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Kabaddi

Learn English with this kabaddi English lesson

Date: Oct 23 2018

Themes: Sports

Grammar: To, Too & Two

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Intro

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how-to
tag

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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If you grew up in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Maldives, you’ve probably heard of kabaddi. In fact, the game is popular through south and southeast Asia, and has reached areas of Japan and Iran as well. But for the rest of the world, this ancient game is just now making news. People are finally learning about what children and adults alike have enjoyed for thousands of years.

To play kabaddi, you must have stamina. Not only must you be quick and strong, but you must be able to hold your breath for as long as two minutes. To prove that you’re not breathing, kabaddi players must say the name of the game over and over. It’s an impressive and sophisticated game of tag that people who are new to the sport find fascinating. Will kabaddi spread across the world?

Gary and Marni are talking about the rules and history of kabaddi. Find out just how little they understand in this English lesson about the sport!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Gary

Marni

Gary: Kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi. I can’t do it much longer.

Marni: Oh my gosh. So, this new sport.

Gary: Holy cow.

Marni: Well, not such a new sport. But to us in the US, it’s fascinating. So, it’s…

Gary: Kabaddi.

Marni: Kabaddi. It originated in India, sounds like.

Gary: It’s 4,000 years old.

Marni: They say Buddha… Siddhartha himself played it, so I’m fascinated.

Gary: What’s impressive to me about this game… or sport, I should say… is the ability to hold your breath for over two minutes and say “kabaddi” the whole time.

Marni: Yeah. I was trying to think of a sport where you say the name of it as you’re playing it, and I couldn’t really think of one. And yeah, it requires you to hold your breath while you’re playing it, and that’s part of the person who’s “it”... having that stamina so they can go and tag somebody from the other team and safely get back.

Gary: So they’re not tackled and lose a point, or it’s some sort of…

Marni: Yeah. That’s what it appears to be to me, but there’s probably a lot more to it that we’re just not seeing.

Gary: I couldn’t agree with you more.

Marni: Yeah.

Gary: I’d like to actually see a how-to.

Marni: Yes.

Gary: I might have to go look that up.

Marni: Fascinating! Yeah, let’s do it.

Gary: Yeah.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Marni and Gary and talking about a new sport called kabaddi. Actually, the sport isn’t new in India where it was invented, but it’s definitely new to Gary and Marni. They just heard about this popular game and they find the rules quite fascinating. Gary, especially, is amazed that kabaddi players can hold their breath for two minutes. Not only that, but they do it while saying “kabaddi” over and over!

It’s obvious from their conversation that Marni and Gary don’t quite understand the rules of kabaddi. They know some, but not others, and they know that there’s more to the game than they realize. Gary tells Marni that he’d like to read more about kabaddi to understand it better. She agrees that it would be a good idea.

Did you grow up playing kabaddi? Is it difficult or easy to learn? Can anyone play kabaddi?

Comments

rainydayfitnes

Bangladesh

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Lalia

China

Kabaddi? Actually I’ve no idea about what it is when I first met this word. It requires the players’ stamina, I think, it’s very exciting and challengeable.

abaan

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

We used to play it as a local and traditional game when we were small . But instead of repeating word “kabaddi” we used to say “zooooo…..” to hold our breath. This is origionally an Iranian game. But unfortunately I
ndians registered it as their own national game.

ibr20

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

every body should know that kabedi was originated in iran but first time has been registered as a national game by indians. iranian are playing this game for thouthands of years and you must know that thats indians that were effected by iranians in different areas.even thier language was effected by iranian language in few centuries ago and there are many persion words in indian language right now.

S&W

China

It’s my first time to know Kabaddi and i specially found an vedio to learn how to paly it .it’s kind of like the game “hawk and chicken”.

Jobee

China

what is kabaddi??? I don’t understand it. I never heard of it. maybe I should search it over the internet

kenlin16

Taiwan

To keep saying kabaddi the whole time for 2 mins is good for exercising one’s breathing . It can increase one’s lung capacity and a good lung capacity is good for respiration. For those who has asthma, this technique might help them improve their breathing problem.

mehdimansiz

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Iran has one of the best kabaddi teams of the world

Munawar Ahmad

Pakistan

This game makes a man bodily strong and brave

fortuna87

Russian Federation

I have never heard about that but it seems quite exciting…

Jeana

Russian Federation

They don’t play this game in Russia. But something makes me think it is a kind of a loss cos the game seems to be nice to me. You can exercise several things at once: a/ keep the kids busy doing some common thing which allows to be noisy for the good reson;

b/ experience your own stamina;

c/ what a lovely exercise for your articulatory organs and lungs!

Time to enjoy it! KabaddiKabaddiKabaddiKabaddiKabaddiKabaddiKabaddi

julioms23

Spain

I don’t understan what is the goal of the game.

vik32

India

yes it is very popular in india. since birth i have been watching & playing this game and loving it. you need to have lot of stamina for this game as you have to hold your breath for so long. kabadi kabadi kabadi kabadi kabadi !!