Sample Chapters of books still available This is the first Unit of the Grade 6 Junior English Textbook published by International Book House for the use of Sri Lankan students. As noted in the introduction, ‘ this book explains elements of English in a manner that will help both students and teachers to understand what they learn and teach. ..Each unit contains one or more reading texts, on which several exercises are based. Pre-reading questions are given in some instances, and … writing tasks should be given due attention and … Each unit also includes a Conversation section, which avoids the familiar practice of setting out a dialogue which students learn by rote. Students should first develop understanding of the speech patterns they use, and for this purpose they should first fill in the blanks as indicated. Initially much help may be required, and group work may be desirable….Teachers are also advised, on the pattern of the texts included here, to encourage active learning of useful subjects… including matters of wider interest that will be useful for students in the future.’ These books are available at 151 A Dharmapala Mawata, Colombo 3. You can contact the publisher for further information at newpet@sltnet.lk or 037-2225884 or 011-2330742.
Grade 6: Unit One – A Visit to the Zoo When you study this unit, pay careful attention to the building blocks of language given below. Be careful to write and speak carefully, after you study these sounds and the shape of these letters. Also be careful to use correctly the grammar of English that you learn here. Also pay attention to the new words you learn. Using these building blocks or tools of the language carefully, you will soon be able to use English actively. The order in which you should do the exercises is suggested by the numbers. Read the text carefully before you do the exercises, and also practice the Conversation section carefully.
The Tools of English Simple and Capital Letters – writing Proper Nouns, shaping difficult letters Pronunciation – focus on v,w,f,p,s and pronouncing the s in plurals Grammar – the ‘be’ verb (am, is,are); pronouns; prepositions
Reading Text - A visit to the Zoo Mala and Ravi are asleep in their beds. Their mother comes into the room “Get up, children. We must leave early today.” Ravi looks at her sleepily from the bed. “Why must we go early? Where will we go?” “We will visit the Zoo today,” she tells him. “Oh, good,’ shouts Mala and jumps out of her bed. The children get ready quickly. They are happy to go to the Zoo. The bus stops at the Dehiwela Zoo. They get off and go in. “Look at those birds,” says Mala. “What is that bird with a long tail? Look at its colours – red, green, yellow and white.” “That is a parrot,” Ravi tells his sister. Ravi likes to look at the lions, tigers, leopard and bears in their cages. “Don’t they look big and strong? Look. See how they walk up and down in their cages. I think they want to come out,” he tells Mala. Mala does not like to think about that. Then they go to see the elephants. It is 3 o’clock, and the elephants have tea and then dance round in a ring. Mala’s eyes open wide as she watches them. “Look how they hold the cups with their trunks,” she says. “This is the best part of our visit.” “Let us have some ice-cream while we watch the elephants,” says their father. Mala and Ravi are very happy. They like ice-cream. It is late when they get back from the Zoo. Mala is very tired and her father has to carry her. Ravi is excited. “I want to be a zoo-keeper when I am big,” he tells his parents.
Learning to speak and to write Exercise 1 Say the following sentences aloud. Listen carefully to your teacher so that you say the words correctly. Notice the difference in how you pronounce the letter ‘v’ and the letter ‘w’. “Where will we go?” “We will visit the zoo today,” she tells him. Practice this in pairs, replacing ‘the zoo’ with ‘the river’, ‘the stream’, ‘the sea’, ‘the pond’, ‘the pool’, ‘the forest’. Which one of these six words is different in meaning from the others? Notice the difference in how you pronounce the letter ‘v’ and the letter ‘w’. Write these two letters in their simple and capital forms. Notice how they are similar in size, and where they appear on the line on which you write. Exercise 5 Practice the sentences in Exercise 1 again, in pairs, replacing ‘the zoo’ with ‘the kovil’, ‘the temple’, ‘the mosque’, ‘the church’, ‘the pola’, ‘the factory’. Which two of these five words is different in meaning from the others? Notice the difference in how you pronounce the letter ‘f’ and the letter ‘p’. Write these two letters in their simple and capital forms. They are similar in size. Both capital letters appear in the same place on the line on which you write, but one of the simple letters goes below the line. What are the other simple letters that go below the line? Exercise 8 Read these sentences also aloud. Practice them carefully. Ravi likes to look at the lions, tigers, leopards and bears in their cages. Mala’s eyes open wide as she watches them. “Look how they hold the cups with their trunks,” she says. “This is the best part of our visit.” It is late when they go back after their visit to the Zoo. Mala is very tired and her father has to carry her.
