Republic of Namibia

Ministry of Education Arts and Culture

Zambezi Region

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE SUB- SECTION

SELECTED POEMS AND STORIES

GRADE 7

ZAMBEZI REGION

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Introductory remarks

This booklet has been developed by some of the Senior Primary teachers in
Zambezi Region, with an effort to guide the teaching of literature in the Senior
Primary Phase. A few poems and stories have been selected so that all learners in
the Zambezi Region learn the basics from the same poems and stories as far as
literature is concerned.

For many years there were no prescribed poems and stories as it was left in the
hands of each teacher to choose from available materials within their school.
However, it was observed that some learners were not exposed to the basics of
literature. Therefore, the English Second Language Sub-Section, within the
Professional Development Section, Zambezi Regional Education Office, in
consultation with some senior primary teachers of English Second Language
selected poems and stories to be done in Grades 4-7.

The prescribed poems and stories make it easier for examiners of

cluster, circuit and regional examination papers as they will set common
papers on prescribed work.
Reading Literature

Under reading literature, texts can be classified into genres: prose, drama or
poetry. Texts can also take various forms and structure. Literary texts can be
narrative (story), expository (information) and document (chats, diagrams and maps)
(Grades 4-7 English Second Language Syllabus, NIED 2015)

Literary narrative (story) like poetry, can take a descriptive or narrative form and
structure. For example we find descriptive poetry and narrative poetry. (Grades
4-7 English Second Language Syllabus, NIED 2015)

The English Second Language syllabus is progressive; therefore we need to build on

what has been taught in the previous grade so that by the end of the phase learners
should have achieved the competencies of the Senior Primary Phase.

Please note, the term text in literature refers to and includes articles from
newspapers, magazines, novels, drama, short stories and poetry. (Grades 4-7
English Second Language Syllabus, NIED 2015)

Please take note of the minimum prescribed reading per grade. (Page 66
syllabus)

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Grade Prescribed reading

4 4 poems AND a choice of 3 short stories OR 1 short novel/drama per annum

5 5 poems AND a choice of 4 short stories OR 1 short novel/drama per annum
6 6 poems AND a choice of 5 short stories OR 1 short novel/drama per annum
7 7 poems AND a choice of 6 short stories OR 1 short novel/drama per annum

The above mentioned prescribed reading is compulsory and should be covered

through the selected poems and stories per grade. Learners will be assessed
(through tests and examinations) on the prescribed texts.

The recommended extensive reading per grade on page 67 will give learners
opportunities to be more exposed to literary texts.

The analysis of both a poem and a story will depend on the syllabus
competencies; however teachers can still go outside the box to move learners
to another level

Now let’s look at the learning objectives and competencies under reading literature.

Learning Objective: Read a poem, short stories, drama and novels and
demonstrate understanding of various elements of literature

Competency 1:

4 Read short poems, simple stories and simple plays for pleasure

5 Read age appropriate texts of other genres for pleasure

6 Read various texts of genres for pleasure

7 Read various types of texts for pleasure

Learners need to read and enjoy and appreciate poetry and stories

Competency 2:

4 Read and identify title, main ideas, and key features (title, poet/poetess,
lines, stanzas/verses) of a poem

5 Read and identify title, main ideas, and key features, message/theme of a
poem

6 Read and identify title, main ideas, and key features, message/theme of a
poem

Recognise rhyming words (words with the same endings) and the rhythm
(pattern of stress or beat in a verse)

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7 Read and identify title, main ideas, and key features, message/theme of a
poem

Recognise rhyming words (words with the same endings) and the rhythm
(pattern of stress or beat in a verse)

Read and distinguish between literal and figurative meaning

Competency 3:

4 Read simple short poems aloud with appropriate expression and

understanding

5 Read poems aloud with appropriate expression, understanding and

intonation

6 Read poems aloud with appropriate expression, understanding and

intonation

7 Read poems aloud with appropriate expression, understanding, intonation

and emotion

Please note: What you teach in Grade 4, you also teach in Grades 5 to 7 every time
adding one more competency.

Competency: Demonstrate an understanding of and respond informally to aspects

of poems such as content, personification, metaphor, simile, rhyme,
feelings,/emotions, narrator/voice

Content: What is the poem about?

