Saturday, 6 October 2018

Practice Time : Schooling on the Streets


Read the extract, read the activity and do all the activities:

A1: Complete the statements choosing the appropriate words from the extract.
1. The Door Step school is established in Mumbai in……..
2. The Door Step school expanded to ……… in 1993.
3. The school has reached over …….. children.
4. In the school the language of instruction is………
Ans: 1. 1988 2. Pune 3. 50000 4. Marathi

Established in Mumbai in 1988 responding to a massive need for literacy in the slums, the Door Step School builds its program to address three major needs: school enrolment, education for those not in school and retention to help those in school thrive and stay in school. Expanding to Pune in 1993, the Door Step School has impacted over 50,000 children.
The Door Step School is truly a school at one’s doorstep. The organization sets up a classroom in a particular area and gathers children there for learning. The team goes there every day and conducts regular classes. This particularly helps those who can’t send their children to school due to distance and time issues. The programmes are tailor made for the groups that they serve. In Pune, the language of instruction is Marathi. When asked why English was not introduced to the children, Rajani replies thoughtfully, “We are not against any language. Our experience tells us that a child can pick up his mother tongue or the regional language quickly. One must understand that these are students with no educational background. They are what we can call first generation learners. Most of the municipal schools in the city are Marathi medium. So while enrolling them in the mainstream school, it’s essential that they know good Marathi. Also, when they come to us, they can hardly read and write in the language that they speak and hear, learning a foreign language is far more difficult. The other factor is the dropout rate. Keeping all this in mind, we think that children must read and write in their own language till the time they are with us.”
In Pune, the main focus of the Door Step School is educating on construction sites. “We conducted a survey and found that lots of young children move into the city with or without their families to work on construction sites. Earning the daily bread is a challenge and education thus remains a distant dream. We try and reach out to such children and as a result, today, we are operating on over distant dream. We try and reach out to such children and as a result, today, we are operating on over 100 construction sites in the city. However, there are several challenges. The opening as well as the closure of the sites is not in our hands. When the site is completed, the labour moves out and so does the child. This results in a high dropout rate.
A2: Give Reason : English was not introduced to the children.
A child can pick up his mother tongue quickly. The children were hardly able to read and write their mother tongue. Learning a foreign language like English is far more difficult for them. So English was not introduced to the children.
A3: Find out the challenges the Door Step School face in educating children.
The challenges the Door Step School face in educating children are as follows – The children are from not educational background. They do not stick to one place as they move when the construction site is completed.
A4: Give one word for the following expressions
a. Leave school before the course is finished - dropout
b. The action of keeping something rather than losing it -retention
c. Made for a particular person or purpose - tailor-made
d. To follow the progress and development of someone - track

A5: Education always opens doors for a brighter future. Give examples to support the statement.
Education enables us to live a better life. It helps us get skills required to lead life. Education opens many career options for us. Famous personalities like Dr A.P.J Kalam, Dr Ambedkar and Indira Gandhi reached to great height.
A6: Grammar:
1. It’s essential that they know good Marathi.(Choose and rewrite the Simple Sentence from the given alternatives)
a. It being essential they know good Marathi.
b. Knowing good Marathi is essential for them.
c. They know good Marathi and it is essential.
d. Essentially they know good Marathi.
2. The opening as well as the closure of the sites is not in our hands.(Rewrite using ‘neither…nor’)
Neither the opening nor the closure of the sites is in our hands.



