Badminton | History & Facts

Exercise 1 : Historic background of badminton

Do you know how badminton came about? It evolved from a 5th century Chinese game that involved kicking a shuttle. A later version of the sport was played in ancient Greece and India with rackets.

British army officers brought a revised type of the game back to Britain from India in the mid-19th century. In 1873, the Duke of Beaufort introduced the game to royalty at his country estate, Badminton House, and the sport became known as badminton. Four years later, the Bath Badminton Club was formed and the game played by its members formed the basis for the game played today. Badminton soon spread beyond Britain to the rest of Europe and to countries around the world. It became especially popular in Asia and North America, where the game was often played. The only major change through the years was in the playing equipment. Lightweight rackets made of aluminium, boron, graphite and titanium gradually replaced wooden ones.

Badminton is played by two or four players. The lightweight rackets are used to hit the shuttlecock. It travels back and forth over a net. The objective of the game is to keep it in the air and to prevent it from hitting the ground. Badminton requires speed, strength and agility. In addition, stamina is important. Some people play badminton outdoors on a level grassy area or beach. However, tournament-level badminton is played indoors on a specially marked court.

Comments

Biography of Albert Einstein

Exercise 2 : Biography of Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. He is still regarded as one of the greatest scientific and mathematical geniuses in history. Einstein began schooling in Munich around 1886. As well as violin lessons, which he took from age six to thirteen, he also had religious classes at home where he was taught Judaism. Two years later, he entered an educational institution. He loved to stud y Mathematics as he had a passion for the subject. Einstein attended secondary school at Aarau, before moving to Zurich where he studied Mathematics and Physics for four years. He graduated in 1900 as a teacher in these subjects. After temporary teaching positions , he joined the patent office in Bern as a technical expert. Einstein worked in this patent office from 1902 to 1909, holding a temporary post when he was first employed . However, by 1904 the position was made permanent . ...

Wayang Kulit | Traditional Balinese Shadow Puppets

Exercise 5: The Balinese Puppeteer Bali is an island of Indonesia visited by throngs of holidaymakers. The Balinese shadow playing otherwise known as wayang kulit , is a good portrayal of Bali’s rich culture. The man behind the wayang kulit is more than a mere puppeteer controlling the puppets which cast the shadows depicting the characters and story. He also needs skills that are difficult to come by today. The puppeteer, or dalang has to be dexterous with his fingers , as all ten of them are put to use to control his intricately decorated leather puppets. He has to cause them to spring at each other, give gestures or stand at a corner - whatever the story demands. A good dealing must have a good knowledge of Balinese folk stories to draw a crowd. Dalangs who hardly know of an appealing story would not be able to make much of a living as every member of the audience is required to pay to watch the performanc...

Food Shortage in Ethiopia

Exercise 6: Adapted from 'Drought Leaves Ethiopia Facing Food Crisis' 12th Feb 2016 by Sean Banville Several international charities have issued a warning about a looming humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. The North African country has been hit by its worst drought in 50 years. It is widely expected that emergency food aid for 10 million Ethiopians will run out unless more funds can be raised. John Graham, the head of the charity Save the Children said, "The international community has less than three weeks to raise $245 million to fund the charity's emergency food aid programme to prevent a likely increase in severe malnutrition cases." The money will go towards supplying food for the starving Ethiopians. He added, "If the funds do not come in time, there will be a critical shortage in the food supply and many Ethiopians will die from hunger ." Ethiopia, with a population of over 102 million, is Africa's secon...

Tools for Primary Learning

Search This Blog