Vocabulary and text comprehension are critical skills for reading and academic success. The ability to understand and tell a familiar story forms a strong part of the foundation for these later skills. Between the ages of two and five, children’s narratives (i.e. ability to recount events or tell stories) progress from simple phrases about past events to telling more elaborate personal stories (like what happened at school or at the dentist that day) to retelling of familiar children’s books, and on to creating stories of their own.
Narrative skills are critical for school success and are often a strong predictor of kindergarten readiness and later academic success. When children are asked "What did you do over the weekend?" by their teachers, children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other language difficulties often have trouble answering this question. Similarly, when asked "What did you do at school?" by the parents, the child demonstrated the same frustration in understanding the question, remembering, and verbally recounting the experience. Even children who have recovered from other language deficits often demonstrate difficulty with narrative language skills.
Types of narratives include recounting events, unsolicited accounts of events, event casts (i.e. "broadcasting" of ongoing actions), making up stories (i.e. fictional stories), and scripts (i.e. response to tell what is done in a certain situation) (Heath, 1986). These skills not only tell us about a child’s language and literacy development, they also give us insight into their social, emotional, and cognitive skills (Engel, 1995).
Research in speech-language pathology supports the significance of narrative language:
Bishop and Edmundson (1987), in a prospective, longitudinal study of language-impaired children, found that the best predictor of a positive outcome was the ability to tell back a simple story to pictures.
Botting, Faragher et al. (2001). McCabe and Rollins (1994), and Westby (1991), have similarly documented the importance of oral narrative skills for a child’s social and school success.
Loveland (1989) compared children with ASD to children with mental retardation and found that both groups were able to answer questions about a puppet show or video skit they observed, but that the ASD children produced more bizarre responses demonstrating their difficulties with grasping the story as a representation of meaningful events. When compared to typically developing peers, children with ASD lacked the complexity in responses compared to their peers (Losh & Capps, 2003). The children in this study also showed problems inferring, building on causal relationships in narrative contexts, and demonstrated deficits on emotional understanding measures.
Narrative Based Language Intervention (NBLI) is a hybrid language intervention approach that combines naturalistic activities (such as story telling) with skill-based activities to address children’s language and communication goals (Swanson, L. A., Fay, M. E., et al. 2005). The goal of NBLI is to help children develop skills for generating narratives while at the same time addressing their individual needs to develop crucial underlying language skills.
Some of the benefits of NBLI include the ability to target multiple language goals simultaneously (i.e. narrative skills, comprehension, morphosyntax and complex syntax, vocabulary, and social thinking); and the ability to target other goals simultaneously (e.g. memory, sequencing, pretend play, self-help skills, reading).
Narrative as a tool for the assessment of linguistic and pragmatic impairments
Nicola Botting
University of Manchester, nicola.botting@man.ac.uk
Narrative ability is one of the most interesting and ecologically valid ways in which to measure communicative competence both in normal populations and in clinical groups, since narratives form the basis of many childhood speech acts. Narrative may also prove to be a good tool for distinguishing clinical groups who show overlapping symptoms but who are thought to experience subtly different impairments. This article gives an overview of some of the theoretical reasons for using narrative to assess both linguistic and pragmatic impairments. As part of a preliminary investigation examining possible similarities and differences across groups, five children with severe pragmatic language impairments (PLI) and five with more typical specific language impairments (SLI) completed short picture based narratives using the Bus Story and the Frog Story. These illustrative data are included throughout the paper to highlight features of use to clinicians, particularly with respect to differences in the narratives of children with PLI compared to their peers with SLI. Furthermore, when compared to Tager-Flusberg’s (1995) data from children with autism, SLI narratives seem to be more similar to those of the group with autism than did PLI narratives. Narrative ability was found to relate directly to pragmatic skill but in different ways according to clinical subgroup. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed
Academic Exchange Quarterly Spring 2004: Volume 8, Issue 3
Using Story Re-tell in Bilingual assessment
Christina Schelletter, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Tim Parke, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Christina Schelletter, Ph.D. and Tim Parke, Ph.D. are both lecturing in English Language and Communication at the University of Hertfordshire.
Abstract
Narrative has been used in the assessment of children’s language skills for some time but rarely with bilingual children (though see Gutiérrez-Clellen 2002). This paper examines narratives of a sample of German/English bilingual children in terms of standard measures and differences in the children’s retellings of a story. Whereas on the standard measures the bilinguals seem similar to monolinguals, the retellings show differences between the English- and German-dominant informants. These
differences highlight the significance of examining discrete skills when profiling the language competences of bilingual children.
Introduction
Narrative has been used to assess both the global skill of reconstructing a story as well as a range of different sub-skills of children’s language. Regarding sub-skills, narratives are a good indicator of linguistic complexity, often requiring the use of subordinate clauses to specify the cause or purpose of a particular action alongside the description of the action itself. In addition, narratives can also give an indication of children’s discourse skills, in particular the introduction of referents, topic maintenance, location of an action in time, use of connectives, etc (Hickman 2003).
The global skill of understanding and reconstructing a story has been found to be linked closely to the development of literacy skills, both in terms of children’s understanding of texts (Gutiérrez-Clellen 2002), as well as children’s writing skills (Shrubshall 1997).
Due to the different task demands within a specific context, narratives have been used as an assessment tool both in the classroom and in a clinical setting. Within the classroom, they enable teachers to assess children at different levels of language and to make a judgment about their ability to construct a story, as well as their pronunciation and vocabulary (Parke 2001). Within a clinical setting, narratives can reveal difficulties at different language levels and also highlight problems with story comprehension and discourse skills. However, such an assessment requires norms based on normally developing peers at the same mental or language age.
The subject group targeted in the present paper are children who come to the fore as an issue not in general developmental terms, as language-disordered children do, but in educational terms. Children who have acquired more than one language from birth are often seen to be at a higher risk for difficulties in academic performance at school, particularly where the language taught at school is the child’s second language (L2). It is regrettable to put these two populations together, as it may seem to perpetuate the ancient prejudice against bilingualism as a kind of disorder, but the authors do so purely from a methodological perspective.
Studies investigating narratives in bilingual children have found them to be less advanced than matched monolingual children on a variety of measures (Shrubshall 1997) and to employ different strategies from monolingual children when lexical difficulties arise (Parke 2001). Comparing narratives in both languages of Spanish-English bilinguals, Gutiérrez-Clellen (2002) found differences in the recall and comprehension of a story, such that the children showed better performance in the language used in the classroom (L2) as opposed to their L1.
The narrative tasks employed in the studies outlined above include narrative re-tells, where the child is given a story model that has to be re-produced, and spontaneous narratives. Gutiérrez-Clellen uses both types of narratives with her informants. She reports that all children found the narrative re-tell of a story that they heard in Spanish more difficult, whereas the level of language in the spontaneous narrative (the Frog Story) tended to be much higher, especially in terms of the coherence of narrative form. This might be due to the high degree of narrative support through the given pictures. On the other hand, the narrative in the provided transcript (Child # 315, Gutiérrez-Clellen 2002: 187-188) only includes main clauses linked with ‘And’ or ‘And then’, and no deeper-level links between propositions, such as cause and consequence. Nonetheless, on the basis of the variation of the richness of the narrative structure in both tasks, it becomes clear that the performance of bilinguals depends very much on the task they are given. A teacher who relies on the evidence of one language only would, therefore, have a very inadequate view of the overall language capacity of a particular child. Bilingualism is, as Gutiérrez-Clellen claims, a continuum of skills: the full profile of language skills emerges only when several measures are applied.
In the present study, a narrative re-tell task was employed that has been standardised and used for the assessment of language for some time: the Bus Story (Catherine Renfrew, 1969, originally published by Collins & Co. Ltd). This assessment is routinely used by speech therapists as a fairly natural tool for the assessment of language, yet there are not many studies that report findings for normally developing or non-normally developing children. It is an assessment of narrative recall, in which the children are told the story by a researcher (or therapist) alongside a set of 12 pictures, and are asked to retell it afterwards, using the pictures as cues. As published, the test provides details of calculating measures such as an information score (IS) and a sentence length score which is based on the mean number of words of the five longest utterances (A5SL). It also provides normative data on these measures, ranging from 3 years to 8 years. To our knowledge, the Bus Story has not hitherto been used with bilingual children.
Howlin and Kendall (1991) include the Bus Story along with other common tests used by therapists to assess the language skills of 28 language-disordered children with a mean age of 8;4. In particular, they found a significant correlation between children’s results on the Word Finding Vocabulary Test for English (Renfrew 1995) and both Bus Story measures (r = 0.63 for Word finding and Bus Story Information and r = 0.53 for Word finding and Bus Story MLU) , as well as a significant correlation between the two Bus Story measures ( r = 0.59). These findings are corroborated in a study by Adams and Gathercole (1996) who use the Bus Story measures in conjunction with others to assess the relationship between phonological working memory and spoken language in normally developing children aged 5. They found a significant correlation between both measures in the Bus Story ( r = 0.799) as well as between the bus story measures and a combined receptive and productive vocabulary score ( r = 0.38 for the vocabulary score and the bus story information score and r = 0.42 for the vocabulary score and the bus story MLU)
Botting (2002) compares narrative skills in 7-8 year-old children with a severe pragmatic impairment (PLI) and children with a specific language impairment (SLI). The Bus Story and the Frog Story, are contrasted in terms of measures of length (number of words in the story), errors (tense errors) as well as the use of evaluative devices (Bamberg and Damrad-Frye’s 1991). For the Bus Story, Botting found a discrepancy for both groups of children between information scores within the normal range and sentence length as well as the number of subordinate clauses below the normal range.
