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Regular Classroom teaching has been under a complete lock-stock-and- barrel following the aggressive outbreak of COVID-19 all across the globe. Like rest of the countries of the world, India too is reeling under the effect of a complete lock-down. Education sector has seen a surge of online platforms with YouTube being the most chosen platforms among the teachers and educational institutions. Other platforms being used extensively by teachers in exchanging assignments and Study materials are Google Classrooms, School-owned apps & Whatsapp. For live classes Zoom and Google Meet are also in the fray. Now let’s discuss the efficacy of using such tools in facilitating curriculum transaction. Unlike the Regular classroom, live classes are not very effective, esp in the context of rural and semi-urban localities as these places still bear the brunt of awfully slow internet speed. Buffering, breaking of teacher’s voice, disruption of the stream time and again are some of the deterrents, which students of such localities are encountering much to their utter annoyance and grievances. Metros and big cities have relatively much better outcome in so far as live streaming of classes is concerned. Two-way interaction between a teacher and a students has suffered a setback with online mode of teaching with internet speed being one of the bottlenecks on the way. Students are texting their queries live to teachers and teachers in –turn are responding to such text queries. This is how the curriculum transaction is going on with the help of YouTube, Google Meet and Zoom. With a better internet speed, the online streaming could have been carried out in disruption-fee manner. Suggestions 1. Video lectures on YouTube is the best way out. Students can be instructed to text their queries on the video made and on the next video teachers can focus on such text-based queries from students’ end. One video lecture on the content and the next video lecture can be uploaded on the doubts of students. 2. In so far as giving assignments and study materials in the form of text is concerned, Google Classroom is second to none. Unlike Whatsapp, there are very few distractions on Google classroom. All the assignments and study materials are stored systematically according to date and time of assignment given to students. Therefore, teachers can take recourse to this platform as a viable alternative option to Whatsapp, which is all cluttered and unsystematic. 3. In order to boost the interactive skills of students from home-only classes, teachers can ask students to make small podcast on given topics and post them as per the schedule of different teachers. This will ensure that in addition to writing exercise, students can also have some space to resort to speaking activities in order to give fillip to their communication skills. Verbal communication skills play a pivotal role in so far as cracking interviews of SSC, UPSC, IELTS and TOEFL exams are concerned. Therefore, school must earmark sufficient space for inter-personal oral communication activities in their school calendar. During COVID phase, they can make a podcast of interviews of their parents, siblings, make documentary on current issues with their own voice-overs or simply make an oral presentation on some topics from social science, science and literature. The point I am trying to highlight here is that they should have some space in their daily timetable for verbal presentation of their syllabus. To cap it all, Lock-down has completely changed the mode of dissemination of knowledge from face-to-face mode to virtual platform. If the practice continues for another two-months or so, it might produce some couch-potatoes among the students who will fall prey to onscreen addiction and consequently invite some health hazards like poor eye sight, obesity, insomnia and so on. So let us pray to the Almighty God that we tide over this crisis at the earliest and come back to our regular mode of classroom education so that in addition to academics , they will have also some space for physical movement and socializing. Not will their academics, but their interactive skills, physical fitness, leadership skills, skills in games and sports, music and dance will also get shot in arms in regular school education.

