ORAL
COMPREHENSION CHECK PAGE
2
1. What did Petronski’s letter say?
Answer:
Mr Petronski’ letter, which was addressed to Miss Mason, said that his daughter
Wanda and son Jake would not be attending school henceforth. It also stated
that they were moving to a big city and that people would no more be
questioning her about her funny name as there were many funny names in the city
they were moving to.
2. Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or
is she unhappy and upset?
Answer:
Miss Mason is definitely unhappy and upset with the class, but she is not
angry. She feels that whatever happened is both unfortunate and sad, and all
she wants from the class is that the students think about it.
3. How does Maddie feel after listening
to the note from Wanda’s father?
Answer:
Maddie
got a sick feeling in her stomach after listening to the note from Wanda’s father.
She also felt that she was a coward, for despite knowing what they had been
doing was wrong, she could not do anything.
4. What does Maddie want to do?
Answer:
Maddie
wants to find Wanda Petronski and tell her that she had won the drawing
contest. She also wanted to tell Wanda that she was smart and that the one
hundred dresses she had designed were beautiful.
ORAL
COMPREHENSION CHECK PAGE
4
1. What excuses does Peggy think up for
her behaviour? Why?
Answer:
Peggy
tells Maddie that she never actually made fun of Wanda or her name, for she was
not even aware that Wanda would realise she is being mocked at. She also says
that the dresses game played a role in giving ideas to Wanda to come up with
those beautiful designs. She draws these excuses for her behaviour because she
knows deep down that it was because of her that Wanda had to move to a big
city.
2. What are Maddie’s thoughts as they go
to Boggins Heights?
Answer:
While on the way to Boggins Heights, Maddie hopes to find Wanda. She wants to
let Wanda know that she and Peggy were sorry for having picked on her, and how
wonderful the whole school thought she was. She had also wanted to tell her not
to move away as everybody from then on was going to be nice to her.
3.
Why does Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?
Answer:
Wanda’s
house reminds Maddie of Wanda’s faded blue dress because both looked shabby but
clean.
4. What does Maddie think hard about?
What important decision does she come to?
Answer:
Maddie
thinks hard about Wanda, her faded blue dress, and the little house she had
dwelt in. She also thinks of the glowing picture those hundred dresses that
were lined up in the classroom made. She finally makes the decision of not
standing by and making someone unhappy. She decided to speak her mind even if
it came at the cost of losing Peggy’s friendship.
ORAL
COMPREHENSION CHECK PAGE
7
1. What did the girls write to Wanda?
Answer:
The
girls wrote a letter to Wanda, telling her about the fact that she had won in
the drawing contest. They also told her how pretty her drawings were. In the
letter, they asked Wanda if she liked where she was living and if she liked her
new teacher.
2. Did they get a reply? Who was more
anxious for a reply, Peggy or Maddie? How do you know?
Answer:
Yes.
They did get a reply during Christmas, only it was addressed to Miss Mason. It
was Maddie who was more anxious for a reply. This is evident as the author
clearly mentions that Peggy had forgotten about the whole business but Maddie
had put herself to sleep at night making speeches about Wanda, defending her
from the crowds of girls who were trying to tease her.
3. How did the girls know that Wanda
liked them even though they had teased her?
Answer:
The girls got to know that Wanda had liked them despite their teasing her, for
the two out of the hundred dresses Wanda had designed looked exactly like
Maddie and Peggy. These were the dresses that Wanda had specifically mentioned
in her letter to Miss Mason.
THINKING
ABOUT THE TEXT PAGE
7
1. Why do you think Wanda’s family moved
to a different city? Do you think life there was going to be different for
their family?
Answer:
I think Wanda’s family moved to a different city because they felt that things
would change for the better. Yes, I think life there was going to be quite
different for their family from the life they had led in Boggins Heights.
2. Maddie thought her silence was as bad
as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?
Answer:
I
think Maggie was right in thinking that her silence was as bad as Peggy’s
teasing. This is because supporting someone in a wrong act is equivalent to
committing the act itself.
3. Peggy says, “I never thought she had
the sense to know we were making fun of her anyway. I thought she was too dumb.
And gee, look how she can draw!” What led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb?