Rapid Reading : The Joy Of Learning



1) Complete the statement:
The narrator was the worst nightmare for every teacher in the school because she disrupted each class.
2) Describe the personality of Mr. Kaplan, in two or three sentences.
Mr. Kaplan was young and handsome with blue eyes and blond hair.He seemed to be a carefree. He was dressed in Calvin Klein jeans and V-neck sweater.He kept talking in the class and hold the attention of the students.
3) Choose the statements which show the narrator's previous view about learning.
1. There could be joy in learning.
2. School is not about learning and joy.
3 She did not believe that learning could be about her, the learner.
4. Learning history is mystery.
4) State true or false about the activities done in Mr. Kaplan's class.
1. The students lay down on the floor and imagined they were slaves. True
2. They pretended to cross the high seas on ships.True
3. They skipped the class of Mr Kaplan.False
4. They pretended to fight the Civil War and sign the Declaration of Independence.True
5) Describe the method of Mr. Kaplan’s teaching.
Mr Kaplan adopted the method of active participation of students in learning. He sidelined the boring and tedious textbooks.He arranged different activities in the class to make students realize real experience of learning.
6) Complete the statements
1. The school management wanted to fire Mr. Kaplan becausehe did not stick to the curriculum.
2. The narrator opposed the idea of firing Mr. Kaplan because he was the best teacher in then school.
3. The principal warned the students that they would be suspended for walking out of the school in support of Mr Kaplan.
4. There were tears in Mr. Kaplan's eyes becausehe was moved by the affection of students and parents

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Activities on Poetic Creativity

<br /> <title>Poetic Creativity

1.1 The Person I Am Looking For

A4. Rewrite the following lines replacing the underlined words:
If you accept counsel without getting sour
And re-assess yourself in the light thereof
Act: If you accept advice/suggestion/ without getting bitter/irritate/angry
And re-examine/re-check/introspect yourself in the sunrays/brightness/focus thereof
(Do not write all options suggested.)

2.1 I Ran Into A Stranger

A4 Frame four poetic lines on the following situations using a rhyming pattern:
“While introducing great personalities, we praise them very highly and talk about their qualities, but while speaking about our friends we may not follow the same trend.”
The above situation is written in the structure of prose. Simply breaking sentences into lines will be poetic structure. Let the students know the structural difference between prose and poetry. Let them practice the pattern of rhyme scheme such as aabb, abab,abba
Activity: 1. While introducing great personalities,
We praise them very highly and talk about their qualities,
But while speaking about our friends
We may not follow the same trends
Activity 2 . While introducing great personalities,
While speaking about our friends,
We do not follow the same trends.
We praise the great very highly and talk less of friend’s qualities.

Activity 3.
While introducing great personalities,
And speaking about our friends
We praise the great very highly and talk less of friend’s qualities.
Why do we follow the different trends?
Activity 4
For great personalities we have a lot of praise.
As if it is a craze of todays.
But the praise we forget for friend.
Praising friend is not today’s trends.

3.1 Suburbs

Life is beautiful, enjoy it. Don’t run after money, don’t destroy it or you will be a fool.
Based on this theme compose two poetic lines of your own.
Activity 1
Run not after money to make you fool
Life is a thing of beauty to enjoy cool.
Activity 2
Don’t run after money. Life is beautiful.
Don’t destroy it or you will be fool.
Activity 3
Enjoy the beauty of life
Money stabs you with greed’s knife.

4.1 Old Women

Compose four poetic lines keeping in view your parents’ love and care for you and your accountability for them.
Activity 1
How can we forget?
The love and care
The parents, with us share
Are we not accountable to see
Their life is set?


Activity 2
O dear mom, O dear dad!
We pledge never to make you sad.
You are our dearest mentors,
We will always be your protectors.

5.1 The Felling Of the Banyan Tree
Compose tow poetic lines against the cutting of trees.
Activity 1
When you cut the trees, you cut your life short.
When you uproot the tree; it will damage your heart.
Activity 2
Do not cut trees, it’s not fair.
It will deprive you of fresh water and air.
6.1 Nation’s Strength
Activity 1
Ask the red dust of empires passed away
-------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
And their glory to decay.
Add two poetic lines to with rhyme scheme pattern of ‘ abba’
Ask the red dust of empires passed away
Is it the sword? Is it the blood?
That turned their stones to rust with bleeding flood
And their glory to decay.


7.1 Peace Is A Woman And A Mother
Her daughter in Hiroshima
And her sons in Vietam
………………………………….
………………………………………..

Compose the last two lines of your own using the names of countries and the names of cities rhyming with each other
Activity 1
Her daughter in Hiroshima
And her sons in Vietam
Her moms in Kohima
And her sisters in Suriname.

8.1 Concrete Jungle
Compose two more lines to rhyme with following lines
Activity 1
No more woods
No more natural goods.
Want of foods
Loss of moods.
Activity 2
No more woods
No more natural goods.
No more happy moods
No more natural foods.


