Chapter 5: A Different Kind of School

WORKING WITH THE TEXT

A. Put these sentences from the story in the right order and write them out in a paragraph. Don’t refer to the text.

• I shall be so glad when today is over.
• Having a leg tied up and hopping about on a crutch is almost fun, I guess.
• I don’t think I will mind being deaf for a day – at least not much.
• But being blind is so frightening.
• Only you must tell me about things.
• Let’s go for a little walk.
• The other bad days can’t be half as bad as this.

Answer:Let’s go for a little walk: Only you must tell me ‘ about things. I shall be so glad when today is over. The other bad days can’t be half as bad as this. Having a leg tied up and hopping about on a crutch is almost fun, I guess. I don’t think I will mind being deaf for a day – at least not much. But being blind is so frightening.

B. Answer the following questions.

Question 1. Why do you think the writer visited Miss Beam’s school?

Answer:So many people have talked or written about Miss Beam’s school. So, visited the school to get overall experience about the school.

Question 2. What was the ‘game’ that every child in the school had to play?

Answer:Every child in the school has to play as given the task of the role of being blind, deaf, dumb, lame and injured once in a term. It was kind of game to make them aware about misfortune.

Question 3. “Each term every child has one blind day, one lame day…” Complete the line. Which day was the hardest? Why was it the hardest?

Answer:“Each term every child has one blind day, one lame day, one deaf day, one injured day and one dumb day.” Being blind was the hardest day because the students were afraid. They might fall down or hurt themselves.

Question 4. What was the purpose of these special days?

Answer:The purpose of these special days was to make the children appreciate misfortune. Thus they learnt to help those who suffered such misfortunes.

WORKING WITH LANGUAGE

A. Match the words and phrases with their meanings in the box below.

Answer:

1. Homesick – wanting to be home
2. Practically – almost
3. It pains me – it hurts me
4. Appreciate – understanding the difficulties
5. Thoughtless – not very caring
6. Exercise – test the strength of
7. Relief – a welcome change
8. Ghastly – terrible

B. Re-word these lines from the story.

1. I had heard a great deal about Miss Beam’s school.
2. Miss Beam was all that I had expected – middle-aged, full of authority.
3. I went to the window which overlooked a large garden.
4. “We cannot bandage the children’s mouths, so they really have to exercise their will-power.”

Answer:

1. The writer had heard good reviews about the teaching methods at Miss Beam’s school.
2. The writer found Miss Beam to be a middle-aged and authoritative woman.
3. The writer looked out of the window and saw a large garden.
4. The children’s mouth cannot be bandaged so they have to learn to keep quiet.

C.

Question 1. Given below is a page from a dictionary (from NCERT page 64). Look at it carefully and

1. find a word which means the same as ghastly. Write down the word and its two meanings.
2. find a word meaning a part of the school year.
3. find a word that means examination.

Answer:

1. Terrible
   1. to be fearful
   2. horrible
2. Term
   1. a fixed length of time
   2. in a school year
3. Test
   1. to look at something to see if it is correct or will work properly
   2. to ask someone questions

Question 2. Now make lists of

1. all the words on the page (plus any more that you can think of) that begin with terr-
2. five words that may follow the last word on the page, that.
3. write down your own meaning of the word thank. Then write down the meaning given in the dictionary.

Answer:

1. terrace, terrible, terror, territory, terrain, terrorist, terrestrial, terrifying.
2. those, there, the, than, this,
3. be for any help and glad, to say we are grateful to someone for any help

SPEAKING AND WRITING

A. Make a short list of things you find difficult to do.

Compare your list with the others’ in the class. Can you explain why you find these things difficult to do?

Answer:Do this activity in your class

B. Look at your hands carefully. Now, write down for each finger one action for which that finger is particularly important. For example, the second (or index) finger helps to hold the knife down firmly when cutting.

Answer:
First finger: to warn somebody and point something
Middle finger: to hold things
Ring finger: for putting on the ring
Little finger: for making a fist