Pre-reading questions:
- What currency do you use in your country?
- Do you like instant food? What’s your favorite instant food?
- What’s your favorite food?
Inmates use tobacco as their money to buy different things inside the prison for a long time. Now a days, it has been replaced by instant ramen since tobacco was banned in 2014. In some prisons, meals are only served twice a day because of budget shortage. Inmates then are trying to nourish themselves with instant ramen.
The inmates said that ramen is tastier than their regular prison food. It also has high calorie content that can give them energy for work. A pack of instant ramen is sold for 29 cents outside the prison and 59 cents in the commissary. Because of its high value inside the prison, they use it to trade for sweatshirts, thermal underwear, and fresh vegetables. Other than instant ramen, they also use postage stamps, preserved mackerel, and instant coffee as their money.
Vocabulary:
inmate – [noun] a person who is confined in a prison, hospital, etc.
ban – [verb] to prohibit, forbid or bar
nourish – [verb] to sustain with food or nutrients to live
commissary – [noun] a store that sells food and supplies to its workers in a camp
trade – [noun] the act of buying, selling or purchasing stocks
Comprehension Questions:
- What does inmates use as their money before instant ramen?
- Why do inmates eat their meals twice a day?
- Why do they like instant ramen?
- How much is a pack of instant ramen in the commisary?
Express Your Opinion:
- Do you think it is right for the inmates to eat twice a day?
- In your own opinion do you think it is alright to use instant ramen as their money?
- Do you think instant food can noursih your body?