Lesson: Change in Pastimes in Bangladesh

A. Survey Results

Tiya and Anusha decided to make a survey on students’ pastimes in their class. After the survey, they presented their findings in a chart. Look at the chart and read how they explain their findings.

Pastime Habits of Students (Classes 5-6 & 9-10)

| Pastime Activity | Classes 9-10 | Classes 5-6 | |--------------------------------------|-------------|-------------| | Playing games and sports | 22.3% | 9.2% | | Watching television | 17.2% | 31.2% | | Chatting with friends | 13.7% | 6.7% | | Reading books or magazines | 12.9% | 11.7% | | Gardening | 10.7% | 6.1% | | Attending social programs | 9.1% | 7.8% | | Playing games on computers | 8.2% | 20.9% | | Others | 5.9% | 6.4% |

Tiya: Hello everyone! My name is Tiya. My friend, Anusha, and I are going to do a presentation on the pastime habits of Classes 9 and 10 students in our school. There are 120 students—60 in Class 9 and 60 in Class 10. The classes have gender equity. Each class has 30 male and 30 female students.

The survey shows that 22.3 percent of students in Classes 9-10 like games and sports as their most favorite pastime, which is the 4th option given by Classes 5-6 students. Watching television is the second choice (17.2%) by the first group in contrast to 31.2% of the second group. It is noteworthy that watching television is the first choice of the second group.

A considerable number (13.7%) of 9-10 students like to chat with their friends and thus it becomes the third popular choice in the chart while this becomes one of the less important choices by the younger kids. Only 6.7% of the kids take it as their first priority.

It's interesting that both groups like reading books. 12.9% of students of Classes 9-10 take it as their favorite pastime. The number is 11.7% for Classes 5-6 students.

Besides, gardening is voted (10.7% of students) to be the 5th preference by the grown-up group, though it is not that much liked by the younger group. Only 6.1% of the young kids are involved in it.

It is interesting that though the higher number of students in Classes 9-10 prefer attending social programs (9.1%) than students of Classes 5-6 (7.8%), yet as a choice it is preferred by the latter group. It is the 5th choice for them while to the older group it is the 6th.

Young kids have a greater fascination with playing games on computers (20.9% like it as their first choice). The chart shows that as the kids grow up, they lose their passion for computer games. According to the chart, the ratio declines to 8.2% from 20.9% when the kids are students of Classes 9-10.

Finally, it can be said that the influence of television has an impact on both the groups, but the more students grow up, the more they opt for fields/gym.

Questions

1. What is the gender distribution of the survey participants?
2. What are the survey findings regarding watching television?
3. Which age group is more interested in socializing with others?
4. According to the chart, how do the kids change their pastimes when they are grown up? What changes does the chart for Classes 9-10 reflect?