Did she change her opinion later?
Answer:
Wanda’s
nonchalant attitude towards her questions led Peggy to believe that Wanda was
dumb. Yes, Peggy changed her opinion upon discovering that Wanda was a person
who drew amazingly well.
4. What important decision did Maddie
make? Why did she have to think hard to do so?
Answer:
Maddie
made the important decision of not making anyone unhappy again and speaking up
for what she felt was right. She thought hard to do so as Peggy was her best
friend and doing something against Peggy would mean an end to their friendship.
5. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and
Peggy the drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?
Answer:
I
think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses because she
wanted to take a good look at them and realise that those designs, in reality,
looked like them.
6. Do you think Wanda really thought the
girls were teasing her? Why or Why not?
Answer:
I
think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her, for had she not thought
so her father wouldn’t have mentioned about her name being funny in the letter
addressed to Miss Mason. Also, she knew that she was being mocked at when the
girls asked her about the number of dresses she had. Unperturbed, To defend her
self respect, she always maintained that she possessed a hundred dresses.
THIINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE PAGE
8
I. Here are thirty adjectives describing
human qualities. Discuss them with your partner and put them in the two word
webs (given below) according to whether you think they show positive or
negative qualities. You can consult a dictionary if you are not sure of the
meanings of some of the words. You may also add to the list the positive or
negative ‘pair’ of a given word.
kind,
sarcastic, courteous, arrogant, insipid, timid, placid, cruel, haughty, proud,
zealous, intrepid, sensitive, compassionate, introverted, stolid, cheerful,
contented, thoughtless, vain, friendly, unforgiving, fashionable, generous,
talented, lonely, determined, creative, miserable, complacent
Answer:
Positive
kind, courteous, zealous, placid, proud, intrepid, sensitive, compassionate, cheerful, contented, friendly, fashionable, generous, talented, determined, creative
Negative
sarcastic, arrogant, insipid, timid, cruel, haughty, introverted, stolid,
thoughtless, vain, unforgiving, lonely, miserable, complacent
II. What adjectives can we use to
describe Peggy, Wanda and Maddie? You can choose adjectives from the list
above. You can also add some of your own.
1. Peggy
_________________________________________________
2. Wanda
__________________________________________________
3. Maddie
__________________________________________________
Answer:
1. Peggy - zealous, proud, friendly, fashionable,
sarcastic, thoughtless, complacent, prejudiced
2. Wanda - kind, talented, creative, insipid,
introverted, stolid, lonely, unperturbed
3. Maddie - sensitive, determined, miserable,
cogitative
III. 1. Find the sentences in the story with the
following phrasal verbs.
lined up
thought up took off stood by
Answer:
Lined
up
(i) And she thought of the glowing picture those
hundred dresses made — all lined up in the classroom.
(ii) I have a hundred new ones, all lined up in my
closet.
Thought
up
None
Took
off
(i) Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them
and wiped them on her soft white handkerchief.
Stood
by
(i) She had stood by silently, and that was just as
bad as what Peggy had done.
(ii) She had stood by and said nothing, but Wanda had been nice to her, anyway.
2. Look up these phrasal verbs in a dictionary to find out if they can be used in some other way. (Look at the entries for line, think, take and stand in the dictionary.) Find out what other prepositions can go with these verbs. What does each of these phrasal verbs mean?
