Unit 5 A Story of My Childhood

Reading
A Story of My Childhood
 Working with words
A. Match the words in column ‘A’ with their meanings in column ‘B’.

a. expectantly           in a way that shows you are hoping for something, especially something good or                                     exciting 

b. beckon                 to give a signal to somebody to move nearer or to follow you

c. grapple                to try hard to find a solution to a problem

d. texture                 the way food or drink tastes or feels in your mouth

e.cobbled                having a surface that is made of small round stones

f. flimsy                thin and easily torn

g. attire                clothes, especially fine or formal ones

h.marvelous        extremely good; wonderful

I. dynamics        .the science of the forces involved in a movement


B.
An autobiography is a story of a person’s life, written by himself/herself.
Use a dictionary and find the meanings of the following words related to
people’s life stories.


hagiography- the writing of the lives of saints.

psychobiography- Psychobiography is a field within the realms of psychology and biography that analyzes the lives of historically significant individuals through psychological theory and research.

pathography- the science of the causes and effects of diseases, especially the branch of medicine that deals with the laboratory examination of samples of body tissue for diagnostic or forensic purposes.
chronicle

obituary- a notice of a death, especially in a newspaper, typically including a brief biography of the deceased person.

character sketch- A character sketch simply means a description or analysis of a certain character telling the reader about their physical appearance, personality traits, habits, strengths, weaknesses, history amongst others.

profile- a short description of someone's life, work, character, etc. information about a person's life, work, interests, etc.

memoir - a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge.

 Comprehension
A. Put the following events in the life of Abdul Kalam in a chronological order.
a.  Abdul Kalam attended an elementary school at Rameswaram.
b. One day Abdul Kalam’s teacher visited them to share his pride and pleasure
about his performance.
c. They celebrated happiness with poli.

d. A new teacher in the school forbade Abdul Kalam to sit together with his Bramhin friend.
e. Many students did not understand well of Sivasubramania Iyer’s lecture.
f. He then took the students to the seashore for a practical class.
g. Abdul Kalam was determined that he would make a future study about
flight and flight systems.



B. Answer the following questions.
a.What were the causes of Abdul Kalam’s happiness?
I was so pleased to hear this result. But I was even more pleased because my teacher
had taken the trouble to come all the way to my house to tell us about this.


b.Which two places did Abdul Kalam visit before going to school?
c.What did he like about mathematics? English: Grade 12
d.Why was the new teacher unhappy?
e.Why did Abdul Kalam have to split with his intimate friend?
f.What was the topic of Sivasubramania Iyer’s class?
g.How was the teacher’s reaction when the students told him that they did
not understand his lecture?
h.Why did Sivasubramania Iyer take his students to the seashore?

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