This document provides an overview of a presentation on reaching for the top through the stories of two women - Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova. It outlines the objectives, tools, pre-reading tasks, content about the lives and achievements of the two women, and post-reading tasks. The pre-reading tasks aim to introduce concepts like hiking, trekking, and mountaineering. The content section describes the humble beginnings and challenges faced by Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova, as well as their determination to succeed. The post-reading tasks involve discussion questions, activities relating their struggles to developing life skills and values.

1. Reaching for the Top
(Beehive)
Presentation
Class IX

3. General Objectives:
● To develop interest in and appreciation for literature.
● To express their ideas in clear and grammatically correct English.
Specific Objectives:
● The learners will appreciate the courage and strong will-power of those
two women who overcame all hardships and obstructions to reach the
top.
● These accounts will motivate the learners to work hard for achieving the
desired goals.

4. Tools used:
● Textbook
● Smart board
● News clips
● Assignments/ Worksheets
● Video clips

5. Pre-reading Tasks
Task 1: Learners will be asked to mention name of any hill station they would
like to go and reason for their preference.
Task 2: Do you know these terms? Do you find any difference among them?
Hiking Trekking Backpacking Mountaineering

6. Pre - reading Tasks continued...
1. Hiking: Hiking is mainly a leisure activity which is done by walking on well-
made trails and man-made roads.

7. 2. Backpacking- When the hike includes an overnight stay, it is referred to as
backpacking.These are your three, five and ten-day trips. It requires planning,
food, supplies and gear and that you camp.
https://youtu.be/fIddyp1Ig_g (video on Backpack)

8. 3. Trekking- Trekking is between hiking and mountaineering regarding
difficulty. Although it’s more similar to hiking. The difference being that treks
are longer than hikes. Usually that means they are hiking but have sleeping
accommodations somewhere up the trail.

9. 4. Mountaineering: For mountaineering, you
need special training and equipment. It is, you
can say, a more advanced form of trekking. You
need to be very sure how to use it to keep
yourself alive.You would need to know, for
example, how to climb on ice with crampons
and an ice axe. You would need to know how to
survive in snow storms and rescue yourself with
an ice axe.
You need to be strong enough to be able to
endure long hours of ascending with low levels
of oxygen. You need to be strong and fit and
very healthy to take on this adventure.

10. Task 3: The learners will be shown some photographs of mountaineers and
and will be asked to recall their achievements.

11. Content
PART I
‘Reach for The Top’ topic has been bifurcated in two parts. Each part of the
topic contains a heroic story of a young girl. The heroine in the first part is a
young Mountaineer Santosh Yadav and the heroine of the second part is
Maria Sharapova a tennis sensation of the world. Santosh Yadav was born in a
small village of Haryana state. She belonged to an agriculturist family. Her
family was of the opinion of traditional values and they were adamant to keep
their prevailing customs but she rose to the highest glory by her hard efforts.

12. Santosh Yadav
● Indian mountaineer
● First woman in the world to climb Mount
Everest twice.
● The first woman to successfully climb Mt.
Everest from Kangshung Face
● She climbed the peak first in May 1992
and then again in May 1993.
● During her Everest mission of 1992 she
saved the life of another climber, Mohan
Singh, by sharing oxygen with him.

13. Events that took place in her life...
● Humble Beginning- She was born in the small village of Joniawas of
Rewari District in Haryana.
● Her parents’ approach- In line with the prevailing custom in the family,
she had to make do with the local village school.
At sixteen, most of the girls in her village used to get married. Santosh
was also under pressure from her parents to do the same.
Her parents refused to pay for her education.
Her father slowly got used to her urge for more education

14. ● Her will power and strong desire to succeed- She always wished to study
“a bit more”.She left home and got herself enrolled in a Delhi School.She
saved money and enrolled in a course at Uttarkashi Nehru Institute of
Mountaineering.She headed straight for the training.
● Evidence of her mental toughness- She went on a tough expedition every
year. Her skills matured rapidly and equipped with mental toughness, she
scaled Mt Everest.
● Her Patriotism- “Then I unfurled the Indian tricolour and held it aloft on
the roof of the world. The feeling is indescribable. The Indian flag was
flying on top of the world. It was truly a spiritual moment. I felt proud as
an Indian.”
Events that took place in her life...

15. Post Reading Tasks
Task 1:Learners will be asked to collect information about their favourite
mountaineer and compare the challenges or hurdles and achievements of
him or her with those of Santosh Yadav.
Task 2: Santosh Yadav’s life was full of challenges or obstacles but instead of
giving up she fought and won. Have you faced/ are you facing any situation
which was/is a barrier in achieving your dreams? Write a diary and express
your feelings and how you plan to go forward with it.