Our aim was to assess both languages of a group of English/German bilingual children by using the Bus Story. For this purpose, the original story was split into an English part (based on the first 6 pictures) and a German part (based on the last 6 pictures). For the German part, the English original was translated into German by a native speaker. In particular, we wanted to see what differences in performance, if any, exist between each child’s retelling in German and in English, what the nature of the possible differences in the two retellings is, and whether these possible differences correlate with other measures such as assessments of vocabulary and of MLU.
Methodology
Subjects
A total of 16 subjects took part in the study. Their mean age was 8;9, with an age range of 7;3 to 10;2. They were all attending the primary section of a German-medium school in London and had at least one German parent. They were all judged by their class teacher to have a good command of both languages, although there was variation in the length of time they had been living in the UK. On the basis of their productive vocabulary score, children were assigned to be German dominant or English dominant. Each group contained 8 subjects, 4 girls and 4 boys with a mean age of 8;8 (range 7;6 – 9;10) for the English dominant group and a mean age of 8;6 ( range 7;3 – 10;2) for the German dominant group.
Procedure
In order to assess children’s lexical skills, each informant was first given the Word Finding Vocabulary Test for English (Renfrew 1995) and the ‘Aktiver Wortschatztest’ for German (Kiese and Kozielski, 1996). Both tests measure productive vocabulary. Then subjects were told the Bus Story. The first part of the story (6 pictures) was read to the children in English and they were asked to retell it. The story was then continued in German (6 pictures). In terms of the information score, the first 6 pictures of the story make up 40 % of the overall information score, whereas the last 6 pictures make up 60 %. The informants were audio-recorded while retelling the story and their responses transcribed and analysed using the CHILDES format (MacWhinney 1998). It is in this format that examples from our data are presented here.
Results
A first analysis was conducted giving the MLU (in words) for each language, the information score (IS) for each language as well as the combined MLU of the five longest utterances (ASL5) and the combined information score (COIS). Table 1 gives an overview of the Bus Story measures for both languages, as well as an overview of the results of the productive vocabulary measure.
(Table 1 about here)
Table 1 shows that while the two groups of children differ with regard to their productive vocabulary score, there is no difference between languages or groups in terms of MLU or information score. It is surprising though that the German dominant children display a slightly higher MLU in the less dominant language. Overall, the children’s average sentence length score (A5SL) and combined information score (COIS) is well within the range found by Renfrew (1969) for monolingual English children of this age group. Similar to Howlin and Kendall (1991) and Adams and Gathercole (1996), there is a correlation between the combined Bus Story measures ( r = 0.638, p < 0.01), but in this study there is no relation between the Bus Story measures and the vocabulary scores. Thus, on measures presented so far, there are no real differences in the language performance of the two sets of informants. We also looked for gender differences among the subjects. We found that on all measures, girls scored slightly higher than boys, but the differences were not significant. On this basis, gender differences are not further discussed here.
A second analysis focused particularly on the key words of the Bus Story, namely nouns and verbs. In respect of other words classes, in the English portion of the text, only two adjectives occur: ‘funny’ (faces) and ‘naughty’ (bus), while none occur in the German portion. Table 2 gives the proportion of nouns and verbs in both languages that were taken up by the children from the original story, as well as additional nouns and verbs that the children included in their retelling.
(Table 2 about here)
Table 2 shows a significant difference in the uptake of nouns over verbs from the given text for all children and for both language contexts. This difference is significant (t = 5.7, p <0.01 for German, t = 12.6, p < 0.01 for English). This result is probably not surprising since the agents in the story (bus, train, driver, tunnel, policeman, cow) could not be described using a different lexical item. However, the descriptions of the actions allow synonyms to be used to convey the same meaning. For example, the driver can ‘mend’, ‘fix’ or ‘repair’ the bus and the bus can ‘run’ or ‘drive away’ or even ‘escape’.
Synonyms as alternatives for given verbs were used more extensively by the German dominant children in the German context, thereby resulting in a higher mean number of new verbs. The difference between the two groups in the use of new verbs in German is close to being significant. Examples are given below.
In example (1), the story text includes the more general verb fahren (go). The child uses the verb rollen (roll) which is appropriate in the story, given that the bus has wheels. Similarly, in example (2), the original story uses versuchen (try) which is synonymous with probieren and also anhalten (stop) which is semantically close to bremsen (brake) and appropriate in the context of the story.
(Table 3 about here)
The total number of word types in the original story was 55 for the English part and 83 for the German part. This difference in length is reflected in the children’s narratives. There was no difference in the number of word types supplied between the two groups of children for either context.
As far as the number of subordinate clauses are concerned, both language portions contained four complex clauses. The children either copied the complex clauses, modified them or omitted them altogether. The English dominant children produced a slightly higher mean number of complex clauses in the German story-retell. At the same time, girls outperformed boys in the supply of complex clauses, particularly in the German context. Among the complex clause types, causation was the type most often included, whereas relatives were the type most frequently omitted.
An area where the language dominance of the children does make a difference though is in terms of language errors, particularly in a language like German that is richer morphologically than English. Errors include word order, case, gender, as well as the form of the participle. While even German dominant bilingual children also included produced errors, they were far more frequent in the stories of English dominant children.
Discussion
The present study has compared two groups of bilingual children (English dominant and German dominant) with regard to their story-retell in both languages using a standardised procedure, the Bus Story.
No differences between the groups were found in terms of general measures, such as information score, MLU and the number of word types used for each story. Both groups were also equally able to reproduce complex clauses in their own narrative, either as a copy of the model provided, or a modification of the input.
Differences between the two groups of children were found in the German context, where German dominant children outperformed English dominant children in terms of their ability to use synonyms of verbs, as well as in terms of errors. These differences are fairly subtle, but nevertheless highlight a need for additional practise in a classroom situation that is based on a curriculum for monolingual German primary school children.
A further result of this study is the lack of a correlation between the Bus Story measures and vocabulary measures in the children tested. This correlation was found for monolingual children, but it seems to be absent in the bilingual case. This means that vocabulary skills in bilingual children do not predict syntactic ability. Even where a bilingual child is more restricted in word choice, this does not affect their syntactic abilities. In the present study, most children were able to retell the stories adequately, incorporating a good level of complexity in both languages, even if their vocabulary score for one language was well below that of the other.
Overall, the results found in this study both support and differ from those of Gutiérrez-Clellen (2002). We did not find here the same differences as she reports: one intriguing difference is the much greater degree to which her informants departed from the ‘input text’. On the other hand, our findings concur with hers, and with her overall conclusion, in that they support the position that bilingualism is a continuum of skills. Single language measures of young bilingual children are inherently unreliable in making a rounded assessment of their skills. And it is even more dangerous to infer one measure from another - e.g. to take a vocabulary score as any kind of indicator of syntactic competence.

ഗുണനിലവാരമുള്ള വിദ്യാഭ്യാസം
കുട്ടികളുടെ അവകാശം
QEPR
ഒരുക്കം2009
ഒരു തീവ്രപഠന പരിപാടി
ENGLISH
പൊതുവിദ്യാഭ്യാസ വകുപ്പ്
കേരള 2009

NOTE:
This material is prepared to help the pupils secure higher grades in the
coming SSLC examination. Each module introduces a discourse in tune with
the constructive approach and methodology. Teachers are expected to follow
the process of facilitating development of discourses.
OBJECTIVES OF ORUKKAM
Facilitate learning through social interaction.
Encourage children to express their ideas and compare their thoughts;
constructs with those of others.
Develop confidence and readiness to contribute their ideas and language to
construct various discourses.
Adopt the strategies conclusive to learners.
Orukkam has been prepared in tune with the constructive pedagogy.
Each module consists of a particular discourse or a language item that would
find its place in the SSLC Evaluation tool. Teachers may use this material,
following the processes of activities given in each module. Introduce each
activity in a meaningful situation and facilitate construction of language
discourse in pair or group. Now, our aim is to help our learners to perform
better in the SSLC Examination and secure at least C+ grade in the
examination.
Each module has the following sections.
Entry activity – to familiarize the learners
Orukkam prepared by:
the discourse/ language item.
Process of construction – Learner’s role –
K.V.Raveendran
i n d i v i d u a l work, pair/ group work,
GVHSS, Madikkai II
refinement.
Kasargode
Teacher’s role – explain the task as
given in the instructions, scaffolding.
Jose D’ Sujeev
Assessment – Individual, pair and Teacher GVHSS Paruthippally
assessment. Thiruvananthapuram
Grading Indicators
Teacher’s version V.P.Satheesan
Sample tasks. GHS Meppayoor
The activities suggested in this book Kozhikode
m u s t be practiced in the classrooms
A. Kabeer
effectively. The pupils should be given
GHS Peringattukurissi
enough time to process each activity. This
Palakkad
will help the pupils to achieve the various
aspects of each discourse.
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REPORT
Read the following newspaper report.
NINE SCHOOL CHILDREN KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT
Kannur: Nine children studying in a lower primary school at Peruman
were killed when a vehicle rammed them on Thursday. Eight of the
victims are girls. The children were on their way back from school at
4pm when a tempo taxi rushed over them, the police said. Twelve
seriously injured children were rushed to Pariyaram Medical College.
The police said, quoting eye witnesses, that the vehicle was on the wrong
side of the road. The driver told the police that the accident occurred
when he was trying to save a child who was crossing the road.
• What is reported here?
• Where did the accident happen?
• When did it happen?
• How did it happen?
• Who were involved in it?
• What are the other details given? Are they relevant?
Elicit answers.
Ask the learners to write the answers in their notebook.
Now, read the following notes taken by a reporter from police about another
incident.
• Two youth killed.
• Malappuram
• Wednesday, midnight
• Bodies on Kottackal road.
• Bike accident
• Lost control
Try to report the above details for a daily.
• How will you begin?
• What shall come next?
• What details should be given?
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• What must be the order?
• Find out a suitable title.
Elicit responses.
Group them into 5 or 6.
Ask the pupils to write the report.(Individually)
Group work- Learners share their report with other members in the group and
refine their products. Teacher scaffolds wherever necessary.