…………………………………




Monday, 24 September 2018

Rapid Reading : The Girl With An Apple



Extract : ‘My brothers and I were………………………………. a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple.
A1 Complete the statements using words/expressions from the extract.

1. The writer and his brother were transported to …………….. Germany
2. The work given to Hermon at Buchenwald was …………..to load the dead into a hand cracked elevator.
3. Hermon was identified as ……….. 94983
4. Hermon and his brother were sent to …….. Schlieben
A1. Characters: Enlist the characters that appear and are referred to in the extract.
The characters that appear are Hermon, his brother and a little girl. The characters that are referred to in the extract are Hermon’s mother.
A1.Theme: Arrange the statements in order to get the central idea of the extract.
1. After a couple of days he spotted a girl on the other side of the camp’s fence.
2. The writer and his brother were taken to the concentration camp.
3. Once he dreamt that his mother would send him an angel.
4. They were issued uniforms and identification numbers.
Language: A1 Point out the words / expressions related with war and its effects exploitation
The words related with war , exploitation and its effects are ‘transported in cattle car’, ‘concentration camp’, ‘issued uniforms and identification numbers’, ‘camp’s crematorium’
A2. Add an imaginary paragraph before the extract. 2
It was the period of Second World War. The Nazi were seeking for the Jew. One day a troop of Nazi army reached our village. They started picking every single Jew from our village. I was playing with my brothers in the backyard of my house. I heard the footsteps and screaming of a group of people. We hid behind the lonely tree in the backyard. One of the soldier’s eyes fell on us and he rushed to lift us. We were put into a cattle car. I looked for my parent in the car in vein.

Extract : We were in Theresienstadt ………………. I was starting to settle in.
A1: Theme : Choose the correct option and rewrite the statements.

1. The girl with an apple/ Mother is called an angel.
2. The writer escaped from the camp at Buchenwald / Theresienstadt.
3. At 10 A. M. / 8 A. M. the writer heard shouts and saw people running in the camp.
4. The writer was trained in electronics in England/ America.
A1. Language: Point out the vivid description employed in the extract.
Ans : In the following lines we find vivid description- ‘ there was commotion’ ‘ I heard shouts, and saw people running every way through camp’ ‘The gates swung open’ .
A1. Plot: State the role of different countries in the escape and settlement.
Ans : (The writer was sent to Germany to keep in concentration camp. From there he was taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.) At Thereseinstadt the writer was scheduled to die in gas chamber. Somehow troops of Russia liberated him. In England he was kept in a hostel and given training in electronics. He served in the U. S Army during Korean War.
A2. Write the gist of the extract.
Ans: The writer, his brothers and other inhabitants of the camp were liberated by Russian troops. The writer owes his survival to the apple girl whose goodness saved his life. After getting liberated, he went to England. There he got training in electronics. Then he moved to America. His brother Sam also was there. In America he opened his electronics shop to settle in.


Extract 3 ' We piled back......... I have never let her go.'
A1. The extract tells us about human relationship. Explain.




A2 Write a piece of dialogue between Roma and the writer Herman.
(Scene: Sid in driver’s seat, Roma and Herman in back seats )
Roma: (in a soft tone) Where were you during the war?
The writer: (looking towards her) In the camps. And you?
Roma: My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin?
The writer: ( surprisingly) Weren’t you caught ?
Roma: My father knew a priest who got us Aryan papers.
The writer : Thank god. You didn’t witness the sufferings of the people in the camp
Roma: I know it. I saw a boy in the camp. I would throw him apples every day.
The writer: Did he tell you one day not to come back?
Roma: (In an amazement)Yes
The writer : That was me. I’m not letting you go. Will you …..m…marry me?
Roma : (blushing) You’re crazy.







.


