TSU English 7 SBP

ENGLISH
TEACHER SUPPORT UNIT 7
Accidents and Safety

English Teacher Support Unit 7
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ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY

Before we start……..
The Sixth TSU
You have now completed the sixth TSU and would have observed that your students possess significantly
better skills in English. By now, many of them would be able to:
• express their opinions in simple sentences on events, objects and issues
• understand and explain simple concepts in science, math and social sciences in English
• construct simple sentences using known words
• create stories, narrate incidents and events in their lives in simple English
• copy in a meaningful context
We have zeroed in on the theme 'Accidents and Safety' for this TSU. Most children would have seen or
experienced an accident in their lives – perhaps a small cut in the finger or larger events such as damage to
things at home or elsewhere, or some other calamity.
Many would have read about accidents in newspapers. They might also have watched scenes of accidents in
TV news bulletins. How can we tap their concern, experience and knowledge of accidents and safety issues
to enable them to learn English? Here are some suggested activities.
Activity – 1: Situations
Write, Be careful! on the board and ask 'Can you think of situations when will you say this?' After a few
responses from students comments, write Watch out! and Oh, my God! on the board one after the other
and ask them to give you situations for these as well.
Are there other phrases that indicate an accident - minor or major? Encourage them to give you phrases
in Odia as well.
You can present the following situations if they were not told by students.
• I used to live in Sambalpur. Once, 20 gates of Hirakud dam were opened and the water level in
Mahanadi started to rise and the river started flowing up to the top steps of the ghats. My friend
Nityanand and I used to live in a building overlooking one of the ghats. We were looking out of the
window one morning, when we saw an old man, who appeared to have come to bathe, struggling
to get out of the water at the ghat. He was shouting for help, but the rains kept everyone indoors
and no one heard his cries. He was slipping into the water repeatedly and was in danger of being
swept away. Nityanand and I had an animated conversation for a few seconds, before he ran down
the stairs, rushed to the ghat and pulled the old man towards safety. He was from Cuttack, on a

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pilgrimage to Sambalpur. We took him to his relatives staying in the nearby lodge. They were
searching for him and were relieved to see him.
• A few days ago, when I reached home in the evening, I found that the door was locked. I collected
the key from the neighbour and opened the door. A strong burning smell hit me. It took me a
second to realise that something was burning in the kitchen. I ran in, with my shoes/chappals on! A
steel vessel on the stove was burning, red hot. It looked like the milk inside had evaporated long
ago, the vessel had turned black and since the heat continued, it had become partly red. I switched
off the stove, took the vessel off and then doused it in water. I was sweating profusely even in
winter but was relieved that I had averted a disaster. I called my husband / wife (or brother/sister)
on the phone and narrated what I saw. He/she was shocked.
After presenting the two situations, ask 'What do you think the conversation was between me and my
friend (in the first situation)? Between me and my wife/husband/brother/sister on the phone (in the second
situation)?'
If students are sufficiently interested ask them to write the conversations individually or in pairs or groups,
and present it before the class. Or do it as a whole class activity, writing the dialogues on the board as the
students create them. It is fine if the conversation is in Odia or their local language.
Pick some really good conversations from what the students have written. Ask the writers, or anyone else
who volunteers to come forward, to enact the conversations. Give them enough time to prepare to enact
the conversation, this time in English .
The students have to:
• create the dialogues
• create the characters
• learn the dialogues by heart
• rehearse
• perform the role play before the class
After the performance discuss the role play (How was the dialogue delivery? Were their expressions
and gestures appropriate?)
How would you decide if this activity – of writing the dialogue – should be done individually or in
pairs / groups, or if it should be a whole class activity?

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Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
Activity – 2: Dangerous things at home
Write 'There is no safe place in the world' on the board and ask the following questions and develop a
discussion.
• How many of you agree? Is there a place where you can feel absolutely safe? How many of you
disagree? (Ask a few disagreeing students why they think so)
• Is our home a dangerous place? What are the dangerous things in our home?
• What are the dangerous things at school?
The first two questions need a detailed discussion. So it is better to ask them to do it in groups. Ask each
group to come up with at least 3 or 4 arguments or examples.
How important is role play in language learning?
• It enables students to understand and reinterpret a story that they have listened to,
read or watched on a video. They apply what they have learned.
• It is an interesting way for them to learn the language.
• It creates a need.
• It become a memorable event.
What is the focus of this activity?..................................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
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How do you view disagreement in the classroom? Is it disturbing and a waste of time or is it a
learning opportunity? Think about how you can maximise learning through differences of opinion in
the classroom. Here is one suggestion:
• ask the supporters and opponents of a view more questions thereby so that they are
encouraged to express themselves more.
•

