English For Today chapter 1: Going to a New School

Lesson 1 Going to a New School

After completing the lesson students will be able to

• read and understand texts
• talk about people, places and familiar objects in short and simple sentences
• write short paragraphs

A. Tarun has moved to a new city with his parents. He is going to a new school and his new teacher has given him the following form to fill out. His teacher wants to know more about him.

Read the form and see what Tarun has written about himself.

1. My name is Tarun Chowdhury.
2. I am 11 years old.
3. I have brown eyes, brown hair, and I am 4 feet, 3 inches tall.
4. I am good at playing football and drawing.
5. My hobbies are collecting stamps and reading.
6. I like to read comic books and eat peanuts.
7. I really don't like any kind of soft drinks.

Printed page 2

A1. Now, write down similar information about yourself.

1. My name is ______________.
2. I am _____ years old.
3. I have ______ eyes, ______ hair, and I am ______ , ______ tall.
4. I am good at ______________ and __________.
5. My hobbies are ______________ and _________ .
6. I like to ______________ and ______________ . 7 . I really don't like ____________________ .

B. Read the following passage about Tarun's first day at the new school.

Figure

Labels: Jagati High School Description: A two-storey school building with a signboard reading "Jagati High School" on the roof. A boy in a school uniform stands at the entrance steps, in front of a door at the centre of the ground floor.

My first day at the new school was interesting. I was going to school with my father in a rickshaw. We reached school after fifteen minutes. My father said goodbye and left me at the school gate. I went in and found that everyone had gone to class. I walked into my classroom and found a seat. After some time a teacher came and warmly greeted us. I found the students very friendly in my new class.

B1. Choose the best answer:

The passage is about

a. who took Tarun to school on the first day. b. how Tarun felt on the first day in school and why he felt so. c. what happened in the school on the first day.

Printed page 3

B2. Match a word from Column A with a word (or words) from Column B that has (or have) similar meaning.

B3. Talk about your first day at school and how you felt - happy, frightened, thrilled or shy. Work in groups.

B4. Now, write a paragraph on how you felt on your first day at school and why you felt so.

C. Read the following poem and complete this lesson with fun and laughter.

Let's Play

- Kate Greenaway

School is over, Oh, what fun! Lessons finished, Play begun. Who'll run fastest, You or I? Who'll laugh loudest? Let us try.

C1. Notice the use of punctuation marks in the poem. Why are the exclamation marks (!), the question marks (?), and the full stops (.) used in these places?