HANUMAN AND I

Note: The transactional processes suggested in CISCE curriculum are highlighted in grey.

Learning Outcomes
● To help students identify the reasons for their own fear of stage performance
● To appreciate the writer’s ability to laugh at herself
● To discuss / write about myself in a similar situation, real or imaginary
● To predict and analyse
● To chart out the sequence of events in a flowchart

Pre-reading
This section focuses on assessment for supporting character in the play? Why?
learning as it tells readers that the story is What are the qualities the teacher looks
about stage performances and the fears for while casting a play?
accompanied with it. (Note: It is imperative to tell the students that
A. Ask students: not everyone is the same. Some may be shy
1. Would
 you like to be one of the dancers while some are confident. And, it is okay to
or an actor in a play for your Annual be the way they are. They should learn to
School Day? What does this choice tell accept each other because it takes all types of
you about yourself? people to make this world.)
B. Give
 students some time to do the Pre-
2. Do
 you think your teacher will ask you to
reading section given in the Reader.
play one of the lead roles or the role of a

READING

Students predict, analyse and relate to Hanuman’s army? Why? (She was not happy
situations as she did not want to be one of the many in
Read the text slowly and clearly, with a crowd. She wished to play a significant role
modulation/play the audio. Read the in the play. She had high self-esteem and
introduction to the story. self-respect and wished to be given a lead
role in the play but was given a very minor
Pause at relevant points to check the role. However, she accepted the minor role
students’ comprehension of the story. and was willing to fit into the role that the
● It is time for the school ... find out what teacher gave her.)
happens. ● We were dressing up when…Speak as loudly
Ask students: as you can.”

What roles do you like to play during Ask students:

the Annual Day of your school? Can you What do you think the interesting turn of events
identify with the little girl mentioned in the could be? Alka’s loss is the little girl’s gain.
introduction? In what way can you identify Do you agree? Why / Why not? Do you think
with her? Do you think the little girl was happy the teacher chose the little girl for the role of
when she was cast as one of the soldiers in Hanuman by choice? Justify your answer.
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 when she was so nervous.) Why do you think
Was the teacher confident that the speaker the teacher cut short her role? Was the audience
would do a good job? enjoying the performance? Did they really
This question focuses on assessment for realise that these were mistakes?
learning. It indicates that there might be a ● I was feeling less nervous …
regret for this choice. unceremoniously dragged me away.
(Ans: No) Ask students:
Why did the teacher’s dismay turn to one of The child says, “I was feeling less nervous now
joy for the narrator? What does this tell you and said my lines well.” Does she now justify her
about the narrator? (She was confident about role well? How can you say?
herself, loved drama and was enthusiastic.) The main character of the story makes a
Why do you think the teacher did not want number of mistakes. But these mistakes help
to give the role of Hanuman readily to the in adding humour to the story. Point out these
narrator? (Free response) Was it a good mistakes.
solution to offer the role to the girl? (Free
response) Do you think everything will be Why do you think the speaker made these
smooth-sailing? Why or why not? (Free mistakes again and again?
response)
This question focuses on assessment for
● As the curtains went up for the third … had learning. The reader begins to understand
to be on stage in the last act. the traits of character and identify with the
Is there a change in scene? Where do you think stage fear the character faces.
they were before? Does the change in scene (Ans: The speaker made the mistakes again
help? (They were probably in a classroom and again because she was nervous.)
during the casting and on a stage during the
performance. They provide the background Was there a difference in the last act of the
for the emotional state of the characters.)The play? (Yes, the narrator felt less nervous.) Did
girl says, “I opened my mouth to say my lines it help? (No, it did not really help because she
but my throat was dry and I couldn’t remember confidently repeated all the prompts aloud,
them.” How do you think the little girl felt at this even the wrong prompts.) Why did the little
moment? Why do you think this happened to girl in the play not say that she was the son of
her? Did the teacher’s promptings help her? Pawandev, the wind god; the worshipper of
Rama; the immortal Hanuman?
What do you think can go wrong because of
this prompting? Why was the speaker terrified?
This question focuses on assessment for This question focuses on assessment for
learning. It cautions the reader that the learning. The reader gets to know how
acting will not be smooth sailing. seriously the character takes the situation
(Ans: Free response) on stage and forgets that it is only a play.
She actually imagines that the characters
How does the writer bring in humour in the have come to life and is genuinely afraid.
episode? “I meant MY tail—I have forgotten to (Ans: The speaker was terrified because she
pin on my tail.” What do you think this exhibits was already overwhelmed and nervous
about the little girl? (She is actually very and then was taken by surprise by the
talented and needed presence of mind to try actor who was playing Ravana.)
to make right a wrong situation, especially
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 In the end the teacher had to drag her off the Guide students to draw a flowchart of the
stage. Why, in your opinion, could the child events in the story. Write the beginning of the
not perform her role? What was lacking in her flowchart on the board to help students.
that was there in the other characters? (This
was a last minute change of plan and the For the Annual Day of the school, The Story
child did not have time to practice her lines. of Rama is to be enacted by the students.
Her courage and enthusiasm is evident from
the fact that she willingly took on the job
without a moment’s hesitation. With practice A little girl desperately wants to play a...
she could have done a better job. Meticulous
hard work could have made her perform
very well had she been given the time.
She certainly tried to act out the role. She
was, after all, only a child.) Why was the girl
dragged away unceremoniously?
Group work
How has the narrator made this episode
humourous? (Wrong lines repeated. By now Allow students to discuss and then share
the audience was aware that the girl was their ideas with the class.
being prompted.) Do you think the audience ● Identify the part of the play that is most
thought of the little girl’s mistakes to be humorous to you. Give reasons.
deliberate and in line with the script? Why / Why ● Can you think of an instance or an
not? How does the story unfold to the readers? experience when you felt like the little girl
(The story unfolds through the characters.) in the story?
Post-reading
Pair work

