Beehive, a textbook in English for Class IX, is based on the new syllabus in English which was prepared as a follow-up to the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. The curriculum calls for an approach that is rich in comprehensible input and adopts a language-across-the-curriculum, multilingual perspective. This reader aims at helping the child to read for meaning, and to learn to communicate in English with confidence and accuracy.

• Care has been taken to give a central place to the learner in the process of teaching and learning. Learner-friendly language has been used in the instructions, and the exercises and activities are addressed to the child. In this process the teacher is a facilitator or a co-learner.
  
• A rich variety of reading material has been provided to include the literary, cultural and sociological dimensions of texts. The themes range from childhood and adolescence, to disability, talent and achievement, to music, science, and contemporary social and environmental concerns. The range is as inclusive as possible, keeping in view the interest and cognitive development of the learners. The book draws on different genres such as story, biography and autobiography; science fiction; humour; travelogue; and the one-act play.
  
• The number of poems has been increased to help learners explore this great source of language, derive the joy of learning through poetry, and understand the music of words. An attempt has been made to include different types of poems such as the lyric, the ballad and the humorous poem.
  
• The poems have been chosen for their simplicity and suitability in terms of language and thought. We need not talk about the poet or the background to the poem, unless the poem seems to demand it. Nor should we attempt to exhaust all the possibilities of a poem; we should encourage the students to begin to see some of the possibilities. They should be guided to apprehend the poem through the visual, the auditory, the tactile, the intellectual, or the emotional channels, and to understand the suggestiveness of the images.
  
• An attempt has been made to help the learner develop the skill of predicting and anticipating what follows. Every good reader should guess what is coming next. The task ‘Before You Read’ given at the beginning of each unit is designed for this purpose. Learners should be encouraged to participate in this activity.
  
• The section ‘Thinking about the Text’ attempts to move from surface level understanding of the text to critical thinking. The comprehension exercises given here try to help the learners infer meaning. There are a few questions which ask for the readers’ judgment; they aim to bring out the learners’ deeper understanding of the text.
  
• In the section ‘Thinking about Language’:
  

- Vocabulary enrichment has been attempted through a variety of tasks on the usage of words closely related in meaning, matching words to meanings, word building (including phrasal verbs), and reference to the dictionary. An activity on the use of the index has been included.

- Attention has been drawn to grammar-in-context that emerges out of the reading text, e.g. the use of the tenses and voice, reported speech, conditional and subordinate clausRight click for menu to add groups and entries. Edit or re-order any item. Use right click in editor to select which entry to paste.es or phrases, and adverbs.

• The communicative skills have been exercised by tasks on Speaking and Writing. The Speaking tasks call for learners to work in pairs or groups, (for example) to present an argument, express a viewpoint, express contrasts, seek or give an opinion, introduce a speaker, tell a story, enact or read out a play in parts, etc.
  
• There are a variety of writing tasks: help writing newspaper report, an article for a school magazine, argumentative writing, narration, description, and picture interpretation.
  
• A small attempt has been made to relate speech and writing by pointing out similarities and differences. Opportunities for writing in groups and pairs are provided to get into the task.
  
• We have introduced the old exercise of dictation again but from a completely different perspective. Dictation has been introduced in its current, updated form as a variety of activities designed to integrate the language skills of listening, prior reading, language processing and recall, and writing, including the appropriate use of punctuation in meaningful contexts.
  
• Some exercises also allow scope for the learners’ languages to support one another’s by asking for reflection on relevant words, or poems or stories in other languages; and attempt (preliminary as they may be) to attend to the process of translation. Activities have been suggested to bring out the relatedness of the learners’ school subjects.
  

Units 1–3

1. THE FUN THEY HAD

• This story takes us to the world of the future where computers will play a major role. Let the children talk freely about how they imagine the schools of the future that their own children might go to. You might want to explain the ideas of ‘virtual reality’ and ‘virtual classroom’. The term ‘virtual reality’ refers to a reality created by computer software, and a ‘virtual classroom’ is not a real classroom but one where learning is through computer software or the Internet. The children may know what a robot is, and be able to guess what a robotic teacher would be.

• In this unit students are required to present their arguments in a debate. The following points could be explained before the task.

- A debate is a contest between two speakers or two groups of speakers to show skill and ability in arguing.

- A proposition, a question or a problem is required for this purpose, which can be spoken for or against.

- To participate in a debate, one must prepare for it. So, one must prepare an outline of the main points in the order in which one is going to argue.

- The time limit is about four to five minutes.

- The speaker addresses the audience.

- Every topic/subject has its own vocabulary. These must be learnt.