Presentation by groups.
Editing- Teacher writes a group report (one of the best) on the BB and ask the
pupils to refine it on the basis of the grading indicators.
Grading indicators:
Catchy headline
Good beginning
Content
Organisation of ideas
Language and style
Brevity
After refinement the teacher can present the teacher’s version of the report.
Teacher’s version
Malappuram: Two youth who travelled on a motor bike on
Wednesday night were found dead in a near by bush at Kottackal-
Perinthalmanna road. The bike on which they travelled was found
beside them. The police said the youth were in an intoxicated state
and had lost control of the vehicle.
Read the first paragraph of ‘On the Rule of the Road’ and write a newspaper
reportabout the ‘stout old lady’ incident. When...?
Title Who ...?
Event
Where...?
What...?
How...?
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Individual writing
Random presentation.
Group attempt.
Presentation.
Refinement.
Follow the process given earlier.
How will you assess the report that you have prepared?
Brevity
Catchy headline Attractive
Appropriate
Has your title got the above features?
How did you begin your report?
Does it state the event? or Is that the expansion of the headline?
What is the content of the report you have written?
Does it answer the questions: What, Where, When, How etc.
Have you organised the ideas in the following way?
- Major details
- More details
- Minor details
How is the language and style of the report?
Consult it with your teacher/ friends and refine it.
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. The nature club in your school conducted a seminar on ‘indiscriminate
felling of trees’. Prepare a seminar report.
Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. Jacopo and Nicola had become famous overnight. News of their hard
work and commitment appeared even in the newspapers. But your
friend missed the news. Can you reconstruct the newspaper report
about the two boys for your friend?
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2. Jacopo and Nicola were finding it difficult to make both ends meet.
They were in search of more work. But how? Suddenly Nicola came up
with an idea to advertise their service in the news paper. Could you
please help them?
Three Days to See
1. Helen Keller graduated from Radcliff College in 1904. This was really
an achievement as she was blind, deaf and dumb. It was her will power
and determination that changed her life. One of the newspapers gives
a wide coverage of this news. Write the newspaper report.
The Hero
1. Swami’s father was reading news about the village lad’s encounter
with the tiger. Prepare the possible newspaper report Swami’s father
was reading.
2. Swami’s friends know about his bravery from the next day’s newspaper
before they reached the school. What would have been the news item?
3. Write a report of the function arranged by the PTA to congratulate
Swami.
The Sneeze
1. Suppose the unexpected death of Tcherviakoff appeared as a news item
in one of the dailies. Prepare the likely newspaper report.
2. A seminar on ‘Good habits’ was conducted in your class on 9.11.2007.
Write a report of the seminar using the hints given below.
Hints: Welcome speech – Drishya (Group B Leader)
Moderator – Anjali (Class leader)
Inauguration – Principal
Paper presentation – Anju, Divya, Geethu and Shereena.
Vote of thanks – Rajesh (Group A Leader)
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CONVERSATION
Activity 1
Read the conversation between Tcherviakoff and his wife. After watching
the opera, he reached home in a dejected mood.
Let’s see how the conversation goes on...
Tcherviakoff: I am feeling tired. Can I have a glass of water?
Wife: Of course. Here you are. How was the opera? Could you tell me
about it?
Tcherviakoff: Certainly. But not now. May I have some more water?
Wife: By all means. Would you like to take rest for sometime?
Tcherviakoff: I think it’s better. Would you mind keeping my coat in
the shelf.
They used some expressions for making requests during the conversation.
Find and write them down.
eg: 1. Can I have a glass of water?
2. ………………………………..
3. ………………………………..
4. ………………………………..
Activity 2
One day A.J.Cronin visited the hospital at Poleta to meet Lucia in person. But
strangers were not allowed meet the patient in the hospital. So he made some
requests to the nurse to allow him to meet Lucia.
Prepare the conversation.
..................................................................................
..................................................................................
..................................................................................
..................................................................................
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Teacher will see that the pupils prepare the conversation on the basis of its features.
Individual writing
Random presentation
Teacher elicits the features of a good conversation.
Apt initiation
Message/ Content
Proper leave taking
Note: Initiation refers to a good opening of the conversation.
Who will begin the conversation?
Consider the mood of the characters.
Message should be according to the context. It includes-
What does the characters want to convey?
What should each character speak?
What should be the response?
Which words do you select to be used in the content?
You may include - Yes or No questions like:
Cronin: Can you take me to a restuarant?
Rakesh: Will it grow again?
Short questions (Tags)
You have watched for the opera, haven’t you?
Let me sleep in the hall, shall I?
Wh questions
What can I do for you?
Why don’t you join the police?
Expressions
Oh! I spat on him.
Aiyo! Something has bitten me.
Discourse markers
Well, shall I apologise to him?
Alright, you spoil him as you like.
Contracted forms of words etc.
I didn’t mean.
I won’t come here again.
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Leave taking is the concluding part of the conversation.
How will you conclude?
Who should you conclude?
Self Assessment
Yes No Somewhat
I began the dialogue well.
I was able to convey the message.
I used enough expressions
discourse markers, short forms etc.
I concluded the dialogue well
HOW CAN WE FRAME/ ASK ‘YES OR NO’ QUESTIONS
Read the following dialogue.
Granny: Are you already feeling sleepy, Swami? Don’t you want a story?
Swami: Please. Can you be silent, granny?
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Granny: Don’t cover your face. Are you really very sleepy?
Swami: Would you please shut up granny? Don’t talk to me.
Father: Swami, get up.
r
Granny: Why do you disturb him?
Father: Get up Swami.
Swami: Will you please allow me to sleep here, father?
Father: Come with me.
Mother: Why do you take him to your office room? He can sleep in the
room, can’t he?
Father: I don’t think so.
Swami: Let me sleep in the hall, shall I? Your office is very dirty.
Father: There are no scorpions. Sleep on the bench.
Swami: Can I have a lamp burning in the room?
Father: No, you must learn not to be afraid of darkness.
Swami: Will you atleast leave the door open?
Father: All right. But you should not go to your granny’s side at night. If
you do so, I will make you the laughing stock of your school.
Try to identify the words used for making ‘Yes or No’ questions.
Activity 3
Read paragraphs 4 to 9 and prepare an imaginary conversation between
Cronin and Nicola using ‘Yes or No’ questions.
Individual attempt
Random presentation
Refinement in groups
Editing
Presenting the teacher’s version.
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Teacher’s version
Cronin: May I help you?
Nicola: No sir.
Cronin: Can you take me to the park?
Nicola: Yes sir, with pleasure.
Cronin: Do you work to go abroad?
Nicola: No sir. We have some other plans.
Cronin: Shall I offer you a better job?
Nicola: No sir. Thank you. It’s very kind of you sir.
Cronin: Have you any problems at home?
Nicola: No sir. We don’t.
Cronin: Are you happy with the present life.
Nicola: Yes very much.
Cronin: Am I talking too much?
Nicola: No sir. We like your company.
Cronin: Is there a restaurant nearby?
Nicola: Yes sir. There is one near the fountain.
Cronin: Did you come to the city on Sunday?
Nicola: No sir. On Sundays we go to Poleta.
Cronin: Does Jacopo like this city?
Nicola: Yes, he likes this city very much.
Cronin: Will you come with me to the restaurant?
Nicola: Yes sir. Let’s go to the restaurant.
Activity 4
Complete the following conversation using ‘Yes or No’ questions and answers.
Rakesh: Are cherry seeds lucky?
Grandfather: Yes they are. But you should plant it.
Rakesh: ……………………………………..?
Grandfather: Yes I like cherries very much.
Rakesh: ……………………………………..?
Grandfather: Yes I have seen cherry trees.
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SOME TEXTUAL TASKS:
The Cherry Tree
1. Rakesh was on his way back from school when he bought some cherries.
Suppose a woman is selling cherries. What can be the dialogue between
Rakesh and the woman?
2. Grandfather scolded the grass cutting woman. What could be the
possible dialogue between them?
3. He stared at it for a moment, then ran to fetch grandfather calling
“dada come and look, the cherry tree has come up!”? Continue the
dialogue.
4. Rakesh was looking for grandfather, not finding him in any of his
favorite places around the house; he looked out of his bedroom window.
“Grandpa, are you reclining under the cherry tree?” Continue the
dialogue.
5. Rakesh planted the cherry seed and ran off to play cricket with his
friends. He was late. “Amal, sorry I’m late”. What could be the dialogue
between Rakesh and Amal?
Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. Hey! Wait! Who’s there? A policeman followed Jacopo and Nicola when
they were out selling newspapers at night. The policeman questioned
them. Write a likely conversation between them and the policeman.
2. A tourist enquires about the way to Kovalam and you give necessary
directions. Prepare a possible dialogue between the tourist and you.
3. The nurse tells the author more about Nicola and Jacopo. Write a
possible dialogue between the nurse and the author.
Three Days to See
1. Helen Keller goes out with one of her friends for a walk in the woods.
On the way she had a talk with her about her dream of regaining
eyesight. Prepare a likely dialogue.
2. After the walk Helen and friends discussed the things that they saw.
Complete the dialogue.
Helen Keller: What did you see?
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Friend: Oh!... Nothing in particular.
Helen Keller: ..................................
3. After the second day of her imagined eyesight Helen Keller explained
what she had seen in New York City, to her teacher Anne Sullivan.
Prepare a likely dialogue.
The Hero
1. Swami’s father and mother argue about the way he is brought up. Write
the possible dialogue.
2. Write the possible conversation between Swami and his friends after
he caught the house breaker.
3. Swami’s father rings up to police station to inform them about the
burglar. Write the telephonic conversation between Swami’s father and
the Inspector.
On the Rule of the Road
1. Imagine your neighbour disturbs you by playing his TV in high volume.
Write a likely dialogue between neighbour and you.
