Personal Cultural Project

Nazmun Shanta
EDU 280
My Culture
I was born and raised in Bangladesh. My whole family born in
Bangladesh. My parents were teachers. I have two brothers and one
sister. My first language is Bengali. I also know how to speak Urdu and
Hindi. I came to Las Vegas after I get married. I got my American
citizenship in 2014. My husband was also born in Bangladesh. My son is
10 years old now and he bornt in here. He knows how to speak English
very well. He also knows Bengali. I knew English from my country but I
was not that fluent. Now that I practice speaking English and becoming
fluent in that language.
 Traditions and Food
We usually eat Bengali food in my household. In my family, my mom used to cook Bengali traditional food.
Now I cook food the most. I cook rice, lentils (daal), fish curry, mixed vegetables, and many more. These
are our traditional food. Our traditional food also has Pitha (rice cakes), Bhorta (mashed vegetables and
fish), Biryani, Phuchka or Fucsa (Panipuri), Samosa, and shingara. Our traditional festival is Eid-ul-Fitr and
Eid-ul-Adha. Eid-ul-Fitr comes after 30 days of fasting. We celebrate those festivals with friends and family
and eat that traditional food together.
Customs

In my family, when someone leaves or arrives home we always say “Assalamu’alaikum” (a way to
say hi to them and ask blessings for them to God)to them. At our Mosque, we pray (Men and Women
separately) and give hugs to each other and shake hands. Women cover their heads when they pray.
We are very polite to our guests. One of our family customs is that when any guest comes to our
home, we have them sit and give them our traditional drinks called “Sherbet.” We have lots of
holidays in Bangladesh. I am going to mention some of them: Language Movement Day,
Independence Day of Bangladesh, Pahela Baishakh, Labour Day, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and
Victory day of Bangladesh. Our traditional dress for women is sarees and for Men is lungis.
Life Experience
When I was in Bangladesh, I have so many people including my parents to work together and help
each other. When I got sick, they took care of me. I didn’t have to do anything. We also had a maid to
help us with our home chores. But when I came here to Las Vegas, I didn’t have anyone to help me
doing the home chores. I didn’t know anyone except my husband. He was very busy with his work.
After 4 months, I got pregnant and got sick. I had to everything by myself which was very hard for
me. I learned how to take care of myself as well as my son. Sometimes I felt very lonely. I used to cry
a lot. Now, I get stronger. I don’t get scared of any unknown situation now. I learned how to face
them.
Hobbies and interests

My hobbies are listening to music, singing randomly, shopping, trying new food, traveling to new
places, reading books, and spending time with my family. I now listen to Quran(our religious book)
and read Quran a lot. Listening to Surahs from the Quran has always been relaxing for me. Spending
time with my family is priceless. My interests are learning about other cultures, photography, and
education. Learning about other cultures has always been fascinating for me. I’ve always had an
interest in photography. I used to collect posters of nature, movies, sceneries, and people. I also had
an interest in makeup. But I don’t have that interest now.
Religion and Values

My religion is Islam. We believe in One God. The name of our God is Allah(SWT). Our prophet is
Muhammad(PBUH). He is The messenger of Allah(SWT). We follow his lifestyle. We pray five times a
day. We have an Islamic month called Ramadan. We have to keep fasting for thirty days that month. We
celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr after 30 days of fasting. In my religion, we do not celebrate Christmas, Halloween,
and Easter. My values are respect, treating others how you want to be treated, honesty, responsibility,
and kindness.
 Education and skills

Education has always been important in my family. My parents were teachers. They always helped and
pushed us to take further education. My elder sister is a doctor. My one brother is an engineer. Another
brother is studying engineering. I was a teacher back home. I finished my master’s in psychology in
Bangladesh. Now I am trying to get my teaching license. I know how to cook delicious food. I am a very
religious person. I used to sing and dance. I was very good at dancing. My other skill is that I can gain
people’s trust very fast and they like to share their life stories with me.
Short and long term goals

My short-term goals are to getting passing grades this semester, getting my teaching license, lowering
my blood sugar, and losing weight to stay healthy. My long-term goals are to giving my son a good
education in a reputed university, traveling, working as a teacher for as many years as I can, and
saving for retirement.
 Family heirlooms

My Father has been selected as the best

My father attended a leadership seminer
teacher for his outstanding contribution on
and got this certificated for his work.
1985.
Besides that, my grandfather achieved a “Gold medal” with a tile of “Rushdi”
from British Govt. in 1950 for obtaining double fis=rst class on his master’s
degree. It’s a big achievement for our entire family.
Artifacts

My son and I made this

science fair project for his
class and got first palce.