Kerala is a strip of land between mountains and sea, and its nature vocabulary follows that geography. Water comes first: river, stream, backwater, sea, pond, well and flood, with the story of Kuttanad, where rice is farmed below sea level as in the Dutch polders. Then the land, the trees that feed and house Kerala (the coconut palm used from root to leaf, the banana, mango, jackfruit and teak), and the animals and birds you will actually meet, from the harmless house lizard on your ceiling to the mosquito you should learn first. Words and phrases in this class: പുഴ (puzha) – river (everyday) നദി (nadi) – river (formal) കായൽ (kaayal) – backwaters, lagoon കടൽ (kadal) – sea വെള്ളപ്പൊക്കം (vellappokkam) – flood മല (mala) – mountain, hill കാട് (kaadu) – forest പാടം (paadam) – paddy field തെങ്ങ് (thengu) – coconut palm പ്ലാവ് (plaavu) – jackfruit tree പല്ലി (palli) – house lizard കൊതുക് (kothuku) – mosquito കുയിൽ (kuyil) – koel, the Indian cuckoo In this class: • Water words, from പുഴ and നദി to കായൽ • Hills, forest, paddy field and plantation • The coconut palm and the trees that do real work • Animals and birds, from പല്ലി to കുയിൽ Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.