GRAMMAR  Transitive and intransitive verbs

Review subject and predicate done in the earlier classes.
Write the following sentence on the board: Neeta painted the wall.
Help students identify the object. You may use the following clues:
● Find the subject. (What / who is it about?)
● Identify the verb.
● Identify the direct object. (Who / what is receiving the action?)
● Check if the identified word is a noun / pronoun.
1. Chaya is eating a biscuit. 2. Laura is watching a film.
3. Fluffy is barking. 4. The baby is crying.
Ask students:
Can you identify the subject and the verb in each sentence? (Underline with different
coloured pieces of chalk.)
Can you identify the object in each sentence?
They are a biscuit and film. There are no objects in sentence 3 and 4.
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 Tell students:
If the action of the verb passes on from the doers of the action to the object then the verb
is said to be transitive.
If the action of the verb ends in itself then the verb is said to be intransitive.

VOCABULARY Compound adjectives

Follow the input in the Reader.

LISTENING  While listening (Identifying feelings)

Tell students that they are going to listen to a few people talk about their experiences at
the Annual Day of National School. Instruct them that as they listen, they must circle the
emotions that are being expressed.
Play the audio track and let students do the task as they listen. Play it once again so that
students complete their work/check their answers. Review the answers.

SPEAKING Persuade someone

This task can be used for assessment as learning as students share expressions in class to
persuade, convince or urge others for a particular situation. The class assesses them while
they communicate using the right words and expressions.
Read out the following situation:
You want to attend a famous concert on the weekend. You do not want to go alone. Your friend
is not at all interested. How will you persuade her/him to join you?
Ask students to say how they will persuade their friend to accompany them. Point out that
they will have to use complete sentences in their answers and that they will have to use
polite ways of persuasion.
Proceed to explain that we can express ourselves better while persuading by using polite
words. Showing force or aggression does not help.
Let students read the given expressions aloud once, using the right intonation and tone.
Proceed to the given task. Tell pairs to assess each other. Monitor the activity.

WRITING Informal letter

Note: Help students set their objectives (Why do I want to write this?)
Guide students through every step. Share the guidelines with them and encourage them
to write their own letter.
Whom do I write informal letters to?