2. The man in the train talked to his friend in a loud pompous voice. The
author was finding it difficult in reading his blue book. Write a likely
dialogue between the author and the man.
The Sneeze
1. On reaching home Tcherviakoff told his wife about the sneezing
incident. Write the possible dialogue between Tcherviakoff and his wife.
2. A news paper reporter interviewed Tcherviakoff’s wife after his death.
Write the possible interview.
3. Suppose after the sneezing incident Tcherviakoff decided to telephone
Brizjaloff for apology. Construct a telephonic conversation between
the two.
4. The news about Tcherviakoff’s death was shocking to General Brizjaloff
and he decided to explain his innocence to Tcherviakoff’s wife. So he
went to his house. Write a possible dialogue between them.
The Elixir of Life
You happened to see a friend of yours wasting water in the school
premises. Write a likely dialogue between him and you emphasizing
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DISCOVER THE CRAFT IN POETRY
CO’s : the learners-
Appreciate and identify poetic devices and various figures of speech.
Grasps the theme of the poem.
Process
Teacher asks:
What are some of the techniques poet use to make a poem attractive?
Teacher elicit responses and consolidates.
Rhyming words
Rhyme scheme
Alliteration
Assonance
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Images
Symbols
Sounds etc.
Read a stanza from the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’.
No nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt
Among Arabian sands
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring time from Cuckoo bird
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
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Pick out the rhyming words from the stanza.
Note the rhyme scheme.
What pictures(images) do you get from the stanza?
Visual
Auditory
Pick out instances of alliteration.
Have you identify the rhyming words?
Rhyme is the identity of sounds in two or more words from the last
stressed vowel to the end, the consonant group proceeding not being same in
both cases.
Rhymes can be Masculine rhymes, in which the final syllable of the word or
line is stressed. eg: king-sing
Feminine rhymes in which the first syllable is accented.
eg: retail-curtail
Triple rhymes in which all three syllables of a word are identical.
eg: flowery-showery
When vowels and the consonants are identical in two words even if spelled
differently they are called perfect rhymes. eg: two and too.
Eye rhyme: by which some words look as though rhymes eg: cove, dove.
Rhyme Scheme
A rhyme scheme is a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem. To indicate
the rhyme scheme of a poem, one uses lowercase letters. Each rhyme is
assigned a different letter. Try on…
Home they brought her warrior dead a
She nor swoon’d nor utter’d cry b
All her maidens, watching, said, a
She must weep or she will die. b
You may note the rhyme scheme as: abab
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Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use
alliteration to create musical effects to draw attention to certain words or
ideas.
And thoughts of sailors in distress
Longing for dawn to break
Disturb my mind and move my heart
And keep me wide awake.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct
comparison between two unlike ideas. Every day speech contains similes such
as’ pale as a ghost’ ‘good as gold’ ‘spread like wild fire’ and’ clever as a fox’
Writers use similes to describe people places, and things vividly, poets,
espe-cially, create similes to point ouurse of new and interesting ways of
viewing the world in the following poem.
Rose a nurse of ninety years
Set his child upon her knee
Like summer tempest came her tears
‘Sweet, my child, I live for thee.’
Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which something is described as
though it were something else. A metaphor, like a simile, works by pointing
out a similarity between two unlike things. The similarity is only imaginary.
eg. He is a tiger.
In simile the comparison becomes he is like a tiger metaphor is always an
implied or compressed comparison.
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All the sense lamps that I did light
Sooted into worries.
Sitting at the door of my soul
Light Thy resurrecting lamp.
Image
An image is a word or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses.
Writers use images to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and
smell.
There we will sit upon the rocks
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks.
By the shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing their madrigals.
Speaker
The speaker is the imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem.
In other words, the speaker is the character who tells the poem. This character,
or voice, often is not identified by name.
When I have crept into my bed
On a wild and windy night
When Dad has warmly tucked me in
And turned out every light.
Assonance
Assonance is the resemblance or similarity in vowel sounds repeated
in successive words containing different consanants.
The joy’s gone out of the world for me
And life’s as drab as can be. /a:/
I find no comfort night or day /ai/
When mother is away.
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PROFILE
Activity 1- Guessing game
Learners are divided into four groups to play the game ‘Guess the Person’.
Half of the members from a group are given the picture of a personality with
a profile. Use the photographs of eminent personalities and their bio-data.
They have to make atleast five clues from the profile to make others guess the
person.
Then show picture and give the clue one after another to guess the person.
The other half of the team has to guess the person. If not, others are given the
chance. Each group does this by turn.
Photo of Albert Einstein Profile of Albert Einstein
Let’s try.
We have enjoyed the story ‘The Cherry Tree’, haven’t you?
Who are the main characters in the story?
Introduce them and write their profile in your own words.
Process
Individual writing
Random presentation
Refinement in groups
Editing
Self evaluation
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Self Assessment
Good Average Need improvement
Title
Sequencing of ideas
Use of linkers and cohesive devices
Do you know who wrote the story?
Here are some details about Ruskin Bond.
Can you make a profile with the given details?
Details
Name : Ruskin Bond
Year of Birth : 1934
Place of Birth : Kasuali
Books Published : The Room on the Roof
Award : John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize (1957)
Now, prepare a profile of R.K.Narayan the author of the story ‘The Hero’.
Details are given below.
Birth : 1906
Place of Birth: Chennai
Education : A Bachelor’s degree from the University of Madras
Works : The Guide, Swami and his Friends, The English Teacher,
Bachelor of Arts, Malgudi Days
Awards : Sahithya Academy Award 1961
Death : 2001
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Prepare a profile of Sir C.V.Raman using the details given.
Birth : 1888
Famous Discovery : Raman Effect
Awards : Nobel Prize for Physics 1930
King George Knighthood
Bharath Ratna Award
Lenin Prize 1957
Death : 1970
Possible profiles from units.
Unit 1 Profile of Rakesh
Rakesh’s grandfather
Unit 2 Profile of Jacopo/ Nicola
Profile of Lucia
Profile of Cronin
Unit 3 Profile of Helen
Unit 4 Profile of Swami
Profile of father of Swami
Profile of R.K.Narayan
Unit 5 Profile of A.G.Gardiner
Profile of Wordsworth
Unit 6 Profile of Tcherviakoff
Profile of Brizjaloff
Unit 7 Profile of C.V.Raman
Profile of Tagore
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. Write a profile of Ruskin Bond using the following hints
Name: Ruskin Bond
Place of residence: Kausali
Born on: 1934
Style: Simple, straight forward, narrative
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Famous for: finest story teller (Short stories and books for children)
Award: John Llewellyn Rhys memorial prize in 1957
2. Write a profile of Rakesh
Name: Rakesh Menon
Place of birth: Nainital
Born on: 25-08-1985
Residing at: Kulu valley
Father: Ranjith Menon
Mother: Amitha Kulkarni
Job: Environmental activist
Hobbies: Jungle trekking and reading
Two Gentlemen of Verona
You quite interested and impressed the activities of Jacopo. You have
decided to present Jacopo to some of the friends. You may prepare a profile
of Jacopo from the given hints.
[Jacopo —— aged 12 ——— thin ——— 4 feet tall ——— brown
skinned —— tangled hair —— earnest eyes ——— steady and engaging
smile ——— dressed in khaki pants —— eager to work and help others.]
Three Days to See
Prepare a profile based on the given hints.
Name: Helen Keller
Born on: 1880
Place of birth: Alabama, USA
Edn. Qualification: Graduated from Radcliff college
Best friend: Her teacher, Anne Sullivan
Disability: Deaf, dumb and blind (Not by birth but after 19 months due
to an illness)
Dream: to regain sight for three days
Achievements: Published several books.
On the Rule of the Road
Read the following details of A.G.Gardiner and prepare a profile.
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Name: A.G.Gardiner
Pseudonym: Alpha of the plough
Born: 1865
Died: 1946
Job: Editor of the ‘Daily news’
Famous works: The pillars of the society, Pebbles on the shore
The Sneeze
1. Write a profile of General Brizjaloff using the following hints.
Name: Brizjaloff
Age: 52
Profession: General, Dept. of Highways
Appearance: bald head stout, fair complexioned
Marital status: Married
Behaviour: very patient, reserved
2. Write a profile of Tcherviakoff using the following hints.
Name: Tcherviakoff
Age: 46
Profession: Minor official, Dept. of excise
Appearance: well dressed, wear spectacles
Character: very sensitive
3. Write a profile on Anton Chekhov using the following hints.
Name: Anton Chekhov
Known as: Greatest short story writer
Native place: Russia
Career: Dramatist and short story writer
Born: 1860
One act plays: Some hilarious and others are full length tragedies
Died: at the age of 44 in 1904
The Elixir of Life
1. Write a profile of Sir C.V.Raman using the hints given below
Born: 1888
Area of interest: Science
Famous discovery: Raman Effect
Awards: noble Prize for Physics in 1930, Bharath Ratna, Lenin prize
Death: 1970
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NOTICE
C.O’s:
The learner-
. comprehends and recognizes the features of a notice
. prepares notices.
Activity
Teacher: English club of our school is organizing a seminar on “Child Labour
and Violation of Human Rights”. The programme is scheduled for 15th
February, 2009, in the school. Mr.Ramakrishnan the District Panchayath
president, will inaugurate the programme.
1. How can we inform this programme to all others?
Teacher concludes after a brief discussion that a notice can be prepared for
the same?
2. What are the details should you include in this notice?
(Teacher writes all the suggestions on the blackboard. Discuss the essential
features of a notice.)
Catchy Heading/ Headline
Content
a. Programme schedule (time, date, venue etc.)
b. Chief guest/ Chairman
c. Invitation
Place, Date
Issuing authority
Have you prepared the notice?
Compare your notice with that of your friends.
Assess your notice with the help of indicators.
