Esl worksheet

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ESL worksheet
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Where is Uzbekistan situated? What kind of people live there? Read below to 
find out.
Uzbekistan is one of the “stan” countries situated in Central Asia. It borders with
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Why do they all end
with “stan”? “Stan” or “istan” means country or land. It is somewhat like some European
countries ending with “land”: Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland. 
Uzbekistan is the one of the two doubly land-locked countries in the world (along with 
Liechtenstein), which means it has no direct access to any oceans, and even none of its 
neighbours have oceanic borders. 
Its population is a little more that 32 million people, which is 6 times as much as the
population of Scotland. Uzbekistan covers an area of about 448 thousand square 
kilometers, which is about the same size of Great Britain.
 
Weather
People of Uzbekistan have opportunity to enjoy all four seasons of nature. It is pretty 
cold in winter - temperatures often go below freezing point and snow is a common 
occurrence. It starts to become hotter from March, it rains frequently and in May 
the summer comes. Summer is hot and quite long. It lasts approximately until September.
40 C temperature is not considered a surprise. 
Maybe because of this fact, the national anthem of Uzbekistan begins with the words 
“Serquyosh, hur o’lkam” (My sunny and free country). And in September comes the 
autumn, which has similar weather to Spring. 
Sports
The most popular sport is football. People watch it, play it and discuss it all the time. 
Also, boys are usually trained to some martial art or weightlifting from early ages, 
because in Uzbek culture men should be strong.
Food
Uzbek cuisine includes a wide range of meals. But, if you ask any Uzbek “What is your 
favourite food?”, most probably you will get answer “Palov, of course”. Palov is liked very 
much and eaten at almost every significant event. Palov is pilaf, which is cooked by many 
Eastern nations. But, Uzbek version does have some differences and hardly any other 
nation consumes it so much. In some regions, especially in Ferghana valley, people invite 
to their wedding parties about 400-500 guests and give away palov freely. It means that 
about 70-80 kilogramms of rice is cooked. The most interesting part is that this “Palov 
ceremony” takes place right after the sunrise so that people can go to their jobs after the 
ceremony.
Generally speaking, many Uzbeks consider themselves “foodies”. They eat with pleasure 
and a lot of people can cook.
Worksheet created by Muzaffar Habibullayev

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