TSU English 5 HRI

ENGLISH
TEACHER SUPPORT UNIT 5
FESTIVAL AND FAMILY FUNCTIONS AND
LIFE INYOURVILLAGE OR TOWN

EnglishTeacher Support Unit 5
2
Teacher Support Unit 5
Theme
FESTIVALS AND FAMILY FUNCTIONS AND LIFE IN
YOURVILLAGE OR TOWN
BEFORE WE START...
The fifth TSU
This TSU contains activities related to a theme that is close to the life of your students. There are two
parts to this theme: one is about festivities and celebrations and the other is about life in the village or
town where your students live. ect on issues that
are part of their daily life and experience. There are many topics for discussion and debate, simple stories
to read and a lot of group and pair activities to encourage peer learning.
The starting point
Having completed four TSUs, we can expect that your students can do the following:
・ Answer questions with what, where and when
・ Talk about objects and events
・ Solve and create puzzles and riddles
・ Take part in word games
・ Do simple language exercises
・ Use the dictionary
・ Read simple descriptions and stories
・ Write sentences based on pictures
Festivals and family functions - the theme
Nothing makes children and youth more joyful than festivals. Be it Diwali, Id or Christmas, they begin
looking forward to festivals weeks in advance. Talk among families is often about topics such as, how
much can be spent on a particular festival on such things as clothes, sweets, places to visit, decoration of
homes, relatives and friends to meet, and so on.
The second part concerns details of village and town life that your students actually experience. Their
experience is rich and they will have a lot to share with others. A little help and encouragement will go a
long way in enabling the students to communicate on a theme with which they identify closely. The
objectives of thisTSU are to help students:

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・ read and comprehend simple songs / stories
・ answer questions: what, where, when
・ respond in full sentences
・ talk about objects and events
・ narrate a story based on pictures,
・ complete incomplete stories
・ narrate events and stories in sequence
・ follow written instructions
・ read advertisements
・ appreciate poetry and prose in general and be able to say whether they liked a piece not
・ take dictation of known words
・ write sentences about pictures
Let’s begin straightway with the activities in TSU 5.
Activity - 1
Here are names of some festivals that you could write on the board. (You may choose the ones you think your
students would know).
Ask your students what words they will associate with each of the festivals? Give them an example. (Holi: – colour,
water, play, spray, colour powder, colours - yellow, green, red, blue, orange …) Give them 10 minutes to do this.
Go around the class and help the students with these words diya, mithai,
etc.) but encourage them to write the English equivalents (lamp, sweets, etc.)
・ Diwali –
・ Ramzan (Eid ul Fitr) - fasting, Ramzan…
・ Bakrid – …
・ Buddha Purnima – Buddha, birth, enlightenment, parinirvan (death)..
・ Christmas – church, midnight mass, songs, Jesus, birth, December 25…
・ Easter – eggs, buns, cakes …
・ Baisakhi – harvesting, crops, agriculture , farming, farmer…
・ Janmashtami – Krishna, birth, midnight, fasting , Brindavan, Mathura …
・ Ramnavami - Ram, birth…
・ Kumbh mela – Allahabad, Haridwar, crowds, Ganga, bathing….
・ Dussera - ten, fasting, Durga, lion, Ram, Raavan…
・ Raksha Bandhan – sister, brother, rakhee, gift…

