Excuses workshop, chit chat class 8th
Chit chat - ExcusesForm groups and chat about the following.
(1) Do you come to school on time, everyday?
(2) What do you feel, when you are late?
(3) What action is taken in school, on late-comers?
(4) Do you give excuses for your late-coming? Are they true or fake?
(5) Why is punctuality so important in life?
Enjoy the jokes !
(1) (a) Teacher : Asif, why are you crawling into the class?
Asif : I am sorry teacher. But yesterday you warned me not to
walk into the class late. So ............
(b) Teacher : Sharvari, you are regularly late to school. Don’t you feel
ashamed? Why do you come to school so late?
Sharvari : I am sorry, Madam. But on my way to school there is a
road sign that says, ‘Go Slow’. And ma’am you have
instructed us to always follow what road signs say.
Can you underline the words in the joke that were used as excuses
for late-coming?
Now discuss within groups and share some simple jokes about teachers
and students. Try to write one or two such jokes in your own words in
the above format.
(2) Reported Speech
Speech or dialogues can be reported in 2 ways - Direct and Indirect.
When exact words of the speaker are reported we call it Direct speech. When
exact words of the speaker are not reported, but just its contents we call it.
Indirect speech.
Direct speech : Amar said, ‘‘I shall come to meet you tomorrow, Sanket.’’
Indirect speech : Amar told Sanket that he would go to meet him the
next day.
Note down the changes you observe in the Indirect Speech.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
1
Excuses ! (A Skit)
u In what sense wasRitesh ‘early’?
l nothing short of :
nothing less than
u What was the first
reason why Ritesh
was delayed?
l investigate : carry out
a systematic search to
discover truth about
some incident
l pavement : a footpath
of the sides of a road.
l groaning : making
painful sounds
l to deal with : to
handle
Characters :
Ritesh : A school student
Mrs Sen : His class teacher
Scene : A classroom
Ritesh : May I come in, Madam ?
Mrs Sen : Now? Don’t you think you are early ?
Ritesh : Pardon, Ma’am ?
Mrs Sen : I mean for the second period. You are too
early for the second period.
Ritesh : I am so sorry ! Ma’am, I’m really sorry.
I started well in time from home, you won’t
believe what happened.
Mrs Sen : Hmm, We’ll see. Let’s hear the story first.
What happened? Nothing short of an
earthquake, I ’m sure.
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, really, Ma’am. Honestly, Ma’am.
Mrs Sen : Go ahead. Go ahead.
Ritesh : I was walking to school as usual, I was half
way down the narrow lane that leads to the
market. Suddenly, I heard a scream from the
main road.
Mrs Sen : And of course, you had to investigate !
Ritesh : Yes, Madam, I had to find out if someone
needed help. And sure enough, there was this
person lying near the pavement - he was
groaning with pain.
Mrs Sen : So, you took him to Dr Jadhav.
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, I didn’t get the chance. Just as I
reached that man, another man came running out
of the shop there, with a packet in his hand. And
the shopkeeper also ran out shouting, “Chor!
Chor! catch him!”
Mrs Sen : Amazing ! Quite a handful for you to deal with
and all at once ! What did you do then ?
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am, but the most amazing thing
happened then. That man near the pavement-
he, too, got up and began to run with the thief.
Without losing a moment, I ran after them.
Mrs Sen : And then you caught them and took them to the
police station !
We couldn’t do that, Ma’am. They just vanished
around the corner. All this happened so fast.
Mrs Sen : Then why are you late ?
Ritesh : That’s not all. I realized that I had left my bag
at the shop in the mad rush. So I ran back to
get it.
Mrs Sen : And it wasn’t there !
Ritesh : No, Ma’am, it was there all right, but there
was a huge, hairy, brown dog sitting on it. I
didn’t know what to do.
Ritesh :
Mrs Sen : Interesting ! A dog on a bag in a shop !
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am. Even the shopkeeper was
surprised. He didn’t know where the dog
had come from. How that dog growled ! We
tried all kinds of things to make it move -
whistling and clapping, and showing him the
stick but he wouldn’t budge, and I couldn’t
leave without my school-bag.
Mrs Sen : But I see that you got your bag finally.
Ritesh : Yes, Ma’am. Finally the shopkeeper gave me
some biscuits. I offered the biscuits to the dog
and lured him away from the bag.
Mrs Sen : OK. So let’s say that accounts for fifteen
minutes.
Ritesh : But there’s more, Ma’am. The poor dog
began to follow me to school. It looked so
poor and lonely and small.......
Mrs Sen : Small ? Did you say small ?
Ritesh : I mean young, Ma’am. It was big in size but
it was only a puppy, really. And it looked lost.
Maybe it was looking for its mother or owner
and I thought it was asking for my help. So I
began a enquire with the other shopkeepers and
passers by, but nobody could tell and couldn’t
leave it behind.
Mrs Sen : And then you found the owner ? Who was it ?
Ritesh : That’s the funny part, Ma’am. The puppy itself
found the owner. It saw someone across the
road and just bounded towards the person. I was
so relieved. Then I turned and ran straight to
school.
Mrs Sen : Good boy ! Now that are your good deeds are
done, there’s something else you can do. There’s
a story-writing competition coming up. Would
you like to send an entry ?
Ritesh : Who Ma’am ? Me, Ma’am ? Now..... I wouldn’t
know what to write. I’m not good at making up
stories.
Excuses workshop, chit chat class 8th
(1) Complete the following by inserting the correct words from the skit.
(1) The heavy load would not
(2) The police arrived to the crime.
(3) My friend me to eat chocolates in the classroom.
(4) I was to find my lost notebooks.
(5) The injured child kept with pain.
(6) He stole the cash and in the dark night.
(2) Rearrange the order of the following events as per the narrator.
(1) The dog began to follow Ritesh to school.
(2) The groaning man joined the thief and ran away.
(3) A huge dog was sitting on Ritesh’s school - bag.
(4) Ritesh heard a scream from the main road.
(5) A thief came running out of a shop.
(6) A man, groaning, with pain was lying near the pavement.
(7) The dog refused to move.
(8) The dog itself found its owner.
(3) Discuss and write the answers in your own words.
(1) Were the excuses given by Ritesh for his late arrival, true? Give reasons for
your response.
(2) Did the teacher believe Ritesh’s stories? How do you know that?
(3) Why did the teacher suggest that Ritesh should enter the story-writing contest?
(4) What according to you is the best way to correct children, who are regularly late
to school?
4. Report the following in Indirect Speech.
(1) Ritesh : May I come in, Madam?
(2) Mrs Sen : Ritesh, you are too early for the second period.
(3) Ritesh : I had left my bag at the shop.
(4) Ritesh : I am sorry, Ma’am!
(5) Mrs Sen : There’s a story - writing competition.
5. Imagine there is story-writing competition in your school.
Frame a notice about the same, to be put up on a notice-board.
Cover the following points.
l Name of the competition
l At what levels
l Date, Time and Venue
l Duration fixed for writing the story
l Points to be considered while judging winners.
l Prizes
l Contact person for participant entries.
Tags:
Excuses