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Two lists will emerge as answers for the last two questions. Write the lists on the board. Process the lists
by asking questions about how they pose a danger . Then ask 'What are the precautions you will take for
each object?' Discuss one or two potentially dangerous objects. Write the safety measures to be taken.
E.g., at home: Knife – positioning fingers vertically (in line with the knife blade) and not horizontally, always
using a flat board for cutting, never cutting a vegetable by holding it in air, never moving the knife blade
towards oneself, keeping the knife sharpened, using only a knife with a good, unbroken handle, never
allowing children to go near knives…
Ask them to copy the lists. Divide the class into groups. Let each group choose one object and write the
precautions to be taken. Finally, they will present their work before the class.
Did it work?
Activity – 3: ‘The Wonderful Spots of India’
Ask them: Do you like to visit different places? With a partner, discuss five things that you noticed when
you go to a new place. Share your points to the class.
Discuss with your partner the places you have seen and the places you want to see. Tell the name of the
places to the class.
Do you know about the Kulu Valley. It is an important place of Himanchal Pradesh. Most of the people
visited the valley during Summer. Those who want to enjoy with Snow they visit in winter. The
temperature of the valley is varies from 20 degree centigrade day Summer to minus 20 degree day winter.
One can see the snow still lying in clumps at the foot of the Deodar in the forest opposite in summer.
During winter snow covered all the roofs, water tank, dish antenna, pine forests, roads, Orchards etc of
the valley. Can you think how the people see and what difficulties would have faced?
Do this as a whole class activity, if there is no response to your question; write down the difficulty on the
board-
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They may not take bath, difficult to collect drinking water etc. Get the students to add to the list and get
them written on the board.
They may not able to take bath, difficult to collect drinking water etc. Get the students to add to the list
and list down them on the board.
(The list could mention these: No place for playing, very hard to cook food, hard to travel places,
difficulties in going to School, hard to beat cold for the poors etc.)
Text book connection: You can connect this activity to the Lesson “The Beautiful Spot of Kulu Valley”
in the class-9 text book.
Suggestions for presenting the lessons in the textbook.
• Use suitable activities from the TSU as triggers to get the students to find some names in the
lesson.
• Ask your students to present alternative scenarios to what is presented in the text book. It is ok
if they do it in Odia.
• When they make their presentation, discuss the points presented, provide additional information
or views.
• Explain the context, read out a part of the text, and ask them to guess the meaning of hard
words.
• Get them to refer to the glossary to know meanings of difficult words but don’t stop there.
Encourage them to use those words in their own sentences?
Tell them: Think about the people who lived in the valley. What about the atmosphere? In which season it
will be pleasant to stay? But technically, it is still winter. What does it mean, who visited the Kulu Valley?
Would you think living at a higher place in the mountains is a disadvantage/advantage? Why? To know the
answers, take your text book and open LESSON THREE in prose section of Class-9.
Say, 'List out the names of places and names of persons given in the lesson. Can you do it individually? Do
you want to work in groups?' Plan the activity according to what the students say.
Now ask them:
• How many names of places are there in the lesson?
• Whose names did you find in the text?
• How are they connected?
Let a few students present their answers.
Try to get a map of India to the class. Ask them to point out the places mentioned in the text book on the
India map, if the map is big enough and if it contains those names. Here are some questions you may ask .
• Can you identify the Kulu Valley in the India Map?
• How can you go there? By road, by rail and by air?

