A large part of the story is composed of conversation between the characters.
Can you convert it into a play and in groups, present your version of the play before the class? Before that, decide onthe members of cast, minimum props required and also the costumes.
A classroom activity
Now, using the ideas given below, write a speech on 'The Role of Youth in Realising the Dreams of Dr. Kalam'. (Refer to CODER)
a) fighting for equal rights
b) fighting corruption
c) empowering the masses
d) looking for jobs within the country
e) active involvement in social issues
f) promoting national integration
g) equal participation of women in all fields
Here is a story about Swami and his grandmother. After reading the excerpt, change it into a conversation between Swami and his Grandmother.
After the night meal with his head on his granny’s lap, nestling close to her, Swaminathan felt very snug and safe in the faint atmosphere of cardamom and cloves. ‘Oh, Granny !’ he cried ecstatically. ‘You don’t know what a great fellow Rajam is.’ He told her the story of the first enmity between Rajam and Mani and the subsequent friendship.
‘You know, he has a real police dress,’ said Swaminathan. ‘Is it? What does he want a police dress for?’ asked Granny.
‘His father is the Police Superintendent. He is the master of every policeman here.’ Granny was impressed. She said that it must be a tremendous office indeed. She then recounted the days when her husband, Swaminathan’s grandfather, was a powerful sub-magistrate, in which office he made the police force tremble before him and the fiercest dacoits of the place flee. Swaminathan waited impatiently for her to finish the story. But she went on, rambled, confused, mixed up various incidents that took place at different times. ‘That will do, Granny,’ he said ungraciously. ‘Let me tell you something about Rajam. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?’
‘He gets all the marks, does he, child?’ asked Granny.
‘No silly. He gets ninety marks out of one hundred.’
‘Good. But you must also try and get marks like him…. You know, Swami, your grandfather used to frighten the examiners with his answers sometimes. When he answered a question, he did it in a tenth of the time that others took to do it. And then, his answers would be so powerful that his teachers would give him two hundred marks sometimes.
‘Oh, enough, Granny ! You go on bothering about old unnecessary stories. Won’t you listen to Rajam?’
‘Yes, dear, yes.’
‘Granny, when Rajam was a small boy, he killed a tiger.’
Swaminathan started the story enthusiastically : Rajam’s father was camping in a forest. He had his son with him. Two tigers came upon them suddenly, one knocking down the father from behind. The other began chasing Rajam, who took shelter behind a bush and shot it dead with his gun.
‘Granny, are you asleep?’ Swaminathan asked at the end of the story.
Now read the dialogue and complete the conversation:
Swarni: You don’t know what a great fellow Raj am is! In the beginning I could not get along with him but now he is my good friend. And you know, he has a real police dress.
Grandmother: Is it? What does he want a police dress for?
Swarni: His father is the Police Superintendent. He is the master of every policeman here.
Grandmother: I think, it must be a tremendous office. Do you know, your grandfather was a powerful submagistrate and the Police Force trembled before him? Even the fiercest dacoits of the place fled.
Swarni: That will do, Granny. It’s so boring. Let me tell you something about Raj am. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?
Grandmother: He gets all the marks, doesn’t he, child?
Answer the following question:
Why was it necessary to keep Harold’s father’s profession a secret from him?
The following is a flow chart showing the course of the brook. Can you fill in the
blank spaces with help from the phrases given below?
a) passes under fifty bridges; b) comes from the place where coots and herons live;
c) passes lawns filled with flowers; d) crosses both fertile and fallow land; e) goes
through wilderness full of thorny bushes
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions
by ticking the correct choice.
The poet draws a parallelism between the journey of the brook with ___________.
Wordsworth was so moved by this experience that later he wrote this poem as a
recollection of a memory. Think back in your own life and try to recall an
experience that affected you greatly and left a deep impression on you. Then
write a poem for your school magazine in which you describe that experience
and its impact.
What according to you are the stages of a person's life? What characteristics
would you associate with each stage? (e.g., childhood: innocence, joy
Answer the following question.
