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ASSET Reading for Understanding – Vocabulary English: Class 3

Question
Choose the CORRECT option for question below.

In which sentence does 'like' mean 'the same as'?

Options
A The girls like to watch movies.
D. 13.1%
B I do things like: stitching, gardening and painting.
A. 27.5%
P
C The banana plant looks like a tree.
No. of Students
D They like to run round the park twice.
6579
C. 25.8%
P
B. 16.3%

Only 25.8% answered correctly

1 Why was the question asked?

Recognising and using more than one meaning for the same word demonstrates not only richness of the quantity and quality of someone’s vocabulary but also the several ways in which those words can be
used. Some students have no difficulty recalling one meaning for a word, but find it difficult to identify other meanings in contextual situations. This difficulty may be due to a limited vocabulary, word finding
difficulties or rigid thinking.
This question assesses if students are able to match the meaning of ‘like’ from the context in the options with the meaning expressed in the question.

2 What did students answer?

6,579 students attempted this question. 26% of them chose C-the correct answer, ‘The banana plant looks like a tree.’ While 28% of them chose A- a common wrong answer, ‘The girls like to watch
movies.’
Possible reason for choosing A: Students seem to have ignored the common meaning of ‘like’ meaning ‘prefer’ or ‘feel attracted by’ as used in this sentence. They seem to have been diverted by the
concept of the general preference of girls to watch movies, assuming that girls all over are the same and so may have chosen A. Once they chose this, they don’t seem to have read any of the other options.
Possible reason for choosing B: Very few students have chosen this option, showing that it could be a random guess or a result of a confusion of the meaning ‘such as’ in the context of the sentence with
‘same as’ in the question.
Possible reason for choosing D: Only 13% of the students seem to have chosen this option indicating that could be a random guess.
P.T.O.
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Students don’t seem to be picking on context clues in the sentence to figure out which meaning is correct. They seem to go by the general meaning of the sentence than the context in the sentence. When
answering questions with multiple meanings, students should keep in mind the following points:
• the understanding that a word has more than one meaning
• a recognition that multiple-meaning words can be the same part of speech or can be different (For example: In sentences: A and D, ‘like’ is used as a verb. In sentence B, ‘like’ meaning ‘such as’ is a
preposition and in Sentence C, ‘like’, meaning ‘similar to’ is a preposition. It can also be used as an adjective in a sentence like: ‘They sang songs on this and other like occasions./ They are as like as two peas.’)
• a matching of different meanings with the same word
• identification and use of words with multiple meanings in sentences, for practice

4 How do we handle this?

It is best to involve students in various exercises wherein they have to recall the various meanings of the same word. Given below are some strategies to decode multiple-meaning
words
I a.) Ask students to use context clues. Ask: What is the word’s part of speech? Do other words in the sentence or nearby sentences give clues about its meaning?
b.) Ask students to refer to a dictionary. Look at the different definitions and ask: Does this definition make sense as it is used in the sentence? Keep looking until one definition fits.
II. Ask student to choose a word below that they know and write two definitions for it on the lines provided. They would need to use a dictionary to check the definitions. Then ask
them to write two sentences for the word, one for each of the two definitions chosen.
1. ray 2. pen 3. pit 4.pitcher 5.sharp
WORD:
Definition 1: ____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: ____________________________________________________
Definition 2: ____________________________________________________
Sentence 2: ____________________________________________________
II. Give several words which have multiple meanings and ask them to use them in sentences of their own
IV. Give them exercises like the one below for practice:
Choose the word whose meanings best fit both sentences.
Our Maths teacher taught us how to find a square __________.
The plant’s __________ is deep under the ground.
A. shape B. root C. box D. flower

Useful resources:
Websites: http://sb058.k12.sd.us/multiple%20meanings/multiple_meaning_words.htm ( a list of words with multiple meanings)
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp061.shtml (a multiple meanings game) Educational
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ASSET Reading for Understanding – Grammar English: Class 4

Question
Which of these is a correct answer to the question - "Do you like English?"