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• Where did he go next?
• What were the dangers he faced?
Did it work?
Activity – 4: In the newspapers
The following news item is taken from a newspaper called 'The Times of India'. You may select a recent
news item published in the local newspapers or magazines about an accident. If English newspapers are not
available, try to make do with a newspaper in Odia. But see that the passage you have chosen can be
translated and narrated in English.
Ask some questions to test their comprehension. If you think they have not understood, read out the
report again. Then initiate a discussion with the help of the following questions.
• Who is responsible for the accident? What would be the reason for the accident?
• Have you read any news item of this kind before? Can you share it with the class?
• Supposing you are dealing with Class 10 and not Class 9, will you still get the students
to refer to the story of “The Beautiful Spots of Kulu Valley”, which they did in the
previous year? Are there other text book connections you can think of?
• If you don’t have India map handy, or if the map does not show the names connected to
the lesson, how will you generate conversation about the places of Himachal Pradesh?
ODISHA POST: Thirty-two people, including 12 children, were killed when a goods-laden truck hit
two mini buses travelling in Sambalpur district early on Thursday. The victims were labourers who
were travelling with their family from Maneswar, Parmanpur and Kainsar villages in Sambalpur district
to Debagarh where they were looking for work in brick kilns.
Police said they had retrieved 27 bodies from the accident spot on the National Highway-06. Five
others died in different hospitals of Burla and Sambalpur. Another 13 are still battling for life in
hospitals in the city.
'The whole area was strewn with bodies of men, women and children. The injured were writhing in
pain when we arrived at the spot. The two mini buses were hit by a 10-wheeler truck coming from
the opposite direction at high speed,' a police officer said.
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• How many of you read newspapers daily? Weekly? Does anyone read magazines or books?
• Can you name some newspapers in our area?
• Can you collect some news items about accidents?
Don’t forget to say 'If the reports are in Odia, try to translate them into English. Don’t worry about the
mistakes.'
Did it work?
Activity – 5: Before we begin...
Tell them: 'Before riding a cycle I always check two things. Can you say what two things I will check?' (E.g.
checking the brakes and air. But you can mention whatever you think are important – such as whether you
have the key for the lock). Then ask 'Before starting to drive a bus, what should the driver check?' After
some answers, present the following situations.
• You are going to change an electric bulb
How to make use of newspapers (preferably, English newspapers) in the class?
• Ask students to read some news items regularly and remember to ask them to tell
you about what they read. It could be just the headlines or an interesting piece on
the sports page, etc.
• Read a report and ask them to provide a headline
• Read some part of the report and ask them guess the remaining parts
• Guess the meaning of the hard words by reading the sentences in which they occur
• If they find some reports related to their subjects/ interesting, let them take notes
• Give students small sections of an English newspaper and conduct a variety of
activities: find the biggest word, two/ three letter words, find the meaning of the
unknown words in the dictionary, etc.
• Ask them to read out the news reports to the class. You can ask different students
to do this every day.
•
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• You are going to cross the road
• You are about to start the motor for the well that waters the field
• You are about to light the stove
• You are about to board a crowded bus
• You are about to take a boat across the Mahanadi which is flooded
• You are about to go on a pilgrimage with your family to Puri
In every class there are quiet students and students who often get left out for a variety of
reasons. How do you help them to participate in activities? Here are some suggestions. You
can add more.
• Ask open ended questions and help them articulate their responses.
• Include simple activities.
• Ask them to share their experiences or answers before asking those who speak
without inhibition.
• Ask some questions of the kind for which everyone will definitely have an answer.
• Use the 'no error technique'. (E.g. How do people usually go to Delhi? By train or by
cycle?)
• Enter into personal conversations with them.
• Use their experiences for general discussion.
Did it work?
Activity – 6: Project – (Class 9-textbook activity– Lesson 11 in Prose Section)
What is a Project? Have you participated in any project before? What was it title? What was the aim of
your project?
When students present their views don’t forget to ask for the reasons - Why should take a Project?
Tell them that in projects, how people work in team spirit? You can draw a simple example of a project
conducted by the students in their school. Ask the students if they can figure out the work they have done
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earlier. Ask the students to think of the problems faced by themselves during project work. Give them
some hints: Ask them what are the steps to be followed to complete a Project?
Let them present their views. If they say something interesting write them on the black board.
Then say 'In our textbook, we have a lesson called "Project". In this lesson it is clearly maintained about
what a project is? What are the steps to complete a project? How? Why does the villagers undertaken to
complete a project. Find out what the project was?
Ask them some questions to assess their understanding. Ask them to read out the particular part of the
text as answers to your questions.
Then say 'There are three parts in this lesson. Can you tell me what each part describes? What are the
rules to be followed when we walk along the road? Can you list out the outline of a project? If you fills that
they need moretime, you can offer this as home work. Continue the discussions the next day with an
example of a Project, recently completed.
Did it work?
Activity – 7: Nobody can do anything
Say 'I am going to say a few sentences. Can you guess what I am talking about?' and say the following
sentences one after another as if you were giving clues to a puzzle. Present a sentence, wait for a few