Dear Visitors, It's very pertinent for each one of us to have sound vocabulary base in order to understand and carry out oral & written communication with others effortlessly. But the problem is when it comes to communication, we fail to put our message across owing to deficit in word power and in sentence making skill. Therefore, we need to harness the skill in a slow and steady manner so that over a certain period of time we end up being comfortable in using the English language. You can try the following practices in order to pull up your socks in so far as written and oral communication is concerned. 1. Read one or two English Article from Newspapers: Read one or two articles from an Edit page or Opinion Page of any newspaper and write down the value points on a notepad so that you can have an idea what the article is all about. Summarize what you have learnt from the article first in writing and then in the form of presentation to a listener. This practice on a regular basis will certainly help you in enhancing your written and Oral communication. 2. Learn Words in Context: While reading a newspaper, magazine or any book, mark the unfamiliar words with the help of a pencil. It's better to carry a pencil while reading . Mark the entire sentence in which the unfamiliar word has appeared. Proceed with your reading. After you end up your reading session on that day, take the trouble of taking down those sentences that you have marked on the book. The point is that if you learn any new word in context, you shall remember the usage of it. Words learnt in isolation cannot be retained for a long time. 3. Listen to podcasts/Radio Broadcasts: When it comes to enhancing your listening skill, intonation and diction, it is also suggested that you should listen to English, preferably with earphones. Listening has the least distraction elements vis-a-vis Watching TV. Therefore, it is also imperative to listen to podcast and radio news telecast in English so that you can pick up the flow of the language. 4. Keep a Journal : Keeping a journal is recommended as this practice enhances the writing skill of a person. You can write down a page or two on an everyday basis. This practice will help you be fluent in writing. Once you become fluent in writing , you can also be relatively comfortable in speaking effortlessly as the flow of words would be spontaneous. Blogging is also a very good idea nowadays. In course of time you can earn money as well by being a blogger. Therefore, develop the habit of writing on a regular basis. 5. To Make it you have to Fake it : Go for a dummy interaction with the self with your mirror image being your listener. Simply stand before the mirror and start speaking the topic which you recently read from a book , newspaper or a magazine. Give your opinion about the article on a regular basis. Remember in order to make a dummy presentation, you need to have adequate preparation in the form of prior reading and writing on a journal, blog etc. Otherwise, your dummy presentation will be incoherent and irrelevant. Organizing your thoughts in a coherent and fluent manner in important to become an effective communicator. Reading and Writing facilitates such skills. Therefore, your dummy presentation should be accompanied with a plenty of reading and writing exercise. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There are four types of phrases They are: Noun Phrases Adjective Phrases Verb Phrases Adverb phrases. Noun Phrases: A Noun phrase gives information about noun. A noun Phrase is also linked to a noun. For Example, a) The young cook makes tasty food. Here the phrases the young cook is a noun phrase. The phrase is linked to the noun ‘cook’. The phrase also tells us whether the cook is old or young. b) A twelve-year-old boy won the prize. Here the phrase ‘A twelve-year-old boy’ gives us information about the age of the boy, who is a noun. A noun phrase can also be an object of a verb. Object means going after. Therefore, object of a verb means something that goes after the verb. For example, I love reading story books. Here the noun phrase ‘reading story books goes after the the verb ‘love’. So the noun phrase ‘reading story books’ is the object of the verb ‘ love’. A Noun phrase can be a subject of a verb. Note: Subject of a verb means something that goes before the verb. For Example, To forgive one’s enemies is a noble quality. The noun phrase , ‘To forgive one’s enemies ‘ is used before the verb ‘is’ . Therefore, the noun phrase ‘to forgive one’s enemies’ is the subject of the verb ‘is’ Adjective Phrases give information about/ describe a noun. For example: a) The girl with the long hair is my sister. Here the adjective phrase with the long hair describes about the girl, who is a noun. b) The woman who just called me is my teacher. Here the adjective phrase ‘who just called me‘ describes about the woman, who is a noun. Learn the Difference between Adjectives & Adjective Phrases Adjectives are generally used before nouns, whereas adjective phrases are generally used after the Nouns. Ex: A red coat , red is an adjective whereas A coat of red colour. Here red colour is an adjective phrase. Verb phrases and Adverb phrases. Verb Phrases are linked to action verbs. For example, I practised a song yesterday. Here the verb phrase I Practised is linked to action verb ‘practised’. Verb Phrases are also linked to helping verbs and action verbs. For Example, We have been playing for one hour. Here the verb phrase ‘We have been playing ’ is linked to the helping verb’ ‘have been ’and action verb ‘ playing’. Adverb Phrases give extra information about a verb. Ex: I live over there. Here the adverb phrase over there describes where I live ( ‘live’ is a verb) Ex: I go to the school every morning. Here the adverb phrase ‘every morning’ describes when I go to school. Adverb phrases tell us how something is done, when something is done or how often something is done . Learn the Difference between Adverb and Adverb Phrases. Ex:He fought bravely. Here ‘bravely’ is an example of adverb as it modifies or points to verb’ fought’. Whereas in the example, He fought in a brave manner. The highlighted part is an example of adverb phrase. It shows how or in what way he fought. As the phrase modifies the verb ‘fought’, therefore, ‘in a brave manner’ is an adverb phrase. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< End >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Do you know what a noun is? A noun is a naming word. Nouns are those words which name a person, a thing or a place. For example, Sneha is a good girl (Here ‘Sneha’ is the name of a person) The child plays with a toy (Here ‘toy’ is the name of a thing/object) Kolkata is a city of joy (Here Kolkata is the name of a place.) Extra Bites About Nouns A noun can be a subject or an object of a sentence. Ex: John plays chess. Here the noun ‘John’ is used as the subject of the sentence. Ex: The teacher punished John in the class. In this sentence the noun ‘John’ is used as the object in the sentence. So a noun can be used as a subject as well as an object in a sentence. A noun can be countable and uncountable. For example, we can count boy, girl, chair , table whereas we cannot count water, wheat, sugar, love, honesty etc. Nouns are of four types. Common Noun: chairs, books, pens, boys, girls, teachers, rivers etc. Proper Noun: Mumbai, Nagpur, John, Yamuna, etc Collective Noun: bouquet of flowers, flight of stairs, herd of cows etc Abstract Noun: examples of which are love, honesty, kindness etc. Common Nouns are common to every person or thing of the same class. Ex: boys, girls, teachers, tables, phones, laptops, schools etc. Common nouns are the names of any object of the same kind. Ex: Boys & girls are found in large numbers as they are common in their respective categories. Similarly, teachers, tables, phones etc are present in large number in their respective categories. Proper nouns are the names of particular persons, places or things. Example : Shivraj studies here. (Here Shivraj is a particular Person) The Sun gives us energy. In this example, the sun is one of its kind, a particular thing. Therefore, sun is a proper noun. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter. Ex. ‘D’ in Delhi, J in John and Jupiter. Note: Common nouns are present in large numbers whereas the proper nouns don’t exist in large numbers. Revision/ Recapitulation Common noun is the person or thing of the same class. Ex: Chairs, teachers, trains, phones. Proper noun is the particular name of person or thing or place. Ex: John, Anjali, Venus, Kolkata, Nagpur. Common nouns begin with a small letter. Ex. C is small in chair Proper Nouns starts with a capital letter. Ex.N in Nagpur & M in Mumbai. Common nouns take articles ‘ a, an, the’ before them. Ex: a boy, an apple the chair. Proper nouns don’t take any article before them. Common nouns are used in singular and plural forms. Ex: boy boys, child children. Proper Nouns are not used in plural sense. You cannot say Delhis or Kolkatas or the Suns etc. Today we are going to learn collective Nouns and Abstract Nouns in detail. Collective Nouns are a group of persons, animals or things. Ex: A crowd of people. (Here the underlined word ‘crowd’ is the example of a collective noun and the category is Person) Ex : A herd of cattle. ( Here the word ‘herd’ is collective noun and the category is animals). Ex: A bunch of keys. ( Similarly, bunch is a collective noun and belongs to the category of things) Collective Nouns are used when we indicate a group together. A collective noun is followed by a singular verb. Ex: A herd of cattle is grazing in the field. Here you can see the verb used here is singular as it