A Different Kind of School – NCERT Solutions

Q. Put these sentences from the story in the right order and write them out in a paragraph. Don’t refer to the text.

• I shall be so glad when today is over.
• Having a leg tied up and hopping about on a crutch is almost fun, I guess.
• I don’t think I’ll mind being deaf for a day—at least not much.
• But being blind is so frightening.
• Only you must tell me about things.
• Let’s go for a little walk.
• The other bad days can’t be half as bad as this.

Ans. Let’s go for a little walk. Only you must tell me about things. I shall be so glad when today is over. The other bad days can’t be half as bad as this. Having a leg tied up and hopping about on a crutch is almost fun, I guess. I don’t think I’ll mind being deaf for a day, at least not much. But being blind is so frightening.

Q. Why do you think the writer visited Miss Beam’s school?

Ans. The writer had heard much about Miss Beam’s new teaching method. So he visited her school to see the new play-way method personally.

Q. What was the ‘game’ that every child in the school had to play?

Ans. Every child in the school had to play the role of being blind, deaf, dumb, injured and lame once in a term. It was a sort of game and training.

Q. “Each term every child has one blind day, one lame day …”. Complete the line. Which day was the hardest? Why was it the hardest?

Ans. “… one injured day and one dumb day.” Being blind was the hardest day. The student felt that he/she was going to be hit by something every moment.

Q. What was the purpose of these special days?

Ans. The purpose of these special days was to give the children personal taste of misfortune. They learnt to help the needy in the society. Such training made them good citizens.

Q. Match the words and phrases with their meanings in the box below. paragraph numbers

1. homesick (3)
2. practically (4)
3. it pains me (7)
4. appreciate (9)
5. thoughtless (10)
6. exercise (11)
7. relief (13)
8. ghastly (14)

almost, it hurts me, terrible test the strength of, understanding the difficulties, wanting to be home, a welcome change, not very caring

Answer

1. homesick – wanting to be home
2. practically – almost
3. it pains me – it hurts me
4. appreciate – understanding the difficulties
5. thoughtless – not very caring
6. exercise – test the strength of
7. relief – a welcome change
8. ghastly – terrible

Q. Re-word these lines from the story:

1. I had heard a great deal about Miss Beam’s school.
2. Miss Beam was all that I had expected – middle-aged, full of authority.
3. I went to the window which overlooked a large garden.
4. “We cannot bandage the children’s mouths, so they really have to exercise their will-power”.

Answer

1. The writer had heard people praising the teaching methods at Miss Beam’s school.
2. The writer found Miss Beam a middle aged and dominating woman.
3. The author looked out of the window and saw a large garden.
4. The children had to use their will power to keep quiet.

Q. Given below is a page from a dictionary. Look at it carefully and

1. find a word which means the same as ghastly. Write down the word and its two meanings.
2. find a word meaning a part of the school year.
3. find a word that means examination.

Answer

1. terrible – (a) causing fear (b) very bad.
2. term – (a) a fixed length of time. (b) a part of the school year.
3. test – (a) to look at something to see if it is correct. or will work properly. (b) to ask someone questions.

Q. Now make lists of

1. all the words on the page (plus any more that you can think of) that begins with terr.
2. five words that may follow the last word on the page, that.
3. write down your own meaning of the word thank. Then write down the meaning given in the dictionary.

Answer

1. terrace, terrible, terrify, territory, terrain
2. Those, this, theatre
3. The word ‘thank’ means to express gratitude for kindness, gift or service. Example:
   1. There is no need to thank me.
   2. We thanked them for all their help.
   3. She has only herself to thank for what happened.