seconds. Ask 'With this clue, can you guess what I am talking about?' and then present the next sentence.
• It kills people in large number
• It can happen anywhere in the world
• It is difficult to predict or do anything about it when it happens
• Scientists can only warn about but cannot prevent it
(Expected answers: Natural calamities, earthquakes, cyclones, Tsunami)
Ask them if they remember or read about an event that happened in the state of Uttarakhand in 2013.
Floods, the holy shrine of Kedarnath was devastated, we don’t know how many died – but it could have
been in tens of thousands, how the army helped rescue lakhs of people, how some of the worst and best
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human traits were revealed during the disaster (people removing jewels from dead bodies, shopkeepers
charging Rs. 100 for a roti, army men risking their lives to bring survivors back, helicopter crash in which
jawans were killed, etc). If they remember the incident, which was telecast on TV by all news channels for
over two weeks, ask them for personal anecdotes. Some of them might have lost relatives, or heard of
relatives or friends or neighbours suffer – they might want to talk about it. Encourage them and ask them
questions showing genuine empathy.
What are our responsibilities during disasters? Ask them questions that reveal dilemmas:
• Suppose you were in Kedarnath on that fateful day. You have survived but have food only for
yourself to last for a day. There is an old woman who is dying of hunger. If you share food, both
won’t have enough to last a day. If you give food to her, she will live but you may not survive. What
will you do?
• You come across a child who is the only survivor in the family. You trek back with this child to
safety over two days. He clings to you but you are not in a position to financially support another
addition to your family. If you simply hand over the child to the police, he will be heartbroken.
Create more such situations and check how the students respond.
Did it work?
Activity – 8: Everybody, somebody, nobody and anybody
Write 'Everybody, somebody, nobody and anybody' on the board. (Of course, you can say translate this
into Odia as well)
Then say 'When natural calamities happen…' pause for a few seconds and write the following sentences
one after the other on the board.
When natural calamities happen…
................................... will be affected. ............................ will lose their lives.
............................... will be safe. ............................... can help ........................
Try to make more sentences and add to the list. After writing a few such sentences on the board you can
ask them to read and then fill up the blanks. There might be a discussion if there are many choices
emerging to fill up blank spaces.
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After this activity, ask them to use the four words in the title - everybody, somebody, nobody and
anybody – in a sequence of sentences in a narrative. It could be a story or description of event. It can have
many sentences but these four words must be used.
E.g. When I was going to Sambalpur by motorcycle/taxi, I saw a totally mangled bus on the road. It was
obvious that the bus had met with an accident. I went near the bus. ‘Nobody’ was inside. I thought that
‘everybody’ was dead. I asked a person who was standing there about the accident. He said ‘somebody’
from the nearby hospital rushed there in an ambulance only a few minutes after the accident and took the
injured patients to the hospital. If ‘anybody’ saw the condition of the bus, he would think like me.
Allow them to work in groups and write a short passage using the four phrases.
Here is another rather famous example on these words.
There was a team of four members called ‘Everybody, Somebody, Nobody and Anybody’. There was an
important job to be done. Everybody was sure that somebody will do it. Anybody could have done it, but
nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was everybody’s job. Everybody thought anybody
could do it. Nobody realized that it was everybody’s job. It ended up this way: everybody blamed
somebody when nobody did what anybody could have done.
Did it work?
Activity – 9: Dialogues in emergencies
Tell the students this: 'In case of any emergency, usually you have to call someone on the phone. Which
number will you call for a specific emergency?'
Write the emergency contact numbers of police, hospital, fire service, etc. in your area on the board.
(You may have to do some legwork to get these numbers). List all the numbers. Then ask the students for
the specific emergency service each number represents.
Once the students are able to match the numbers with the services (with your help), ask them if they
could write dialogues if specific emergency numbers are to be called. Make this into a group activity.
Allocate an emergency situation (e.g., an old newspaper shop in the neighbourhood has caught fire, fire
services has to be called, the situation explained, directions given…) for each group. Give them 15-20
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minutes to come up with dialogues. Get each group to make a presentation and other groups to analyse
and offer views. Give your views at the end.
An interesting additional activity could be to come up with a list of emergencies for which no specific
numbers exist now, but are needed – for e.g., for pregnant women, food poisoning, severe cold or hot
weather-related illnesses.
Did it work?
In TSU 7
Here are some indicators for you to assess your own performance.
Here are some indicators for you to assess students’ performance.
Assessing students. ..
• Could you get the quieter students to participate in the activities?
• Could you collect the required materials in advance and use them effectively?
• Could you assist the students if and when needed, adequately?
• Did you appreciate their efforts and encourage them?
•
•
• Did they read newspaper reports and understand the basic information given there?
• Could they listen to and understand the stories and anecdotes in this TSU?
• Did they involve themselves in oral, group compositions with enthusiasm?
At the end of TSU 7, the students would be able to:
• Listen to and understand talks, views, dialogues in
• Read and understand important newspaper headlines
• Express views and opinions in oral and written forms
• Undertake simple language projects - like creating a poster
• Participate in oral group compositions
• Read aloud fluently – attention to punctuation, period, comma
• Narrate stories orally or in written form
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