16. Part II Pre Reading Tasks:
Task 1: Identify the following players and their sports.

17. Maria Sharapova
“Reach for the Top” (Part II) briefly narrates the life and career of Maria
Sharapova, one of the world’s best known tennis stars.
The title “Reach for the Top” is very appropriate for this account of Maria
Sharapova’s journey as a top-class tennis player. This journey started with an
early training in her childhood and culminated in her becoming the number
one in the world of tennis. The ‘top’ symbolizes the highest point reached by
Maria Sharapova. She reached this ‘top’ by the dint of her earnest efforts and
diligent work. Thus, the title is apt in that it salutes the courage and strong
will-power of this young tennis star who overcame all hardships and
obstructions to reach the top.

19. Maria Sharapova
● Tennis champion Maria Sharapova became the first Russian woman to
win Wimbledon and hold the world's No. 1 ranking.
● Sharapova became the world No. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005,
at the age of 18,
● She is a Russian professional tennis player.
● A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has competed on the WTA
tour since 2001. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the WTA
on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks.

20. Events that took place in her life...
● Humble Beginning- Siberian born teenger.
● Parents’ Approach- She was packed off to a train in the United States.
Trip to Florida with her father Yuri launched her on the path to success
and stardom.
“My father was working as much as he could to keep my tennis-training
going”
Her will power and strong desire - she never thought of quitting as she
knew what she wanted.

21. ● Evidences of her Mental toughness- She
had learnt to take care of herself in
absence of her mother.
“I would have put up with much more
humiliation and insults than that to
steadfastly pursue my dream.
● Her patriotism- “I’m Russian. It’s true
that the U.S. is a big part of my life. But I
have Russian citizenship. My blood is
totally Russian. I will play the Olympics
for Russia if they want me.”

22. Post Reading Task
Task 1: Watch any of the following movies and
answer the questions that follow: The Color
Purple (1985); Suffragette (2015); Chak de!
India (2007) ; Mary Kom (2014).
Q1. List the contextual problems faced by the
woman/women in the movie you watched.
Q2. What/who were the enablers for the
woman/women in their fight for their rights?
Q3. The women in the movie show certain
qualities. Which of these qualities do you have
or want to have and why?

23. Post Reading Task
Task 2: Do you think women face more challenges than men in pursuing their
dreams? List the general challenges that are faced by men and women at
various stages of their lives, owing to the gender they belong to.
Task 3: Feminism is often misinterpreted as being for women and against
men, when in its entirety, feminism has a goal of political, economic, personal,
and social equality of sexes - of all sexes. What are some of the steps you can
take to ensure that all sexes are treated equally at various levels? What steps
can you take for feminism?

24. Values
● Finding courage to fight with social evils such as typical patriarchal
notions bringing inequality, bullying, humiliation etc.
● Hopefulness and optimism can change life
● Determination and hard work are the key to success

25. Value Based questions(Part I and II):
a) What are the social customs that do not allow the girls to get proper
education? Should we revolt against them?
b) “The other pupils would come in at 11 pm and wake me up and order me
to tide up the room and clean it.” This treatment of Maria by her seniors
was like bullying. Discuss.
Objective of the value based questions:
a) To understand the various evil practices existing in our society and to
raise voice against them.
b) To understand that bullying is a crime and to resist it at all levels

26. Life Skills
Sportsmanship Coping with stress Problem solving
Time management Hardworking Determination

27. Questions Based on HOTS
Both Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova reached the top of the world in
their respective fields . How are they alike and different?
Objective of the HOTS question:
To understand and analyse the life and struggles of both the personalities and
how they won in life.
Movies Recommended: Everest, Into the Wild, Beyond the Edge, The Summit,
127 Hours etc.

28. Art Integration
Task 1_Rejuvenation of Self
Make a scrap file where you would sketch, paint or paste pictures clicked by
you of favourite holiday destination which rejuvenates soul and inspire you .
Mention five favourite spots(pictures with details) of that place along with
reasons that you definitely will cover.
Task 2_ My Favourite Sports Star
Students in teams of 6 students each will pick any two sports personalities
they find inspirational and will keep a small exhibition of the same in the class
highlighting their achievements,work, difficulties and challenges they had
faced, fun facts, habits/hobbies, covering speeches,interviews, quotes etc.

29. THANK YOU