Options D. 2.8%

A “Yes, I like.”
B “Yes, I'm liking it.”

P
C “Yes, I do.”
P
C. 36.5% No. of Students
D “Yes, it I like.” A. 54.7%
1054

.5%
B. 3
Only 36.5% answered correctly

1 Why was the question asked?

Answering questions correctly is a basic skill that is essential to speaking English. The students should be able to identify various types of questions and answer them appropriately. This question was posed
to check if students are able to identify the right way to answer a “Yes / No” question that uses an auxiliary or helping verb.

2 What did students answer?

Of the 1,054 students who answered this question only about 37 % got it right (Option C). Option A was chosen by a majority of the students (nearly 55 %).
Possible reason for choosing A: Option A was the most common answer chosen by the students. This mistake is quite common among speakers of Indian English. Therefore, it is extremely likely that
they have heard other people speak this way and have not realized that it is wrong. Further in most Indian languages, the answer to a question of this type always contains the main verb (“like” in this
instance). This could also have led to the confusion. It is also possible that students blindly selected this option as it has the same word ‘like’ as in the question. Since this is the first question they may not have
read the other options to decide the suitability of responses for the given question.
Possible reason for choosing B & D: These options combined were chosen by just over 6 % of the students. This suggests that these were errors or random choices.
The fact that so few of the students chose this option suggests that they are clear about the tense to use.
P.T.O.
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• The results indicate that the students have not assimilated the rule to be followed when answering a question of this sort. They have not realised that the right way to answer a question of this type is
to use the auxiliary verb (“do” in this case) and not the main verb (“like”) or that if you do use the main verb, you must include the object of the verb.
• The children might be making these errors because when they are unsure about the rule, they might be translating from their native languages leading to the particular option being chosen.
• The students seem to understand that the tense that is used in the answer should be the same as the one used in the question.

4 How do we handle this?

• Without stating the rule, provide examples of correct usage. A starting point can be using the examples they have already come across in their text.
• Using grammatical terms like auxiliary verbs makes it intimidating. Instead provide explanations like the one given below as an example.
o Saying ‘Yes, I do. / No, I don’t’ in English is more polite than just saying ‘Yes. /No.’ That is why short answers are very commonly used.
o To form the short answer, you use the first word from the question. (This is either an auxiliary verb or a form of ‘be’.)
• Illustrate correct usage using the diagram below.

Q. Do you want coffee? Q. Can I have coffee? Q. Will he have coffee?

A. Yes, I do. A. Yes, you can. A. Yes, he will.

Yes, I want. Yes, you have. Yes, he have/has.
Yes, I want coffee. Yes, you can have. Yes, he will have.
Yes, you have coffee. Yes, he have/has coffee.
Yes, you can have coffee. Yes, he will have coffee.

• Here are some ways to help you provide practice –

o Ask them to read a passage or tell them a story and ask “Yes/No” questions.
o Ask the students to come up with questions and get other students to answer them or make it a game where the student gets to test the teacher. (Once the concept is clear, you can make some
mistakes that the students get to correct, making it more fun for them.)
o The game of “Twenty Questions” is very useful to reinforce how to make and answer “Yes/No” questions. The game goes like this. One of the players thinks of an object, person, animal, etc. The
others get to ask twenty questions. The questions must be answered in “Yes/No” form. The game can be modified with responses using ‘Yes/ No’ along with the related verb. For example: Is it in
this room? Yes, it is./ Do know where it is? Yes, I know. etc. This will give them practice in using the right verb/ auxiliary in the responses. At the end of the twenty questions the others have to
guess what the other person was thinking of. You can also make it a competition by declaring the person / team who find the answer using the shortest number of questions, the winner.
o You can begin or end classes by asking them questions like these and getting the students to answer them correctly.

