Class VIII: Those People Next Door

Those People Next Door

Concept Map:

Text-book Exercise:

1.    Why are Londoners strangers to their neighbours?

Ans: Londoners are not interested in knowing who stay next to them as their neighbour, as they are very busy in their own life. They don’t want anyone to disturb their daily life. So, they are strangers to their neighbours.

2.    How does Gardiner show that we are always unsympathetic to our neighbours?

Ans: To show that we are always unsympathetic to our neighbours, Gardiner gives us two incidents. One incident is where Matilda sleeps very late due to the noise created in the party happening in the neighbourhood. The other is where the man beat a can tin as a way of retaliating upon a neighbour who strummed the piano. In both the cases, the neighbours act unsympathetic towards others.

3.    How does Gardiner compare neighbours in the city with neighbours in the village?

Ans: Gardiner says that people live isolated lives in city, each living in his own shell. They are busy with their own lives; they don’t want anyone to disturb their lives. And to find neighbours, they go to countryside. On the other hand, neighbours in the village are always generous to offer their belonging to each other.

4.    ‘And it can never be too black for their deserts?’ who is Gardiner talking about here? How does he explain his statement?

Ans: Gardiner, here, is talking about the neighbours who does late night party and it continues till the dawn. He explains this statement by sharing an example where his friend Matilda couldn’t sleep till four o’clock in the morning as their neighbours were busy in the party. The party lasted till four o’clock.

5.    ‘They are always in the wrong.’ Who are ‘they’? Why does Gardiner say ‘they are always in the wrong’? What examples does Gardiner give to support his statement?

Ans: ‘they’ are neighbours. Gardiner calls neighbours always wrong. Gardiner says so because most of the times, our neighbours working hours are entirely different from ours. To support his statements, Gardiner gives following examples:

ü  They always manage to be gay when you are sleepy.

ü  They take delight in going away for more holidays than you can actually have.

ü  They are not just the way you though they were about.

6.    What does the case of a man who beat a tin can illustrate?

Ans: The case of a man who beat tin drum illustrates that it is very difficult to avoid being annoyed by neighbours.

7.    Who, according to Gardiner, is the perfect neighbour? Do you agree with him? Give reasons for your answer.

Ans: According to Gardiner, the perfect neighbour is the one who we never see and whom we never hear except when he pokes the fire. I don’t agree with Gardiner’s definition of the perfect neighbour. According to me, the perfect neighbour should be the one who takes interested to be a part of your life’s happy and sad moments, who understands you and give you enough opportunities to understand him too.

8.    ‘I dare our paths will not cross through we go living beside each other until one or the other of us takes up a more permanent adobe.’ Who is Gardiner talking about here? What do you think he means to the phrase, ‘more permanent abode’?

Ans: Gardiner, here, is talking about his neighbour. I think that he mean ‘death’ to the phrase ‘more permanent adobe’.

Class X: Grammar: Conditionals

Conditionals

·         The word ‘conditional’ refers to the sentence which has a condition mentioned in it.

·         To make a conditional sentence, we need a Main Clause and a Subordinate Clause.

·         For example:

If you step on snake, it will bite you.

Main Clause:                      It will bite you.

Subordinate Clause:        If you step on snake

(A clause is a sentence or is a part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate)

Note: All the conditionals have the conjunction ‘If’. When we start a conditional with ‘if’, separate the two clauses by a comma.

Conditionals are of three types:

1.      The likely or probable conditional

2.      The unreal or hypothetical conditional

3.      The Impossible conditional

The Likely or Probable conditional:

Basic form of The Likely or Probable conditional
IF + present tense (subordinate clause)	Future tense (main clause)
If it doesn’t rain, we will play cricket.
IF + present tense	Imperative
If you go out, do not forget to bring the grocery.
IF + present tense	Present continuous
It the government doesn’t accept our conditions, we are extending our strike.
IF + Present continuous	Future tense
If you are looking for the Principal, you will find him in the auditorium.
IF + Present perfect	Future
If I have completed homework, I will watch television.
IF + present tense	May/might, must, should, can
If you love me, you must do the entire household.

We can also sometimes use 'should' in place of 'if' in more formal contexts:

Should the inflation continue to rise, the Reserve Bank of India will increase the interest rates.