- The speaker addresses the chair (Mr President/Madam), ‘submits’ an argument, ‘appeals’ for sympathetic understanding and support, ‘questions’ the opponent’s views, and ‘concludes’ an argument.

2. THE SOUND OF MUSIC

• These biographical pieces tell us of people who have achieved success and recognition through determination, hard work and courage. The children may be asked to think of potential barriers to success, and of people who have overcome them. The second part of the unit encourages students to think about the rich heritage of Indian music, and our musical instruments. The portraits of musicians given in the beginning may be supplemented by others that the children can be asked to bring to class.

• A comprehension exercise in Part II encourages children to find words in the text that express attitudes (positive, negative or neutral) to events, places, etc. Encourage the children to compare and discuss their answers.

• Dictionary entries give us different kinds of information about words. Children need help in using the dictionary to find specific kinds of information.

• This unit has an exercise that asks students to consult a dictionary and find out which adjective can be used before a noun, which can be used after a verb, and which can be used in both ways. You may add some adjectives to those suggested. Encourage the children also to find more adjectives of the kinds mentioned. Students may wish to consult (in addition to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary), the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, and the Word Master (Orient Longman), or any good dictionary of their choice.

• The Speaking exercise asks the students to imagine introducing a celebrity guest to an audience. It can be made an authentic activity if students are given a couple of minutes during the morning assembly to speak to their fellow-pupils about such a person. This would give them practice in facing an audience, and encourage them to prepare seriously, by: (i) noting down the important points about the person to be introduced, (ii) using appropriate phrases to introduce the person (students should be allowed to think what phrases they want to use).

• The Writing Task is an exercise in comparison. Hard work is a trait common to Evelyn Glennie (Part I, para 5) and Bismillah Khan (Part II, para 5). Help children identify the paragraphs that tell us about the two musicians’ goals. After they read and understand these parts of the text, they can organise the ideas in two paragraphs, one on each musician.

3. THE LITTLE GIRL

• The aim in this unit is to first read through the story at one go, not worrying about difficult words or difficult language. Students can read the story for homework and come to class; or the teacher can read out the story in class; or the students can read out parts of the story in the class, one after the other. Let them retell the story again, if necessary, in parts.

• The dictionary exercise in this unit shows how a very small common word can be used in different ways. Students might be interested in thinking about how they use words in their own language to express these meanings. They may also think of other words like same, small, give and take to convey different kids of meaning. Encourage them to consult a dictionary.

• This is a story about the changing attitude of a girl child towards her father. The Speaking and Writing exercises encourage the students to think about the relationship between children and parents. The students should be encouraged to say or write what they think, and not what the teacher thinks they should say or write. The aim is not to arrive at a ‘correct’ answer, but to let every child voice an opinion and express her/his ideas. It is hoped that children will find the topic of personal relevance. This will help their ideas and language to flow freely.

Thinking about the Text

I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

1.How old are Margie and Tommy?

2.What did Margie write in her diary?

3.Had Margie ever seen a book before?

4.What things about the book did she find strange?

5.What do you think a telebook is?

6.Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?

7.What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

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?

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?

III.Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1.What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

2.Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?

3.What did he do?

4.Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?

5.What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?

6.Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?

7.How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

8.How does he describe the old kind of teachers?

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?

2.Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?

3.Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.

Thinking about Language

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

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.

3.Make adverbs from these adjectives.

(i)angry .................

(ii)happy .................

(iii)merry .................

(iv)sleepy .................

(v)easy .................

(vi)noisy .................

(vii)tidy .................

(viii)gloomy .................

II.If Not and Unless

•Imagine that Margie’s mother told her, “You’ll feel awful if you don’t finish
your history lesson.”

•She could also say: “You’ll feel awful unless you finish your history lesson.”

Unless means if not. Sentences with unless or if not are negative conditional sentences.

Notice that these sentences have two parts. The part that begins with if not or unless tells us the condition. This part has a verb in the present tense (look at the verbs don’t finish, finish in the sentences above).

The other part of the sentence tells us about a possible result. It tells us what will happen (if something else doesn’t happen). The verb in this part of the sentence is in the future tense (you’ll feel/you will feel).

Notice these two tenses again in the following examples.

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 .................

Writing

A new revised volume of Issac Asimov’s short stories has just been released. Order one set. Write a letter to the publisher, Mindfame Private Limited, 1632 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi, requesting that a set be sent to you by Value Payable Post (VPP), and giving your address. Your letter will have the following parts.

• Addresses of the sender and receiver
• The salutation
• The body of the letter
• The closing phrases and signature

Your letter might look like this:

Your address

..............................

..............................

.............................

Date...........................(DD/MM/YY)

The addressee’s address

..................................

.................................

................................

Dear Sir/Madam,

................................

................................

.................................

Yours sincerely,

Your signature