: Didn’t you get hot, playing all thosegames outside?
Grandpa: Yes, but we were having so much fun that usually we didn’t mind.
Noora: And I bet you had air conditioning, right?
Grandma: In old Qatar we did not have air conditioning. Many of us lived in tents. In the tents
it was cooler than living outside.
Noora: Wow grandma, thanks for telling us all about the games you played in old Qatar.
Omar: Yeah, thank you grandma.

2. Qatar History – Jobs – Reader’s Theater
Roles:
Abdulla Jassim Shahed Grandpa
Jassim:Grandfather, whatkind of job did your father do in Qatar, in the past?
Grandpa: In Qatar, in the past, many people were pearl divers or fishermen.
Shahed: Wow, whatdid the pearl divers do?
Grandma: My father was also a pearl diver. He would go out on a dhow boat, and sometimes
be gone for months at a time.
Shahed: Wow!How did he get the pearls?
Grandpa: He would dive into the water, and get oysters. Then he would bring them back and
people on the boat would open them with a special knife.
Abdulla: Did your father haveto hold his breath?
Grandpa: He would use a special turtle shell thing in his nose, to stop the water fromcoming
in.
Jassim:Wasn’tit hard, not having your father around?
Grandma: Yes, it was hard. He would dive deep into the ocean, without any air, hoping to find
some pearls.
Shahed: What did he drink and eat?
Grandpa: He ate fish. He drank water that was on the boat. He couldn’tdrink the water from
the ocean, so sometimes he could not take a bath, becauseit was more important to have
water to drink.
Shahed: That sounds like a hard life.
Abdulla:I agree.
Grandma: Itwas. If hewas lucky he came home with pearls that he could sell, in order to get
some money.

3. Qatar History – Food – Reader’s Theater
Roles:
Maryam Grandma Grandpa Abdulaziz Hend
Maryam: Grandma, whatare you making?
Grandma: I am making some machboos, do you want to help?
Abdulaziz: Why don’tyou justget it from a restaurant?
Grandma: Itis so much better homemade, don’t you agree?
Grandpa: I think that your grandma’s machboos is thebest.
Grandma: Try my machboos when I am done, and tell me whatyou think.
Hend: Sure.
Grandma: So will you help me?
Abdulaziz: Ok.
Maryam: Alright.
Hend: Grandma, whatkinds of food did your mom make, when you were a girl?
Grandma: Well, when I was a little girl, things were not the way they were today, becausewe
had to use the foods that wecould find, grow or catch in Qatar.
Maryam: Did you eat things like kiwis and Galaxy bars and plums?
Abdulaziz: Kiwis and plums come from far away and I don’tthink they had Galaxy bars back
then.
Grandpa: These days, we get fresh food fromall over the world, but we didn’t fifty years ago.
Grandma: We ate a lot of rice, which came dry fromother countries. We also ate a lot of fish,
because welived near the sea and we sometimes drank camel milk.
Hend: Whatabout water?
Grandpa: Of coursewecould not drink water fromthe sea, so we would drink water fromthe
wells.
Abdulaziz: Did you grow any fruits and vegetables?

4. Grandma: We ate a lot of dates.
Maryam: Did you drink anything other than milk and water?
Grandpa: My parents sometimes drank coffee and tea, which would come to Qatar by people
who broughtit on boats. A lot of the time, we would also share our food and drink with our
neighbors.
Abdulaziz: Wow!
Maryam: Is the machboos done?
Grandma: All done! Do you like it?
Abdulaziz: It’s delicious!
Maryam: Yum!
Hend: This is fantastic!

5. Qatar History – Bedouin Life – Reader’s Theater
Roles:
Abdulrahman Grandma Grandpa Dhabya
Abdulrahman: Grandma, how did you live when you were growing up?
Grandma: I lived with my tribe in tents, and we used camels to get fromplace to place.
Dhabya: Did you buy your tent fromLulu?
Grandpa: Of coursenot! Women made the tents out of goat hair. When we had to go to a new
place, we would pack up our tents and useour camels.
Abdulrahman: Did you keep goats?
Grandma: Many of us did, yes.
Dhabya: What did people do to get food and money?
Grandpa: My father was a pearl diver, but some people were farmers and some fishermen.
We stayed in different places for shortamounts of time. If we needed food, we stayed where
we knew we could get food.
Abdulrahman: Sounds like a hard life.
Grandma: In someways it was, but wedid whatwe had to, to keep living. We were also closer
to our neighbors than many people are today.
Dhabya: What did your mom do?
Grandpa: My mother would take care of the houseand tent, and clean and cook. This job was
justas importantas my father’s job.
Abdulrahman: Sounds like both your momand dad had important jobs.
Grandpa: You’re right.

6. Qatar History – Food – Reader’s Theater
Roles:
Maryam Grandma Grandpa Abdulaziz
Maryam: Grandma, whatare you making?
Grandma: I am making some machboos, do you want to help?
Abdulaziz: Why don’tyou justget it from a restaurant?
Grandma: Itis so much better homemade, don’t you agree?
Grandpa: I think that your grandma’s machboos is thebest.
Grandma: Try my machboos when I am done, and tell me whatyou think.
Maryam: Sure.
Grandma: So will you both help me?
Abdulaziz: Ok.
Maryam: Alright.
Abdulaziz: Grandma, whatkinds of food did your mom make, when you werea girl?
Grandma: Well, when I was a little girl, things were not the way they were today, becausewe
had to use the foods that wecould find, grow or catch in Qatar.
Maryam: Did you eat things like kiwis and Galaxy bars and plums?
Abdulaziz: Kiwis and plums come from far away and I don’tthink they had Galaxy bars back
then.
Grandpa: These days, we get fresh food fromall over the world, but we didn’t fifty years ago.
Grandma: We ate a lot of rice, which came dry fromother countries. We also ate a lot of fish,
because welived near the sea and we sometimes drank camel milk.
Maryam: What about water?
Grandpa: Of coursewecould not drink water fromthe sea, so we would drink water fromthe
wells.
Abdulaziz: Did you grow any fruits and vegetables?

7. Grandma: We ate a lot of dates.
Maryam: Did you drink anything other than milk and water?
Grandpa: My parents sometimes drank coffee and tea, which would come to Qatar by people
who broughtit on boats. A lot of the time, we would also share our food and drink with our
neighbors.
Abdulaziz: Wow!
Maryam: Is the machboos done?
Grandma: All done! Do you like it?
Abdulaziz: It’s delicious!
Maryam: Yum!