Useful resources:
Website: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/short-answers (This site illustrates the rules well and also has good exercises you can use.)
Educational
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ASSET Reading for Understanding – Extended Reasoning English: Class 5

WHY DO WE SNEEZE? Question
The author uses the word 'curiously' to:
We sneeze when we try to get rid of something that is
bothering our breathing passage. When dust or pollen
Options
(the powdery part of flowers) or the strong smell of
spices irritates the nerve endings of the mucous P
A introduce an unexpected idea. D. 16.6%
A. 20.7% P
membrane of the nose, a message goes to the spinal B describe a way to prevent a sneeze.
cord “Get rid of it”. In response, our breathing muscles
C describe the feeling during a sneeze. No. of Students
tighten and relax to make us breathe in and out 3605
suddenly and forcefully in a spasm, “Achchoo”. And out D explain why sneezing is important.
goes the irritating dust or pollen. When we have a cold, C. 34.7 % B. 23.9%
the breathing passage gets swollen and inflamed and
we sneeze a lot. Curiously, sudden bright light also
stimulates sneezing. If you get that awkward sensation
of being stuck halfway during a sneeze, just look at a Only 20.7% answered correctly
bright light!

1 Why was the question asked?

Many a times, readers need to process the information stated in the text to understand the intention of the author. To be able to infer and analyse information accurately, readers would need to pick up
various context clues that are available. This question assesses whether students are able to interpret the information in order to understand the implications of a particular word that has been used in the
passage.

2 What did students answer?

Only about 21% of 3,605 students chose the correct option A, “introduce an unexpected idea.” About 35% chose the common wrong answer, C “describe the feeling during a sneeze.” Another 24%
chose B, “describe a way to prevent a sneeze.” And about 17% chose D, “explain why sneezing is important.”
Possible reasons for choosing B: These students may not have understood the meaning of the word, “curiously”. Since the passage is about sneezing, they may have thought that an uncomfortable thing
as sneezing ought to be prevented. These students are unlikely to have read the subsequent information after the word ‘curiously’.
Possible reasons for choosing C: These students may have read the text only up to this point. They may have read “…breathing passage gets swollen and inflamed and we sneeze a lot” and assumed that
what follows will be a description how one would feel when suffering from an infliction such as this.
Possible reason for choosing D: These students may have thought that the irritants need to be “gotten rid of” or removed from the body and therefore it is important
to sneeze, as it allows for dust or pollen to be removed. P.T.O.
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There may be three reasons why students could not answer this question correctly:
• They did not understand the meaning of the word “curiously”.
• They did not understand the connections in the passage made by connectors like: 'when/ and, that, to make us etc.
• Students may have had some difficulty in analysing the information already stated.
Students who answered correctly may have realized that the word 'curiously' implies that we are going to know something that we do not know about and would never even think of as a possibility.
Consequently, the very next lines convey that very unexpected information 'sudden bright light also stimulates sneezing'. If you get that awkward sensation of being stuck halfway during a sneeze, just look
at a bright light!' They may have realised that even though nothing enters the nasal pathways, a person would sneeze if she/he faces bright light. This may have led them to deduce that this type of sneezing
is novel and unexpected, thereby choosing option A as their answer.

4 How do we handle this?

If students are given enough practice in reading unseen passages and drawing inferences, they may soon get accustomed to processing information to understand the latent meanings.
Make two columns on the board and ask children to supply the answers to all the qns on the left. Once the information is filled, ask them the answer to the question again and ask them if they would like to
change their answers.

Questions to analyse passage sequence Response

What is the passage about? causes of sneezing
What is the first cause mentioned? irritant in the breathing passage
What irritates the nerve endings and sends the message to the brain? dust, pollen, strong smell of spices
How does the sneeze occur? Breathing muscles tighten and relax resulting in breathing out suddenly and forcefully.
What happens next? irritants thrown out
What is the other cause of sneezing? Breathing passage gets swollen and inflamed during a cold.
What is the other cause of sneezing? sudden bright light
Was this known before this line was read? No.
Which word indicates that it is unexpected information? Curiously
How do you know? This word comes before that information.
What is suggested at the end? Look at a bright light if a sneeze is stuck half way.