has agreed with the collective noun ‘herd’ and not ‘cattle’. As the collective noun is followed by a singular verb, therefore , the verb ‘is’ used here. Some more examples of collective nouns are An army of soldiers, a flock of sheep, a flight of stairs, bouquet of flowers etc. Abstract Noun is the name of quality, an action or a state. An abstract noun cannot be seen or touched as it has no shape or size etc. An abstract noun can only be felt. Ex: He has much wisdom. Here wisdom is abstract noun that is an example of Quality. Ex: Elders give us advice. In this example, advice which is abstract noun is an example of an action) Similarly, I speak truth from boyhood. Boyhood is an abstract noun and an example of a state. Quality: honesty, bravery, kindness, beauty, innocence, knowledge. Action: laughter, practice, judgement State: youth, childhood, poverty, happiness. Revision/ Recapitulation Collective Nouns are used when we indicate something collectively. i.e. all together. For Example, a bunch of keys. I want not a single key, but a bunch of keys together. Therefore, bunch is a collective noun. an abstract noun represents the words that express some feelings, quality or state. We cannot see or touch abstract noun, we can only feel it. Ex. Love, honesty, kindness etc. <<<<<<<<<<< Happy Reading >>>>>>>>>>>>

Operator: Hello, Capital Tours, How may I help you ? Mukesh: This is Mukesh. Can I have extension 200 please? Operator: Certainly, hold on a minute, I'll put you through... Manab: Riaz Hotel, Manab speaking. Mukesh: This is Mukesh calling, is Rajesh in? Manab: I'm afraid he's out at the moment. Can I take a Message? Mukesh: Yes, you could ask him to call me at 8219567834. I need to talk to him urgently. Manab: Thank you Mr. Mukesh, I'll convey your message to Rajesh at the earliest. Mukesh: Thanks, bye. Manab: Bye. Bye.. Expressions to Remember 1. How may I help you ? ‘how may I help you’ is said by a Hospital Reception, Ticket Counter, Airport, Railway Station, Telephone/ Dish TV helpline in response to a call from a customer. 2. Can I have extension : We use this expression to talk to a person located in a particular department away from the reception. ‘Extension’ means an extra telephone line attached to the main telephone in the reception. 3. hold on a minute : We use this to ask someone to wait for a minute, especially over telephone. 4. I'll put you through. This is used by the receptionist when the call is forwarded to the person for whom it has come. In other words, ‘put you through’ means ‘to connect somebody over phone’. 5. I'm afraid : This expression means ‘ I’m sorry. This is another way of saying ‘I’m sorry.’ 6. I'll convey your message: ‘Convey’ here means to communicate/to inform to someone for whom the message is intended.

Airport Official: Good afternoon! Where are you flying today? John: Mumbai. Airport Official: May I have your I-Card please? John: Here you go. Airport Official: Are you checking any bags? John: Just this one. Airport Official: OK, please place your bag on the scale. John: I have a stopover in Nagpur – do I need to pick up my luggage there? Airport Official: No, it’ll go straight through to Mumbai. Here are your boarding passes – your flight leaves from gate 15A and it’ll begin boarding at 3:20. Your seat number is 26E. John: Thanks. Glossary: Here you go: We can say 'here you go' after giving something to somebody, especially when they have asked for it. checking any bags: To check any bags means to carry any small bag with you inside the flight for keeping in the overhead bin. scale: Scale is the machine/equipment that measures the weight of your luggage. stopover/layover : the place where the flight stops for a while to board/deboard the passengers before heading for the final destination. go straight through: It means that your luggage will go straight to final destination. You don't need to personally collect the luggage at the layover/stopover city. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< End >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

John: Jane, where to? Jane: Just on my way to the market, John? John: When are you likely to return? Jane: In an hour, I suppose. John: Will you drop in to my place? Jane: You mean, on my way back from the market? John: Yes, of course. Jane: I’m afraid, I won’t. I’ve got to reach my home urgently. John: okay, I see. Never mind. Jane: I’ll certainly drop in to yours on the weekend. By the way, is there anything special? John: Nothing special. I would like to discuss with you on an important matter. Jane: Is it so? We’ll do it on weekend. John: Don’t forget, please. I’ll keep waiting for you on Saturday. Jane: I won’t forget. I’ll certainly pay a visit. John: Thanks, Jane. We’ll chat over a cup of coffee for a good length of time. Looking forward to your visit. Jane: I too am super-excited. Thanks.