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Assessment
There is a striking headline
I have included the details of the programme like:
· Venue , time, day, date etc.
I have mentioned the names of invitees.
There are expressions for salutation and invitation.
The language I used is suitable for conveying the message.
I gave a suitable layout for my notice.
I concluded the notice well.
I included the name of the issuing authority.
Individual work
Random presentation
Self and pair assessment
Group refinement
(Copies of sample notices are supplied to each group while the work is in progress)
Group presentation
Editing
(Selects one of the group products for this)
(See the detailed note of editing process)
Heading
Salutation
Content
what(programme), when(time, day date), where(venue) etc.
Conclusion
Place Issuing authority
Date
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You have gone through the essential features of a notice.
Now, try to prepare a notice based on the hints below:
Imagine that Helen visits your school one day. The school plans to
honour Helen on that occasion. As the school leader you are asked
to prepare a notice to inform the programme to the general public.
Prepare the notice for the function.
More notices from other units.
1. The nature club of your school is going to be inaugurated by the district
agricultural officer on 15th February, 2009. Prepare a notice.
2. The English club organizes an essay writing competition on the Day of
Blinds. The topic for the competition is “Physically Challenged people
are not disable but differently able’. Prepare a notice, inviting
participants.
3. The Scouts and Guides Unit of your school conducts an elocution
competition on “Increasing Road Accidents”. Prepare a notice to inform
and invite participants.
4. NCC Unit of your school decides to raise a family relief fund to help
Tcherviakoff’s widows. Prepare a notice requesting the students to
donate generously.
5. Eco Club decides to organize “Each One Plant One”. Programme on
the World Environment Day. Prepare a notice requesting all students
to bring saplings.
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. Your school authorities have decided to inaugurate the nature club on
5th July which will be held at the school auditorium. Rakesh, the
environmentalist will be presiding over the function. Ward member,
PTA president, HM, Staff Secretary, School leader, etc are participating
in the function. Prepare a programme notice to inform everyone.
Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. The resident’s association of Verona came to know about the hard work
and commitment of Nicola and Jacopo. They decided to arrange a
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function in order to honour and congratulate them. For the purpose
they thought of publishing a notice. Please help them to prepare a notice.
2. The school committee of Lucia’s school decided to conduct a film show
to collect some money for her treatment. As the school leader of Lucia’s
school, prepare a notice for the same.
3. It has been decided to conduct a seminar on, ‘The impact of war’ in
your school auditorium. Prepare a notice for it.
4. Yesterday I had a dream. I saw Lucia hospitalized. She was sleeping. I
even had a glance of the hospital walls. There were some notices on
the wall. Can you help me in recollecting some of the notice which we
come across in the hospital walls?
Three Days to See
1. Imagine that Helen Keller came to your school to inaugurate the ‘World
disabled day’ on 3rd December. Prepare a notice for that.
2. The National Service Scheme of your school has decided to conduct an
eye donation camp in connection with the International Day for the
blind on 15th October. Prepare a notice for that.
3. The English club of your school has decided to conduct a seminar on
the topic ‘Disabled are specially abled’. Prepare a notice for it with
venue, time, date, agenda, etc.
The Hero
1. The sports and arts club in Malgudi has decided to admit elders in their
cricket team. Prepare a notice for the same to inform the public.
2. The PTA of Govt HSS Malgudi has decided to arrange a function to
congratulate Swami. Prepare a notice informing the public about the
function.
On the Rule of the Road
1. The PTA of your school has decided to conduct a seminar on ‘Road
Safety’. The local MP has agreed to attend the function. You may
prepare a notice regarding the programme (you may include venue,
time, date and details of the function).
2. Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter, you saw some children
riding their bicycles in a zigzag manner along the road causing
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confusion to the traffic. How would you report this as a newspaper
report?
The Sneeze
1. Tcherviakoff went to the opera seeing a notice in the newspaper. Write
the notice for the opera using the following hints. Add other necessary
details.
Hints – [Opera: Twelfth Night, Theatre: Global opera house]
2. Suppose you are organizing a seminar on good habits in you class room.
Your group is asked to prepare the notice for it. Prepare a notice. Add
necessary details.
3. The resident’s association of your locality has decided to conduct a
condolence meeting on the death of Tcherviakoff. Imagine you are the
secretary of your resident’s association. Prepare a notice to inform this
matter to other residents.
The Elixir of Life
1. Prepare a notice to inform the students of your school about the seminar
on ‘water is the basis of all life’.
2. Your school echo club has decided to conduct a house campaign to
make the public aware of the importance of water preservation. Write
a notice to announce the programme.
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DAIRY
C.O’s
Enable the learners
· to read and understand the features of a dairy
· to write a dairy
Entry
Teacher narrates
Helen wanted to see her teacher on the first day of her eyesight. She
thought it was her teacher who made life worth living for her. Helen
looked at the face of her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy with wonder
and awe of a new born child. She remembered the first her teacher
came to her like when she was a child. She was waiting for her teacher
with a rose in hand. She could still feel the warmth of her tender touch
when she held her close in a hug. Now she is going to see her teacher’s
face for the first time, the one who opened the outer world of her. She
held the face of her teacher in her arms and looked closely to see every
feature of her face to cherish in memory for all time to come. She drew
Helen closer and hugged her tightly. She said, “Honey, I love you so
much…..” “I’m so happy to see you today my little angle” Helen’s
eyes welled up with tears, her sobs subdued her attempt to speak. She
barely managed to say “I love you so much”. That day Anne Sullivan
Macy was extremely happy and contended . She was carried away by
the thoughts of Helen. She began to write them in her dairy.
· Imagine and write how would be the diary entry of Anne.
Individual attempt.
Random presentation
Group refinement
Editing based on indicators
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Indicators
Expression of personal feelings
Unity of thought
Use of suitable linkers
Cohesiveness of ideas and theme
Teacher distributes/ charts sample statements taken from some dairy entries.
I made a mistake today.
I should not have done it.
My carelessness landed me in trouble.
I will be more careful here after.
I was frightened.
Fearful thoughts haunted me.
His words consoled me a lot.
It was really marvelous.
Make use of such sentences to express the personal feelings of the characters
while writing the diary.
More Diaries
1. Imagine that you are Rakesh’s friend. He told you about the cherry
tree, he narrated and how the grass cutting women carelessly cut it.
He was about to break into tears. You couldn’t forget the incident and
how badly it affected Rakesh. You wrote in your dairy about the feelings
of Rakesh. What would be the dairy entry?
2. The misse in the story “Two Gentle Men of Verona” wrote a dairy on
the day she met the narrator and told about the boys and Lucia. The
suffering of the children touched her deeply. Can you imagine the dairy
she wrote that day? Write i
3. Your class made a skit based on the story “The Hero” you played the
role of Swami in it. Write your dairy on the day it was performed.
4. you are preparing for the SSLC examination. You have neighbor who
is in the habit of playing jazz at night. You talked to him lighten the
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muisance, but he didn’t to you. How will you feel about it? Can you
write that in a dairy?
5. Tcherviakoff returned home from the general’s office, upset and tired.
His wife tried to consol him. But she failed. That day she wrote in her
dairy about her husband’s pathetic sate of mind………..
What would be her dairy entry?
Secrets - A diary is often a place where the writer can write down his or
her thoughts and secrets in confidence.
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. How nice is the plant! It is about 4 inches high. I planted it. Rakesh’s
mind was filled with joy. Write the diary entry of Rakesh on that day.
2. “What has the goat done? It has eaten all the leaves. Only the main
stem and two thin branches are there...” Write the diary entry of Rakesh
that day.
3. A grass cutting woman cut the cherry tree into two. Rakesh couldn’t
sleep that night. Write the diary of Rakesh on that day.
Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. ‘Nicola and Jacopo are really amazing boys. At this age they are looking
after their sister. I’m really moved at their sacrifice. I think I should
make a note of them in my diary.’ Write the likely diary entry of the
author.
2. Lucia was really troubled at the sight of her younger brothers struggling
hard to help her instead of her helping them. But she had none to
express her sorrows. At last she decides to write her diary entry
expressing her sorrows. Help her to write the diary.
3. Nicola was really moved by the help rendered by the author and records
it in his diary. What could he have recorded?
Three Days to See
1. Helen had a dream; a dream of regaining eyesight. She wrote in her
diary her dreams and aspirations. Write the likely diary entry.
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2. On the first day of her imagined eyesight she saw how those who were
near and dear to her looked alike. After that she made a diary entry.
What would be the diary?
3. On the second and third day she enjoyed tragedy and comedy
respectively. Then she visited New York City and got a glimpse of the
city life. She enjoyed sunrise and sunset. Her heart was filled with joy.
If she had got a chance to write a diary, what could be the diary entry?
The Hero
1. Swami was very happy to receive the prize from PTA. On that night
he made a diary entry about the unexpected turn of incidents. What
would be the diary entry?
2. Swami’s father is worried about the way the boy being brought up. He
makes a diary entry showing his anxiety. Write the possible diary entry.
On the Rule of the Road
1. The train journey has provided quite a lot of feelings and thoughts for
the author. He was quite disturbed by the happenings. That day he
wrote in his diary what had happened. Write the likely diary entry.
The Sneeze
1. Tcherviakoff was deeply ashamed after the sneezing incident. He
included that matter in his diary on that day. Write his diary entry for
that day.
2. The death of Tcherviakoff was a shocking matter to General Brizjaloff.
He could remember how he roared “get out” to him. He felt guilty.
Write his diary entry for that day.
The Elixir of Life
1. Imagine that you have visited a flood affected area. You were not able
to sleep that night. You started writing the diary. What would be the
likely diary entry?
2. While watching TV you had a chance to see people running for a drop
of water in an African country. You felt so sad at that sight. You felt
like shedding your thoughts into your diary. Write the likely diary entry.