You can repeat this with lessons from the textbook or with short factual paragraphs.

Useful resources:
Website: http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/marketing/sfesl/practicereading.html
(grade-wise passages and related MCQ questions, especially good to boost comprehension skills) Educational
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ASSET Reading for Understanding – Grammar English: Class 6

Question
Choose the sentence WITHOUT AN ERROR.

Options
A I went for shopping and enjoyed.
B I went for shopping and enjoyed myself.
D. 14.9% A. 14.0%
P
C I went shopping and enjoyed myself.

D I went for a shopping and enjoyed.

No. of Students
7452
C. 31.7% B. 34.3%
P

Only 31.7% answered correctly

1 Why was the question asked?

Although incorrect grammar is not noticed by some people, correct grammar is definitely noticed by most people for whom writing is their job. Grammatical errors will tend to reduce the credibility of the
author in the eyes of the readers. Therefore, writing with proper grammatical structures should be habit forming. Loose writing with the intention of editing and correcting the errors later will only lead to
the errors becoming a habit. This question checks students’ ability to recognise the fine nuances of grammatical correctness in sentences.

2 What did students answer?

32% of 7,452 students chose Option C, the correct answer; I went shopping and enjoyed myself. An almost equal percentage, 34% of them chose Option B - I went for shopping and enjoyed myself.
About 14% each chose Options A and D.
Possible reason for A: Students choosing this option- ‘I went for shopping and enjoyed.’ were probably swayed by a literal translation from the vernacular.
Possible reason for B: In this option too students seem to have the same reasoning as for Option A - I went for shopping and enjoyed myself. The only difference between the two is the use of the
word "myself" which completes the sentence with a "predicate" (an “object”). This indicates that the students know that “enjoy” is a transitive verb. A possible reason for the error is that Indian languages
do not allow the use of “shopping” directly with the verb. Indian languages require the equivalent of a preposition in the sentence. This fact is reflected by the choice the students make of including a
preposition “for” in the sentence.
Possible reason for D: In this case students seem to think that ‘the act of buying -shopping’ implies ‘a place like a market place full of shops’ and is likely to be a noun,
which is why the article ‘a’ before ‘shopping’ appears to be most likely.
P.T.O.
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Students seem to be unsure of why ‘for’ or ‘a’ are incorrect before the word ‘shopping’. They seem to interpret it as a noun and qualify it with an article or use a preposition before it. At the same time
students seem undecided about whether ‘enjoyed’ is okay as a stand-alone or requires an object like “myself” to form a complete sentence.
Some of the errors in grammar, like ‘wrong inclusion of words, incorrect word order, missing articles etc.’, seem to be happening when students think in the vernacular and translate every word they use
in the regional language into English.
It is important to teach students the usage of various concepts in Grammar with several examples by focusing on the common mistakes students make in sentence construction.
In the sentence, ‘I went shopping and enjoyed myself.’ students need to be told that ‘shopping’ is a present participle, a form of verb and is not a noun. Although participles are commonly thought of as an
adjectival, some participles clearly have an adverbial function, providing information of time, place, reason, and manner, as other adverbials do. In the sentences here, ‘shopping’ is an adverb of place,
describing the verb ‘went’ (I went (where)? I went shopping.) Had students internalised this concept, many more would have got this answer correct.