With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?
Below are certain words that appear in the story of Amelia Earhart's journey.The meanings have been given in a jumbled order. Match the words with their meanings.
| Words | Meanings |
| 1.Navigator | (a) an infection of the bowels |
| 2.Skirting | (b) a person who flies an aircraft. |
| 3.Dysentery | (c) a person who plans a route for a ship or plane |
| 4.Parachute | (d) to put something in a safe place |
| 5.Cable | (e) to leave something with no intention of returning |
| 6.Precise | (f) to go or around the edge of something |
| 7.Transmit | (g) a device that is attached to people or objects to make them fall slowly and safely. |
| 8.Implement | (h) a small boat made of rubber or plastic that is filled with air. |
| 9.Raft | (i) a set of wires, covered in plastic or rubber that carries electricity or telephone signals |
| 10.Stowed | (j) carry out |
| 11.Aviator | (k) exact |
| 12.Abandoned | (l) to send an electric signal |
Simple Past and Past Perfect
Complete this story by Julius Lester. Choose the correct forms of the words
given in the brackets.
Brer Rabbit (a) ________ (decidedI had decided) gardening was too much hard work. So he (b) ________ (had gone/went) back to his old ways of eating from everybody else’s garden. Earlier, he (c)________ (made/had made) a tour through the community to see what everybody (d)________ (had been/was) planting that summer and his eye (e) ________ (was/had been) caught by Brer Fox’s peanut patch.
That night Brer Rabbit (l) _______ (came/had come) down to the peanut patch. He climbed through the hole and WHOOSH ! Next thing he (m) _______ (had known/knew), he was hanging in the air upside down. There (n) ________ (wasn’t/hadn’t been) a thing he could do, so he made himself comfortable to catch a little sleep!
Answer the following questions based on the story you have read.
(a) What had Brer Rabbit found out?
(b) What did he do when the plants grew?
(c) How did he enter Brer Fox's peanut patch?
(d) Brer Fox had an idea of who was stealing from his patch. What did he do to trap
Brer Rabbit?
You must have used the simple past tense and past perfect tense in your
answer. Do you know most often, when you use the past perfect, you use it with
the (simple) past?
Study the sentences from the story and write whether (a) the action happened
before the action mentioned in the simple past tense, or (b) an action happened
after the action mentioned in the past perfect tense.
(e.g.) Brer Rabbit had decided _(a)_ gardening was _(b)_too much for him. So,
he went __ back to his old ways. Earlier, he had made __ a tour through
the community to see what everybody had been __ planting that summer
and his eye was __ caught by Brer Fox's peanut patch.
Look at the verbs in the box and put them in the correct columns in the table that follows
|
believe wish see belong |
hate own regret measure |
know understand forget touch |
weigh prefer hear
|
smell find imagine
|
think cost remember
|
suppose like taste
|
| thought | emotion | possession | perception (often used with can) | measurement |
Some verbs, like the ones mentioned above, are not normally used in the continuous (- ing) form. However, we do sometimes use such verbs in the continuous form. Look at the following examples.
1. “I can’t concentrate on my work because I’m thinking about that beautiful scene.”
2. “I think it is beautiful.”
Rearrange the following to form meaningful sentences. The first one has been done as an example. Write the answers against the correct numbers.
Put into / as the / at low / baby can / he is / as soon / water / toddle / tide
As soon as the baby can toddle he is put into water at low tide.
(a) water / the baby / in the/ there / plays/ sits and
(b) long enough / the mother / him/ does not / to worry / there / leave him
(c) older / at low tide / as / wade about / allowed to / he is / he grows
(d) look out / water / keep a / into deep / sharp / does not stray / so that he/ his elders
(e) permitted to / from which / judgment / he may / make small mistakes / he is / learn to make better
(f) are given / to swim / small canoes / the children / they / own / are able/ of their / when
Work in pairs. Tell your partner what you are not able to do now because of the fast-paced life.
e.g. I could play in the open ground but now I can’t.