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LETTER
C.O.’s
To enable the learners:
· to read and understand different types of letters
· to write different types of letters
Activity 1
Teacher distributes/displays the letter written by Cronin to his wife.
Let the pupils read it.
Verona
28 Jan, 2009
Dear wife,
I’m fine here. Verona is a beautiful city. There are so many places
to watch. I like this city very much.
I’ve something special to share with you. I happened to meet two
boys on my way to Verona. I discovered that they were brothers,
Nicola and Jacopo who were of the age 13 and 12. They work hard
d a y and night to look after their only sister, Lucia who is
hospitalized for the treatment of tuberculosis. They have no parents
and lost their house in war. But these boys are ready to do any job
to earn money for their sister’s treatment. These boys were very
helpful for me. They took me to many places in and around Verona.
I’ll detail their story when we meet in person. How is life going on
there? I’ll be back after a week. Convey my best regards to all dear
and near.
With love
Cronin.A.J.
Let’s try
· What makes a good letter?
Elicits responses and consolidates.
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Place
Date
Salutation
Content
· good beginning
· idea conveyed
· proper conclusion
Complementary close
Activity 2
Imagine that Swami wrote a letter to his friend after the burglar incident.
How would that letter be?
Individual attempt
Self and pair evaluation
Group refinement
Editing
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. Rakesh saw the well rooted cherry plant. He was very happy. He was
eager to inform that to his mother. Write Rakesh’s letter to his mother.
2. Rakesh went to his village. Grandfather missed him a lot. He wrote a
letter to Rakesh. Write the likely letter.
3. Rakesh’s grandfather decided to celebrate the birthday of Rakesh in a
large scale. Rakesh was so happy about this. Write a letter for Rakesh
to inform his parents about this.
4. For several days there were no newspapers. Grandfather decided to
write a letter of complaint to the circulations manger. Write the letter
complaint.
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Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. Poor Lucia! She must be feeling so lonely. Author felt so sorry for her.
He wished to write a letter to her. Can you help him?
2. You are unsatisfied with the sanitary conditions of the hospital where
Lucia is admitted. You decided to write a letter to District Medical
Officer. Write the likely letter.
3. The District Medical Officer gets the letter and writes a warning letter
to the authorities of the hospital. How would the letter be?
Three Days to See
1. On the first day of her eyesight Helen was very happy and she wrote a
letter to her dearest friend. Write the likely letter.
2. You know that Helen Keller is a very good writer though she is blind,
deaf and dumb. She has written all her experiences, feelings and
thoughts in the form of a book. She wants it to be published. Draft a
letter to the publishing company.
3. Imagine you are Helen Keller’s best friend. She has written a very
disappointing letter to you. Write a reply consoling her and reminding
her of the special gifts she has.
The Hero
1. The PTA decides to invite the Sub Inspector of Police to award the prize
to Swami in the function. They draft a letter of invitation. How would
the letter be?
2. Swami writes a letter to his cousin confessing what really happened
that night. Write the possible letter, Swami might have written.
3. Swami’s friend Muthu who lives in the nearby village read from the
newspaper about Swami’s bravery. He wrote a letter of congratulation
to Swami. Help Muthu to write the letter.
On the Rule of the Road
1. The incident of the stout lady walking down the middle of the road
was described in his letter to A.G.Gardiner by Mr. Arthur Ransom. How
would that letter be?
2. Imagine that you witnessed the Petrograd incident of the stout lady.
Write a letter to your friend describing this incident.
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3. After watching the unruly scene on the road in Petrograd you have
decided to write to the traffic police regarding traffic offences. Write a
likely letter of complaint.
The Sneeze
1. Suppose Tcherviakoff wrote a letter to General Brizjaloff apologizing
for the sneezing incident. What could be the possible letter?
2. After the death of Tcherviakoff, General Brizjaloff writes a consoling
letter to his wife. Write the likely letter.
The Elixir of Life
1. Write a letter of complaint to the Panchayath President about the
scarcity of drinking water in your area.
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PLACARD/ SLOGAN
C.O’s
Enable the learner
· to read appropriate slogans/placards to suit different situations
· to write different slogans/placards
Entry
Teacher distributes the following reading materials/displays on a chart.
A JOURNEY TO TRIVANDRUM
I jumped out of the bed hurriedly, hearing
t h e alarm. I was going to a tour to
Trivandrum, my dream place. First, I
v i s i t e d the museum. There I walked
through the garden. I saw many beautiful
flowers of different colours. I wanted to
pluck a white rose. As I held out my
h a n d s to pluck it I saw a placard. I
withdrew my hands. Then I walked to the
zoo. I saw many animals there. I moved
to the cage of the lion to throw some
e a t a b l e to draw its attention. I felt
ashamed. Then I entered into the place. There were
a lot of antique items. I was particularly
attracted to a royal crown. I wanted to
touch it. Suddenly I saw something
written on a label. I read it. I looked
around to see it someone saw me.
It was around 1.00 pm. I came out
o f the museum and walked
towards the canteen. There I sat on the
cement bench and waited for snacks. I
looked around and saw plastic bags littered
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around. I read a slogan on a sign board near it against the use of plastics.
I couldn’t help laughing. I left the zoo at around 2 pm. as I was walked
out of the front gate I saw a procession on road. I heard them shouting
the slogans against term attacks. I saw the placards they hold. Thought
how man can be so cruel to man.
Teacher asks:
· What did he read in the garden for not plucking flowers?
· What was the instruction on the fence before the cage of the
lion?
· What was written on the label near the crown?
· What was the slogan against the use of plastics?
· What was the slogan people shouted in the procession?
· What was written on the placards?
· The slogans-placards are given in jumbled orders to choose
Students are asked to select the appropriate ones.
1. Stop terrorism, save humanity.
2. Avoid plastics for a better tomorrow.
3. We want peace.
4. Don’t pluck flowers.
5. Keep away from the animals.
6. Don’t touch the antiques.
Let’s try
Teacher presents
· In the story “The Two Gentleman of Verona”, the children’s
father was killed in a war making them orphans and throwing
them to the street. War always causes death, distraction and
devastation to humanity.
· Don’t think to read against war?
Suppose your English Club decides to hold a procession against war and you
are asked to prepare at least three slogans against war to write on the placard.
Write it.
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· What are the qualities of a good placard?
Teacher elicits the answers consolidates.
Brevity
Striking expressions
Message conveyed
Language used
Individual attempt
Random presentation
A discussion on the appropriacy of the placard presented.
Group refinement
Presentation
SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
The Cherry Tree
1. The woman cut the cherry plant into two. I should protect it. It is better
to keep some placards giving warning. Prepare two placards to be kept
in the garden.
2. The nature club of your school is conducting a procession against
deforestation. Prepare some placards for it.
Two Gentleman of Verona
1. The life of Nicola and Jacopo says about the disasters of war. Prepare
two placards against war.
2. Child labour is a growing problem in the present society. Prepare some
placards to show child labour is evil to society and it destroys future of
children.
Three Days to See
1. Prepare two placards for an eye donation camp.
2. Prepare two placards exhorting the need for recognizing the disabled.
The Sneeze
1. Prepare two placards that we normally see in a cinema theatre.
The Elixir of Life
1. Prepare two placards showing the importance of Afforestation.
Prepare placards for preserving water.
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LANGUAGE ELEMENTS
Activity 1
Vijitha wrote the following diary entry. But she omitted some words which
she marked using a box. Help her to fill up the boxes using the right word.
Today, the English club my school conducted English Fest. In
fest we had to present play. The play showed important
events Helen Keller’s life. I had to do the role Helen in
the play. the first two scenes, my stage fright vanished. I was
happy I became confident my friends said that it was
a flop.
Answers: in, a, in, of, After, and, but
Individual attempt.
Did you attempt finding the answers to fill up the boxes.
What kind of words did you use there?
Did you find any difficulty in finding the words?
Which words did you find difficult?
Now you may sit in pairs and see whether the words you have selected for each box
is suitable.
Activity 2
Here’s another activity. Try to find the answers.
Olive is a woman (1) about 40. She is (2) the staff (3) a school for deaf children
who cannot be cured (4) their trouble, and teaches 20 children, all (5) the
same age. She got (6) the staff (7) this school because she was trained to teach,
and because (8) her good qualities is that (9) patience. She was chosen (10) 20
women who signed (11) for teaching jobs at the employment office. There are
120 in the school, (12) the staff, and 128 (13) the staff.
Olive lives in, and is paid Rs. 7500 a month, (14) lodging and meals,
and (15) addition she gets an allowance (16) Rs. 250 a week for her daughter
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Ruth, who lives with her in one room bare (17) all but the necessities. Not
much remains (18) Olive’s salary at the end of the
month. She has a car (19) moderate size, which belonged (20) her husband,
and that makes her independent (21) buses.
Olive has one day off (22) every six, and three weeks’ holiday a year.
There are 25 days before her holiday begins, and Ruth is getting excited,
because they are going to the seaside this year, to be free (23) household duties.
Ruth is crossing each day (24) her calendar.’ They chose (25) among several
towns, and found a hotel which took something (26) its prices for teachers
like Olive. One has to be careful, because some hotels cheat women (27) their
money. Several of Ruth’s friends will be there, (28) them her best friend Sally.
Olive has made Ruth a pretty skirt (29) an old dress, and she has several
blouses made (30) thin cotton, so she will be all right if it is hot.
Ask the pupils to read the passage 2/3 times.
Let them find out the words individually.
Ask them to be in pairs and read the passage again.
Share their answers and refine it
Answers: 1. of 2. on 3. of 4. of 5. of 6. onto 7. of 8. among 9. of 10. out of
11. on 12. without 13. with 14. with 15. in 16. of 17. of 18. of 19. of
20. to 21. of 22. in 23. from 24. off 25. from 26. off 27. from 28. among
29. from/ out of 30.of
Activity 3
Read the following passage and fill in the blanks.