Literary devices: similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia

Similes: A figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use
of a specific word of comparison, such as like, as, than, e.g “ my love’s like a red, red
rose (the speaker compares his love’s beauty and freshness to a rose

Metaphors: A figure of speech that makes a compassion between two things which
are basically dissimilar e.g. life is a dream, life is a hard road, my father is a lion

Personification: (a figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human

qualities e.g. “Because I could not stop for death”. In this line, death is personified

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Tone: The attitude a writer/poet takes towards his or her subject, characters and
readers. This can be humorous, affectionate, sad, ironic tone

Feelings/emotions:

Sound devices: Does the poet use sound devices such as rhyme, alliteration,
onomatopoeia.

Rhyme-the repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close
to each other in a poem e.g. river-shiver, song-long, leap-deep

Let’s look at the example from John Greenleaf Whitter’s Snowbound:

All day the gusty north wind bore

The loosening drift its breath before;
Low circling round its southern zone,
The sun through dazzling snow-mist shone.

Let’s look at the following poem

What would you teach your Grade 7 learners using the following poem?

 Features of a poem (title, lines, stanzas/verses, poet/poetess)

 Theme/message (what is the poem about?)
 Rhyming words and rhythm
 Distinguish between literal and figurative meaning (literary devices- similes,
personification, alliteration)
 Read poems aloud with appropriate expression, understanding, intonation
and emotion
 Read and identify feelings, tone and mood of a poem
 Use new words (strip, oak tree, towers, scent, rave, riot)

Is this a narrative or descriptive poem?

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1. The Wind (title)

I can get through a doorway without any key,

And strip the leaves from the great oak-tree.

I can drive storm-clouds and shake tall towers,

Or sees through a garden and not wake the flowers.

Seas I can move and ships I can sink;

I can carry a house-top or the scent of a pink.

When I am angry I can rave and riot

And when I am spent, I lie quiet as quiet.

James Reeves (poet)

This is a descriptive poem. The poet describes how destructive the wind is.
He uses personification (giving the wind human qualities such getting
angry, moving seas, sinking ships, getting through the door, lie down, strip
the leaves)

NB: Add more notes and develop worksheets using the competencies

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2. The last leopard of Kasouga 1989

The last leopard of Kasouga

came walking out one day,
‘Where are my friends, where are my children?’
Is what the eagles heard him say.

‘Go back! Go back!’ cried the eagles,

‘Go back into the hills,
if the farmers see you coming
it’s you they’ll want to kill!’

The last leopard of Kasouga

came down into the farms
and when the farmers saw him coming
they called their dogs and took up arms.

They found him hiding in the branches

of an old mimosa tree,
the dogs were barking and the farmers
would not let that leopard free

It was the Brothers Long who tracked him,

who took his life away,
the eagles flew away in sorrow
on Kasouga’s saddest day

Kasouga was a place the Khoisan

once knew and loved so well,
They called it ‘Place of many leopards’,
now there’s nothing left to tell.

Patricia Schonstein

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What type of poem is this one? Descriptive or narrative?
What is the mood of the poem?
What is the theme? What do we learn in this poem? (analyse each stanza)
What does it mean to take up arms?
Who is the poetess?
What is the title of the poem?
How many stanzas does this poem have?
How is the poem structured? (look at stanzas and how lines are)
Any new words that leaners can learn and use in speech and writing

Analyse the poem, add more questions and content

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 3. The Paper Aeroplane

Activity: Read stanza 3 aloud to express emotions and feelings. Read twice
Activity: Read the poem and identify elements of the poem.
1. Who is the poet/poetess of the poem?
_________________________________________________________(1)

2. How many stanzas does the poem have?

_________________________________________________________(1)

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 3. What is the title of the poem?
_________________________________________________________(1)

Activity: Read stanzas 1 and 2 and identify all rhyming words

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………………….. [5]

Activity: Read stanza 2 and find two similes

(i)…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………[2]

(ii) Identify who is compared to a hurricane…………………………and a

jungle………………………………………………………………………..[2]

Activity: Match the stanzas and feelings to show which feelings are expressed in
each stanza

Stanza Feelings

Stanza 1…………………………………
A. LOVE
Stanza 2………………………………… B. HAPPINESS
C. ANGER AND LOVE
Stanza 3………………………………… D. FEAR

Stanza 4………………………………….

