Pinata Art

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

king	spread	sell/sold/sold
ninja	originally	complicated
piece	technique	teach/taught/taught
turtle	left behind	began/begun/begun
trash	appreciate	leave/left/left (2)
decide	artisan	break/broke/broken (2)
hero	design	hit/hit/hit (2)
hurt	unique	throw/threw/thrown (2)
funny	practically	at the end of the day
smash	destroy	know/knew/known
joy	oh well	say/said/said
planet	as long as	sell/sold/sold
fun		character (2)

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Peppa. Peppa Pig. Spiderman. Superman. The Lion King . . . that sold a lot. Or the Ninja Turtles.

The Pinata King

We are a family of pinateros and have been doing it for over fifty years. Originally it was just us. But now practically the whole town are artisans, doing the same job.

It started with one family. Then that family taught another. And the technique began to spread.

With every pinata you make, a part of you is left behind because every piece is unique.

There are a lot of people who appreciate the work so much, they decide not to break it. Many do appreciate the art . . . appreciate the character . . . appreciate their hero . . . and they don’t want to hit their hero.

It’s complicated.

You do start to ask the question, why break something so beautiful?

But sometimes there are some who would truly feel hurt to see a pinata just thrown in the trash.

But at the end of the day, you know what they’re designed for. You know they’ll get smashed up and destroyed.

So you just have to say, ‘oh well.’

It’s beautiful work, because it’s all for the children — you sell joy to the children.

This is just the beginning. As long as there are kids on this planet, there will be pinatas, there will be parties and there will be fun.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

5:00 am (Five o’clock am, five am). The pinata artists make only three types of pinatas. True or false?

6:30 am (Six-thirty am). Are the pinatas made in a big factory with thousands of workers?

8:15 am (Eight-fifteen am). Is this a family-run business?

10:45 am (Ten-forty-five). Only one family makes pinatas in the town. Is this right or wrong?

12:00 (Twelve noon). Did everyone learn to make pinatas from a technical college?

13:34, 1:34 pm (Thirteen-thirty-four, One-thirty-four pm). All the pinatas that they sell are hit and broken up. Is this correct or incorrect? Why are some pinatas saved?

15:07, 3:07 pm(Fifteen-o-seven, Three-o-seven pm).

16:28, 4:28 pm (Sixteen-hundred twenty-eight, Four-twenty-eight pm). Are the pinatas made primarily (mainly) as decorations or works of art for people’s homes?

 

17:01, 5:01 pm Seventeen-o-one, Five-o-one pm). I have seen pinatas in stores and celebrations in my city. Yes or no?

18:43, 6:43 pm (Eighteen-forty-three, Six-forty-three pm). Do you have a similar custom? How do children celebrate birthdays and other parties and festivals?

19:16, 7:16 pm (Nineteen-sixteen, Seven-sixteen pm). Could pinatas become popular in your country?

20:05, 8:05 pm (Twenty-o-five, Eight-o-five pm). Are there festival or decorative crafts in your city?

21:59, 9:59 pm (Twenty-one-fifty-nine, Nine-fifty-nine, pm). What sort of gifts or presents would you like in a pinata?

12:00 (Twelve Midnight). What might happen in the future?