Fun They Had

The Fun They Had

Thinking about the Text

I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

Question 1. How old are Margie and Tommy?

Answer: Margie is eleven and Tommy is thirteen years old.

Question 2. What did Margie write in her diary?

Answer: Margie wrote in her diary “Today Tommy found a real book!”

Question 3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?

Answer: No, Margie had never seen a book before.

Question 4. What things about the book did she find strange?

Answer: The things about the book that she found strange were the following:

i) The pages of the book were yellow and crinkly.

ii) The words stood still instead of moving.

iii) When they turned back to the previous page, it still had the same words on it that it had when they first read it.

Question 5. What do you think a telebook is?

Answer: I think the telebook must be a book that gets displayed on the screen of the television.

Question 6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?

Answer: Margie’s school was next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.

Question 7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

Answer: Margie and Tommy learnt Geography, History and Arithmetic.

Answer the following with reference to the story.

Question 1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”

(i) Who says these words?

(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?

(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?

Answer: (i) Tommy says these words.

(ii) “It” refers to the books.

(iii) The paperback book is being compared with the telebooks by the speaker.

Question 2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?

(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?

(iii) What is it contrasted with?

Answer: (i) “They” refers to the students centuries ago.

(ii) “Regular” means the usual for the people in 2157. Here, regular teacher means the mechanical teacher.

(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with humans as teachers of earlier times.

NCERT Textbook Questions

Thinking about the Text
(Page 10)

I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

Question 1.
How old are Margie and Tommy?
Answer:
Margie is eleven and Tommy is thirteen years old.

Question 2.
What did Margie write in her diary?
Answer:
Margie wrote in her diary. “Today, 17 May, 2157, Tommy found a real book.”

Question 3.
Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Answer:
No, Margie had never seen a book before.

Question 4.
What things about the book did she find strange?
Answer:
The book had yellow and wrinkled pages.
The words of the book were still. They did not move as the words move on the computer screen. She found these things strange.

Question 5.
What do you think a telebook is?
Answer:
A telebook is displayed on the television screen and the text of a telebook is similar to a book.

Question 6.
Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Answer:
Margie’s school was near her own bedroom. She did not have any classmate.

Question 7.
What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer:
Margie learnt Geography and Mathematics. Tommy learnt History and Mathematics.

II. Answer the following with reference to the story.

Question 1.
“I wouldn’t throw it away.”

1. Who says these words?
2. What does ‘it’ refer to?
3. What is it being compared with by the speaker?

Answer:

1. Margie says these words.
2. It refers to that real book that Tommy found.
3. The speaker compares it with a telebook.

Question 2.
“ Sure, they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

1. Who does ‘they’ refer to?
2. What does ‘regular’ mean here?
3. What is it contrasted with?

Answer:

1. ‘They’ refer to the people of the old times.
2. Here, regular refers to the mechanical teacher then they had.
3. It is contrasted with a normal teacher of earlier times, who was a living human being.

III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

Question 1.
What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
Answer:
Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were taught on computers and television screens. They didn’t have a living person as a teacher who would teach the pupils in a classroom.

Question 2.
Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Answer:
Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector because the mechanical teacher was not functioning efficiently. It had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse.

Question 3.
What did he do?
Answer:
He slowed down the mechanical teacher’s speed upto an average ten-year level. The mechanical teacher’s speed was controlled and adjusted according to the IQ level of Margie.

Question 4.
Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?
Answer:
Margie had been doing badly in geography. This was because the mechanical teacher was very fast in displaying the questionnaire. The County Inspector adjusted its speed upto an average ten-year level. Thus, the mechanical teacher’s speed was controlled appropriately. The County Inspector assured that the overall pattern of Margie’s progress was quite satisfactory.

Question 5.
What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Answer:
Tommy’s teacher was taken away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. So, Tommy had nothing to do during that period. He only relaxed and enjoyed.

Question 6.
Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
Answer:
Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.

Question 7.
How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Answer:
Tommy says that the old schools were different. They had a special building and all the kids went there to study. They laughed and shouted in the schoolyard. They enjoyed time together and learned lessons together in a classroom.

Question 8.
How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Answer:
He says that the old teachers did not live in the house. They had a special building and all the kids went there. They gave homework to students. They were not mechanical teachers, but living human beings.

Value-Based Question

Q1. ‘Machines can’t replace human beings. Explain this in 80-100 words with reference to the lesson ‘ThE FUN THEY HAD.

                                                                         OR 

In the context of the lesson’s fun, they had’ do you think mechanical teachers or computers instructors cannot replace humans as teachers.

A teacher not only has to teach and explain things but also has to understand the mindset of the students and their cognitive level. A computer instructor will only be able to deliver the lesson not be able to understand the problems of the students. a teacher emotionally connects to the students to make the child comfortable this is not only will they be able to pass on the correct values and lessons to the students.

Multiple Choice Questions The Fun They Had

1. Margie’s grandfather once told her that there was a time when all stories were?

Printed on plastic

printed on paper

not printed

narrated

Ans- printed on paper

2. What did Margie do with a sigh?

entered her school room

began to read the text flashing on the screen

thought about the old kind of schools

entered the previous day’s homework in the proper slot.

Ans- entered the previous day’s homework in the proper slot.

3. Where did Tommy find the book?

in his grandfather’s wardrobe

in Margie’s room

under his pillow

in the attic

Ans- in the attic

4. Why was Margie excited to find a real book?

because she had never seen a real book

because she did not know how to read

because she thought reading books would be a good pastime

because Tommy had found it

Ans- because she had never seen a real book

5. what was the book about?

grandfather’s childhood

school

printing press

computers

Ans- school

6. Why hadn’t Margie seen as many telebooks as Tommy?

since she did not know about them

since her parents were partial to Tommy

since she was younger than Tommy

since she was not interested in reading

Ans- since she was younger than Tommy

7. why was Margie thinking about it during her lesson?

the lively schools during the time of her grandfather’s grandfather

the punch code required to write her homework

her brother Tommy

the duration of the arithmetic lesson

Ans- the lively schools during the time of her grandfather’s grandfather

8. Why did the mother say the teacher has to be adjusted?

because the teacher was not teaching well

the kids were complaining about the teacher

the teacher was large, black, and looked ugly

the teacher had to be adjusted to fit the mind of each kid.

Ans- the teacher had to be adjusted to fit the mind of each kid

9. How old were Margie and Tommy?

11 and 13 years old

13 and 11 years old

10 and 13 years old

13 and 10 years old

Ans- 11 nad 13 years old

10. Which subjects were taught by the mechanical teacher?

science, history, geography

history, geography, and arithmetic.

science, English, and arithmetic

Hindi, English, and arithmetic

Ans- history, geography, and arithmetic