THINKING
ABOUT THE TEXT PAGE
10
Activity
Calculate how many years and months ahead
from now Margie’s diary entry is.
Answer: Margie’s diary entry is 130 years
and 8 months ahead. (To be verified by the student)
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of
sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
Answer:
Margie
is eleven years old while Tommy is 20 years old.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Answer:
Margie
wrote in her diary that that day Tommy had found a real book.
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Answer:
Maggie
had only seen telebooks before, not a real one.
4. What things about the book did she
find strange?
Answer:
Margie
found the yellow and crinkly pages of the book strange. It was also strange for
her to come to terms with the fact that the book had stationary words.
5. What do you think a telebook is?
Answer:
I
think a telebook is a book that’s played out on a screen.
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she
have any classmates?
Answer:
Margie’s
school was right next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy
learn?
Answer:
Margie
and Tommy learnt Geography, History, and Arithmetic.
II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Answer:
(i) It is Tommy who
says these words.
(ii) ‘It’ refers to the
television screen that has got millions of books on it.
(iii) ‘It’ is being
compared with the books that were read by students hundreds of years ago.
2. “Sure
they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a
regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
Answer:
(i) ‘They’ refers to
the students that went to schools over hundreds of years ago.
(ii) ‘Regular’ here
means one that’s not mechanical.
(iii) It is contrasted
with the mechanical teacher Tommy and Margie take lessons from.
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph
(about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and
Tommy have?
Answer:
Margie
and Tommy had mechanical teachers. And as the name suggests, these teachers
were mere robots without any human sentiments. Furthermore, these mechanical
teachers taught with the help of a screen, thereby making the learning process
very boring.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the
County Inspector?
Answer:
The
mechanical teacher had been giving Margie test after test in geography. Margie,
however, had been performing badly in the tests and with each test, her scores
were getting worse. This makes Margie's mother sad, and hence, she calls for
the County Inspector to put the mechanical teacher 'in order'.
3. What did he do?
Answer:
The
County Inspector, who was a round little man with a red face, smiled at Maggie
and gave her an apple. He then took the teacher apart. He then somehow managed
to put the mechanical teacher together again within an hour.
4. Why was Margie doing badly in
geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?
Answer:
Margie was doing badly in geography because she hated putting the homework and
test papers in the slot that was provided to do the same. The inspector patted
Margie’s head and told her mother that the lesson was geared a little too
quick. To help Margie, he had slowed it up to an average ten-year level.
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s
teacher?
Answer:
Tommy’s
teacher, a mechanical one who taught History, once developed a fault, thereby
blanking out. He was taken away for nearly a month.
6. Did Margie have regular days and hours
for school? If so, why?
Answer:
Yes,
Margie had regular days and hours for school. It was always on at the same time
but on weekends. It was scheduled in such a way because her mother felt that
girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind
of school?
Answer:
Tommy
describes the old kind of school as a special building where all the kids went.
He says that all the kids learnt the same thing if they happened to be of the
same age. In addition to this, he tells Margie that in those days all the kids
were imparted with the same knowledge irrespective of their calibre or
understanding capacity.
8. How does he describe the old kind of
teachers?
Answer:
Tommy
describes the old kind of teachers as those who did not dwell at the student’s
house. He tells Margie that the teachers those days had a special building and
it was the students who went there.
IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three
paragraphs (100 –150 words).
1. What are the main features of the
mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the
story?
Answer:
The
mechanical teachers that Margie and Tommy had were robots. From what is stated
in the story, it seems highly likely that the teachers resembled large screens
that imparted lessons. What made them unique was that they were adjusted
according to the special needs of the student. Also, there are situations in
the story when the teachers blank out; and hence, a need arises to put them
together.
It is also evident from
the story that there are special slots in the mechanical teachers where the
students were supposed to insert their homework and answer sheets. The teachers
being robots calculated the marks immediately, letting the students know the
result. Furthermore, these teachers stay at the student’s home, meaning the students
are not required to go anywhere. This also implies that the students had no
classmates to talk to and that the sessions were almost always boring.
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did
she think the old kind of school must have been fun?
Answer:
Margie
hated school because she had no friends or classmates to interact with. The
classes were conducted by the mechanical teachers at home itself, thus making
Margie feel bored. When she heard of the old schools, she thought that the
students of those times must have had a lot of fun. Although she initially
found it hard to believe that students were taught by 'real teachers', she
later somehow concluded that they were better than the mechanical teachers that
she had to face regularly.
The old school,
moreover, was a place where students interacted with each other and also with
the teacher. Unlike telebooks, which had then become the norm, the old schools
had books with real sheets of paper. And the best part of the old schooling
system was that students were the ones who went to their teachers, who happened
to live in special buildings. Sadly, Margie got no opportunity to interact with
students her age, so she felt that children who attended school in olden days
must have had a lot of fun.
3. Do you agree with Margie that schools
today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
Yes,
I agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the
story. First and foremost, I believe that it is very important for school goers
to interact with those their age. However, Margie and Tommy are not able to do
so, for they are taught at home itself. Furthermore, the school given in the
story has mechanical teachers who cannot by any means understand human
sentiments. I feel that a good teacher is one who can not only analyse a
student's calibre and level of understanding but also provide solutions to
their problems with ease.