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Read and Find Out ( Page 1) Q1. Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki? Ans: Tricki appeared to be listless and seemed to have left with no energy. Mrs. Pumphrey thought that he must be suffering from malnutrition. He would eat nothing and even refuse his favourite dishes. Moreover, he had occasional bouts of vomiting. So she was extremely worried about Tricki. Q2. What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this? Ans: She immediately consulted Mr. Herriot, the vet, and informed him about the symptoms of abonormality that she notices in Tricki. Mr. Herriot suggested her to hospitalize Tricki for about a fortnight and keep him under observation. Yes, she was wise in her decision to inform the matter to Mr. Harriet. Q3. Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story? Ans: In this story ‘I’ refers to Mr. Harriet, who is both a narrator and a veterinary surgeon. Read and Find Out ( Page 3) Q4. Is the narrator as rich as Tricki’s mistress? Ans: There are indications in the story to suggest that narrator is not as rich as Tricki’s mistress. The following instances would certainly justify the above statement: 1. On Mr. Harriet’s arrival to Mrs Pumphrey’s house to collect the dog, she deputed numerous staff under her supervision to transfer all of Tricki’s belongings to the doctor’s car. 2. When Mr. Pumphrey heard about Tricki’s gradual recovery, she sends along two dozen eggs at a time, along with bottles of wine and brandy with an objective of helping Tricki’s speedy recovery. 3. On her arrival to Mr. Harriot’s hospital to collect the dog after his recovery, she comes in a chauffer-driven “thirty feet of gleaming black metal”, which is an indication to a limousine. Q5. How does he treat the dog? Ans: Mr. Harriot kept watch over Tricki for the first two days. He was given no food except plenty of water to drink. At the end of the second day, he started showing interest in his surroundings and began to whimper on hearing the dogs in the yard. Tricki had no medicinal treatment of any kind. Dr. Harriot ensured that the dog ran about with other dogs by joining in their friendly scrimmages. A separate bowl was kept for Tricki and the doctor was pleased to note that Tricki had run to eat his food with enthusiasm. From that day onwards, its progress was rapid. Q6. Why is he tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest? Ans: On hearing that Tricki was recovering, Mrs. Pumphrey brought two dozen fresh eggs for Tricki’s strength. She also sent bottles of wine and brandy as additional supplements for Tricki’s health. The narrator and his partners started having the eggs, wine and brandy meant for Tricki. On certain days, their days started with eggs in the morning, wine at midday and brandy round the fire at night. Therefore, the narrator is tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest. Q7. Why does Mrs Pumphrey think the dog’s recovery is “a triumph of surgery”? Ans: In two weeks’ time under the pastoral care of Mr. Herriot, Tricki had recovered completely and had been transformed into a flexible and hard-muscled animal. When Tricki saw her, it leaped into her lap and licked her face. She was so excited that tears flooded her eyes. She termed Tricki’s recovery as a triumph of surgery to express her extreme joy and gratitude for the doctor. EXTRA QUESTIONS Q1.‘You must harden your heart and help him on a strict diet.’ Why does Mr Herriot suggest this to Mrs Pumphrey? ANS: Mrs Pumphrey is very loving and caring mistress for Tricki. Her love and care do more harm than good to Tricki. She pampered him by giving him a luxurious life. She overfed him. The result was that Tricki became fat and lethargic. Overpampering and overfeeding were leading into disaster by spoiling his health. Cutting down his meals was much required to improve his health. Therefore, Mr Herriot suggests Mrs Pumphrey so. Q2.Why was Mr Herriot shocked at Tricki’s appearance? ANS: Mr Herriot was shocked at Tricki’s appearance as he had become very obese. His eyes were red and watery and his tongue was lolling. All these symptoms made Mr Herriot feel that he was not feeling well. Q3.How do you know that Tricki had an affluent life? ANS: Tricki was a pampered pet of an affluent mistress. He had a wardrobe of tweed coats with separate coats for the cold and rainy weather. He had separate beds for day and night with lovely cushions, toys, rubber rings, breakfast bowl, supper bowl and lunch bowl. All these luxury items show that he had an affluent living. Q4.Why did Mrs Pumphrey make a frantic call to Mr Herriot? What immediate step