AL NOOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

ENGLISH REFERENCE MATERIAL– BEEHIVE

LESSON 1 – THE FUN THEY HAD
Name: _______________ Grade: IX Div.: __________
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I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
5. What do you think a tele book is?
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn

Answer Key
1. Margie is eleven-year-old and Tommy is thirteen-year-old.
2. Margie wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”.
3. No, Margie had never seen a book before.
4. Margie found it strange that the book had yellow and wrinkled pages. Words in
the book were still and did not move the way they were supposed to on a screen.
5. A book that can be displayed on a screen is called a tele book.
6. Margie’s school was in her home itself, right next to her bedroom. No, she did
not have any classmates.
7. Margie and Tommy learned geography, history and arithmetic.
II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Answer:
(i) Tommy says these words.
(ii) 'It' refers to the television screen.
(iii) Tommy is comparing the television screen with the printed books of earlier
times. He thought that after reading such books, one would have to throw them
away. However, he would never throw away his tele book.
 2. “Sure, they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
Answer:
(i)They refer to the students who studied in the old kind of schools, centuries
before the time the story is set in.
(ii) Here, 'regular' refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.
(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teacher of the earlier times,
who was a human being.
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (40-50 words).

1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

Answer: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers with large black screens on
which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These mechanical
teachers had a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test
papers. They didn’t have a living human being as a teacher who would teach the
students in a classroom.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Answer: Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector because the mechanical
teacher was not functioning efficiently. Margie had been given many tests in
geography by the teacher, but there was no improvement in her performance.
So, Margie’s mother wanted to find out the reason behind it.
3. Why was Margie doing badly in Geography? What did the County Inspector do
to help her?
Answer: Margie was doing badly in Geography because the geography sector of
the mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level. In order to help her,
the County Inspector slowed down the geography sector of the mechanical
teacher to an average ten-year level.
4. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Answer: Once, Tommy’s teacher was taken away for nearly a month because its
history sector had blanked out completely.
5. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
Answer: Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother
believed that learning at regular hours helped little girls learn better. So, her
mechanical teacher always turned on at the same time every day except on
Saturdays and Sundays.
 6. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Answer: Tommy says that the old kind of school had a special building and all the
kids went there. They had a teacher, who was a man. They all studied together
and learned the same thing.
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teachers?
Answer: Tommy describes the old kind of teachers as living human beings who
did not live in the house. Instead, they taught the students in a special building.
They taught the children in groups and gave them homework.

IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –120 words).
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the school rooms
that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
Answer: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black
screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These
teachers were adjusted according to the age and potential of the student
concerned. They had a slot in which students had to put their homework and
test papers. They had to write their answers in a punch code and the
mechanical teacher calculated the marks immediately. Their schools were in their
homes itself. They did not have any classmates. They had regular days and hours
for school. The mechanical teacher always turned on at the same time every day
except Saturdays and Sundays. They learned geography, history and arithmetic.
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must
have been fun?
Answer: Margie hated school because it was not fun. She had a mechanical
teacher who used to teach her every day at a fixed time in her house. She hated
the part when she had to insert the homework and test papers in the slot on the
mechanical teacher. She did not like the fact that she had to write her answers in
a punch code. Her disliking for the mechanical teacher was increased even more
when she was failing to perform well in the geography tests.
She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun as she imagined all
the kids from the entire neighbourhood coming together, laughing and shouting
in the schoolyard. She imagined that they would sit together in the classroom and
go home together at the end of the day. They would learn the same things and
could help one another with the homework. Also, the teachers were human
beings that would make the learning process more interactive. All these aspects
made her believe that the old kind of school must have been fun.

3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in
the story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: Yes, I strongly agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than
the school in the story. In the story, teaching is done mechanically inside a
learner's house itself. Studying and answering questions in the absence of
 classmates seems to be a boring idea. Writing homework in punch codes and that
too without anybody’s help would be really exhausting.
A mechanical teacher has no emotions and sentiments. It does not have the
ability to understand the psychology of a student rather it teaches him/her
according to its adjusted modes. But in today’s schools, there are teachers who
are the real human beings. They are more understanding and accommodating
than mechanical ones. They work for the overall development of a child.
Moreover, children develop a better understanding about each other and of their
surroundings when accompanied by the students of their age. Another major
advantage of today’s schools is that if any student faces any problem with the
subject or in homework then he/she can discuss it with the teacher and other
kids in the class. It is impossible to do such discussions with a mechanical teacher.
In today’s schools, kids learn various qualities like sharing, respect, obedience,
kindness, etc. They are encouraged to take part in games, sports, and other
activities which are necessary for the overall development of a student. Thus, all
these factors prove that schools today are more fun than the school in the story.

Practice Questions.

Short Answer Questions.

1. Write a small paragraph on the emotional trauma faced by Margie.
2. Do you agree with the view of Margie’s mother on education? Explain.

Long Answer Questions.

1. Write an article for your school magazine on, ‘’Technology a boon or a bane’’.
2. You are Margie. Write a letter to the County Inspector, requesting him to introduce the
old style of education.

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