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 To people whom I feel close to (best friends, grandparents, brothers and sisters, cousins…)
How do I write an informal letter?
Generally speaking, informal letters are written as we speak.
Follow a few simple guidelines:
● Write your address on the top left side of the page.
● Leave space and write the date below the address.
How do I begin my letter?
Begin your letter with a cheerful salutation/greeting: Hello…/ Dear…/ Hi …
Start with an informal introduction in the next line. Remember to leave some space before
you do.
Thanks for your letter. It came as a surprise. I really enjoyed reading it. / I’m so sorry for replying
so late. I was busy with my exams. / How are you? I hope everything is fine out there…
What is the body of a letter?
The body of the letter is the main and largest part of a letter. It is made up of one or more
paragraphs in which the main idea of the letter is conveyed.
Here, write all that you want to convey. Space your words well and write in a clear legible
way. Show a steady flow of content while you write.
How do I end my letter?
If you want to, you can end it in an informal manner.
I must go now, need to clean up my room/ Must rush, got a few errands to run/ Guess I’d better
say bye because…
Do stay in touch,/ looking forward to seeing you, / Can’t wait to hear from you…
Sign off in a short sweet way
Lots of love / love / best wishes, hugs, take care
xxx

STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

Hanuman and I
Pre-reading
Free response
Comprehension
A. 1. The speaker was originally supposed to play the role of one of the monkeys in
the Vanar Sena. She was disappointed as she hoped to play a bigger role, but
nevertheless she was eager and excited to be a part of the play in some way.
2. When the speaker went on stage for the first time, she was possibly overcome by
stage fright. She nearly tripped and felt as if she couldn’t see or hear anything.

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 Her hands and feet went cold and numb and her throat went dry. She couldn’t
remember her lines.
3. The teacher helped the speaker during the play by reading out the dialogues that
she forgot.
4. The cause of all the confusion was that the speaker grew very nervous and, as a
result, repeated whatever the teacher was saying without realising what she was
saying.
5. In the last scene, the speaker saw the person playing the role of Ravana entering
the stage. Ravana was tall and walked towards the speaker in a scary manner. The
speaker heard Ravana speak to her in a thunderous voice and was scared. She
forgot that this was an actor and not Ravana himself, and pulled off her mask,
begging Ravana not to hurt her. The audience found this confusion very funny and
so, they laughed.
B. 1. a. The speaker’s dream was to play an important role in her school play, either the
lead role or that of Laxmana or Hanuman.
b. When Alka, who was supposed to play Hanuman, fell sick on the day of the
programme, the teacher had to find someone else to play her part. Knowing
that the speaker wanted to play this role, the teacher picked her, thus making
her dream come true.
2. a. Rama was talking to the speaker. The speaker was repeating what the teacher
said without realising what she was saying. In this case, the teacher was telling
the speaker that she had forgotten to pin on her tail and the speaker repeated
this to Rama.
b. When the teacher prompted the speaker to jump, the speaker said the words
‘jump’ making it seem as if she was asking Rama to jump instead of actually
jumping herself.
3. a. The speaker said these words. The girl playing Sita was supposed to say these
words instead.
b. The whole cast of the play was startled by the speaker saying these lines. The
teacher meanwhile grew increasingly annoyed with the speaker.
C. 1. The speaker would have felt terrible after the play. Playing the role of Hanuman had
been a dream come true for her and she had not done a very good job. She would
have felt disappointed in herself. Also, the audience had found the mistakes she
made hilarious. They had laughed at her and this would have embarrassed her. The
speaker’s classmates would have been angry at her for causing the confusion and
this would have made her unhappy. The speaker would also be feeling ashamed for
having let her classmates and her teacher down.
Suggested answer. Accept any logical answer.
2. brave, hopeful, cheerful, nervous
3. The school play would not have been considered a success by the teacher and the
cast. The lines forgotten by the speaker and the resulting confusion would have
made the students feel embarrassed and ashamed. But the mistakes made by the
speaker were funny and made the audience laugh repeatedly. The play entertained