The school in the story
has mechanical teachers, who despite being highly proficient, are wary of the
students’ emotional needs. The classes are no doubt boring, and the entire
process of learning is forced upon the students, implying their overall
development is hampered. In schools today, on the other hand, there is a lot of
frolicking around. Although each of the students is unique, there is something
they have to learn from those they meet daily. Real teachers can also make the
sessions enjoyable, and they also can grasp the student's talents. If a student
is not able to study well, he can be encouraged to pursue an activity that he
loves doing. And that, beyond an iota of doubt, can happen only in schools we
have today.
THINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE PAGE
11
I. Adverbs
Read this sentence taken from the story:
They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a
month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
The word complete
is an adjective. When you add –ly to it, it becomes an adverb.
1. Find the sentences in the lesson which
have the adverbs given in the box below.
Awfully Sorrowfully Completely Loftily
Carefully Differently Quickly nonchalantly
Answer:
Awfully:
They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny
to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to
— on a screen, you know.
Sorrowfully:
The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she
had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully
and sent for the County Inspector.
Completely:
Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked
out completely.
loftily and carefully:
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully.
Differently:
But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and
girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.
Quickly:
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
Nonchalantly:
"May be," he said nonchalantly.
2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the
blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read _______________ so that
performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions __________________,
shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave ______________________ when we are
tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head _________________ when
Ravi lied to her.
(v) I _________________ forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she
just smiled _____________________ and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is ________________busy
and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work _________________ so that I
could go out to play.
Answer:
(i) The report must be
read carefully so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview,
Sameer answered our questions nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave
differently when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook
her sorrowfully head when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I completely forgot
about it.
(vi) When I
complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled loftily and turned away.
(vii) The President of
the Company is awfully busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my
work quickly so that I could go out to play.
3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
(i) angry ___________________
(ii) happy ________________
(iii) merry ___________________ (iv)
sleepy ________________
(v) easy ___________________ (vi)
noisy _________________
(vii) tidy ___________________ (viii)
gloomy _________________
Answer:
(i) angrily (ii) happily (iii)
merrily (iv) sleepily (v) easily (vi)
noisily (vii) tidily (viii)
gloomily
II. Complete the following conditional
sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.
1. If I don’t
go to Anu’s party tonight, ___________________________________
2. If you don’t
telephone the hotel to order food, ___________________________
3. Unless you
promise to write back, I ___________________________________
4. If she
doesn’t play any games, ________________________________________
5. Unless that
little bird flies away quickly, the cat __________________________
Answer:
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will
not talk to me ever again.
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food,
you will remain hungry.
3. Unless you promise to write back, I won’t write
to you.
4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will score a
good mark.
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will pounce on it and have a hearty meal.
Poem: The
Road Not Taken by Robert
Frost
THINKING
ABOUT THE POEM PAGE
16
I. 1. Where
does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?
Answer:
The
traveller finds himself at a junction where the road he is treading on divulges
into two. He faces the problem of choosing which road he should take.
2. Discuss what these phrases mean to
you.
(i) a yellow wood
(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear
(iii) the passing there
(iv) leaves no step had trodden black
(v) how way leads on to way
Answer:
(i) a yellow wood - a
forest with trees bearing yellow leaves (the autumn season)
(ii) it was grassy and
wanted wear - The road was covered with grass and no one had cleared the weeds.
(iii) the passing there
- the passage, the road that leads one to one’s destination
(iv) leaves no step had
trodden black - no one had walked on the leaves that lay on the ground.
(v) how way leads on to
way - how one decision determined the
next.
3. Is there any difference between the
two roads as the poet describes them
(i) in stanzas two and three?
(ii) in the last two lines of the poem?
Answer:
In
the second and third stanzas, the poet makes it amply clear that the road he
decides to take is grassy and not as worn as the other one. But he also says
that the choice lies with him as both roads lie in front of him equally. In the
last two lines, the poet goes on to state that the road he takes is the one
that is not travelled as much as the other one. And that ends up making all the
difference.
4. What do you think the last two lines
of the poem mean? (Looking back, does the poet regret his choice or accept it?)
Answer:
I
think the poet regrets his choice because he states he will talk about his
experience with a sigh later. But his mentioning that the road he took has made
all the difference implies that it is the choices that we make in our life that
shape our destiny.
II. 1. Have you ever had to make a difficult
choice (or do you think you will have difficult choices to make)? How will you
make the choice (for what reasons)?
Answer:
I have had many difficult choices to make and I’m sure I will have many more
difficult choices to make in the future. I will first look at the pros and cons
and see which option will work best for me before I finally make my decision.
2. After you have made a choice do you
always think about what might have been, or do you accept the reality?
Answer: I accept reality and move on. Although it is true that the choices we make shape our destiny, I feel there is no point in brooding over what has already happened. It only steals the time we have at the moment.
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