Be careful when you read words that end in the letter ‘s’. When it comes after another consonant (letters except a,e,i,o,u), you must pronounce both letters. In English we usually form the plural (more than one) of nouns, by adding ‘s’ to the singular. We must pronounce this clearly when we speak. Some words that end in s or y have different ways of forming the plural (dressdresses, baby-babies) and in a few words there are big changes, but for most words you only need to add s. Exercise 2 Write down the words that begin with capital letters in this passage. Some words begin with capital letters only when they come at the beginning of a sentence. Write down names of people that begin with the following letters – d, m, r, s, v Names of people must always begin with capital letters. Exercise 6 Write down names of places that begin with the following letters – b c, j, k, m. These must always begin with capital letters. The names of places and people are called proper nouns. They always begin with capital letters. Nouns are naming words. Other nouns, that name things or animals for instance – room, bed, bird, bus – are called common nouns, and begin with simple letters (except when they begin a sentence). You must always use simple and capital letters correctly when you write English. If you remember the rules given above, this will not be difficult.
Reading and Writing Group work. Exercise 3 What are the animals mentioned in this story? Write down the names of animals that begin with the following letters – a, c, d, m, o. You can include birds and insects in your list. Exercise 10 Why do you think Ravi wants to be a zoo-keeper? Discuss in groups what each of you what to be when you are big. Individually write this down, with reasons.
Individual work. Exercise 4 Show the meanings of the following words through actions – sleepily, quickly, tired, big, happy, excited, wide, jump, dance, open Write down the opposites of the following words - quickly, big, happy, wide, open. Use them in sentences of your own. Exercise 12 Write five sentences about your favourite animal. You should describe it, and also why you like it.
Grammar Exercise 7 Write down the words ‘am’, ‘is’ and ‘are’ when they appear in the passage. Use the correct word to fill in the blanks in the following sentences Who ….. you? I ….. Mala. I … ten years old. Who ….. that? That …. my brother. He …. twelve. His name …. Ravi. What …. your name? My name …. Priya. I …. also ten. My brother …. Suresh and my sister ….. Lakshmi. How old ….. they? He …. three years older than me and she …. one year younger than him. I see. So he …. thirteen and she …. twelve. You … right. Where …. they? They ….. at school now. Exercise 9 Look at the following table. Copy it into your exercise book. I You He She We It They
Me You Him Her Us It Them
My Your His Her Our Its Their
These words are called pronouns. Find out those that appear in the passage, and underline them in the table in your book. The words in the first five rows are used usually of people and those in the sixth of animals or things. The words in the last row are used of people and animals. See the examples in the passage. The words in the last column are used to show ownerships. Look at the following paragraph. I have a dog. Its name is Bindu. It is white, with black spots. I love my dog very much. It greets me when I come home from school and licks my feet. Then it tries to bite my toes. Sometimes people like to treat their pets as people, so they call them ‘him’ or ‘her’. Write a short paragraph like the one given above, about a pet or about a brother or sister. You can also look at the conversation in Exercise 7. Exercise 11 Find the words ‘bed’ (or ‘beds’) and ‘Zoo’ (or ‘Dehiwela Zoo’) in the above passage. Look at the words that come before them. Apart from pronouns and ‘the’ you find in, from, out of, to, at, from These words are called prepositions. They link words. In English prepositions come before the noun or pronoun that they link to the rest of the sentence. Find other examples of these prepositions, and of others – with, of – in the passage, and say to what noun they are connected. Use the following prepositions correctly in sentences of your own – to, from The word ‘in’ is in the box shown below. Copy the box in your exercise books, and write down the following prepositions in suitable places – on, under, above. Use arrows to indicate to, from.