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Stanza 5……………………………

Activity: Read and answer questions based on content of the poem.

1. What does the poet mean when he says “on wings of love it flew “.
_________________________________________________________(1)

2. Who wrote the letter?

_________________________________________________________(1)

3. Why did the teacher shout when she asked?

_________________________________________________________(1)

4. Where was the letter going?

_________________________________________________________(1)

5. Quote the line in stanza 4 that shows that the teacher was surprised.
________________________________________________________(1)

6. Why did the teacher give Joe ten out of ten?

_________________________________________________________(1)

7. What do we learn from the poem?

_________________________________________________________(1)
8. Compare the teacher’s name with her personality or character. Read
stanzas 2 and 3 to give you an idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

……………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

4. My Old Shoe

Makes little sounds

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Clop, clop, clop.
Grins broadly
Reveals dirty teeth
Five in number
Embedded in its jaws
Like a swimming fish
As I haunt the sunny streets.

Julius Chingono

1. What is the title of the poem?

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
2. The word clop, clop, clop imitates the sound which the shoe makes. Which literal
device is used here?
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
3. The poet says ‘’Reveals dirty teeth’’ what do you understand by the quoted line?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
4. Identify the ‘I’ in line 8 of this poem.
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

5. Is the speaker in the poem happy? Give a reason for your answer.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

6. Choose the correct answer by circling the correct letter.

“Like a swimming fish’’, is an example of … [1]
A a metaphor
B personification
C a simile
D alliteration

7. What differences would we spot if we bring in a new shoe? Give four details
………………………………………………………………………………………………

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………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [4]
8. According to the poet, is the speaker rich or poor? Give a reason.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
9. What is the poem all about?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [3]
10. In line 8 the speakers says ‘’As I haunt the sunny streets’’ explain what the line
means.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
11. What is the speaker referring to as ‘’embedded in its jaws’’?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………. [2]

5. The sad story of Percy, the TV addict

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Young Percy’s parents could not get
Their son to leave the TV set.
In fact, it was a common sight,
From five o’clock till late at night,
To see young Percival McQueen 5
Before the television screen

He watched the sport, the plays, the news,

the Westerns and the interviews.
The programmes might be good or bad,
They might be comical or sad: 10
He watched them all the evening through
(They say he watched the test card too)

At half-past five the little chap

Would eat his supper on his lap:
But what he ate, he did not know- 15
His eyes were on the children’s show!
All table manners he forgot-
It didn’t worry him a jot

And then one night, I’m sad to tell,

Young Percival was heard to yell: 20
‘I cannot watch it anymore,
My eyes are feeling strange and sore!’
And when he got up from his chair,
His eyes were green and red…and square!

Poor Percy had to pay the price 25

of disregarding good advice.
For fear that you might share his fate,
You must learn to discriminate.
Don’t be like Percival McQueen-
An addict of the TV screen 30

J.G. Goodacre

6. Letter to a son

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Now the pumpkin is ripe.
We are only a few days
From the year’s first mealie cob.
The cows are giving us a lot of milk.
Taken in the round it isn’t a bad year at all-
If it weren’t for your father.
Your father’s back is back again
And all the work has fallen on my shoulders.
Your little brothers and sisters
Are doing fine at the day school.
Only Rindai is giving us a problem.
You will remember we wrote to you-
Did you get our letter? -You didn’t answer
You see, since your father’s back started
We haven’t been able to raise enough money
To send your sister Rindai to secondary school.
She spends most of her time crying by the well.
It is mainly because of her
That I am writing this letter.
I had thought you would be with us last Christmas
Then I thought I would come to you sometime
Before the cold season settled in- you know
How I simply hate that time of the year-
But then your father went down again
And this time worse than any other time before.
We were beginning to think he would never see another sowing season.
I asked your sister Rindai to write to you
But your father would have none of it-
You know how stubborn he can get
When he has to lie in bed all day or gets
One of those queer notions of his
That everybody is deserting him!
Now, Tambu, don’t think I am asking for money-
Although we had to borrow a little from
Those who have it to get your father to hospital-
And you know how he hates having to borrow!
That is all I wanted to tell you.