The Unreal or Hypothetical conditional

Basic form of The Unreal or Hypothetical conditional
IF + Past tense	Would + bare infinitive
If I got the invitation, I would attend the wedding.
IF + Past tense	Might/Could + bare infinitive
·         If you worked hard, you would succeed (certain results) ·         If you worked hard, you might succeed (possible result) ·         If you worked hard, you could succeed (ability)
IF + Subject + were …. To make sentence more polite
If I were the Prime Minister, I would have done a lot for poor.

The Impossible conditional:

When a conditional is used to speculate about the past events and express regret or reproach, it is called as impossible conditional.

If you hadn't misled me, I would have attended the interview.

Basic form of The Impossible conditional
IF + past perfect	Would + have + past participle
If they had brought the man to the hospital immediately after the accident, his life would have been saved.
IF + past perfect	Could/might
·         If we had found enough capital, we could have saved our business. (ability) ·         If we had found enough capital, we might have saved our business. (possibility)

Zero Conditional to express general truth

While expressing general truth in conditional sentence, the word IF is replaced by WHEN.

For example:

If (= when) water is heated to 100ºC (at STP) it boils.

OR

Water boils if (when) it is heated to 100ºC (at STP).

Conditionals without ‘If’

·         That/unless

We will go to Changu Lake on Saturday provided that/ unless the weather is fine.

·         Unless/as long as

Unless/ As long as the shop gives a good discount we will place our order with them.

·         Unless/ If

Unless/ If we look into his complaints the situation is going to get worse.

·         Provided that/unless

Provided that/ Unless you avoid the bandits, they will kill you.

Where is Child-centered Education?

Where is Child-centered Education?

I came across this word while doing my B.Ed. (Bachelors of Education), and was very impressed with this concept as I have not experience the same when I was in school. Later, when I became teacher, I never experienced the concept called ‘Child-centered Education’. Sadly, concept looks good only in books when it comes to Indian education context. My experiences with regards to this concept are totally opposite of what it meant to be. Some of the experiences I thought of sharing through this article.

I was working in a school as a maths teacher, but students as well as teachers and our school Principal were aware of my talent of music, guitar playing and singing. Our school organized an Inter-House Singing competition. Aware of my knowledge of music, I was invited as one of the three judges for the singing competition. The other two judges were the school’s music teachers.

A week before the competition, students came to me asking about the selection of song, and I guided them at my best. At the time of the competition, students performed at their best. The program was a complete package of Hip-Hop songs, Rock songs, Pop songs and Indian classical songs. But when the results were declared, I was shocked. The girl who sang Indian-classical song got the prize. Every student was surprise.

When the judges (excluding me) were called to talk about the programme, they mentioned that one should always learn Indian classical music before singing a song. They also mentioned that songs belonging to western culture are neither good for singing nor better for listening.

Let me be frank. In my opinion, the students who sang classical song, wasn’t the perfect one. On the other hand, there were some students who sang Hip-Hop songs and Rock songs near to the perfection. One cannot judge students on the basis of their own likes and dislikes. Even the Principal was of that opinion that western songs do not sound nice. I was more shocked than surprised. How could that be one of the criteria for the competition? Such criteria wasn’t mentioned in the score sheet as well.

Here, the school has literally crushed the students’ likes and dislikes towards music. School authorities are no one to influence which music student should listen or perform. On the other hand, as said by Swami Vivekananda, the education is, understanding the hidden talent and helping it to flourish. 

Where does the concept of ‘Child-centered education’ lie? 

Mistakes are to learn ...

Recently while browsing internet, and skipping through YouTube, I came across a video of TED where Brian Goldman, a doctor by profession was talking about his mistakes. Very sincerely and emotionally, he was sharing his experiences with the audience where he described some costly emergency room mistakes, and then talked about how admitting these mistakes can change the way medical professionals work. According to him, if doctors will accept and discuss their mistakes without judgment, medicines will improve, as doctors will learn from each others. Further he commented that as mistakes are doctors’ enemy, so they get scared to discuss mistakes, and continue with blaming each others.

We are human being, and somehow, according to me, we abide to commit mistakes. I personally believe that one learns in a better way when he or she commits mistakes. I have committed a lot of mistakes in my life, and so does everyone. If I have to classify mistakes, I would classify them in:

1.    The mistakes that I hid

2.    The mistakes I learnt nothing from

3.    The mistakes I learnt from

4.    The mistakes I learnt from and shared my knowledge with others (which I usually do with my students)

According to me, last two classes have a great potential when it comes to life-time learning.

