Mother hen and chicks story

Our grade 2 kids tried their hands at very-short story writing. They were given no help. They had to create an 8-line sense out of the fragments given. They did a wonderful job this time. Here are their little gems:

Aditi:

One day, mumma hen and her chicks were very hungry. They saw rice on the ground. They started to eat.

While eating, the chicks got lost. Mumma hen was looking for them. She found them. They all carried rice and went back home. They ate carefully.

The chicks asked Mumma hen if they could play. Mumma hen said yes.  This time she went with them to keep an eye on them.

Jisha:

One day, the hen and her chicks wanted to meet their friends. The hen cooked food and left it outside the house. They went to their friends place then.

One hunter saw the food while passing by there. He kept the food in his bag and left. when the hen and her chicks returned, they saw that the food was not there. They became very sad. They went to the forest in search of food.

They found some grains. They became happy.

Rachit:

One day, mama hen and her chicks went to the market. When they came back, they were so hungry.

So mama hen went inside the kitchen. She saw there was nothing in the kitchen; it was empty. So they all went outside to look for food. Mama hen found a bag of grains. She called the chicks.

They made a hole in the bag of grains. They ate the grains.

Girl and the apple story

Our grade 2 kids tried their hands at very-short story writing. They were given no help. They had to create a 4-line sense out of the fragments given. They did a good job at the pictorial gestalt and came up with these little gems:

Adethri:
One day, Tanya was very hungry. She saw an apple on the table. She wanted to eat it. But her mom gave her a banana. She ate the banana.

Maanya:
One day, Aanya was hungry. Her mother gave her an apple. She wanted to eat pizza. Her mother made her apple-pie. Aanya was so happy.

Avni:
Anvi wanted to eat apples. She went to her mother. Her mother didn't have apples. Anvi sadly went outside. She saw a table near the kitchen area. There was an apple on that table. She ate the apple.

Stress points in English

Stress-points

English is not a flat language. English speaking is all about stress-points (SPs): SPs inside the words and SPs inside the sentences. Without maintaining the SPs, meanings of the words as well as the sentences can change significantly. SPs decide the meanings as well as pronunciations.

Example:

‘Present’ is a 2-syllable word. Both syllables cannot be sounded at the same pitch; that is, the word cannot be monotone.

When the first syllable /pre/ is sounded with a higher pitch, it is used as a noun or an adjective. It’s pronounced as prezənt

Give me the presents. (noun)

In the present situation, you should save more. (adjective)

However, when the second syllable /sent/ is sounded with a higher pitch, it is used as a verb. It’s pronounced as prɪzent

I will present this award to her. (verb)

All words with more than 1 syllable follow SP rules. Without following the rules, either the pronunciation or the grammar or both will be wrong.

In a sentence, which word is stressed can change the entire meaning. Try saying these saying sentences with more volume at the words in bold and you’ll see:

I helped him yesterday.

I helped him yesterday.

I helped him yesterday.

I helped him yesterday.

Try saying this sentence:

It’s made of wood.

·      If you’ve said /it/ with high pitch, it’s wrong because if /it/ carried the significant intention in the sentence, it wouldn't be contracted with /is/

·      If you’ve said the word /of/ as complete /of/, it’s wrong, because in a sentence like this a preposition cannot carry the SP.

·      If you've said /made/ with high pitch, it’s wrong because if the writer meant to emphasize more on that aspect of being /made/, then /it/ and /is/ wouldn't be contracted together and /is/ would be the SP

Thus, /wood/ is the logical SP of the sentence and thus the sentence will be:

ɪtz meɪd əv wʊd

(Notice the pronunciation of /of/ in a sentence like this)

Stress-Points are very important. Without them, our spoken English may be completely wrong.

My First World Tour- By Shounak

Idioms from around the world: By Armaan Arora

Hero: The song II By Ashwal Bolla

Hero

Wake  up, fade  away,

Only  thing  you  see,

An  endless  void  up  ahead,

Wants  to  eat  you,

You  were  trapped  in  there for  hundreds  of years.

This  is  a  story  for  a  lifetime,

You  think,

But  it  was  too  late,

Your  arms,

Your  legs,

Your  body,

All  gone  into  the  void!

But  this  is  no  time  for  fadin’  away,

Kick  them  out,

Fight  them  off,

Do  it  for  your  nation,

Do  it  for  humanity,

Do  it  for  your  pride,

And  be  a  hero!

Now  the  void  itself, fadin’  away,

Brings  you  back  to  the  battle,

Monsters  winnin’

Humans  losin’

You  run  ahead, leave  them  behind,

Get  your  weapon, return,

Cause’  you’re a hero!

Oh, oh, oh,

You kick them  out,

Takin’  them  down, one  by  one,

You  win!

All  this  bravery,  made  you  a  hero,

The person you wanted to be!

Just be a hero!

For  your  nation,

Just  be  a  hero!

For  the  world…

Later  on, you  make  your  own  legacy,

Fendin’  off  evil,

Your  own  group  of  heroes,

You  in  the  center,

Mantle of a leader!

They’ll  remember,

That  this  new  race  of  heroes,

Started  off with you…

Songwriter:

Ashwal Bolla

Interpretation of the song

It’s about this hero who woke up and saw himself fading away.

Later, he saw an endless void up ahead and he suddenly got this feeling that the void wanted to eat him and that he was trapped in there for hundreds of years.

He thought that this was a story for a lifetime, but it was too late, because his arms, his legs, his body, were all being eaten by the void.

But he knew that this was no time for fading away, and that he had to fight and kick them out and be a hero.

Even the void a life, reading the hero’s brave thoughts.

The void itself disappeared and it sent the hero back to the battle. The hero left them all behind at the battlefield, went to his home, grabbed his sword and shield and came back to the battlefield.   He was the strongest in all humans so he took down the monsters one by one, and he and the humans won.

All this bravery caused him to be a hero, so he continued to be a hero for his nation and the world.

Later on, he made his own legacy, a team of heroes, and he was the leader.

Later he just hopes that this new race of heroes started off with him.