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Now ask them to form groups. Members of each group should go through all the words they have come up with
and make a master list. To make it easier, you could ask each group to work on one set
of festivals. (For example, Group 1 works on Diwali, Ramzan, Buddha Purnima, Bakrid). Give each group 10
minutes for this.
Now, set the following task. Each group has to make 5 sentences using the words related to one festival but the
sentences should not be connected to the festival. E.g. Supporters of the local neta celebrated his victory by
bursting . My mother lights a lamp every evening at the temple). Give them 15 minutes for this
task.
You may want to do this activity over a few sessions.
Did it work?
Activity - 2
Ask students to form groups. Each group must create a festival of their own - a completely new festival.
Help them with this by asking, 'What would the festival be about?' Give them some suggestions for themes, e.g.
thanking parents / teachers, celebrating friendship, mango harvest,‘Hardoi’ day, etc.
Ask them to write down ideas about how they would celebrate the festival, e.g. t , etc. Give
them 10 minutes to do this.
Once they have created their festivals, a member of each group can come forward and make a presentation to
the class.
After their presentation you could ask students on which day they would celebrate their festival. Why did
they choose that particular day? You could then follow up with actually celebrating the day with the
students.
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
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Textbook activity: Ask students to write a short description of the festival they have created.They can
do this as a group activity. You could correct the group composition. As a follow up for homework they
could write a description of any other festival of their choice.
Did it work?
Activity - 3
The success of the content we choose to encourage students to read depends on how well it connects
with the student’s emotions and cognitive level. If a student is able to identify himself or herself with the
situation of the narrative, it is likely to lead to better learning. Try out this passage with your students.
Read it out to them and ask them to answer the questions that follow. They can either write down their
answers or give you oral responses.
Baba?
Yes Ishaq?
Baba, will we manage to celebrate Ramzan this year?
No, Ishaq. I think it is
anything.We have no money. And I have to repay a big loan to your classmate Ankit’s father.
to check. There was a test in the school today.
I know, Ishaq.The damage – it is bad.
How bad, Baba? Will we have enough money to buy new clothes at least for Razia and Ammi, and some
food and sweets? We have invited your brother’s family to come and celebrate with us. Now, we have no
money for ourselves.
Did you make any
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I don’t know what to do. I took Ammi to hospital today. You know she has been ill. And the doctors tell me
that the medicines will cost a lot of money.
So what will we do Baba? Should I talk to Ankit to ask his father to give us some more money? Should we
ask for some help from your brother? Should I stop going to school and look for a job?Tell me, Baba ….
Here are some questions you can ask.
What do you think happened? Did Ishaq drop out of school? Do you think the family celebrated Ramzan?
After you have done the story orally you may want to give your students copies of the story for them to
read on their own. You could also ask them to work in groups and think of an ending ,etc.
Can you think of any more questions or activities based on the text?
Did it work?
Activity 4
For this activity you will need calendars for the years 2011, 2012, 2013 . Try to photocopy the calendars
in notebook size for all the students. If you cannot get calendars, write on the board the dates of Diwali,
Ramzan, Holi and Christmas for 2011, 2012 and 2013. You should be able to get these dates from old
calendars. Have this ready a day before the class.
Distribute the calendars or write the dates on the blackboard and have a conversation with the students by asking
them following questions.
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・ When did we celebrate Diwali?When was it in 2012? (Nov 12). When will we celebrate it next year (Oct
23)?
・ When did Ramzan fall in 2013? (August 9) When did it fall in 2012 (August 20), 2011 (September 1),
2010 (September 11)? When will we celebrate Ramzan in 2014?
・ When will Christmas be this year?When was Christmas last year or in 2011?
・ Has Diwali come in any month other than October or November? Has Christmas come on any day except
Dec 25?
・ In which month do we celebrate Holi?
Now ask them to form groups. Ask the students to note down the dates of the festivals in each year and answer
these questions.
・ What can you say about the festivals and dates? (Give them hints: Has Diwali come in any month other
than October or November? Has Christmas come on any day except Dec 25? In which months does Holi
fall?)
Take whatever answer each group gives. But make sure that at the end, they all get the patterns of
festivals and dates right – like Ramzan going back by 10 or 11 days every year.
Did it work?
Activity - 5
Ask the students to form groups and work on the situation given below.
A group of foreigners comes to your village for Diwali / Id. You are to take the visitors around.
・ What will you tell them –
connected with Diwali / Id?
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・ They want to learn 5 sentences in Hindi that they are most likely to use in conversations on the festival
day. What sentences would you teach?
・ If they were non-English speaking (say, French), wh ich 5 sentences in English would you teach them?
(This might be a slightly challenging activity for most students).
Ask each group to make a presentation. Have a discussion on the merits of each presentation.
Did it work?
Activity - 6
We can round off the theme on festivals with a debate. Here are some topics you can choose from.
・ crackers employ children, (who should
be going to school and not working).
Vs
ckers since they feed so many thousands of poor families employed in
・ One should not waste money by buying new clothes, gadgets and sweets during festivals. One
should buy clothes when one needs them.
Vs
One should buy new clothes during festivals. Several people’s well-being depends on festival-time
expenditure, e.g. the tailor, the mithaiwalla, etc.
Fix a date for the debate. Ask students to work in groups. They can collect points to support their view.
Each group can choose one or two people who will participate in the debate. Make sure that the rest of
the group members are involved in supporting the speakers with ideas. Each group may take up to 5
minutes to present its point of view. You may help the groups by giving them some points, helping them
structure it, etc.
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After the debate, discuss the points that were conveyed, who the most effective speaker was, the most
surprising point brought about by any team, etc.
Did it work?
Now, we move to the theme of family celebrations. Your students are sure to have a lot of views on this
topic.
Activity - 7
Every family celebrates events like birthdays, marriages, engagements, etc. Here are some activities that
you can try out with your students.
Have a discussion with students about how people behave during functions and celebrations? Ask them questions
like: How can you spot a leader? How can you spot someone who has a view on everything? How can you spot
someone who regrets not having a similar function at his / her home? What other 'types' of people can you see in
family functions?
Can you extend this activity in any way? E.g. you can ask students:
・ What type of person are you?
・ What kind of people do you enjoy being with at family functions?
・ Wh
・
・
Ask students to work in groups. They can brainstorm about all the functions that families usually
celebrate. Then each student in the group chooses a function where an interesting incident occurred and
relates it to the rest of the group. One person in the group can illustrate the most interesting incident
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and present it to the class. The group can also choose elements from different incidents and create a role
play to present to the class.
Can you think of any other activities related to family functions?
Did it work?
Let's move now to the second part of this TSU which is related to life in the village or town where your
students live. We start with an activity about Hardoi district.
Activity - 8
A map of Hardoi district is given below. Can you manage to take a few photocopies of this map? Take
about 10 good photocopies – the names of the towns in the map must be clearly visible. (If you are
unable to, please talk to our PDRG person. He/she will get the required photocopies to you).
Ask students to work in groups. Distribute a copy of the map to each group and then conduct a map reading
exercise using the questions given below. You could write the questions on the board. You may also need to help
them understand the legend given in the map before starting the exercise.
Did you
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・ Which districts of Uttar Pradesh share their boundary with Hardoi?
・ Which major town/ towns / villages of Hardoi district have you visited?
・ Mark the place where your school is located in the map. (approximately)
・ Which major town of Hardoi district is located near Lucknow?
・ Which major town in the district is situated the farthest from Hardoi Town (district Head
Quarters)?
・ Why are there more major towns and other towns in the southern part of Hardoi?
・ In how many ways can you go to Hardoi from Sandila by road?
・ Which is the town nearest to your place/village?
・ Which is the nearest railway station to your village?
・ In how many ways can you leave from Hardoi town and return, without retracing your route? (E.g.
Hardoi-Pihani-Gopamau-Tandiawan-Hardoi)
After the students have worked in groups you can ask each group to call out their answers to the questions and
discuss the different answers with the class.
Did it work?
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The next few activities deal with village and town life. Your students will certainly have the knowledge and
experience of many of the situations presented here.
Activity - 9
This is an activity about knowing your village - the people, the objects, the problems and issues etc. To
introduce this topic you could narrate an experience you had about meeting an important person in a
village. You could narrate a real-life experience or make up a story.
Here is a made-up version. Narrate it as if it really happened.
colleagues told me to pay my respects to a famous poet, Mr. Dinanath, who lived in a large, old house. So I went
to his home in the evening.
There was a gardener, dressed in soiled clothes and with a shovel in his hands, who asked me what I wanted. I
told him I wanted to see Dinanath and if Mr. Dinanath was inside, could the gardener inform him that the new
teacher at the local school wanted to see him? The man smiled, nodded his head, and before he went inside, he
asked me to be seated in the verandah. I thanked him and sat down to read a book.
After 15 minutes I heard a voice asking me to come in. When I went in, I was surprised to see the same
‘gardener’, now in shirt and trousers, welcoming me into the house – he was Mr. Dinanath!
You could explain why you were surprised. What kind of person had you expected to see? What did you
learn about people from this experience? etc.
You can then ask your students to work on these ideas. This could be done as pair or group work depending on
how many students come from a particular village or town.
・ Who are the 3 most important persons in your village? Why are they important? Are there any
stories told in the village about these people?
・ What is the most precious object in your village?Why? (a deity, a well, a tree…)
・ How did your village get its name? Can you write the story in 4 – 5 sentences?
You could organise a project based on interesting stories that students narrate. Ask them to write the
stories and make a class collection.
(We at IGNUS would be interested in reading these stories Do ask your students to document their
stories and send them to us.)