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I do hope that you will be with us this July
It’s so long ago now since we last heard from you-
I hope this letter finds you still at the old address.

7. The Tree

He walks proudly towards the wind,

16
With his coat above his head,
You should know summer is ready,
How pleasing he smells,
How sweet his nectar and pollen.

He drinks and sits all day long,

While his hair grows wild,
Later when his hair drops one by one,
His head will be naked.

When he is barren as a desert,

With no covering on his body,
You should know its winter.
He cries for his coat-
Gone till next summer.

Shepistone Sekeso

1.1. How many lines does stanza 2 have?

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

1.2. Identify the literal device used in the whole poem and give one example from stanza 1.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

1.3. How do you know that summer is ready, according to the poet? Mention two examples
from the poem.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

1.4. Identify the ‘’he’’ in the poem.

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

1.5. What does the poet mean when he says ‘’He drinks and sits all day long’’?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

1.6. Explain the following lines:

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Later when his hair drops one by one, His head will be naked.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

1.7. According to the poet, in which season does the tree looks happy and unhappy?
Give reason for each season.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [4]

1.8. In line 13 the poet says ‘’He cries for his coat’’ what is referred to as the coat?

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

1.9. Re-read the poem and find out any two human qualities which are attributed to
the tree.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

1.10.1 Identify the literal device used in line 10, stanza 3.

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

1.10.2. Explain what line 10 stanza 3 means.

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

STORIES

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Learning Objective: Read a poem, short stories, drama and novels
and demonstrate understanding of various elements of literature
We will use one example of a learning objective and competency under reading literature.

Learning Objective: Read a poem, short stories, drama and novels and demonstrate understanding
of various elements of literature

Competency
4 identify and discuss the title and the role players (characters)
5 Identify the simple elements of a story, e.g. title, author/authoress, role players
(characters) in stories; when and where the story takes place (setting)
6 Identify the elements of a story, e.g. title, author/authoress, narrator, role players
(characters) in stories; when and where the story takes place (setting), storyline (plot)
7 Identify and discuss basic elements of a story, e.g. characters, setting and plot
and the moral (the message or lesson in the story)

.Meanings of some words you might come across when going through stories.

- Character: A person or an animal that plays a role in the action of the story.

- Setting: This is the time and place the story takes place.

- Plot: The literary term used to describe the events in the story.

- Moral: The lesson that a story teaches.

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1. ROMEO AND JULIET

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Story taken from WORDS for AFRICA (An Anthology of prose, Poetry and
Plays) by Kate McCallum

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2. JOJO ROAD

Before you read the story, look at all the pictures carefully. Then read the headings.
Can you guess what the story will be about? Who was responsible?

Compare your guess with your friend’s guess. Now read the story and see who was
right!

A dangerous road-and a stolen fence

It was late in the afternoon when Obed Gama drove home along Jojo Road. It was a
dangerous road and he always drove carefully. There were lots of sharp bends.
The traffic was heavy and fast. He felt happier when he turned down the narrow
track which led to his home. His wife was waiting for him. She was nearly in tears.
“Those goats from Embo Farm have been in my garden again, “ she said.

“Oh no!” said Obed. “You put up the fence again, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” said his wife angrily, “but the goats have knocked it down.”

“Go and complain to the owners of the goats,” said Obed. “I will, but they’ll say it’s
my responsibility to keep the goats out of my garden,” she said tearfully. “I need to
buy lots of posts and wire. Then I can make a really strong fence.”

“I have no money this month,” said Obed. “I must buy a new battery for my truck.”

“Next month we must pay school fees,” added his wife. “Oh dear! There’s never
enough money!”

“That’s true,” said Obed sadly.

“What can I do?” continued his wife. “Why should I work hard in my garden to feed
those goats?”

25
Obed said no more. He listened quietly to her complaints. He knew she worked
hard in the garden. He was too poor to buy the posts and wire she needed for a
fence. He did not know what to do.