in
Conversation Introduce yourself Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with suitable words from the list below. Then fill them up correctly with information about yourself. Teacher – Hello, everybody. I’m your teacher. My name is Miss ……. I come from Kuliyapitiya. Tell me about yourselves. Students – Good morning, ………. I am ….. I’m ….. My name is….. I am ….. years old I’m ……… I come from ………. My home is in …….. I live in ……… Mala, eleven, Ratnapura, teacher, Kuliyapitiya, Ravi, Lakshmi, twelve, Vavuniya, Fernando Write cards with names and ages and places. Students pick these out and introduce themselves according to the cards they have.
This is Unit 2 of the book for Grade 10 in the Secondary English Series published by International Book House. These books are available at 151 A Dharmapala Mawata, Colombo 3. You can contact the publisher for further information at newpet@sltnet.lk or 037-2225884 or 011-2330742.
Grade 10: Unit 2 - Exercise 1 Read the first five verses of the following poem aloud. You can take it in turns, with individuals reading the first four lines of each verse, and the last two lines being read together. Write a brief description of what happens as though you were Wilhelmine. End with a couple of sentences to indicate what you expect your grandfather to say about the battle. After Blenheim (Robert Southey, 1774 – 1843) It was a summer evening, Old Kaspar’s work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun: And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine. She saw her brother Peterkin Roll something large and round Which he beside the rivulet In playing there had found; He came to ask what he had found That was so large and smooth and round. Old Kaspar took it from the boy Who stood expectant by ; And then the old man shook his head, And with a natural sigh, ‘‘Tis some poor fellow’s skull,’ said he, ‘Who fell in the great victory. ‘I find them in the garden, For there’s many here about ; And often when I go to plough The ploughshare turns them out. For many thousand men,’ said he, ‘Were slain in that great victory.’
‘Now tell us what ‘twas all about,’ Young Peterkin, he cries; And little Wilhelmine looks up With wonder-waiting eyes: ‘Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for?’ Noun Clauses Look at the following pairs of sentences He asked a question He asked what he had found Tell us the truth Tell us what it was all about Ask and tell are transitive verbs. They need an object, which is usually a noun. However, they can also take a clause as their object, as in the second sentence in each of the above pairs. Such clauses are called noun clauses, because they take the place of a noun. Sentences with a main clause and a noun clause are also called complex sentences. Note that, when you have a noun clause, the main clause is not complete in itself, because it needs a noun (object, or sometimes a subject) to make sense. Exercise 2 Fill the blanks in the following sentences with a noun clause selected from those given beneath. I will eat……. ………… will be punished She said…. ………… will be provided. He asked ……….. that she was tired, whoever stole the money, when the train was due, what you need, what you give me Now read the rest of the poem. ‘It was the English,’ Kaspar cried, ‘Who put the French to rout : But what they fought each other for
I could not well make out. But everybody said,’ quoth he, ‘That ‘twas a famous victory. ‘My father lived at Blenheim then, Yon little stream hard by : They burnt his dwelling to the ground. And he was forced to fly: So with his wife and child he fled, Nor had he where to rest his head. ‘With fire and sword the country round Was wasted far and wide, And many a childing mother then And newborn baby died : But things like that you know, must be At every famous victory. ‘They say it was a shocking sight After the field was won ; For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun : But things like that, you know, must be After a famous victory. ‘Great praise the Duke of Marlboro’ won And our good Prince Eugene!’ ‘Why, ‘twas a very wicked thing!’ Said little Wilhelmine; ‘Nay …. Nay … my little girl,’ quoth he, ‘It was a famous victory. ‘And everybody praised the Duke Who this great fight did win.’ ‘But what good came of it at last?’ Quoth little Peterkin: ‘Why, that I cannot tell,’ said he, ‘But ‘twas a famous victory.’ In this section Kaspar describes the battle. However, he is talking about something that happened when he was small, so he has to report what other people said. What he says is presented in inverted commas, which we call direct speech. When he reports what other people say, he uses what is called indirect speech. Look at these examples – Everybody said that it was a famous victory. They say it was a shocking sight.