Tuesday, 18 September 2018

5.4 Realisation Of A Dream




Read the extract, read the activity and complete all the activities.
A1. Complex Factual
Complete the following statements using the expression from the extract.
1. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is referred to as India’s epoch maker.
2. The state of Maharashtra will work for the betterment of the common people of Maharashtra.
3. The greatness of Maharashtra depends on the greatness of India.
4. The Himalayas stand for India and the Sahyadri stands for Maharashtra.
5. Hard labour is the watchword of our times.
6. Our saints have taught us the principle of equality and taught us to fight against injustice.
A2 Interpretation:
State the features of the Himalayas and the Sahyadri.
Ans: The snowy Himalayas are the highest mountain ranges. They symbolise India. The Sahyadri is formed of black rock structure. There is 200-300 inches rainfall. It stands for Maharashtra.
A2 Match the following




Column A Column B

India

blackest rock structure

Maharashtra

snowy

Himalayas

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Sahydri

Dnyaneshwar

A3. Conclusion: ’On this historic moment, I stand here to thank Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.Here the historic moment implies……….
The historic moment implies that formation of Maharashtra is a great moment for the people of Maharashtra. It will definitely last forever. It will work for the betterment of the common people of Maharashtra. At the same time India will be of prime importance.
A3. Point out the relation of India and Maharashtra.
A4 Vocabulary :
Find out from the extract the one word for the expression given here.
1. Giving honour or glory by doing something – blessing
2. Give up something valued for the sake of others – sacrifice
3. The arrangement of parts or elements of something complex – structure
4. A person or a thing providing protection - shield
Give the anonyms of :
1. Gratitude x ingratitude 2. Recently x lately 3. Sinful x sinless 4. Patriotism x treason
A5 Personal Response Type Question
Differentiate the having dreams and the realising dreams.

Write your vision about the dream nation.
A6 Grammar:
1. India’s epoch maker has come over here to bless the State of Maharashtra ( Rewrite it using gerund forms underlined)
India’s epoch maker has come over here for blessing the State of Maharashtra
2. Identify the voice (active/passive) of following sentences.
a. I have made this clear by bringing to your notice. Active Voice
b. It will be done primarily for India. Passive Voice
A6. Grammar
1. We Maharashtrians love him, worship him. (Rewrite using ‘not only …….. but also’)
We Maharashtrians not only love him but also worship him.
2. India and Maharashtra can progress only when there is oneness of interest. (Rewrite using ‘unless’)
India and Maharashtra cannot progress unless there is oneness of interest.



Tuesday, 11 September 2018

A Poem : A Nation's Strength



I.State whether the following statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.
1. The grand structures of wealthy kingdoms cannot endure the ravages of war.
2. There is nothing glorious about nations with great military might.
3. Those nations are great which can boast of a huge army.
4. Wars cause senseless violence.
5. True patriots are those who do not think of their own comfort.
II Read the poem carefully and do the following activities
1. The extract begins with a couple of questions. State the purpose they serve.
2. The nation is described as a structure or building. Explain.
3. Give reasons : Wealthy kingdoms are unstable.
4. Point out the legacy that victories won through wars leave behind.
5. Describe the aftermath of bloody wars.
6. War victories turn 'glory to decay' . Explain.
7. A nation having weapons of mass destruction can be judged as a strong one. Give your opinion.
8. State why the poet says that national pride 'seems' sweet.
9. State the ultimate fate of pride .
10. Point out the kind of men who build a mighty nation.
l l . Enlist the qualities of great men that contribute to the strength of a nation.
12. The poet has tried to create a conversational tone in the poem. Pick out the words or expressions used to create this tone.
III. Poetic Devices
1. In the first line of the 2nd and 3rd stanzas, the words 'gold' and 'sword' denote wealth and strength. The figure of speech where a word is used to represent a class or category of things is known as Metonymy.

2.. Antithesis is a figure of speech wherein two opposite words or ideas occur in the same sentence. Try and identify them in stanzas 2 and 3.
3.. Pick out the rhyming pairs of words in the 4th and 5 th stanzas along with rhyme scheme.
IV. Towards Appreciation
l. Find out type of foundation the poet referring to in the poem.
2. Write your opinion about the underlying message of the poem.

