English STD 8th

Language Study

Be aware of the following concepts to understand how language is used.

The Alphabet :

Alphabetical order

Phonetic symbols

Parts of Speech :

Main-auxilliary modal verbs

Progressive and Perfect

Degrees of Comparison

Sentence Structure :

Phrase and Clause

Simple, compound and complex sentences

Coordination and subordination

Joining sentences

Reported Speech

Vocabulary and Word building :

Prefix and Suffix

Compound Words

Changing word class

Punctuation :

Capitalization and quotes

Speech :

Syllables

Figures of Speech :

Simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole.

Suggested Pedagogical Processes

ideas/themes and relate them to life and try to give opinions about issues.

• refer sources such as dictionary, thesaurus and

encyclopedia for meaning in context and understanding

texts.

• use grammar in context such as active and passive voice,

reported speech, tenses, parts of speech, etc.

• notice punctuation marks in a variety of texts and

appropriately use in editing his/her own writing.

• understand the context for various types of writing:

messages, notice, letter, report, biography, travelogue,

diary entry etc.

• take dictation of a passage with specific attention to

words pronounced, punctuation and spelling.

• attempt various types of writing: notice, letter, report, etc as

well as personal/ biographical experiences and extrapolative

writings.

• use ICT (Net, mobile, website, Youtube, TED talks etc)

to browse for information, for projects/PPT discussion,

debate, class seminar etc.

• attempt creative writing, like stories, poems, dialogues,

skits, dialogues from a story and story from dialogues.

• visit a language laboratory.

• read/write a book review.

Learning Outcomes

• Prepares questionnaires to interview people, to take a

survey as part of a project.

• When required, uses mother tongue words and expressions

without distortion while speaking/writing English.

• Uses digital dictionaries/standard dictionaries available

on the internet.

• Prepares graphics, word-art, graphs, pictograms, etc. on

the computer.

• Knows how to compile, edit, use the information or details

available on the internet and not just ‘copy-paste’ them.

• Takes care not to use copyright material without proper

permission and/or acknowledgment.

• Prepares a presentation with the help of a computer.

• Participates in language games and activities for

language learning.

• Writes an essay.

• Attempts creative writing in different forms – stories,

poems, skits, dialogues, cartoons, jokes, playlets, etc.

• Writes a book review.

• Uses and interprets quotations, idiomatic expressions,

sayings, proverbs etc. appropriately in writing.

• Attempts using different techniques to make his/her

writing more effective.

• Prepares a write up after seeking information in print/

online, notice board, newspapers etc.

• Frames emails, messages, notice, formal letters,

descriptions/narratives, personal diary, report, short

personal/biographical experiences etc.

• Remembers and recalls necessary information (and the

way it is organized) with the help of personal notes.

Contents

Unit One

1.1 Be the Best

1.2 Androcles, and the Lion

1.3 Trees are the Kindest Things I Know

1.4 Miss Slippery

Unit Two

2.1 Try Again

2.2 The House builder

2.3 The Little River

2.4 Excuses ! (A Skit)

2.5 A Heroine of the Sea

Unit Three

3.1 “Why?’’

3.2 The Song of Songs

3.3 Truth

3.4 The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Unit Four

4.1 The Vet

4.2 P. V. Sindhu - An Icon of Success

4.3 Golden Chain

4.4 The Unsinkable Ship

4.5 Festivals of North East India

Introductory Activities

In spoken English, we often use contracted forms as :

Full form	Contracted form
I am busy.	I’m busy.
They are tired.	They’re tired.
He is not coming.	He isn’t coming. (OR) He’s not coming.
You will like it.	You’ll like it.
She will not like it.	She won’t like it.
We had been for a trip.	We’d been for a trip.
It must not happen again.	It mustn’t happen again.
That would be fine.	That’d be fine.
Do you not like it?	Don’t you like it?

Fill up the gaps in the table below.