Indirect speech uses a noun clause after a verb of saying or asking. It can also be used for thoughts and ideas as in I believe it will rain tomorrow. I thought she would pass the exam. I could not make out what they fought each other for. (taken from the first verse) The noun clause in indirect speech is introduced by that, or a suitable question word. Note that when you report speech in the past, the verbs must be changed to the past tense, and pronouns should be changed as required. Look at the following examples – ‘How are you?’ she said. She asked how he was. ‘I will see you next week,’ he said. He promised that he would see her the following week. ‘I want to know what she told you,’ he said. He said that he wanted to know what she had told him. Exercise 3 Turn the following into reported speech. The word ‘quoth’ means ‘said’ or ‘asked’. ‘It was the English,’ Kaspar cried, ‘Who put the French to rout: But what they fought each other for I could not well make out.’ ‘Why, ‘twas a very wicked thing!’ said little Wilhelmine; ‘My little girl,’ quoth he, ‘It was a famous victory.And everybody praised the Duke who this great fight did win.’ ‘But what good came of it at last?’ quoth little Peterkin. ‘‘Tis some poor fellow’s skull,’ said he, ‘Who fell in the great victory. I find them in the garden, for there’s many here about; and often when I go to plough, the ploughshare turns them out.’ Comprehension Exercise 4 Say whether the following sentences are true or false 1. The English defeated the French in the battle of Blenheim 2. The battle was fought when Kaspar was a young man. 3. The Duke of Marlboro led the French army. 4. Kaspar’s father lived near a stream at Blenheim. 5. Peterkin had found a round stone in the river. 6. Kaspar could not answer his grandchildren’s questions. 7. Kaspar used to farm the land where the battle had been fought. 8. More than thousand people died in the battle. 9. The battle of Blenheim took place in the 19th century. 10. Wilhelmine did not approve of the battle.
Exercise 5 Discuss in pairs what ideas the writer wants to give you about war. Write a brief paragraph about what you think of war after reading Southey’s poem. Now read the following poem, which was written during the First World War (1914-1918) and answer the following questions Exercise 6 1 What does the poet suggest has happened to him? 2. What phrase suggests that many people have died? 3. How does the poet indicate that the war continues? 4. To whom is the poem addressed? 5. What does he want them to do? . In Flanders Fields (Colonel John McCrae, 1872-1918) In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch - be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Exercise 7 Contrast the impressions created in your mind about war by this poem and the earlier one. In actual fact the writer of this poem was killed shortly before the war ended. Does that affect your attitude to this poem and the ideas it gives?
Exercise 8 Now read the following poem, and find the answers to the following questions 1. What is happening at Netherby Hall when Lochinvar enters? 2. What words indicate his bravery? 3. What lines make clear his attitude to the bride? 4. Pick out the words that refer to his horse or horse riding. 5. What do you think happens at the end of the poem? Young Lochinvar (Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832) Oh, Young Lochinvar is come out of the west: Through all the wide border his steed was the best; And save his good broadsword he weapons had none; He rode all unarmed and he rode all alone. So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar! So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall, Among bridesmen and kinsmen, and brothers and all: Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword (For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word), ‘O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?’ ‘I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied, Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide! And now am I come, with this lost love of mine, To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine: There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far, That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar.’ The bride kissed the goblet. The knight took it up, He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup. She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh, With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye. He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar, ‘Now tread we a measure!’ said young Lochinvar. One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, When they reached the hall door, and the charger stood near; So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung! So daring in love, and so dauntless in war, Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?
Exercise 9 Match the italicized words above with these meanings – dance, drank, cowardly, refused, grows, before, wedding, reduces, brave, horseback Exercise 10 Describe this incident from the point of view of the bride’s mother.