Compulsory English Grade 12 || Language Development || Unit-5 Education || A Story of My Childhood || NEB

 

Unit-5 Education

 

A Story of My Childhood

-Abdul Kalam

 

 

Before you read

a. "Childhood is a chance for kids to discover who they are before the world tells them who they should be." Do you agree or not?

b. Share one of your interesting childhood memories.

 

Working with words

A. Match the words in column "A" with their meanings in column "B".

a. expectantly -       in a way that shows you are hoping for something, specially                                         something good or exciting.

b. beckon -              to give signal to somebody to move nearer or to follow you

c. grapple -              to try hard to find a solution to a problem

d. texture      -           the way food or drink tastes or feels in your mouth

e. cobbled -             having a surface that is made of small round stones

f. flimsy -                   thin and easily torn

g. attire -                   clothes, especially fine or formal ones

h. marvelous -         extremely good; wonderful

i. dynamics -            the science of the forces involved in movement

 

B. An autobiography is a story of a person's life, written by himself/herself. Use a dictionary and find the meaning of the following words related to people's life stories.

 

Hagiography -                   a biography that treats its subject with excessive                                                   reverence

Psychobiography -           a biography that pays particular attention to a person's                                      psychological development

pathography -                   the study of the life of an individual or the history of a                                                     community with regard to the influence of a particular                                      disease or psychological disorder

Chronicle -                          a factual written account of important or historical events                                            in the order of their occurrence

Obituary -                           a notice of a death, especially in a newspaper, typically                                      is including a brief biography of the deceased person - a                                               brief written description of a person's qualities.

Profile -                                a short article giving a description of a person or                                                               organization

Memoir -                              a historical account or biography written from personal                                                knowledge

 

 

Comprehension

A. Put the following events in the life of Abdul Kalam in a chronological order.

1. One day Abdul Kalam's teacher visited them to share his pride and pleasure about his performance. (f)

2. They celebrated happiness with poli. (a)

3. Abdul Kalam attended an elementary school at Rameswaram. (c)

4. A new teacher in the school forbade Abdul Kalam to sit together with his Brahmin friend. (g)

5. Many students did not understand well of Sivasubramania Iyer's lecture. (e)

6. He then took the students to the seashore for a practical class. (d)

7. Abdul Kalam was determined that he would make a future study about flight and flight systems. (b)

 

B. Answer the following questions.

a. What were the causes of Abdul Kalam's happiness?

Ans:- Abdul Kalam's happiness were his supportive father, loving mother, inspirational and motivational teachers at schools, his keen interest in mathematics and his labour and dedication to his study.

 

b. Which two places did Abdul Kalam visit before going to school?

Ans:- He visited Arabic tuition class and mathematics teacher's home before going to school.

 

c. What did he like about mathematics?

Ans:- He liked to learn rules and principles of mathematics and he would love solving complex number problems for hours.

 

d. Why was the new teacher unhappy?

Ans:- The new teacher was unhappy because he saw that a Brahmin boy Ramanadhan Sastry and a Muslim boy Abdul Kalam sitting together in a same bench in the classroom.

 

e. Why did Abdul Kalam have to split with his intimate friend?

Ans:- Abdul Kalam had to split with his intimate friend because of the discriminating behavior of his new teacher in terms of religion in Rameswaram Elementary School.

 

f. What was the topic of Sivasubramania Iyer's class?

Ans:- The topic of Shivasubramania Iyer's class was how could birds fly in the sky.

 

g. How was the teacher's reaction when the students told him that they did not understand his lecture?

Ans:- The teacher didn't become upset when the students told him that they did not understand his lecture.

 

h. Why did Sivasubramania Iyer take his students to the seashore?

Ans:- Sivasubramania Iyer took his students to the seashore to explain about the birds' flight practically.

 

Critical Thinking

a. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became a renewed aerospace scientist in his later life. Do you find any association of his childhood days in shaping his career? Explain with specific instances from the text.

Ans:- A.P.J. (Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen) Abdul Kalam is a well known aerospace scientist of India. He became a famous aerospace scientist because he was inspired and motivated by the explanation of the flight dynamics of birds practically by his teacher Sivasubramania Iyer in his school. There are obviously some associations of his childhood days in shaping his career. He was a keen student of mathematics and always scored full marks in it. He also scored full marks in Science in his study time. Beside this, he would take extra classes of mathematics at his teacher's home. He kept himself always busy in solving complex number problems. The most impressing thing to him was the practical lecture of his teacher Sivasubramania Iyer. He, along with his friends, was taken to the seashore of Rameswaram to have a practical demonstration on flight dynamics of the birds. The real teaching of his teacher had left him influential remarks. He learnt how birds could fly using their wings and tails in a proper balance. When he learnt flight systems of the birds he was determined to study flight dynamics, and following every steps suggested by his teacher, he became an aerospace scientist.

 

b. Kalam mentions an instance of discrimination against him in his school life. What picture of society does he want to depict by mentioning the incident? Discuss.

Ans:- In his memoir, Abdul Kamal mentions a sad event of religious discrimination in his school. His new teacher showed his discriminating behavior when he saw a Muslim boy (Abdul) and a Hindu boy (Rameswaram) sitting together in a same bench in the classroom. Rameswaram Sastry was an intimate friend of him belonging to Hindu community. Abdul was ignorant about the religious discrimination between Hindu and Muslim. During the time, there was extreme religious discrimination between Hindu and Muslim. The behavior of the new teacher was a true picture of the then society. He could not digest the friendship between a Hindu boy and a Muslim boy, so he forbade Abdul to sit close to his Brahmin friend. Abdul was upset by this behavior. By this incident Abdul wants to show the picture of the society that was parted between two sects- Hindu and Muslim. Few people denied such divisions, but most of the people, including educated people believed in partition.

 

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