NOTES PREPARED BY
ASHAQ HUSSAIN BHAT
GL TEACHER SCHOOL EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Poem 5
FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL
SUMMARY
A young boy attends school for the first time and thinks of the other children who seem comfortable and uniform. He imagines that they have lived in playgrounds and invented games, but not allowed him to play with them. The school has railings around it, possibly to prevent children from running away from lessons. The boy thinks of the lessons as small, muddy classrooms made of glass. He wishes he could remember his name, as his mother told him it would be useful. However, the boy doesn't yet understand the meaning of the school.
TEXT-BASED EXERCISES
1. Answer these questions:
Q. 1. Who do you think is the speaker of the poem ?
Ans. He's a boy starting his first day at school.
Q. 2. What does the speaker feel about other boys in school?
Ans. In school, he believes that other boys feel very comfortable. They had to have been outfitted from birth. Their entire lives have been spent at playgrounds. They have been creating games for years.
Q. 3. What, according to the speaker, are the things you don't take sweets from ?
Ans. You do not take sweets from wolves and monsters.
Q. 4. What 'glass-rooms' does the speaker talk about? Where does he imagine people do there ?
Ans. The glass-built classrooms are discussed by the speaker. According to the speaker, glass-covered rooms are meant for holding classes.
Q. 5. What would the teacher read for the boy? Why do you think the speaker's name has been sewn on to him?
Ans. The boy's name would be read by the teacher. The speaker can't take his own name correctly, so his name has been sewed on him. Also, this is for his identity.
Q. 6. 'Sewn' is the past participle form of 'sew' (=to stitch). It is an irregular verb. Find out the past participle form of the following verbs:
keep go. carry. eat. make.
comedy. think run. write. feel.
Ans.
Verb Past Past participle
go. went. gone
keep. kept. kept
eat. ate. Eaten
make. Made Made
carry. Carried. Carried
come. Came come
think. Thought. Thought
Run. Ran. Run
Write. Wrote. Written
Feel. Felt. Felt
Q. 7. Did you like the above poem? Why? Talk to a partner about it. Ask him/her about his/her views about the poem.
Ans.
Rahim: Do you like the above poem, Mohan? Why ?
Mohan: Yes, I do like the poem. I like it because it takes me to the world of a young child who comes to school for the first time.
Rahim: Do you think it is real ?
Mohan: It is not based on reality. It takes me to the world of a child's imagination.
Rahim: Do you find any funny utterances in the poem ?
Mohan: Most things spoken by the child are funny.
Rahim: Can you name them ?
Mohan: The child says the following funny things:
(i) The other children are so big and noisy.
(ii) They feel so much at home in school. They must have been born in uniforms.
(iii) They have lived all their lives in playgrounds.
(iv) They have spent the years in inventing games..
(v) They play some rough games which can swallow a child up.
(vi) The railings of the school are meant to keep away wolves and monsters.
(vii) You do not take sweets from wolves and monsters.
Rahim: These utterance's make me laugh.
Mohan: Thank you very much for this information.
Q. 8. Write a paragraph of 100 words on your school. You may write :
* About the building..
* How far it is from your home?:
* What facilities you have and you don't have?
* What is the school timing?
*How many friends you have ?
* Are there enough plants and trees in and around your school?
* What do you do to keep your school and classrooms clean?
*Any other.
Ans. This is for in-class study and practice. The teacher ought to assign his pupils to compose a paragraph based on the previously mentioned guidelines.
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