Contracted form	Full form
Let’s	Let us
Shan’t	Should not
They’ve	They have
Wern’t	Were not
We’re	We are
Can’t	Cannot
Where’s	Where is
What’re	Where are
There’s	There is

Unit One

1.1 Be The Best (ಅತ್ತ್ಯುತ್ತಮನಾಗು)

WARMinG UP!

CHIT – CHAT(ಚರ್ಚೆಗಳು)

(1) Have you got a prize in any competition?

Ans: Yes, I got a prize in school Composition Competition.

(2) How did you feel at that time? Ans: That time I am feel very proud to me.

(3) Have you ever failed in your efforts?

Ans: Sometime failed, sometime success.

(4) Do you think we should accept success as well as failure?

Ans: Yes, success as well as failure are two sides of a coin.

(5) What will be your reaction if you are not selected in a team?

Ans:Very sad and angry on me.

(1) A. Read aloud the following sets of words.

(a) river, stream, sea, ocean

(b) hill, stone, mountain, rock

(d) child, adult, baby, youth

B. Rearrange each of the above sets of words according to the

increasing order of their size/growth.

(a) river, stream, sea, ocean,

(b) stone, rock, hill, mountain.

(d) baby, child, youth, adult.

(2) In your pre-primary classes you must have learnt the story of ‘The Lion and the Mouse.’ Read it in English and fill in the gaps using words given in the box:

A lion was sleeping in a forest. A mouse started playing on him.

The lion got up angrily . He caught the mouse and was ready to kill it.

The mouse begged the lion to leave it and said that someday it would help the lion. The lion laughed and let it go.

One day the lion was caught in a net set up by hunters. He roared

loudly as he tried too hard to escape.

The mouse heard the lion and came. It chewed up the net with its sharp teeth and set the lion free.

(help, angrily, caught, forest, mouse, kill, roared, free, chewed, heard, laughed)

Moral of the story: kindness are never wasted.

English Workshop

1. Read the words / names given below. Put the big-sized/ bigger ones in the big circle and the smaller ones in the small circle.

(ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಶಬ್ದಗಳನ್ನು/ಹೆಸರುಗಳನ್ನು ಓದಿರಿ. ದೊಡ್ಡ ಆಕಾರದ ಶಬ್ದಗಳನ್ನು ದೊಡ್ಡ ವರ್ತುಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಆಕಾರದ ಶಬ್ದಗಳನ್ನು ಸಣ್ಣ ವರ್ತುಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಕಿರಿ.)

(muskie, tree, pine, lake, bass, bush, highway, scrub, rill, sun, star, trail)

2. Form groups of four. Read each stanza in the poem turn by turn.

(ನಾಲ್ಕು ನಾಲ್ಕು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳ ಗುಂಪು ಮಾಡಿರಿ. ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಪದ್ಯವನ್ನು ಒಬ್ಬೊಬ್ಬರಾಗಿ ಓದಿರಿ.)

3. Find and write the pairs of rhyming words from the poem.

(ಸಮಾನ ಉಚ್ಛಾರವಿರುವ ಪದಗಳ ಜೋಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ಪದ್ಯದಿಂದ ಶೋಧಿಸಿ ಬರೆಯಿರಿ.)

a) hill – rill b) be – tree c) grass – bass d) make – lake

e) here – near f) trail – fail g) star – are h) crew – do

4. Complete the following with appropriate words/ phrases from the poem.

(First one is done for you.)

(1) If you can’t be a pine, be a scrub.

(2) If you can’t be a tree, be a bush.

(3) If you can’t be a muskie (big fish), be a bass (small fish of the lake).

(4) If you can’t be a captain, be a crew (sailors).

(5) If you can’t be a highway, then just be a trail.

(6) If you can’t be the sun, be a star.