4 How do we handle this?

First tell students that the present participles are the '- ING' verbals that usually function as adjectives and occasionally function as adverbs. When participles function as adjectives, they are usually found
preceding the nouns and pronouns in a sentence. When participles function as adverbs, they are typically found following the verb in a sentence.
For example:
The running water provided a picturesque view. (adjectival)
The clown was able to stop the raging bull from attacking the rider. (adjectival)
The car stopping at the light was hit by the truck. (adjectival)
The bull came running towards the rodeo clown. (adverbial)
Also tell students that participles are used after verbs of movement/position in the pattern: verb + present participle, particularly with the verb ‘to go’
Example:
• She went shopping
• He went running to meet his mother.
• She wanted to go swimming in the sea.
Some other ideas to reinforce this topic:
• Take a paragraph of approx. 150 words which has (time, place, verb) and make it a cloze passage (give fill in the blanks) before these.
• You can also give options (a/the) (for/to) for children to choose from. Options help to know what alternative children are using, if not the correct one.
• A rule of thumb to provide could be to say that ‘-ING’ forms do not take articles (a, an, the).
• Take the answer from the 'Fill in the blank' exercise, which has the highest wrong answers and discuss it in class. Help students to arrive at the correct reasons for the correct answers on their own.
For example: In this sentence, you can ask children "What is shopping? Is it a noun? Is it a verb? Is it a place?" Ask children to give examples of other nouns, /verbs. Then ask them questions like –Where did
you go? (I went shopping.) And how did you feel there and why? (I felt happy because I enjoyed myself.)
• Give them several such exercises for practice.

Useful resources:
Websites: 1. http://www.uhv.edu/ac/efl/pdf/verbsgerunds.pdf (Information about gerunds and participles) 3. http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/participles/exercises?15 (exercises)
2. http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/participles/exercises (exercises on the present participle) Educational
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ASSET Learning for Understanding – Grammar English: Class 7

Question
Choose the correct Active Voice form of the sentence below.

No anaesthetic, no surgery and no discomfort had been involved in the treatment.

Options
A The treatment hasn't involved any anaesthetic, surgery or discomfort.
A. 14.8%
P
B The treatment hadn't involved any anaesthetic, surgery or discomfort.
D. 26.8%
C The treatment doesn't involve any anaesthetic, surgery or discomfort.
No. of Students
D The treatment did not involve any anaesthetic, surgery and discomfort.
3442 B. 26.1% P

C. 30.9%

Only 26.1% answered correctly

1 Why was the question asked?

Transformation from one to the other usually helps us to identify any gaps in the understanding of students with reference to usage of grammar concepts. Usually, students are asked to transform a
sentence from active to passive voice. This question asks students to identify the correct active voice form of a passive sentence, so as to understand the exact misconception in the minds of the students.

2 What did students answer?

Of the 3,442 students who answered this question, only about 26% chose the correct option B, “The treatment hadn't involved any anaesthetic, surgery or discomfort.” Almost 31% chose C, “The
treatment doesn't involve any anaesthetic, surgery or discomfort.” Another 27% chose D, “The treatment did not involve any anaesthetic, surgery and discomfort.”
Possible reason for choosing A: Students seem to have correctly identified that the agent in the passive form needs to be the subject in the active form. But they seem to have forgotten that the tense of
the verb needs to remain the same.
Possible reason for choosing C: Students haven’t been able to match the tense of the verb in the passive form and their option choice. This may be due to the fact that there is no passage context
involved. They may have thought that the treatment, in this independent sentence, as a “norm” doesn’t involve anaesthesia, surgery or discomfort. They have not realized that the actual sentence is actually
speaking of some particular incident which is signified by “hadn’t been involved in the treatment”.
Possible reason for choosing D: These students are most likely to have simply missed the past perfect form in the passive sentence and ended up choosing a simple past sentence as the
correct answer.
P.T.O.
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Students may be used to stating the correct form and not identifying it from various sentences which have minor differences.
Students seem to be aware that the active form always focuses on the noun and therefore it is the subject. But they seem to be unsure in the transformation of the verb forms. It is possible that they are not
aware that the meaning of the original sentence and the transformed sentence needs to be the same. This clarity may emerge if stress is laid on the fact that the verb does not change in tense in either
active or passive voice. Students may be confusing this with Reported Speech which involves a change in tense. A statement is always reported in the past tense by Reported Speech. In that sense they
may be selecting C or A which have a form which is not in the past. They seem to have missed the idea that ‘had been involved’ in the passive would actually mean ‘hadn’t involved’ in the active voice as a
direct action and not a passive action.
Students may benefit from exercises which require them to identify correct forms rather than state them and also reinforces the two concepts (Voice and Reported Speech) so that the mechanics of
transforming sentences using either of these two concepts becomes clear.