Here’s another passage of the same kind. Try to answer it. Teacher can give
the activity to be done at home.
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Joan is a teacher (1) profession. She examined my daughter Edith (2)
Mathematics last year. They are short (3) good Mathematics teachers
nowadays, so she is kept busy. I have shares (4) several companies, and Joan
has helped me to make quite a profit (5) them by buying and selling at the
right time. I lose (6) a few, but gain (7) most. I have difficulty (8) doing the
complicated sum;, and because (9) this, Joan does them for me. If everything
goes according (10) plan, I will soon have doubled my money, and then I
will set (11) doubling it again.
Joan always inquires (12) Edith when she visits me. She is a kind woman (13)
heart, and family connections mean a lot (14) her. It probably has something
to do (15) the fact that she has never
married. She is over six foot (16) height, and well above average (17)
intelligence, and that frightens a lot of men off. (18) for me, I am really fond
of Joan and stop any attempt (19) the part of men to laugh at her. I am also in
sympathy (20) her ideas (21) regard to education. She has managed to interest
me (22) the teaching of mathematics owing (23) Edith’s own difficulties and
I am now quite familiar (24) the new ways of teaching it, even though the
gaps (25) my own knowledge of simple arithmetic are terrible! Joan is going
to see (26) trying to get Edith a job when she finishes at the university.
According (27) her, she should become a good teacher. I think I agree (28)
her. Edith has no objection (29) teaching, and she is accustomed (30) school
life, so she should try the job to see whether she likes it.
Answers: 1. by 2. in 3. of 4. in 5. on 6. on 7. on 8. in 9. of 10. to 11. about
12. after 13. at 14. to 15. with 16. in 17. in 18. as 19. on 20. with 21. with
22. in 23. to 24. with 25. in 26. about 27. to 28. with 29. to 30. to
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STUDY SKILLS
Read the following advertisement of a college.
TAGORE COLLEGE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
M.G.ROAD, ERNAKULAM
Applications are invited for admission to the 2 year Diploma Course in
Automobile and Electronics Engineering under the norms of the Government.
Eligibility: +2 Science with 50% marks.
Age: 19 to 25
Last date of application: 30.01.2009
Five applications were received.
The details of the applicants are given below.
Read it carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Sl.No. Name of Age Qualifications Optional % of
Candidate Subject marks
1 Prasanth 19 +2 Science 47
2 Nibina 19 +2 Commerce 5 2
3 Rahul 20 +2 Science 55
4 Nazruddin 1 8 +2 Science 60
5 Sruthi 27 B.Sc Science 68
1. Nibina has got 52% marks, but she is not eligible to apply for the
course. Why?
2. Rahul was eligible to apply last year itself. Why?
3. Nazruddin could not apply for the course. His application was
rejected. Why?
4. Of the five candidates, who is the overaged for the course?
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Did you find any difficulty in finding the answers. Now refine your answer with
the answer of the learner sitting near to you.
Now, here is another activity which you can do more easily.
Given below is the interview schedule for some posts in a company in
Technopark at Thiruvananthapuram. Study the table and answer the questions
in a word or phrase.
Discipline Qualifications VacancyInterview Salary
(No.) Date
Software Engineer B.Tech/M.Tech 6 1.3.2009 36000
Hardware Engineer B.Tech/M.Tech 7 2.3.2009 38000
M.Tech 5 3.3.2009 42000
System Manager
Accountant M.Com/MBA 3 1.3.2009 40000
Electrical Engineer B.Tech(Electrical) 1 1.3.2009 38000
a. How many vacancies are there in the company?
b. Which discipline is not associated with technology?
c. Which disciplines should report for interview on 1.3.2009?
d. Which discipline is given the highest salary?
See, another activity. It can be given as an assignment, if the teacher feels it so.
Look at the timetable given below. The details of the flights operated by Indian
Airlines from Delhi to various cities in India is given. Read it carefully.
Day Departure time Destination Arrival Time
Monday 9.50 Mumbai 11.50
Tuesday 10.00 Kolkotha 11.20
Wednesday 15.00 Chennai 17.00
10.10 Banglore 11.50
Thursday
Friday 14.25 Cochin 16.25
Saturday 8.30 Hyderabad 10.50
Sunday 17.30 Trivandrum 19.30
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Refer to the timetable and answer the questions that follow.
1. What day does the flight to Banglore leave?
2. At what day and time does Chennai flight leave Delhi?
3. Which flight takes off at 15.00 of every Wednesday?
4. Which flight reaches the destination at the least time?
Study skills aim to develop the ability to get (to browse) the desired information
from a given text.
Refer maps, graphs, timetables, brochures etc.
Make notes from reference materials.
Gather in formation from tables, maps, timetables, pricelist etc and make notes.
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SUPPLEMENTARY READER
Activity 1
Narrate the summary of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in the class.
Asks the learners to write the important events in the story individually.
Share their notes with other members in the group.
Tell them to group the events into three subtitles.
Subtitles:
The Bond Episode
The Casket Episode
The Court Episode
Each group presents their version.
For eg:
The Bond Episode
Antonio was a Christian merchant of Venice.
Antonio had a good friend, Bassanio.
Bassanio was in need of money and he approached Antonio.
Antonio’s ships were in sea and had no money at that time.
Antonio went to Shylock for getting money.
Shylock was a Jewish moneylender and a miser.
He had enmity to Antonio.
Shylock asked Antonio to sign a bond.
Antonio signed a bond with Shylock.
Ask the learners to develop these notes into a readable paragraph.
Antonio was a Christian merchant of Venice. Bassanio, his dear friend,
asked for some money to Antonio. Antonio at that time didn’t have
money. So he approached Shylock, a Jewish moneylender for getting
money. The greedy money lender who had an enmity with Antonio asked
him to sign a bond. Antonio signed the bond with Shylock.
Ask the learners to organize their points of Casket Episode into a paragraph.
Assess their product on the basis of the following tool.
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Suitable Needs improvement
Sequencing of ideas
Linkers used
Language and style
Let the learners continue the same process in other stories too.
The lesson ‘King Lear’ may not be included. It is excluded from this year’s
evaluation.
Worksheet 1
Casca stabbed Caesar.
Cassius decided on a plan to kill Caesar.
Caesar went to the Senate house.
Antony fled to his house.
Brutus, Cassius and others crowded together.
The conspirators washed their hands in Caesar’s blood.
The soothsayer warned Caesar.
Read the part I of the story ‘Julius Caesar’. You can narrate the part of the story in
your class.
Julius Caesar, the Roman General and statesman, after his great victory
returned to Rome. He had defeated the sons of Pompey. The common people
celebrated his victory. Flavious and Marullus suspected Caesar to be ambitious
and they hated him. They tried to turn the people agains Caesar
Lupercal, a yearly festival of purification was held at that time. People
believed that the touch from the young noble men who run around the city
would bring the women what they wished. Mark Antony, Caesar’s friend
also took part iii the race. Calphurnia, wife of Caesar was touched by Mark
Antony.
Meanwhile a soothsayer warned Caesar to be aware of the Ideas of
March (March 15th). People became sad. Brutus, one of the senators,
disapproved of the idea of rejoicing as he was upset Cassius and Brutus talked
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against Caesar. The games were over and Caesar returned home.
When Caesar and his followers walked past, Casca told about the game
to Brutus. Even though Antony offered a crown to Brutus three times; he
refused it Brutus because anx-ious when Casca told him that Caesar may
accept the course if it is offered to him again.
Cassius planed to write some forged letters which Brutus may thing to
be written by his admirers requesting him to save Rome from Caesar. He
planned to throw the letters through the window to Brutus.
That terrible night Casca was upset due to the strange sights. Cicero
was left unaffected. Cassius interpreted that those strange slights warned
Rome that one man is gong to rule Rome. It was known to them that the
senators were going to crown Caesar the next day. Cassius talked about
committing suicide. Casca and Cinna also agreed and were ready to join the
conspiracy against Caesar. Cassius gave the letters to Cinna. Cassius and Casca
went to see Brutus. They thought of planning together.
I hope you understood the story. Let me ask a few questions, Shall I?
* Who was Casesar?
* What is Lupercal?
More questions can be framed and asked to the class.
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SPEECH
A few tips for writing a speech
For presenting an effective speech, you should answer the following
questions:
What? - The overview of the speech
Why? - Why is the speech/subject important?
How? - The format of speech to be used
Who? - The speaker and the audience.
· Be brief and to the point. Be clear.
· Give listeners an overview of where the speech will go, particularly
for longer presentations.
· Introduce your speech in such a way that your audience will listen
to you.
· Don’t read the speech when you give an oral presentation—learn
the speech beforehand, and use the written speech only to refresh
your memory.
The following outline would help you for preparing a speech
1. Introduction
1. Open with salutation, ‘respected chief guest and my dear friends’
2. Begin with a quote/anecdote
3. State the main reason for your speech
2. Body
1. First point – start with your strongest point. Give your listeners
something to grab on to.
2. Second point – this is the weaker point. Keep it between the
stronger points.
3. Third point – come back with another strong point.
3. Conclusion
1. Re-state your three main points
2. Summarize the ideas you’ve presented
3. Conclude with a call to action
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SOME TEXTUAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO SPEECH
The Cherry Tree
1. You are the secretary of the environmental club. You have to deliver a
speech regarding the importance of planting trees at the inaugural
function. Prepare the speech for the function.
2. Rakesh prepared a speech on how he planted and protected the cherry
tree to be delivered at the school assembly. You may prepare the likely
speech.
Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. War has shattered the dreams of Nicola and Jacopo. I can’t understand
why people and countries fight against each other. I should find out
and let others know about it. I need to present this speech in the
morning assembly. Could you please help me in preparing the speech?