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 the audience, though not in the way the students had planned. For this reason,
perhaps, the audience would consider the play successful.
Suggested answer. Accept any logical answer.
Grammar
A. 2. walked, IT 3. froze, IT 4. drank, T
5. broke, IT 6. reads, T
B. Free response
Vocabulary
1. fair-weather 2. life-threatening 3. accident-prone 4. soft-spoken
5. tongue-tied 6. twenty-page 7. time-saving
Listening
Listening text
The students of National School had their Annual Day yesterday. Listen to a few
people talk about their experiences. As you listen, circle the emotions they are
expressing.
1. Students, you practised hard for two months and all that effort paid off. The Annual Day
was a great success! The audience loved every single performance. Congrats, children.
2. I fell ill and couldn’t perform yesterday. I hear the skit was wonderful. My friends all had
a great time and they were called back on stage for a second round of applause. And
through all this, I was at home with a high fever and a terrible headache.
3. My children took part in the group dances last night. I had a meeting at work and
couldn’t attend the performance. My kids were so disappointed. I wish I had cancelled
the meeting and attended the Annual Day instead.
4. Oh my god, you won’t believe what happened yesterday after the show. A woman from
the famous Little Theatre group attended the show. She came up to me after the play
and told me she loved my performance and offered me a role in one of Little Theatre’s
productions. Isn’t that amazing?
5. Last night, I took one look at the huge audience and was terrified. I couldn’t handle the
thought of singing in front of all of them. So, I pretended to have a stomach-ache and
they had to cancel my performance. I feel terrible that I let my class and my teacher down.
Answers:
1. pride    2. sorrow    3. regret    4. excitement    5. guilt
Speaking
Free response

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 Writing
2B, Ranka Park,
4th Main Road, Frazer Town,
Bengaluru – 560 004.

30th June, 2023

Dear Kabir,
How are you? I hope you’re feeling much better than I am. My class staged a play, ‘The Story
of Rama’ in school and I hoped I would get selected to play the lead role or at least the part
of Hanuman or Laxmana. At first I was chosen to be part of the Vanar Sena—I won’t lie that
I wasn’t disappointed. But I got over my disappointment and looked forward to the play.
On the day of the play, Alka, my friend who was to play Hanuman, fell ill with measles. The
teacher knew how eager I was for a big role and how I wanted to prove myself. So, I got the
role of Hanuman. Great news, right? Wrong! As soon as I went on stage, I felt very nervous
and forgot my lines. But my teacher was prompting me and I simply repeated what she
said. That’s when the problem started. She said that I had forgotten my tail. Without
thinking, I repeated what she said and ended up telling Rama that he had forgotten his
tail. When she asked me to jump, I repeated that as well. But by the time I realised what
happened and started to jump, the audience understood what had happened and started
to laugh. The teacher cut short my role. I felt bad but I understand why she did it. But it
didn’t end there. When Sita forgot a dialogue, I assumed the teacher was prompting me
and repeated that too! Then in the end, when Ravana appeared, he looked so huge and
frightening in his costume that I became terrified and forgot that this was just a play.
Can you believe what I did next? I pulled off my mask, saying I wasn’t really Hanuman
and begged Ravana not to kill me. I’m sure you are laughing as you read this just like the
audience did. My classmates were shocked and my teacher was annoyed.
As for me, I felt very bad because I let down my classmates and my teacher. Everyone had
worked so hard and I felt like I was the one who ruined the show. But later, my classmates
and teacher cheered me up. They said the audience had a good time because of me and
that was what mattered. I still feel bad about it though and I don’t know if I will get the
confidence to act again. But my teacher said she will give me another chance and lots of
practice too!
If that ever happens, I hope you will be there to encourage me and also watch my
performance. Have you had any funny experiences like this? Do tell me about them when
you write back. Hope to see you soon!
Your loving friend,
Misha
Suggested answer. Accept any logical answer.

