Kids Learning English V Term-I

5th Standard English Term-I

My Native Place

I Love my native place.  Do you?

Trip to My Grandparents' Village

It is summer.  Vocation has started for Santhosh.  His parents are going to Sirumalai, their parents' village.  Santhosh is excited.  He records an audio diary on his mother's phone.  He records all his feelings during the visit.  Later, he writes down in his diary what he had recorded.  Let's read his diary to know his experiences during this visit.

10th April

I am very eager to visit my grandparents' village.  I will meet my grandparents and cousins.  I have packed my clothes and tab for playing video games.  We will be travelling in a bus.  I am so excited.

11th April

Today we are travelling.  Though it is summer, the weather is pleasant in the morning.  There are numerous trees with yellow flowers on both sides of the road.  There is greenery all around.  There are many white cranes in the lush green paddy fields.  The scarecrows have managed to scare away the crows in the fields.  There is no traffic, noise and air pollution in the village.

I get off the bus and run to meet my grandparents.  They are delighted to see me.  The house is surrounded by many big trees.  There are a few jackfruit, mango, neem, banana, pomegranate and coconut trees.  The trees have abundant fruits.  My grandfather plucked some ripe mangoes for me.  The mangoes are so juicy and sweet.

12th April

I have woken up early today.  I am out for a walk in the morning.  The cool breeze is calming.  The coconut palms are swaying lazily.  The farmers are already in their fields.  Some of them re cutting the crops and some of them are threshing the paddy.  The air is filled with the sweet sound of birds singing in the trees and the bushes.  The cuckoo's song is perhaps the most enchanting.

I come home, I freshen up and eat the tastiest breakfast in my life.  Later, my grandmother introduces a girl, Paavai.  She goes to the village school.  She lives down the street.  She is very eager to show me around the village.  Paavai shows me how to play with a tyre and a stick.  We happily run down the lanes balancing the tyre with a small stick.  We stop to talk to Paavai's friends, Amir, Peter and Umaiyal.  

All children here too have their summer vacation.  Amir is helping his father in milking their cows.  He lets me pat his black calf.  Peter and Umaiyal are sitting with their grandmother breaking groundnut pods and piling them neatly.  Later they will take the nuts to the village market to sell them.  I help them for some time.

13th April

Paavai takes me to the village pond.  There are many children splashing around in the pond.  Some boys are climbing to the top of the tall tamarind tree.  Girls are playing hide and seek near the big banyan tree.

My mother and my aunties take me to the river for a refreshing bath.  I play for some time in the cool water but I cannot swim.  So, I sit on a big smooth rock and watch my friends swim like experts.  They talk and laugh a lot as they wash their clothes and dry their hair in the Sun.  The river is so clean that I can see the pebbles in the riverbed and colourful fish swim by.  I love the scenery.

14th April

We are back to our home in the city.  The trip to our grandparents' home was so enjoyable.  Those two days flew by so fast.  I realised that during this stay, I had neither watched television nor played video games.  I am eagerly looking forward to our next visit.

Farmer's Friend

Often seen as filth

But gives the soil good health

To reward the farmer with wealth.

Ploughs the soil before farmer

Use not the chemicals to harm her

Please praise our motherland's armour.

Shy to show his looks

Toils often on fishing hooks

To give the fisher something to cook.

Be humble like worm

Think no one to harm

You will be free to spread your charm.

https://youtu.be/scbTdMqB8kg

The Farmer and his Daughters

    In the village of Manipuram, there lived a wealthy farmer.  He had three daughters.  All his daughters were married and living their life happily.  The farmer was getting old.  He wanted to distribute his wealth to his daughters.  But he wanted to know what responsibility he could give to each of his daughters.  He called all his daughters and gave each of them a bag of millet.  He asked them to use grains in the best way possible and then come back to him after one year.

    After one year the daughters came back to their father's house.  The farmer welcomed all of them.

    First he called the elder daughter and asked about what she had done with the grains given to her.  She replied, "Father, I fed those grains to flocks of birds that I saw on my way back to home."

    Then the father called the second daughter and asked the same.  She replied, "Father, I thought those grains were sacred.  So I mixed those with other grains kept for community food service.  So that everyone could have it.  After this, the third daughter came.  The farmer asked her about the grains.  She said, "Father, I don't have those grains with me now.  I need two bullocks and men to get the grains."  Father was confused and asked her, "Why do you need bullocks and men to bring the grains here?"

The daughter smiled and replied "I sowed those grains and now it has grown as crops.  So, I need a bullock cart and men to harvest and bring back the grains."  Father was happy to know that she used the grains wisely.  Father found her apt and gave her the responsibility of the fields.  He distributed his other wealth equally among the other two daughters.