did he take to save Tricki? ANS: Mrs Pumphrey made a frantic call to Mr Herriot because her loving pet dog had stopped eating anything. He even refused to eat his favourite dishes and sweets. He became inactive and lay motionless all the time. He began panting and had bouts of vomiting. He took no interest in anything. Mr Herriot hospitalised Tricki for a fortnight and kept him on strict diet. By giving him a lot of water he was able to make Tricki active and energetic once again. Thus, he was able to save him from any kind of surgery or medicinal treatment. Long Answer Type Questions Q1. Dr Herriot was an intelligent doctor. He had sympathy and compassion for both the patient and his owner. He had practical approach in his treatment. Do you think doctors should be compassionate and practical like Dr Herriot? Mr Harriot was an intelligent doctor. He had the values of sympathy and compassion. He had practical approach in his treatment. He knew how to balance the professional life and social life. He knew the human psychology. He satisfied Mrs Pumphrey who was very possessive and obsessive about Tricky. He respected her love for her dog but treated Tricky tactfully. Yes, I feel that a doctor must be sympathetic and full of compassion for his patients. Dr Herriot is an example for all the doctors to follow. He understood the cause of and the remedy for all the diseases. He makes Mrs Pumphrey understand how she should treat Tricky. He is very modest when he says ‘you must harden your heart and help him on a strict diet’. Q2. Animals also understand the language of love. They have loving attitude towards their masters. Elaborate with reference to the story ‘A Triumph of Surgery’. ANS: Tricki was a very lucky dog to be looked after by a very sensitive lady Mrs Pumphrey, who looked after him like a pampered child. Tricki was fed on such delicacies and delicious food as might be a matter of jealousy for other dogs. Tricki also loved the heart that cared for him. After he had stayed with Mr Herriot for about a fortnight, he was eager to meet his mistress. The moment he saw her come to pick him up, he rushed to her with a tremendous leap. He expressed his love for her by licking her face and barking. He was excited when he met her after sometime. He wanted to thank Mrs Pumphrey for giving him a lot of love. He was so loving and excited on meeting her that she could not hold back her tears. This behaviour of Tricki makes us realise that the animals are also grateful to their loving masters. 3. Obesity is a common problem nowadays. People live to eat and don’t eat to live. What should be our approach to our diet? Does being rich mean to eat and feed too much like Tricky and Mrs Pumphrey? ANS: The lethargic life led by Tricki at home makes us feel that probably he lived to eat. Tricki had become very greedy. He would never refuse to eat whatever and whenever it was given to him. His mistress overfed him to increase his intake of nutrients in order to give him vigour. But that affected adversely and made him obese and dull dog. He suffered from the sickness called obesity. Obesity is a common problem nowadays. People live to eat and don’t eat to live. Junk food and fast food have become a status symbol. Even students in schools bring food from branded food chains to show off. Being rich does not mean to eat too much. We should eat balanced and natural food. We should eat to earn stamina and good health and not to gain overweight. We should eat to improve our health and not to spoil it. 4. Over pampering is not only bad for humans but also for animals. Do you think overpampering by parents is in favour of the children? What are the bad values that a child imbibes from overprotection and over pampering. Elaborate with reference to the story ‘A Triumph of Surgery’. ANS: Mrs Pumphrey pampered Tricky and made him sick. Her love for her dog was in excess. She overfed him. He became so fat that he was unable to move. Her love and care made him dull. It is an example of overpampering. Overpampering is not only bad for humans but also for animals. There are many parents who pamper their children in the name of love and care. It is not in the interest of the children. They get spoiled. They never learn the value of self-dependence, self-confidence. They become greedy, laggy and dull in future. They are unable to face the challenges of life. Sometimes they indulge in antisocial and illegal acts knowing that their parents would save them. Hence, overpampering by parents does not help a child in the long run. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< End >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>