TALEEM

Text Book Exercise 1

Q. Work individually and answer the following questions in your notebook. After completing the exercise, compare your answers with your partner.

How many families were going on the trip?
Ans: Two families were going on the trip. Mr. Aziz’s family and his brother Mr. Karim’s family were going on the trip.
How many ghost stories are mentioned in the text?
Ans: There are three ghost stories mentioned in the text.
Did any of the children experience something strange?
Ans: No, not at all. No children experienced anything strange.

Text Book Exercise 2

Q. Work in pairs. Read the text and find the words in the given paragraphs that have the meanings given below. Write your answers in the answer column. The first one has been done as an example.

Paragraph	Meaning	Ans
1	something for which one has waited for a long time	long-awaited
2	an enclosed section in a railway carriage	compartment
5	take something for a limited time, by paying for it	rented / hire
5	having presence of ghosts	haunted
10	killed for food	no word is found in paragraph 10
10	frightened	scared
11	conversation that may not be true	gossip
11	have power or influence over something	dominate
11	form a mental picture	imagining

Text Book Exercise 3

Q. Work individually. Read the text and provide one-word answers in the given blanks.

a) What was the name of the station where they got off?
Ans: Patni

b) Upon hearing the address, the first person who was surprised?
Ans: The porter

c) Who was the second person who was surprised?
Ans: The van driver

d) For how many days was the trio planned?
Ans: Ten days

e) How many bedrooms were there in the house?
Ans: Three

f) Who had the first strange experience?
Ans: Mr. Karim

g) Who had the second strange experience?
Ans: Mr. Karim

h) What happened in the end of the story?
Ans: Dreaming

Text Book Exercise 4

Q. Work individually. Read the text and complete the following sentences by matching items in columns A and B. Write your answers in the Ans. column.

No	Column A	Ans.	Column B
1	On hearing where they were staying	e	a) and fresh vegetables from the fields.
2	When the driver told Mr Aziz that the house was haunted	h	b) and had a nice view of the village and the fields.
3	The house was big and airy	b	c) and quickly left for the station.
4	When the people in the village asked them to leave the house	f	d) and did not want to go back.
5	They enjoyed the clean air of the village	a	e) two people asked whether they were sure.
6	They all felt happy and relaxed	d	f) they laughed and said that there was no such thing as ghosts.
7	Nothing happened for a few days	g	g) then strange things started happening.
8	On the last morning they got out of bed very early	c	h) Mr. Aziz said that he did not believe such stories.

Text Book Exercise 5

Q. The following sentences give wrong information. Work in pairs, read the story and write the correct sentences in the space provided below each statement.

Mr and Mrs Karim and their children planned the holiday.
Correct: Mr and Mrs Aziz and their children planned the holiday.
Mr and Mrs Aziz and their children decided to join them.
Correct: Mr and Mrs Karim and their children decided to join them.
They planned a 3-month trip.
Correct: They planned a 10-day trip.
They travelled by bus and reached a village called Patni.
Correct: They travelled by train and reached a village called Patni.
They hired a taxi to reach the house.
Correct: They hired a van to reach the house.
Mr Aziz told the driver that they had bought the house.
Correct: Mr Aziz told the driver that they had rented the house.
He told him that the house was old but Mr Aziz did not believe him.
Correct: He told him that the house was haunted but Mr Aziz did not believe him.
When they reached the house, nobody liked it.
Correct: When they reached the house everybody liked it.
The children got the cleanest room.
Correct: The children got the biggest room.
After dinner they went to bed quite late, as they were tired.
Correct: After dinner, they went to bed quite early, as they were tired.
After two days they went into the fields.
Correct: The next morning, they went into the fields.
They met some people and they told them to sell the house before they were harmed.
Correct: They met some people and they told them to leave the house before they were harmed.
Strange things started to happen on the fifth day.
Correct: Strange things started to happen on the seventh day.

Text Book Exercise 6

Q. Work individually. Combine the points from Exercise 5 and write a summary of the story in your notebook. You can add other points. Also, write an alternative ending of the story.

Ans:
Mr Aziz and his brother’s families decided to take a ten-day holiday in the village. They travelled by train. They rented a house for ten days which was far from the station but close to the fields so that they could enjoy the life of the village.

They reached Patni. At the station, when they told the porter where to go, he was astonished and said, “Are you sure?” Outside the station, when they told the van driver where to go, he was also surprised and said, “Are you sure?”

The van driver told him that the house they had rented was haunted, but Mr Aziz said they did not believe such stories. The house was big and airy. They liked the house. The next morning they went to the fields and told the villagers that there were no such things as ghosts. They kept having fun. A week later, weird things started to happen. On the seventh night, Mr Karim felt that someone was pulling his blanket. This time he pulled the blanket up and held it tightly under his head and feet. Then someone pulled his bed. He was scared.

Nothing happened after that but he could not sleep. No one believed him. After a walk in the fields, everyone except Mr Karim returned. He felt that someone was following him, but no one was there. Suddenly the head blocked his way. He changed his route, but the head also came to this side. Mr Karim was alone. He was terrified. He started running towards the house. He told everyone about the incident but no one believed him. They said that he had taken the words of the villagers seriously.

On the last night of their stay, Mr and Mrs Aziz, and Mr and Mrs Karim were sitting and talking. An empty chair sprang forward and it felt as if someone was sitting on it. Seeing this, they started screaming. The next moment Mr Karim woke up. He was having a bad dream. They just had to go on their trip.