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 Spelling
Listening text with answer
1. abundance 2. audience 3. confidence 4. independence 5. occurrence
6. existence   7. substance 8. diligence 9. tolerance 10. guidance

ANSWER KEY TO WORKSHEET 6

A. 1. find, T 2. running IT 3. dawned, IT 4. blew, T
5. read, T 6. hear, T 7. left, IT 8. eat, T; play, IT
B. 1. absent-minded 2. well-respected 3. densely-populated
4. record-breaking 5. last-minute 6. sure-footed
C. Free response

QUESTION BANK
Hanuman and I
A. Answer in brief.
1. Do you think the little girl was happy when she was cast as one of the soldiers in
Hanuman’s army? Why?
 Ans: She was not happy as she did not want to be one of the many in a crowd. She
wished to play a significant role in the play.
2. What happened when the girl in Hanuman and I was pushed on stage?
 Ans: When the little girl was offered the role of Hanuman, her joy knew no bounds.
She was confident that she would play the role though she did not know the
dialogues. But when she was pushed on stage, she became very nervous. Her hands
and feet became cold and numb. Her throat went dry. She could not utter a single
word and her mind became blank due to fear.
B. Answer in detail.
The Story of Rama turned out to be a comedy of errors on stage. Support your answer
with examples from the text.
Ans: The little girl acted as a substitute for the original actor, who was meant to play
the role of Hanuman. Since there was no time for her to learn the dialogues, she
entered the stage with the assurance from her teacher that she would prompt her
from behind the stage. That was the main reason for the comedy that ensued after the
girl entered the stage. Both the teacher and the girl, in their nervousness, erred as the
communication between the two was not clear. While the teacher gave some personal
instructions to the girl, the girl thought that was the dialogue and delivered it without
realising that it was totally irrelevant. Throughout the play, such miscommunication
continued, leading to the embarrassment of both the teacher and the girl. The play
turned out to be hilarious due to the number of errors made.

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 C. Choose the correct answer.
What made the episode, ‘Hanuman and I’ humourous?
a. The teacher changed the dialogue to make it humourous.
b. The little girl repeated the wrong lines on stage.
c. The girl wanted to try a new version of The Story of Rama.
Ans: b
D. Read the lines and answer the questions.
I am not supposed to have a tail. You’ve forgotten yours. (Hanuman and I)
a. Who says the above lines to the little girl?
b. Why does the speaker say so?
c . How does the little girl respond to the speaker?
Ans: a. The boy who played the role of Rama says the above lines.
b. When the teacher saw the girl, she realised that she had forgotten to pin her
artificial tail and she commented aloud. But the girl thought that was the dialogue
and, without thinking, repeated what she was told.
c. She manages by saying that she was talking only about her own tail and that she
had forgotten to pin it.
E. Answer in brief. (Think and Answer)
1. The girl was happy that she got the role of Hanuman. Could she act her part well?
Explain.
 Ans: The girl was excited and showed a lot of confidence before entering the stage.
She thought she would do justice to the role, but she did not, as she was not clear
about the dialogues. Though the teacher said she would prompt her, the teacher
too was distracted by other things on stage. There was total chaos due to lack of
understanding between the teacher and the girl.
2. “Don’t kill me, I am not Hanuman.” Bring out the humour that precedes this remark.
 Ans: The girl was already very upset and nervous because of the mistakes she had
made on stage. At that moment, the entry of the person playing the role of Ravana,
totally unnerved her. The character had a huge figure and wore six-inch heels and
in a thunderous voice asked who the puny creature was. Terrorised by this, the little
girl forgot she was on stage playing the role of Hanuman. Instead of responding
proudly to Ravana, she screamed and pleaded with him to spare her life.
F. Answer in detail. (Think and Answer)
The comedy on stage was not intended to be so. The girl in Hanuman and I, became a
laughing stock in front of the large audience and the teacher was also very unhappy
with her. Who would you blame for this fiasco? Why?
Ans: It was the girl’s dream to act on stage but probably she was unaware of the
difficulties that came along with the responsibility. She relied on the teacher’s advice
that she should only repeat what is being prompted from the wings. The girl, on her
part, did exactly that. The teacher should have kept to her word and should have just
spoken only the lines meant for the role. She, instead, directed and instructed her and
prompted for others also. The little girl on the stage had no time to think, and repeated
whatever was said. She became a laughing stock for no fault of hers.

10

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