Q1.
• Sit in groups of five.
• Each group will discuss and create two questions on the poem Vocation using the question words from the WH-family. Note down the questions.
• Now, put your textbooks back in your bags.
• Each group will get to share their questions with the class.
• One group will present their questions, and the remaining groups will answer the questions. This will continue till all the groups have shared their questions.
Answer
What this activity is. Your group makes up two questions about the poem. Then the books go away, one group asks its questions aloud, and the other groups listen and answer from memory. So the real skill here is listening carefully and holding a question in your head.
The WH-family. These are the question words. Nearly all of them begin with the letters wh.
| Question word | What it asks for | A question on this poem |
|---|---|---|
| Who | a person | Who does the speaker meet on his way to school? |
| What | a thing | What is the hawker selling? |
| When | a time | When does the speaker come back from school? |
| Where | a place | Where does the speaker see the gardener? |
| Why | a reason | Why does the speaker want to be a hawker? |
| Which | a choice | Which tool does the gardener use? |
| Whose | who it belongs to | Whose lantern swings in the dark lane? |
| Whom | a person, as the receiver | Whom does the mother send to bed? |
| How | the way something is done | How does the street-lamp look to the speaker? |
How to do it, step by step:
- Sit in a group of five and read the poem once together.
- Pick two different WH-words. Do not let both your questions begin with the same word.
- Make sure the answer to each question is actually inside the poem. A question the poem does not answer is not a fair question.
- Write the two questions in your notebook and read them once aloud in the group, so they sound clear.
- Put the textbooks in your bags.
- When another group asks a question, listen right to the end before you raise your hand.
Sample answer — two questions from each of five groups, with their answers:
| Group | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who is the speaker of the poem? | A school-going child. |
| 1 | What does the hawker cry as he walks? | He cries, “Bangles, crystal bangles!” |
| 2 | When does the gong sound? | At ten in the morning. |
| 2 | Where does the speaker see the gardener? | Through the gate of a house, on his way back from school. |
| 3 | Why does nobody take the gardener to task? | Because it is his own work and his own garden; nobody minds if he gets dusty, hot or wet. |
| 3 | How does the street-lamp look to the speaker? | Like a giant with one red eye in its head. |
| 4 | Which three people does the speaker wish to be? | A hawker, a gardener and a watchman. |
| 4 | Whose shadow walks at the watchman’s side? | His own shadow, made by the swinging lantern. |
| 5 | What does the speaker do at four in the afternoon? | He comes back home from school. |
| 5 | Who sends the speaker to bed in the evening? | His mother. |
Two things that make a good WH-question: it can be answered from the poem, and it cannot be answered with just “yes” or “no”. “Is the hawker selling bangles?” is a yes/no question. “What is the hawker selling?” is a WH-question.