He walked slowly down the narrow track near his home. When he reached the
bottom of the track he suddenly saw a solution to his problem. There was a beautiful
fence around the huge field of pineapples on Jojo Road!

He knew it was wrong to steal. Was that always true, he thought? Around the
pineapple field were lots of posts and wire. Just what he needed! No one would
notice if he took a little bit. After all, who needs a fence around pineapples? Goats
aren’t likely to eat those, are they? Also, the owners of the pineapples were rich.
They had plenty of money to buy posts and wire. He considered the matter for some
time. In the end, he decided it was right for him to steal some of the fence.

And so, late that night, when everyone was asleep, Obed and his brother drove the
truck down to the pineapple field on Jojo Road. They worked as fast as they could.
They collected lots of posts and wire. No one saw them.

“My wife will have a strong fence round her garden now!” said Obed, as he drove
home.

As the dawn broke, a few people walked by. No one noticed that the pineapple
field along Jojo Road had no fence...

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3. Forget about Jackson by Lauri Kubuitsile

Competency: demonstrate an understanding of and respond actively to key aspect

of texts such as setting, action and consequences, characters and relationships
between characters

Read the following extract and answer questions that follow.

From my earliest memories, Jackson is there. He always seemed older than me

although he wasn’t. Once his mother told me that he was born only a month before I
was and, at the time, I had been shocked. He seemed older because he always
knew everything important. He knew how to follow the tracks of a hare until we
found it hiding in the shade of a moretlwa bush. He knew how to build powerful
slingshots that could knock a bird from the sky many metres away. He knew which
fruits to eat and which would leave you clutching your stomach and crying like a
baby. Jackson knew most things.

“Here, drink this”, he said that night. We had been searching for a stray cow we
were sure had given birth out behind the hills. We’d followed the tracks and finally
found the cow with the new calf when the sun was sinking low in the western sky.
We knew we wouldn’t make it back, so Jackson had said we should sleep in the
bush and go back the next morning. I was scared and didn’t know what we would
eat or drink.

“Wait here. I’ll be back.” He picked up his bow and arrow and disappeared into the
bush. I knew he’d be back with something to eat and I was not disappointed. By the
time the fire had caught, Jackson appeared with a small buck. He skinned it and we
ate roasted meat until our stomachs stretched out of shape.

“I want to go to school. I want to go, but my mother says no. I must stay here and
work. She says school is not for me.”

“Dad, why doesn’t Jackson go to school?” My father laughed. “What would a

bushman like Jackson do at school”?
“But even me, I’m a bushman. Why must I go to school?”
“No, Modisa, I meant that Jackson is a Mosarwa. They don’t go to school. They
don’t want ti. They do other things.”
“That’s not right Dad. Jackson wants to go to school, he told me.”
My father was a powerful cattle farmer, well known around the country. Jackson and
his family took care of his cattle for him. They always had. Before Jackson’s father,
it had been Jackson’s grandfather.

34
..That Christmas I invited my friend Pheto to come with me to the cattle post. I told
him all about Jackson and I knew that we would have so much fun together. When
we arrived, Jackson’s family of uncles, aunts and cousins crowded at the car. My
father handed out the cartons of chibuku ( a traditional alcoholic drink) and tobacco
that Jackson’s family enjoyed. They carried the bags of maize meal into their huts.

In the years that followed, I never went to the cattle post. I finished school and was
working in Gaborone, a grown-up man, but Jackson always say heavy in my heart.

One weekend I was home and, for some reason, I agreed to go with my father to the
cattle post. As was usual, the truck was full of chibuku and cartons of tobacco. The
farm workers crowded around to get their share. I searched the faces, but I couldn’t
find Jackson’s in the crowd.
A man pushed at the back. He wore a torn shirt and trousers that were far too small.
He smelled of alcohol and looked like he had not bathed in days. I shook his hand
and then turned to go. He was obviously drunk and I just wanted to be away from
him. “Don’t you know me anymore?” the old man said. He smiled and I knew it was
Jackson. I felt sick with sadness. Here was my wise friend. My friend who knew
everything. He looked so old; the alcohol had eaten away at his body and his soul.