5. Write whether the following are true or false :

(1) All must be the Captains of the teams. =False

(2) A bit of grass can make the highway happier. =True

(3) We win or fail depending upon size or position. =False

(4) A scrub is found at the top of the hill. =False

(5) If your work is not important, don’t do it. . = False

(6) Whatever job you have, do your best. =True

6. Write an appreciation of the poem with the help of the points given below.

1. The title of the poem is Be The Best.

2. The poem is written by Douglas Malloch.

3. The poem has four stanzas. Each stanza has four lines.

4. The lines that rhyme in each stanza, are first and third, second and fourth.

5. The poet compares big things with small things.

6. If you can’t be Is a repeaed expression in the poem.

7. The line – I shall always remember is Be the best of whatever you are!

1.2 Androcles and the Lion

WARMinG UP!

CHIT - CHAT

(1) Have you ever helped anyone? Why?

Ans: Yes. I helped my friend, because helping is my nature.

(2) How did you help him/her?

Ans: I give him my notebook of homework, when he was ill.

(3) Has anyone ever helped you in your need?

Ans: yes.

(4) How did you feel at that time?

Ans: I feel very happy to see anyone care about me.

(5) How did you show your gratitude to him/he?

Ans: With thankfull.

(1) Discuss with your benchmate and write down the names of any five stories of bravery that you have read/heard. Also name the brave hero / heroine of each story.

(ನೀವು ಕೇಳಿರುವ/ಓದಿರುವ ವೀರರ ಐದು ಕಥೆಗಳ ಹೆಸರುಗಳನ್ನು ಬರೆಯಿರಿ ಮತ್ತು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಚರ್ಚೆ ಮಾಡಿರಿ. ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ವೀರ ಹೀರೋ/ಹೀರೋಯಿನರ ಹೆಸರು ಬರೆಯಿರಿ.

Name of the Story Name of the Hero / Heroine

(a) Ramayana Ram/ Seeta.

(b) Mahabharata Arjun/ Bhima/Drupati

(d) Parv Arjun/ Bhima/Drupati/ Karna

(e) Unfogotable Hero Netaji Subhashachandra Bose

(2) Complete the facts about lions choosing from the alternatives.

(1) Lions are called ............. of the jungle. (emperor / lord / king)

(2) Lions belong to the ........ family of animals. (dog / cat / horse)

(3) Lions are ........... animals. (carnivorous / herbivorous / omnivorous)

(4) …………….lions have a mane around their neck but lionesses do not

have it. (Cub / Male / Female)

(5) A group of lions is called a ………….(flock / herd / pride)

(6) Lions attack only when they are .........

(tricked / awake / hungry)

English Workshop

1. (A) Match the phrases in Column A with their meanings in Column B.

Column A Column B

(1) looking out for (a) anger reduced

(2) face to face (b) returned slowly

(3) summon up courage (c) trying to search for

(4) rage melted (d) filled with soft feelings

(5) be moved by (e) try to be brave

(f) in front of each other

(1) –c, (2) – f (3) – d (4) – a, (5) - b

(B) Read the following sentences from the story.

(1) They were bound by law to obey their master. B) forced to follow

(2) The kind man bound up the lions injured paw. C) tied up

(3) The lion bounded towards Amdrocles again. A) rushed forward

The word ‘bound’ carries 3 different meanings in each of the sentences. A) rushed forward B) forced to follow C) tied up

Put the correct letter a / b / c in the boxes according to the proper meaning.

(C) Now translate each of the three sentences (a,b,c) into your medium of learning. (ಈಗ ನೀವು ಕಲಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮದಲ್ಲಿ(ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ) a, b, c ಈ ವಾಕ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುವಾದ ಮಾಡಿರಿ.

(a) ಅವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಮಾಲೀಕರನ್ನು ಅನುಸರಿಸುವ ಕರಾರು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದರು.

(b) ದಯಾಳು ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಸಿಂಹದ ಗಾಯಗೊಂಡ ಅಂಗಾಲಿಗೆ/ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ಪಟ್ಟಿ ಕಟ್ಟಿದನು.

2. (A) Find from the story the Antonyms (opposite words) of the following.

(1) kind x cruel (2) poor x noble

(3) slave x kings (4) high x low

(5) punishment x (6) unbound x bound

(7) tender x kind (8) happy x unhappy