Evidence of Water on Mars!!!

Talk about timing! While NASA approved movie 'The Martian' gets ready to premiere on Friday, Scientists at NASA have, in reality , confirmed the evidence of water on Mars.  Liquid water is essential to life and the possibility of microscopic life forms in a neighbour planet is indeed overwhelmingly exciting.

Well, Children, although the internet is teeming with news of this confirmation , you can also find out all about it here.  We've lined up a video clip and some links to tell you a little more about the significance of this discovery.
Don't forget to discuss it with your teachers , family and friends.

 Click here to read news about Water on Mars 

Click here to read news about  NASA's discovery of water on Mars.

Here's what the New York Times says about it

And here, The Indian Express sums it up quite beautifully.

 http://www.reuters.com/  video/2015/09/28/evidence-of-recent-water-flows-on-mars-s?videoId=365753905

The Highwayman- Alfred Noyes

Reposting the article from an earlier blog - written for my students back in 2013
These days understanding literature has become so much easier what with the internet's humongous repertoire. But then, you need to analyse every detail you read for not everything up there on the net will be true although it may be someone's point of view put across rather strongly.

Recently , when I read 'The Highwayman' trying to identify the threads of poetic craft that ran through it, the very experience of reading this poem filled me with wonder. Wonder at how the poet could have taken a not-so-heroic highway robber and simply with the help of well-crafted phrases and a thrilling romantic plot turn around our perception of the highwayman. So our sympathies lie, not with the law, not with what history tells us about highwaymen of the 18th century, but with the young, dashing highwayman who is hopelessly in love with Bess, the landlord's daughter, the man who promises to be back to his beloved , the courageous young lover who comes riding back to seek revenge for his lady love's death, only to die a dog's death himself. He has been betrayed by the jealous ostler Tim, who had overheard him parting ways with Bess. Tim, whose description makes it obvious that he is hardly our choice of a hero, is also in love with Bess but knows he cannot get her as Bess's heart has already been won by the highwayman.

When the Highwayman enters the scene - the fact that he is riding is emphasized by the repetition- that is what he chiefly does, rides down the highway. Noyes describes the highwayman's appearance quite meticulously right from the French cocked hat, the wine red coat to his brown breeches and laced up chin, his boots, his pistol, his rapier.

We see him being described again later in the poem, but this time he is in wild rage, as the news of Bess's tragic death has reached him.

The dark and windy night sky is painted vividly in striking metaphorical language

'The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.  

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.  

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor...'

In the dark of the night does all the action take place. The moonlight is ghostly, shadowy - hardly able to survive the clouds- like a ship being tossed about by the waves in the sea.The setting foreshadows the tragic events that are to happen soon.

One more character that stays with us is Bess. She gives up her life for the man she loved. True love for years has been elevated to fame with the death of lovers. But in this poem the lovers meet, although it is  after their death. For even now in the moonlight one can hear the highwayman come riding, riding, riding...

I enjoyed my experience of reading The Highwayman thoroughly and am sure all my students who read it with me did.

Here are some links that I chanced upon while looking up the poem.

<ahref="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/halloffame/arts/alfrednoyes.shtml">http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/halloffame/arts/alfrednoyes.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Highwayman_(poem)

http://www.localhistories.org/highwaymen.html

http://bluegatefieldsjuniors.co.uk/The%20Highwayman%20yr5.pdf

Amazing song by Loreena McKennit - The Highwayman - although some parts are missing-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvKBPr71dhA

Grammar Test

For the following grammar test you give yourself for practice - you are supposed to complete this in 20 minutes. Can you do it and manage to ace it as well? Try it! You may set yourself marks for this on your own... :)

Question 1

You must do as you have been directed in the brackets...

i.  Sona bit into a delicious chocolate cake. [Begin: The cake…]

ii.  Rajiv failed to score high marks in the test. [Change into a negative sentence]

iii. Being innocent, my little brother does everything he is asked to do if we call him 'superhero'.

[ Use; so…. that]

iv. Preeti ought not to have hidden the picture when she found it. ( It was wrong...)

v. As soon as the I reached the bus stop, everyone crowded around me. [Begin: No sooner…..]

vi. “You need to have breakfast everyday or else you won't be able to concentrate for long.” My class 

teacher said. [Change into indirect speech]

vii. This is the best novel I have ever read. [Begin: Never…]

viii. Sheetal painted a  beautiful portrait of her aunt. [Change the voice]

Question 2

Use appropriate words  to complete the sentences given

i.  The doctors at Red Cross discovered a drug to cure him ______________ the rare disease.

ii.  I am certain the Director will disapprove __________ our decision.

iii. Do you think you will benefit ___________ my advice?    

iv.  We all can distinguish true praise _________ flattery.

v. Rajan find it difficult to be attentive_______________ what is being taught.