Answer:
Phrasal
Verbs with ‘Line’
(i) Line out: (a) (Baseball) to be put out by hitting a line drive that was caught on the fly by an opponent
(b) to perform
(ii) Line up: (a) to secure
(b) to arrange
(c) to
make available
Phrasal
Verbs with ‘Think’
(i) Think out/Think through: (a) to understand or solve by thinking
(b) to devise
(ii) Think
up: (a) to invent or formulate
Phrasal
Verbs with ‘Take’
(i) Take after: (a) to follow
(b) to resemble in appearance
(c) to pursue hurriedly
(ii) Take apart: (a) to dismantle
(b) to analyse
(iii) Take back: (a)
to retract something said or written
(iv) Take down: (a) to bring to a lower position
(b) to dismantle
(c) to lower the arrogance of another person
(d) to put down into writing
(v) Take for: (a) to regard as
(b) to consider mistakenly
(vi) Take in: (a) to obtain an amount of money
(b) to accept work to be done at one’s house for pay
(c) to reduce in size
(d) to include
(e) to experience or attend
(f) to deceive
(g) to convey a prisoner to a police station
(vii) Take off: (a) to doff
(b) to release
(c) to deduct as a discount
(d) to discontinue
(e) to spend time away from work
(f) to leave
(viii) Take on: (a) to begin to handle
(b) to hire or engage
(c) to acquire
(d) to display a violent or passionate emotion
(ix) Take out: (a) extract
(b) to secure by application to an authority
(c) to give vent to
(d) to obtain as an equivalent in a different form
(x) Take over: (a) to assume control
(b) to become dominant
(xi) Take to: (a) to go to, as for being safe
(b) to develop as a habit
(c) to become attached to
(xii) Take up: (a) to raise/lift
(b) to absorb
(c) to resume
(d) to consume
(e) to shorten in size
3. Use at least five such phrasal verbs in sentences of your own.
Answer:
(i) Take over: Mr Handa has taken over as the Head of the Department of Chemistry.
(ii) Take off: He took off his clothes before jumping into the river.
(iii) Think out: We thought of a great plan to get the culprit to accept his crime.
(iv) Line out: I am lining out a song in tomorrow’s assembly.
(v) Think up: Can you think up a strategy to get rid of his calls?
IV. Colours are used to describe feelings, moods
and emotions. Match the following ‘colour expressions’ with a suggested
paraphrase.
(i) the Monday morning blues – feel
embarrassed/angry/ashamed
(ii) go red
in the face – feel
very sick, as if about to vomit
(iii) look green –
sadness or depression after a weekend of fun
(iv) the red carpet –
the sign or permission to begin an action
(v) blue-blooded
– a sign of
surrender or acceptance of defeat; a wish to stop fighting
(vi) a green belt –
in an unlawful act; while doing something wrong
(vii) a blackguard –
a photographic print of building plans; a detailed plan or scheme
(viii) a grey area –
the land around a town or city where construction is prohibited by law
(ix) a white flag –
an area of a subject or a situation where matters are not very clear
(x) a blueprint – a
dishonest person with no sense of right or wrong
(xi) red-handed
– a
special welcome
(xii) the green
light – of
noble birth
Answer:
(i)
the Monday morning blues – sadness or depression after a weekend
of fun
(ii)
go red in the face –
feel embarrassed/angry/ashamed
(iii)
look green –
feel very sick, as if about to vomit
(iv) the red carpet – a special
welcome
(v) blue-blooded – of noble birth
(vi)
a green belt –
the land around a town or city where construction is prohibited by law
(vii)
a blackguard –
a dishonest person with no sense of right or wrong
(viii)
a grey area –
an area of a subject or a situation where matters are not very clear
(ix)
a white flag –
a sign of surrender or acceptance of defeat; a wish to stop fighting
(x)
a blueprint –
a photographic print of building plans; a detailed plan or scheme
(xi)
red-handed –
in an unlawful act; while doing something wrong
(xii) the green light – the sign or permission to begin an action
Poem: Animals by Walt Whitman
THINKING ABOUT THE POEM PAGE12
1. Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in
the first line, “I think I could turn and live with animals…”. What is the poet
turning from?
Answer:
The poet is turning away from living with human beings whom he considers
demented and manic.
2. Mention three things that humans do
and animals don’t.
Answer:
Lying awake in the dark, discussing their duty to God, and kneeling to another
are three things that humans do and animals don’t.
3. Do humans kneel to other humans who
lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups.
Answer:
Yes, I do think humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago.
This is evident as most of us have worshipped kings and queens as divine beings
hitherto. These kings and queens lived hundreds and thousands of years ago, and
hence, have little to do with the modern world that we are currently living in.
4. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet
says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him?
Discuss this in class.
Answer: The ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have preserved for him are those qualities that a human being is supposed to have. According to the poet, humans are supposed to be placid, self-contained, and blissful. However, these are the qualities that he finds in animals, but sadly, misses in humans.
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