4 How do we handle this?

The tense remains unchanged whether we change the voice from passive to active or vice-versa. Begin the class by reiterating the rules for voice transformation. You can find these rules at:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html
Caution students that the verb form remains the same and so does the overall meaning!

Exercise 1: Exercise 2:
1. Jaya: Was your teacher pleased with the students’ performance? Identify the correct active forms for the sentences given below.
Radha: No, she ____________ that we made silly mistakes. 1. Have the letters been sent out yet?
(A) is upset (B) was upset (C) had been upset A. The letters have been sent out yet?
B. Have the letters been sent out by you yet?
2. Anita: Did you buy that game? C. Have you sent out the letters yet?
Divya: No, it ___________ to me for my birthday. D. Yet have the letters been set out?
(A) is given (B) was given (C) given
2. It is said that a lot of wealth has been inherited by him.
3. John: How is Tara? A. A lot of wealth is been inherited by him they say.
Mayur: Well, her car (stole) _______ last night, so she’s upset B. A lot of wealth has been inherited by him it is said.
today. C. They say that he has inherited a lot of wealth.
(A) is stolen (B) has been stolen (C) was stolen D. He has inherited a lot of wealth, it is said that.

Discuss with students why the correct answers are correct. You can give them similar exercises and discuss some items each time.

Useful resources:
Website: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3158658/Grammar-Worksheets-Active-and-Passive-Voice-with-answers (different exercises for voice transformation)
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ASSET Reading for Understanding – Vocabulary English: Class 8

THE MAGICAL RISE OF A MUGGLE

Question
Joanne Kathleen Rowling, 39, is the force behind the record-breaking Potter series, with her sixth and
penultimate book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, poised to become the fastest selling book in history What do you understand by the words 'Rowling was
when it goes on sale at midnight (GMT) on Friday. struggling to make ends meet'?
Her previous five novels about Potter's adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry and his struggle against evil Lord Voldemort have enchanted young and old alike.
They sold more than 250 million copies worldwide and were translated into more than 60 Options
languages. A Rowling was struggling to meet the publishers and convince them.
Three films based on the series were also instant hits. A fourth Harry Potter and the Goblet of B Rowling was struggling to complete her novels within the given time.
Fire, is due for release in November.
It is all a long way from when the author was a penniless single mother in the Scottish capital P
C Rowling was struggling to earn enough money for her basic needs.
Edinburgh, struggling to make ends meet. D Rowling was struggling to find interesting endings for her novels.
It is a long way
At university, Rowling studied French and went on to hold a series of jobs, including working from when Rowling
was a penniless
for Amnesty International. single mother,
It was in 1990, waiting on a delayed train, that she was inspired to write Harry Potter. struggling to make
ends meet
Writing had been something Rowling had done since the age of six.
It took her five years to complete the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and another two before

A . 7.6%
it was published in 1997.
D. 25.9% B. 9.2%
Despite the hardship, Rowling knew she had the talent and eventually it paid off. Her first book was a runaway
success.
No. of Students
The second confirmed her reputation. After the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, she had become 3147
a literary legend and enjoyed record sales with the fourth and the fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Many of the characters are based on people she grew up with. Harry's school friend Hermione, she has said, is
herself. The name Potter comes from a friend with whom she played at witches and wizards as a child. C. 56.3% P
With millions of people across the globe singing her praises, however, Rowling treasures her
privacy and hopes that, when all seven books are published, she will "fade back Only 56.3% answered correctly
into blissful obscurity." AFP