Question 3

Use an appropriate form of the verb given ....any tense you think suits the sentence

i. If he …………….. (has) the money , he would buy it now.

ii. A man of high principles never …………………..(break) his word.

iii. I shall be very surprised if it …………………….(rain) any more.

iv. If I had ………………………….(know) you were coming, I would have baked a cake.

Agree or Disagree?

We have disagreements all the time in real life. So it is with grammar too!

What we call rules can easily be remembered if we think of the words as behaving exactly like us, humans. They are close friends with some and at loggerheads with others.

Thus we come to that slippery subject Subject - Verb Agreement which often slips in unnoticed in many an English Language test paper and leaves us ruffled.

Let's get the facts clear first-

What is subject - verb agreement?

Take the example of ...

Shirin goes to school with her sister.

The subject in this sentence is Shirin as we are talking about Shirin in this sentence.

The verb is 'goes' since the subject is singular.

If the subject had been Shirin and her sister, then we would have to use the verb 'go', and the sentence would have been written as follows:-

Shirin and her sister go to school.

So the verb in a sentence has to agree with the subject.

Let's see if we can do the following Subject - Verb exercise. Warning: These are real tricky ones!

Fill in the blanks with an appropriate verb

( Clue:Go for the subject right next to the verb. The verb agrees with it.)

i) There _________ a cupboard and a bed in this room.

ii) Either the writers or the publisher _____________ to blame.

iii) The minister and the painter ______________ coming.

iv) The team __________ done a good job.

v)  The pair of scissors ___________ on the desk.

vi) The committee _____________ working on  the issue.

vii) Neither the students nor the teacher _____________ enjoying the show.

viii) Neither the students nor the teachers ___________ enjoying the show.

ix) Which of those charts ______________ yours?

x) The costume with all its accessories _______________ reached the salon.

useful links: http://www.towson.edu/ows/sub-verb.htm

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm

http://www.icseenglishhelp.org/2008/11/prasal-verbs.html

Answers:

i) There __is___a cupboard and a bed in this room. ( We consider each of the things - hence singular- cupboard and bed)

ii) Either the writers or the publisher ___is____ to blame.( We consider the subject right next to the verb.)

iii) The minister and the painter ____are____ coming. (Here, the minister and the painter are two different people - if they are the same we use 'is')

iv) The team ____has____ done a good job. ( the team is considered to be singular as it is a collective)

v)  The pair of trousers __are___ on the bed.( The pair is considered as plural - so we use are)

vi) The committee ___is___ working on  the issue. (The committee acts as one unit - so we use the singular verb)

vii) Neither the students nor the teacher ____is_____enjoying the show.

viii) Neither the students nor the teachers ____are____ enjoying the show.

ix) Which of those charts ___is____yours? ( Which refers to a singular subject)

x) The costume with all its accessories _____has____ reached the salon.( The costume is the main subject and is singular)

The thumb rule to follow is - check whether the subject is singular or plural - then proceed.

Phenomenal Woman- Dr.Maya Angelou

To think that someone who has been through so much in life can be so positive that she inspired people across the globe, not only as long as she lived but now even after she's passed away. Truly a phenomenal woman!

Really, what a wonderfully thought - provoking poem have we read together, Class XI! I hope you've been prodded to read more about Dr. Maya Angelou after reading it.

Here, for you is the poem recited by none other than the poet herself. Listen and enjoy!

To understand the kind of person she was - even just a bit you must listen to what she has to say about humane qualities that exist in all of us. 'I am a Human Being!' She reaffirms.

If you want to take a walk through her life, listening to what she has spoken to millions the world over about,  watch this documentary that speaks volumes about her-

If you would like to know a little more about her, here's a film that takes you back in time.

Angelou speaks about her childhood in this video.

Do listen to these and let us share in class what more you have found out about Maya Angelou . What did you find fascinating about her life and her work?

You can read a lot about her - there's a host of material all over the internet. This particular article- http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/06/04/maya-angelou-phenomenal-woman-indeed/9950061/ was written when she passed away last year.