Three Days to See
1. After publishing her book Helen took part in a meeting arranged to
congratulate her. Prepare a speech by Helen exhorting people to make
use of the god given gifts of senses.
2. A meeting was arranged to honour Helen Keller in your school. Imagine
that you are the school leader. Prepare a welcome speech for the speech.
The Hero
1. As the school leader of Govt. HSS Malgudi, you are asked to deliver a
congratulatory speech for Swami in the function arranged by the PTA.
Prepare the speech.
2. Swami was given a prize for his bravery in the function arranged by
the PTA of the school. After receiving the prize, Swami delivered a
speech about his act of bravery. How would his speech be?
On the Rule of the Road
1. Imagine that you are asked to prepare a short speech on the importance
of social liberty and social order. You may prepare it in the light of the
lesson ‘On the Rule of the Road’.
2. Imagine that you are the school leader. Your headmaster wants you to
deliver a speech in the assembly on ‘Road Safety’. You may prepare
the speech.
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The Sneeze
1. Suppose your class teacher asked you to deliver a speech on ‘Good
Habits’. Prepare the speech.
2. Your resident’s association has decided to conduct a condolence
meeting on the death of Tcherviakoff. Being the secretary of the
resident’s association, you are asked to deliver a condolence speech at
the meeting. Prepare the speech.
The Elixir of Life
1. Prepare a speech on the importance of preserving water, to be presented
at the school assembly on the world water day (March 22nd).
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Sample Question Paper
SSLC
English
Total score: 80
Time: 21/2
NS
Instructions:
1. Attempt all questions.
2. You are not expected to write during the first 15 minutes.
3. This time is to be used in reading the questions and planning the answers.
(Qn 1- 4) Read the following passage from ‘On the Rule of the Road’ and
answer the questions that follow.
At the next station in came a couple of men, one of whom talked in a
loud and pompous voice. As I wrestled with the clauses and sections in the
Blue-Book, his voice rose like a gale, and his family history, the deeds of his
sons in the war, and his criticisms of the Generals and politicians submerged
my poor attempts to hang on to my job. I shut up the Blue- Book, looked out of
the windows, and listened wearily to his thundering voice. It was like a barrel-
organ groaning out some banal song of long ago.
1. Why was the narrator not able to read the Blue- Book? (2)
2. Pick out the word from the passage which means ‘self important’. (1)
3. What does the narrator compare the thundering voice of the speaker in the
passage to? (1)
4. Imagine that the narrator decides to talk to the passenger in the train who
was talking in a thundering voice. What would be the likely dialogue
between the narrator and the passenger? Write at least four exchanges.
(4)
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(Qn 5- 8) Read the following lines from ‘A stormy night’ and answer
the questions that follow
I lie and listen to the wind
As it blows in gusts and squalls,
And rattles all the window- frames,
And shake the very walls.
I hear the dreary drops of rain
A -drumming on the glass,
And drowning all the noises of
The vehicles that pass.
5. How does the wind blow? (1)
6. What is the effect of wind on the window- panes? (1)
7. What drowns the noises of vehicles? (1)
8. What is the theme of the poem? (1)
(Qn 9- 11) Read the following lines from the poem ‘Home they Brought
her Warrior Dead’ and answer the questions that follow.
‘Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior slept,
Took the face- cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.
Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee-
Like summer tempest came her tears-
“Sweet, my child, I live for thee.”
9. Why did the maiden remove the face- cloth of the dead warrior? (1)
10. What did the old nurse do? (1)
11. What was the impact of the sight of the child on the lady? Explain in
two or three sentences. (2)
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(Qn 12 – 16) Read the following passage and answer the questions that
follow.
There was once a sad and lonely nettle in the field. Nobody liked it
because of its stings. One day, a butterfly came to it and asked, “Will you keep
my eggs safe during the winter?” The nettle plant was thrilled and said it
would do so happily. No one had asked it for help before. And so, all through
the snow and storms, the nettle kept the eggs safe and dry under its leaves,
where no animal could eat them. As the weather grew warm in the spring,
the eggs hatched out into caterpillars. Then in the middle of the summer,
each caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly. “Thank you for looking after
us all winter,” said the butterflies. “We think your leaves are the strongest
and safest leaves in the whole wide world.” The nettle was never sad or lonely
after that. From that day, every winter, nettles look after the eggs of the
beautiful peacock butterfly.
12. The nettle was sad and lonely (1)
(a) as it was winter
(b) because nobody liked it
(c) because butterflies laid eggs on it
13. The butterfly asked the nettle to (1)
(a) keep their eggs safe
(b) give them shelter
(c) give them food
14. Why do you think the eggs were safe with the nettle from animals? (1)
15. What did the butterflies say about the nettle’s leaves? (1) a
16. “The nettle was never sad after that”. Why? (1)
(Qn. 17) Look at the front covers of the following books and answer the
questions that follow.
Netin Books The Midsummer Night’s Dream
a
Beyond The Moons A play in five acts
b
A brief history of Space travel By William Shakespeare
By Prof. Reghunandan Oxford University Press
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Essential English Grammar NMP
d
By KALARI
c
David Green Manoj Gurukkal
English Language Book Society A detailed description of
martial arts in Kerala
17. If you plan a project on ‘Traditional practices of Kerala’ which book
will you refer to? (1)
18. Which of the above books deals with science? (1)
19. A friend of you wants to present a play. Which book will you suggest?
(1)
20. You want to learn something about English language forms. Which
book will you refer to? (1)
21. Which book is written by a University teacher? (1)
(Qn. 22) Answer any of the following. (6)
A. Tcherviakoff accidentally sneezes on general Brizjaloff in the story ‘The
Sneeze’. Later he narrates this incident to his wife. How would he
narrate it? Begin like this “Yesterday I went to a theatre....
[Hints: Sneeze- accidentally- fell on Brizjaloff- apologized- heavy heart-
plans for more apologies at the General’s office.]
OR
B. “Water is the backbone of the life and civilization.” — examine this
statement in the light of the lesson ‘Water- the Elixir of Life’.
[Hints: Precious fluid- protects life- rain water- protect it for tomorrow]
23. Swami’s aunt living in Mumbai heard about his heroic act of catching
the thief. She writes a letter to him, congratulating his heroism. Write
the likely letter. (5)
24. Your class is organizing a programme to protect trees. Prepare three
slogans for placards to be used in the campaign. (3)
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(a)......................... (b)......................... (c).........................
25. Major events of the “Julius Caesar” are listed below. But they are not
in order, sequence them and write a paragraph. (5)
(a) Calphurnia implores Caesar to stay at home.
(b) Cowards die many times before their death the valiant never
tastes but once.
(c) Decius takes the charge of bringing Caesar to the capitol.
(d) Brutus debates with himself about Caesar in the orchard.
(e) Servants warns Caesar not to go to Capitol
(f) Caesar decides to go to Capitol.
(g) Decius persuades Caesar with eloquence.
(h) Calphurnia gets bad dreams of murder.
(i) Conspirators arrive and take the oath of faithfulness.
(j) Caesar tells no to Decius.
26. On the first day of her sight, Helen Keller saw her near and dear ones.
She felt thrilled and made a diary entry. Prepare the diary entry for
her. (5)
27. The headmaster decided to congratulate Swami at a special assembly.
He put up a notice about the special assembly on the school notice board.
Prepare the notice giving all the details. (5)
28. The beginning of a story is given below. Complete it suitably and give
it a proper title. The questions given below may help you. (6)
Manoj and his friends went on a field trip. After their visit they were
about to return to school. Suddenly they noticed that Rajeev was
missing from their group. They searched around. But they couldn’t
find Rajeev. The students were frightened .....................
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· What happened to Rajeev?
· Where did he go?
· What happened at the end?
29. The following passage is written by Roopesh. The errors in it are
( 2 1/ 2)
underlined. Correct the mistakes and rewrite it.
I used to playing football when I was a little boy. If you ask me to
play now I wouldn’t be able to play. There are a little friends of mine who can
play the game well even now. Many people are thinking that I am also a good
footballer. Some even respect me because I were a soccer star.
30. In the following passage one word has been omitted in each line. Supply
( 2 1/ 2)
the right word where a ‘/’ is given.
The bomb blast / (a) happened yesterday killed / (b) lot of people. It is
said /(c) terrorists are behind / (d) attack. The government have
ordered / (e) give Rs.1 lakh each / (f) the victims.
(a) which (b).......... (c).......... (d).......... (e).......... (f)..........
31. Read the following dialogue and answer the questions that follow.(3)
Jim: “Where are you going?”
John: “To the railway station.”
(a) What did Jim ask John?
Answer: Jim asked.................................
(b) What was John’s reply?
Answer: John replied.............................
32. The dialogue between Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan is given
below. But it is not complete. Complete it suitably. (4)
Helen: Hello teacher, Nice............. (a)..............
Anne: ........... (b)............, how are you?
Helen: I have regained my eyesight.
Anne: .................... (c)..................
Helen: Today I have seen my near and dear ones.
Anne: It is a pleasant experience, ........... (d)..........?
Helen: I am fortunate to see you, ............ (e)..........?
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33. The following part of a letter written by Harry has a few words missing
from it. Write words that are opposite in meaning to the words in the
box to fill in the blanks. (2)
Useful, bright, appeared, new
It was a (a).............. room. Nothing could be seen. There were some (b).........
newspapers lying on the floor. They were really (c)...... I lighted up a candle.
The darkness soon (d)............
34. You are conducting a seminar on the stories of Ruskin Bond. Prepare a
brief profile of Ruskin Bond, to be read out before the seminar session.
Make use of the hints given below. (5)
RUSKIN BOND
Born: 1934, Kausali, UP
Career: Novelist, short story writer, author of children’s literature.
Works: The room on the roof, Collected stories of Ruskin Bond,
Stories from Dehradun
Awards: John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize (1957)
Narration style: Simple, Straight forward.
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POEM GRID
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