English For Today chapter 33: The Garden

Lesson 33 The Garden

After completing the lesson students will be able to

• read and understand texts
• use punctuation marks e.g. comma, full stop, qusestion mark, exelamation mark, quotation marks in sentences
• understand and enjoy a story

A. Read the story below:

The Garden

Arnold Lobel

Frog was in his garden. Toad came walking by.

"What a fine garden you have, Frog." he said.

"Yes," said Frog. It is very nice, but it was hard work."

"I wish I had a garden," said Toad. "Here are some flower seeds. Plant them in the ground," said Frog, "and soon you will have a garden."

"How soon?" asked Toad.

"Very soon," said Frog.

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Toad ran home. He planted the flower seeds.

"New seeds," said Toad, "start growing."

Toad walked up and down a few times. The seeds did not start to grow.

Toad put his head close to the ground and cried, "Now seeds, start growing!"

The seeds did not start to grow.

Toad put his head very close to the ground and shouted, "NOW SEEDS START GROWING!"

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Frog ran up the path. "What is going on?" he asked.

"My seeds will not grow," said Toad.

"You are shouting too much," said Frog. "These poor seeds are afraid to grow."

"My seeds are afraid to grow?" asked Toad.

"Yes," said Frog. "Leave them alone for a few days. Let the sun shine on them, let the rain fall on them. Soon your seeds will start to grow."

That night Toad looked out his window.

"Oh, no!" cried Toad. "My seeds have not started to grow. They must be afraid of the dark."

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Toad went out to his garden.

"I will read the seeds a story," said Toad.

Toad read a long story to his seeds. All the next day Toad sang songs to his seeds.

And all the next day Toad read poems to his seeds.

And all the next day Toad played music for his seeds.

Toad looked at the ground. The seeds still did not start to grow.

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"What shall I do?" cried Toad. "These seeds are still afraid to grow."

Then Toad became very tired, and he fell asleep.

"Toad, Toad, wake up," said Frog. "Look at your garden!"

Toad looked at his garden. Little green plants were growing up out of the ground.

"At last," shouted Toad, "my seeds are not afraid anymore."

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"And now you will have a nice garden, too," said Frog.

"Yes," said Toad, "but you were right, Frog. It was very hard work."

A1. Choose the right answer.

The first thing Toad did was he ------------

a. watered the seeds b. kept the seeds in the sun c. planted the seeds d. put the seeds in a box

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A2. Match a word in column A with a word in column B that goes together. One is done for you.

A3. Punctuation marks

Punctuation marks are special symbols used in writing to separate sentences and phrases. They show how a piece of text should be read and understood. The most common punctuation marks in English are:

• Full stop (.) – This shows that the sentence has ended.
• Comma (,) – This indicates a short pause in the sentence.
• Question Mark (?) – This is used when asking a question.
• Exclamation Mark (!) – This shows excitement or surprise!
• Quotation Marks (“ ”) – These are used to show that someone is speaking.

Now, read the story “The Garden” again carefully. Identify the punctuation marks in the story, and notice how they are used.

A4. Read the following passage. All punctuation marks are missing in it. Put punctuation marks as necessary. Use capital letters where you should.

bobby and farid were walking to school one morning in february suddenly farid asked bobby did neel ask you to go to his house this afternoon bobby said yes he did it's his birthday today really said farid what should we give him on his birthday

A5. Learn the meanings of these words:

Toad, seeds, plant, grow, shout, dark