5.3 Under The Yoke



Read the story carefully and complete the statements given below with appropriate expressions from the story:
1.The boys came to school whenever they felt like it.
2.The school-master did time-honoured jobs without murmur.
3.It was unusual for disputes to cross the boundary of village.
4.If financial difficulties threatened to postpone a scheduled wedding, the village often helped to tide over the situation.
5.Sheku asked the teacher to find him a bullock from somewhere.
6.Sheku's better half was a strapped woman.
7.Sheku's wife pulled by the side of the bullock by sheer physical strength.
8.Together they went to work with a rake until the seed was covered.
9.The school-master was consulted in regard with whenever the sheep was loss or wife quarreled.
10.Complete the list of excuses the school-master made for the poor enrollment of students .........
11. Two acre land was sown by Sheku and his wife by the evening.
12.The incredible tale of Sheku's wife was talked of in the village with admiration, astonishment and scornful amusement .

A2. Complete the web chart about subsidiary roles of school master.

A2 Complete the web chart about varied roles of school master


A1. Complex Factual:
State whether the following statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.

a. Sheku was very often seen in the village. FalseCorrected statement: Sheku was not often seen in the village.
b. Cultivation of land was the only interest of Sheku. True>
c. He used his dhoti as blanket.True
d. He asked Ayubu to lend him a bullock. FalseCorrected statement:He asked the teacher to lend him a bullock.

One day, while the sowing operation was at its height, Sheku came to see me. He was not often seen in the village. He had two or three acres of land outside the village and its cultivation was his only interest in life. It was early morning and the man had covered himself with a dhoti–as if it were a blanket. All I could see of him were his scraggy face and dusty feet–they looked leathery from constant trekking; the toes had coarse ungainly nails on them. His hands were hidden from view. Ayubu and I were by ourselves when Sheku came.
‘Teacher’, he said, without bothering to sit down, 'Do find me a bullock from somewhere. It’s sowing time you know!’
It was pointless to say that as a school-master I was not likely to own a bullock. He said, ‘You can easily borrow one for me. I have one. The other died. I can sow if I get another. Otherwise it means starving–the whole year through.’
‘Let me know first who has a bullock to lend. Then I can ask him.’
‘Those that own bullocks have their own sowing to do. Who would put up with a delay in his own sowing? I have tried everywhere.’
‘Whom do you want me to ask in that case?’
‘Do what you like but help me in my need. The whole village says: “the school-master is always helpful, always there in times of difficulty!” Why do you treat me different ?’
Ayubu, who had listened to all this without a word, now intervened. He turned his face towards Sheku and said:
‘Are you crazy, Sheku? Where would the teacher get a bullock? Is he a farmer? Is he a cattle dealer? Have you no sense that you come and beg for whatever stupid thing enters your head? Go away!’

A2. Appreciation:
Narrate about the problem of Sheku.

Ans : It was a time of sowing. His one of the bullocks died. He tried to get a bullock from villagers in vain. He could sow if he got a bullock with the help of teacher. Otherwise it would be starving for a whole year.
A3. : Conclusion /Guessing
Arrange the jumbled sentences in the sequence of events occurred.

a. Sheku realised his mistake when Ayubu intervened.
b. Sheku’s bullock died.
c. Sheku came to school master and asked for a bullock.
d. Sowing operation was in full swing.
Ans: d. Sowing operation was in full swing.
b.Sheku’s bullock died.
c. Sheku came to school master and asked for a bullock.
a. Sheku realised his mistake when Ayubu intervened.
A4. Vocabulary:

Match the words in Column A with their antonyms in column B
Column A Column B
1.constant a.lend
2.coarse b.smooth
3.borrow c.timely
4.delayd.sporadic
Ans:
Column A Column B
1.constant d.sporadic
2.coarse b.smooth
3.borrow a.lend
4.delayc.timely

A5.PRT:
Many farmers have been facing the problems like Sheku’s . Suggest solutions to the problems.
A6.Grammar
1) Find the assertive substitute of the following rhetorical question.

Where would the teacher get a bullock?
a. The teacher would get a bullock anywhere.
b. The teacher would get a bullock.
c. The teacher should get a bullock.
d. The teacher wouldn’t get a bullock.
2) He turned his face towards Sheku and said , “ Are you crazy, Sheku?”
He turned his face towards Sheku addressing him and asked if he was crazy.


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