1.1 What is the setting of the story?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………[2]

1.2 What is the name of the narrator?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….[1]

1.3 Describe different ways Jackson seemed older than the narrator.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………….[5]

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1.4 The narrator feels guilty about what is happening to Jackson. What does he
mean by “my family and I were part of what was destroying him”?

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………………………….[5]

1.5 The narrator knew that Jackson would always be his best friend. Explain how
the narrator and his father viewed Jackson.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………..[5]

1.6 Describe Jackson

……………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………….[2]

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 4. Saved by Communication

‘SOS…SOS…SOS…’ Late on the night of 29 November 1942, a faint distress signal

was picked up by a radio operator at Walvis Bay. It was wartime.

The Dunedin Star, a British ship, was carrying an important cargo. For 800 km the
voyage was smooth, but disaster struck when the ship was hit by an object about
500m off the coast of Namibia. Water gashed into the engine room the lives of the
crew and passengers were in danger.

On the third day, two ships appeared on the horizon. They had been alerted by the
radio and were coming to rescue the people stranded on the shore. Unfortunately
they could not get near the shore because the sea was too rough. Then one of the
ships flashed a signal: “Police convoy coming overland from Windhoek. Due in five
days”. Would the people survive five more blazing hot days and icy nights?

The next morning, a hundred people on the Dunedin Star watched the shore
anxiously as the sun rose. In the daylight they saw windswept and waterless sand
dunes. This was the skeleton coast. Many a ship had been wracked on its shores;
many a treasure hunter looking for diamonds had died on its sands.

The captain soon realized that he would have to abandon ship. A wild gale was
blowing and the sea was rough, but he managed to take twenty-one passengers
safely to the shore on a motor boat. Two more trips were made and then the boat’s
engine sputtered and went out. This left the captain and his crew of forty men
marooned on the ship.

In the meantime, news of the Dunedin Star’s difficulties had reached other ships.
Messages in Morse code had been sent all the ship to send rafts to the ships in the
area. Many attempts were made by rescue ships to send rafts to the shore but
strong currents pulled the rafts away. A rescue airplane dropped drums of water and
food. Some of the drums burst when they landed. Another airplane tried to touch
down on the shore but its wheels sank into the desert sands. At last, on the 12
December, the police convoy arrived. The weary castaways struggled across the
sand dunes and climbed onto the skeleton coast.

On the beach, Dr Burn Wood, the ship’s surgeon, looked anxiously at the people
stranded with him. There was little food and water. Strong winds beat upon them,
they were stung by sand and scorched by the sun. They began looking for water but
only a sailing ship, half buried in the sand and headless skeleton of her crew. After
two hot windy days with bitterly cold nights, the stranded people were sunburnt and
had other ailments too. Dr Burn Wood used all the contents of the ship’s medicine
chest to treat their ailments.

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But would they have survived if they had not known that help was coming? Would
they have given up hope and died without the message and help from ships and
airplane?

When the radio operator heard from the Dunedin Star, he immediately alerted the
naval authorities at Cape Town. Then he tapped out a signal in Morse code to the
doomed ship: ‘Help on its way’

1 SOS- an urgent call for help. In Morse code, it is three short sounds followed
by three long sounds and other short sounds.

2 marooned-left alone and helpless, unable to escape

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5. Thank you, madam by Langston Hughes

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and
nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about
eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her
and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it
from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him
to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on
his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up, the large woman simply turned
around and kicked him rightsquare in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached
down, picked the boy up by his shirt front and shook him until his teeth rattled.

After that women said, “Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here.” She still held
him. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then
she said, “Now aint you ashamed of yourself?”

Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes ‘m.”

The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”

The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”

She said, “You a lie!”

By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood
watching.

“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.

“Yes ‘m,” said the boy.

“Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.

I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.

“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t
you got nobody at home to tell you to wash your face?”

“No madam,” said the boy.

“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the street,
dragging the frightened boy behind her.

He looked as if he were fourteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue
jeans.

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The woman said, “You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong.
Least I can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?”

“No madam,” said the being dragged boy. “I just want you to turn me loose.”

“Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?” asked the woman.

“No, madam.”

“But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the woman. “If you think that that
contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get
through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington
Jones.”

Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped,
jerked him around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to
drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down
a hall, and into a large kitchenette-furnished room at the rear of the house. She
switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers
laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he
knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the
middle of her room.

She said, “What is your name?”

“Roger,” answered the boy.

“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, whereupon
she turned him loose –at last. Roger looked at the door-looked at the woman-looked
at the door-and went to the sink.

“Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said. “here is a clean towel.”

“You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending over the sink.

“Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,” said the woman. “Here I am
trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe,
you aint been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?”

“There’s nobody home at my house,” said the boy.

“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman, “I believe you are hungry-or been hungry-to try to
snatch my pocketbook.”

“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.

“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs.
Luella Bates Washington Jones. “You could have asked me.”

“Madam?”

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The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A
very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it
again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could
make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!

The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, “I were young once
and I wanted things I could not get.”

There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not
knowing he frowned.

The woman said, “Um-hum!” You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You
thought I was going to say, But I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t
going to say that. “Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell
you, son-neither tell God, if he didn’t already know. So you set down while I fix us
something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look
presentable.

In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs
Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see
if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on
the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he
thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He
did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.

“Do you need somebody to go to the store,” asked the boy, “maybe to get some milk
or something?”

“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was
going to make cocoa out of this canned milk I go here.”

“That will be fine,” said the boy.

She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and
set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his
folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him
about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed open late, what the work was like,
and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, red-heads, and Spanish.
Then she cut him half of her ten-cent cake.

“Eat some more, son,” she said.

When they were finished eating she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars
and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake
of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s-because shoes that come by
devilish way like that will burn your feet. I go to get my rest now. But I wish you
would behave yourself, son, from here on in.”

She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Goodnight! Behave
yourself, boy!”, she said, looking out into the street.

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The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, madam” to Mrs
Luella bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren
stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely managed to say
“Thank you” before she shut the door. And he never saw her again.

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6. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

It was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station
was waiting for the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends,
youngsters who were on board for the vacation.

It was a busy station with juicy shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls,
newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. the announcement regarding the arrival of the
train was made and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate
places.

The group of friends made loud noises to welcome the train as it entered the station.
They ran to their reserved seats before anyone could get into the train. The empty
seats were filled and the train whistled to move. An old man with a young boy aged
around 15 years came running to catch the train. They entered the train and the train
started to move. They had their seats just adjacent to the friend’s group.

The young boy was so surprised to see everything. He acclaimed at his father, ‘Dad,
the train is moving and the things are moving backwards’. His father smiled and
nodded his head. As the train started moving fast, the young boy again screamed,
‘Dad, the trees are green in colour and run backward very fast. His father said, ‘Yes
dear’ and smiled. Just like a kid, he was watching everything with great enthusiasm
and happiness loaded with tons of surprises.

A fruit seller passed selling apples and oranges. The young boy asked his dad, ‘I
want to eat apples.’ His father bought him apples. He said, ‘Oh apple looks so good
than it tastes’ I love this colour.’

The group was watching all the activities of this boy and asked the boy’s father ‘Is
your son having any problem? Why is he behaving very differently?’ A friend from
the group made fun of him and shouted, ‘His son is mad I think.’ The father of the
young boy, with patience, replied to the friend-group. ‘My son was born blind. Only a
few days before, he was operated and got the vision. He is seeing various things in
his life for the first time.’

The young friends became very quiet and apologized to his father and son.

Think before you speak

[Adapted from NAMCOL Study Guide, Grade 10]

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1. The setting of the story is… Tick the appropriate box

sunny day, railway station and on the train

climate, busy station and mobile restaurants

railway station, train and coffee and tea stalls

sunny day, rail station and restaurants [3]

2. Describe the old man and the group of boys/youngsters. Give one fact in each
case.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

3. Why was the young boy who came with his father surprised to see everything?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

4. How did the group of friends react before and after the father had explained why
the boy behaved that way?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………[2]

5. What is the morale of the story?

………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]

NB: Teacher: Add more notes and questions based on the above story.

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