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Did it work?
Students at secondary level are very aware of the things that are right or wrong in their environment and
they hold strong opinions about such matters. The next activity encourages your students to think about
situations they want to change in their village or town.
Activity - 10
Ask students to work in groups and work on the following ideas. These activities could be done over a few days.
・ Draw a poster showing how your village/town would be if you could change it.
・ Write three slogans on the topic of keeping the village clean. (This can be done on chart paper
and students could be asked to add drawings, etc. They could then present it to the class. This can
be done in Hindi or a mix of Hindi and English.)
・ What is the one thing in the village / town that you want to get rid of? (Give them hints: a big
・ If your district collector were to come to your village / town, and ask you to point out the 3 most
important problems which you would want him, what would they be? According to you, why are
these the most important?
Textbook connection: You can relate this activity to the lesson 'Torch Bearers' pointing out that such
awareness and the desire to do the right thing is 'good citizenship'.
Did it work?
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Did you make any
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InTSU 5
・ Which activity did your students like the most?
・ Did you try out the variations of some of the activities? How did you modify or adapt them?
・ Were the textbook activities useful to your students? Were you able to connect any more
activities in this TSU with the textbook? Do let us know.

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At the end of TSU 5 do you think your students can do the following?
・ read and understand the simple story in the TSU
・ answer questions about events in their lives and in the place they live
・ respond in full sentences
・ talk about objects and events in their village or town
・ answer questions based on a map
・ narrate events and stories in sequence
・ follow written instructions
・ create posters about village improvement and write sentences and
slogans about them
・ appreciate poetry and prose in general and be able to say whether
they liked a piece of not
・ take dictation of known words like colour, water, play, spray,
・ write their observations about events in their neighborhood

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TSU English 5 HRI

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