1 Why was the question asked?

Idioms and figures of speech are what lend beauty and charm to language. Many of these have interesting stories behind them. Such idioms, proverbs and figures of speech are also unique
to a language, and hence in some cases difficult to understand. But many of the expressions can be understood by looking for clues in the context itself. This question tests the students’
understanding of a commonly used idiom in English.
P.T.O.
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2 What did students answer?
A majority of 3,147 students – about 56% - chose the right option C - Rowling was struggling to earn enough money for her basic needs. About 26% chose the most common wrong answer option D -
Rowling was struggling to find interesting endings for her novel.
Comparatively, about 16% chose the other two wrong options A and B.
Possible reason for choosing A: Clearly those who chose this option do not know the meaning and are unable to interpret the meaning based on the clues in the passage. This seems to be a random choice.
Possible reason for choosing B: Students who chose this option too may have made a random choice but seem to have also picked up some clues like the fact that Rowling took five years to complete
her first novel.
Possible reason for choosing D: The students choosing this option, though they would not probably know the meaning, have still tried to interpret the clues in the context. They have misunderstood
‘ends’ to be the endings for the novel and hence may have chosen this option.

3 Learnings
Students do not seem to be looking for the right clues in the passage. They may also not be considering the sequence of events and the overall meaning and sequence to understand the meaning of the
idiom. But they seem to focus on trivial points like similar words in the options and other unimportant words in the passage (endings, timing, number of years etc.).
Since idioms are expressions exclusive to a language, it is necessary to make a conscious effort to understand them. Literal meanings of the words, sometimes, do not convey the idea behind the
expressions. This requires a lot of reading and listening in the language, and also using such expressions in our own speech and writing. But the reward of making such an effort is that it lends flavour to the
language which no amount of plain writing can provide. Some of the idioms may be understood from the context in which they are used.

4 How do we handle this?

Give the students a lot of exercises in using and understanding idioms. A good way of starting this is to feature one idiom every week in the classroom. It could be written up on the black board every
Monday and highlighted in various ways throughout the week. Some examples are given below:
1. On the first day, ask the students to find the meaning of the idiom and use them in sentences of their own.
2. On the second day, let them find the origin of the idiom – most idioms have interesting – sometimes even a biblical – origins.
3. On the third day, students should find idioms similar in meaning to the one featured, in their own language and discuss in class.
4. On the fourth day, they should use the idiom at least once in their writing and speech in every class.
5. On the fifth day, they should do an art work – a drawing or a craft item that illustrates the meaning of the idiom. Eg. ‘make ends meet’ can be illustrated with a person/s struggling to tie up two pieces of
rope tied to two trees which has already been cut up and hence cannot be attached easily.
6. On the sixth day, they should identify the main words in the idiom and find other idioms which use the same words – a chart with these idioms and the key words can be made and hung in the class soft
board.

Useful resources:

Website: http://www.idiomconnection.com/ (This site has a lot of quizzes on idioms which can be modified and used.)
Educational
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 TM

ASSET Reading for Understanding – Vocabulary English: Class 9

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF EINSTEIN

By the time Albert Einstein died at the age of 76, he had totally transformed the way that Question
we see the universe, including our very notions of space and time. Not bad for someone
who struggled at school. Which of these words from the passage can complete
this sentence below correctly?
Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. His parents were concerned that he scarcely
talked until the age of three, but he was not so much a backward, as a quiet child. Security cameras were installed at different
As a schoolboy, his work didn't scream "genius" and even his teachers found it hard to reconcile the student spots in the Public Library as a __________ to thieves.
they had known with the great scientist he later became. After working hard in
the laboratory but skipping lectures, Einstein graduated with an unexceptional
record in 1900. He couldn't find a job in a university so he worked for the Swiss Options
Patent Office and spent his spare time working on theoretical physics A patent
problems.
At the age of just 26, whilst still at the patent office, he published three papers P
B deterrent
in a leading German physics journal. These papers on Brownian motion, the C persecution
photoelectric effect and special relativity contained explanations and ideas
that changed the way we all view the world. D disarmament
By the time he finally found an academic job in 1909, Einstein's reputation as one
of the greatest scientists of all time was spreading rapidly. And in 1915, at the age of 36, Einstein produced
his theory of general relativity which delved even further into the workings of the universe.
After being awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect, Einstein A. 13.5%
became closely involved with the development of quantum theory before moving on to pursue the search for D. 17.1%
a Grand Unified Theory that would tie all of physics together.
In 1933, Einstein escaped the persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany by accepting a position at the Institute for No. of Students
Advanced Study at Princeton, USA where he spent the rest of his life. Although he initially supported the use of 2956
atomic weapons as a deterrent in the Second World War he later campaigned for nuclear disarmament and C. 26.6%
world peace. B. 40.5% P
He died in 1955 of heart failure and became an icon of genius.