I could visit my aunt on weekends but …………
On a cold winter night you hear a loud shrieking noise at repeated intervals. What might have caused this?
Write down your ideas using the pattern below.
| it |
might could must |
have been |
the owl hooting a ghost____________ |
Match the sentences in A with their meanings in B.
| A | B |
|
You should have taken your keys. You could/might have lost your keys at the cinema. You must have left your keys at home. |
It is possible that you left your keys. You are to blame for leaving your keys. I think that you probably left your keys. |
Listen to the following conversation adapted from 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' by J. K. Rowling.
While your teacher reads the excerpt, complete the following statements.
Aunt Petunia : Wizard, indeed!
Hany Potter : You knew? You knew I'm a - a wizard?
Aunt Petunia : (shouting angrily) Knew! Knew! Of course we knew! How cold you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family! (Drawing a deep breath) Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!'
Harry Potter : (Listens in shocked silence). Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!'
Hagrid : (Angrily) CAR CRASH! (Jumping to his feet) How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!'
Harry Potter : But why? What happened?
Hagrid : (Anxiously) I never expected this. I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Hany, I don' know if I'm the right person to tell yeh - but someone's gotta -yeh can't go off to Hogwarts not knowin'. Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everthin', It's a great mystry, parts of it ... ' (Hagrid pauses for a moment. Sound of chair being dragged). It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows-'
Harry Potter : Who ?
Hagrid : Well - I don't like sayin' the name if I Can help it . No one does .
Harry Potter : Why not ?
Hagrid : Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went ... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse than worse. His name was .... (Hagrid gulps but no word comes out).
Harry Potter : Could you write it down ?
Hagrid : (in a whisper) Nah - can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. (shudders) Don't make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some
just wanted a bit o' his power, "cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who to trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches .. Terrible things happened. He was takin' over.' Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed" em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before ... probably knew they were too close to Dumbledore to want anythin' to do with the Dark Side. Maybe thought he could persuade 'em .. maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came toyer house an' - an'-' (Blows nose with a sound like a foghorn). Soriy. But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find - anyway"You-Know-Who" killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted to make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided to kill' em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts an' your parents Harry.
1. Aunt Petunia did not like her sister and brother-in-law as ____________
2. Harry's mother had met his father at _______________
3. Harry had been told that his parents had ___________This was not the truth as ____________
4. The name of the Wizard who killed Harry Potter's parents was __________
5. Hagrid was reluctant to name _______ and called him _______
6. Harry got the scar on his forehead when _________
Past passive –
“Where was it made?”
Look at what your partner is wearing. Imagine where the various items of clothing were (or might have been) made, and tell your partner. Use your imagination!
e.g. A : Was your shirt made in France ?
B : No, actually it was made in Brazil.
Review of passives
Look back on the exercises in this Unit. Discuss why the passive is used in each of these different circumstances.
Can you think of any other times when it is best to use the passive?
Study the following graph and the accompanying report.
Our study of the time spent by students at the computer and studying at home in three countries has revealed some interesting facts.
First, the majority of boys and girls in the age groups of 14-16 in these countries spend more time at the computer than studying at home. Children in these countries spend an average of20-30 hours per week in comparison to 10-15 hours of studying at home. The only exception is Burland where girls spend more time studying at home than at the computer.
Secondly it is evident that in all three countries, time spent at the computer is having a serious impact on the number of hours spent studying at home. In fact, the greater the number of hours spent at the computer, the fewer number of hours are being spent studying. For example, boys in Burland spend an average of 32 hours at the computer while they spend about 8 hours studying at home.
Several youngsters have problems in dealing with their parents. With your partner, discuss the difference ln views and complete the table below. Sometimes there may be no contradiction between the two views.
| Features | As we see ourselves | As our parents see us |
| How tidy we are | ||
| The types of clothes we wear | ||
| How courteous we are | ||
| How much we study | ||
| How independently are we allowed to express our opinions |