In an era, where parents pay hefty amount to schools to get good education for their children, teachers are expected to be ‘mistake free’. Parents, Principals, their colleagues, the management, everyone looks at them very negatively for making mistakes. Yet, when a teacher forms a good rapport with other teachers or his or her colleagues, he or she shares his or her problems, asks for advice, give advice, and thus, learn from each other. In schools, generally it happens, where a mentor teacher shares ideas with the new teachers. But what would happen when not only mentor teacher but everyone (including Principal, Management, Administrators, and other teachers) shares ideas with each others?

The entire concept of sharing mistakes, discussing them, is to change the perception of the mistakes. This is not the change only in teachers’ but also students’ perception. When teachers make students aware about teachers’ own mistakes and how they learn from them, they set a true and genuine example before children. Students might learn from their own mistakes after that.

Mistakes can improve learning. In almost every part of the world, in education scenario, mistakes are evaluated as poor performance. Students are told not to make mistakes as it may affect their grades. For me, as a new age world teacher, this is an absurd belief. Because if I look at my own journey, at those all mistakes I made, I have learnt everything from them. The bigger the mistake, the more the learning. I learnt less from my success but more from my mistakes, from my failures.

With students, problem doesn’t lie in making mistakes. The real problem lies is teachers not using the mistakes to promote learning. The word SHAME is attached with mistakes, so no student takes chance to explore and think beyond the box. If done the survey, again it my opinion, and not a fact, it will be seen that most of the brilliant students in the schools are not risk-takers, not unique thinkers, not creative in their expressions. They are the ones who scored maximum in standardized tests or assessments. Thus, we label them as gifted students (who commit fewer mistakes). I think that it is a mistake to think of a mistake as a mistake in learning. Everything changes when mistakes becomes learning opportunities. Mistakes and their acceptance lead to students taking more risks, thinking in new ways, cheating less in the examinations, etc.

We should stop marking errors on exam answer sheet without explaining why the answers are wrong. We should give enough explanation, and for that matter, enough time, to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

We should give them a chance to correct their mistakes and redo their work. This will create learning opportunities for them.

Grades shouldn’t be given or marked on the basis of exam performance, but on the rate of students’ improvement of their mistakes. The more the student improves, the higher his or her grades.

Never say in front of students, “No, your answer is wrong. Can anyone please help him/her with this?” Instead of that, ask questions like: Why do you think so? Can you elaborate it a bit?

There should be a concept of HELPER. A helper is a student who helps the one who commit mistakes. The helper works as a personal consultant. If a student commits a mistake, let him/her chose his/her helper.

Instead of a wall displaying students’ achievements, an ideal classroom should have a wall where students should talk about their mistakes and what they learnt from their mistakes.

A school should have a sign at the very entrance, which says: Everyone who enters here will learn.

Class VIII: Television

Introduction:

This poem focuses on the concerns about the ill-effects of television on the young minds of young children. He says it numbs their brain and kills their imagination. It also distracts them from the joy of reading. The poem is written not from a child but from an adult’s point of view.

About Roald Dahl:

Roald Dahl was a British short-story writer and novelist. Some of his most popular works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

Text-book Exercise:

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the most important thing that the poet has learnt?

Answer: The most important thing that the poet has learnt is that children should be kept away from the television set or not to install the television set at all.

2. How does television keep the children still?

Answer: Children do weird things like climbing a window, jumping over it, etc. they may accidently hurt themselves. So, it is better to switch on the television and let them watch it to keep them still.

3. What should parents do for the entertainment of their children?

Answer: Parent, instead of making their children watch TV so that they would be busy, should provide their kids with story books. When children will develop the habit of reading books, they will not feel like watching TV. They will enjoy reading books as it will help them imagining and entertaining.

4. Name some of the things that the poet has seen in house which have televisions.

Ans: Children always are gaping at the TV screen. They loll, slop and lounge about while watching the television. They sit in front of the TV and stare it continuously.

5. Describe the effects of television on children’s mind.

Ans: Watching television, according to the poet, is not good for younger minds. According to the poet, it kills their imagination; it blocks their minds, and makes them dull.

6. According to the poet, what should be done to save children from the hypnotism of television?

Ans: According to the poet, children should be given different story books to read in order to save children from the hypnotism of television.

7. How, according to the poet, can children benefit from reading books?

Ans: According to the poet, children should read book. It will help in developing their imagination and creative thinking skills. It will awaken their senses. It will give them enough opportunity to imagine and visualize a scene explain in the story.