Only 40.5% answered correctly

1 Why was the question asked?

The skill of vocabulary usage consists not merely of knowing or deducing the meaning of words, but also of being able to use it in different contexts appropriately. This question tests the
ability of students to understand the meaning of words from a passage and then use it in an appropriate context.

P.T.O.
Educational
Do write to us at [email protected], using the feedback format provided to your school. Formats, Useful Resources Links, and other details are available online at http://www.ei-india.com/teacher-sheet/ E9-0309-10 INITIATIVES
2 What did students answer?
40% of the 2956 students who answered this question chose the correct option B – deterrent, while 27% chose the most common wrong answer C – persecution. About 30% of the students
chose A and D.
Possible reason for choosing A: Students who chose this option seem to have made a random choice possibly because they did not know the meaning of any of the words given as options.
They might also have connected the word ‘patent’ with some kind of security department in which Einstein worked.
Possible reason for choosing C: Students who chose this option seem to have understood the meaning of the word “persecution” vaguely but not enough to gauge its suitability in the given
context. They would have come across this word in other contexts like history, and would have connected it to the situation which also mentions action against thieves.
Possible reason for choosing D: As in the case of option A, students who chose this would have made a random choice, as ‘cameras’ and ‘disarmament’ do not connect well together.

3 Learnings
The clue to understanding the word “deterrent” in this passage is the phrase “atomic bombs”. The students might be finding it difficult to infer the meaning of the word with only this clue. The clues
provided in the passage might be insufficient to guess the meaning of “deterrent”.
To develop good vocabulary skills, students should read a variety of material – general as well as specific subjects. This will acquaint them with a wide variety of words from different fields. But the next
step is to understand these words and develop the skill to use them in appropriate contexts.
In many cases, students do develop their vocabulary by getting the meanings of words either by referring to a dictionary or by deducing them from the context. But the usage of these words in new and
unfamiliar situations seems to be missing which can only be developed by exposing them to their usages in different contexts.

4 How do we handle this?

Students should be provided with opportunities to develop their vocabulary skills through a three
step process – viz. (a) understanding the meaning of an unknown word by referring to a
dictionary; (b) deducing the meaning of a word from the clues in the context and (c) using those
words in appropriate contexts. He initially supported the He later campaigned for
For reading exercises in the class, get the students to read passages from other subjects like social use of atomic weapons nuclear disarmament
sciences or science, and ask them to identify words that they don’t know the meaning of. Ask
them leading questions to help them identify the meanings from clues in the passage itself. When
they are guessing the meaning ask the students to justify their responses, so that they become
conscious of which words they are picking up as clues and why. This will help them internalize and
apply this process better. If this does not bear fruit, let them refer to a dictionary. After this, give
them enough practice in using these words through exercises like the following: DISARMAMENT
(i) Give them written work like essays, argumentative pieces, etc. with topics drawn from
different fields. Sometimes a set of questions to guide the writing might be useful to
direct them to use the words they have learnt in earlier classes as mentioned before.
(ii) During discussions in the classroom, consciously get them to use such newly learnt
World peace
words by bringing in appropriate topics.
(iii) Create crosswords or other word games, where clues to such words are given in the
form of fill in the blanks or analogies, and they have to identify the correct words.

Useful resources:
Websites: 1. http://www.bangkokpost.com/education/context.htm (This site has ideas for teaching vocabulary through the newspaper.)
2. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3971(This site has a complete lesson plan on teaching vocabulary in context.) Educational
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