Unit 5

The Lazy Frog

Unit 5
On a school day, you are busy studying, playing and
chatting with friends. When you have a holiday from
school what do you do? Would you behave a little
like the frog in the following poem?

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 Fred is a very lazy frog
Who lolls all day upon a log.
He always manages to shirk
Doing a single stroke of work.
His poor old mother calls in vain
“Come in and help!” he does not bother
To move two inches, much preferring
To be extremely hard-of-hearing.
He lies there in a silent heap,
And stays conveniently asleep.

If a lady frog hops past

You’d think he would get up at last
To bow, and help her on her way?
But no, I am ashamed to say
That when a lady frog comes by
He does not open up one eye!
ANONYMOUS

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 New Words
loll : to lie around lazily
log : trunk of a tree that has been cut
shirk : to not do something you should do
in vain : uselessly
prefer : like something better
hard of hearing : deaf
bow : to bend your head to show respect

Let's Read

1. What did the frog do all day?

2. Besides lazy, what other word can you think of to
describe the frog?
(Hint: how he behaved with his mother…,when a lady
frog walked by…)
3. Complete the sentences with reference to the poem.
(i) When the frog’s mother called him, he pretended
to________________________________________________
(ii) When a lady frog hops by, he does not even
__________________________________________________
4. Did you like the frog’s behaviour?

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Let's Write
Refer to the poem and understand.
The frog loved to laze and lie around all day.
He did not like to do any work at all.
Now make true sentences about yourself!
Write about the people you like, a game you play, a hobby, a
habit you have. You may use the following clues.

I love….......................................................................

I like…........................................................................

I don’t mind….............................................................

I don’t like…...............................................................

I hate….......................................................................

Try and find out the same from your family members also.

Say Aloud

Add one more matching word to each pair. One has been
done for you.
log frog dog
shirk work ________________
vain deign ________________
preferring hearing ________________
heap keep ________________
past last ________________
way say ________________
What kind of words are they? ________________

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 Rip Van Winkle
This story is about Rip Van Winkle, a good-natured
but lazy man, who goes away into the hills and
falls asleep. When he awakens twenty years later,
Rip finds that quite a few things have changed!

Many years ago, at the foothills of the Kaatskill (Kat-skill)

mountains, was a little village. In the village lived a
simple, good-natured fellow named Rip Van Winkle. He
was a kind neighbour, ready to help anyone. Everyone in
the village liked him. The children of the village shouted
with joy whenever they saw him because he played with
them, he taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and
told them long stories.
The only problem with Rip was that he was very lazy.
He did no work on his own farm and just idled away his
time. His fences were falling to pieces. His cow was going
astray. Weeds grew on his farm. Rip's constant
companion was his dog, named Wolf. To avoid work, he
would walk away into the forest with his dog.
One day, Rip just walked on and on and reached the
highest part of the mountains. It was late in the
afternoon when he reached there. Tired after his long
climb, he lay down and began daydreaming. It was soon
evening and he realised it would be night by the time he
reached his village.
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 Suddenly, he heard a voice calling out, “Rip Van
Winkle, Rip Van Winkle!” He looked around and saw a
short, old man, with thick hair and a grizzled beard
walking towards him with a barrel. He made signs to help
him carry the barrel. Rip hurried to help the stranger
who caught his hand tightly.
Together they reached a place
where there were some more
odd looking men, playing
ninepins. They were all
dressed the same way and
all of them had beards of
various shapes and colours.
Even though they were
playing a game, their faces

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were serious and there was silence! The only sound was
the noise of the balls, which echoed in the mountains like
thunder.
As Rip and his companion reached them, they
stopped playing and stared at Rip with a fixed gaze. Rip
was really frightened. His companion emptied the
contents of the barrel into glasses and made Rip drink it.
Rip obeyed as he was trembling with fear. Since he was
thirsty he drank a few more glasses and slowly fell into a
deep sleep.
On waking up, he found that he was at the place
where he had first met the old man. He rubbed his eyes —
it was a bright sunny morning. “Surely, I have not slept
here all night,” thought Rip.
He looked around for Wolf, but he was nowhere. Rip
whistled for him. “Wolf! Wolf!” he then shouted. No dog
was to be seen. “Where has this dog gone?” he muttered
to himself. He began to descend the mountain to go back
to his village.

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2. What kind of a man was Rip Van Winkle?
(i) He was a kind neighbour.
(ii) _____________________________________
(iii) _____________________________________
(iv) _____________________________________

Vocabulary Building

1. Pick out the names of the games mentioned in the story.

_____________________
flying kites
_____________________
chess
ninepins
_____________________
shooting marbles
mountain-climbing
_____________________
shooting
skipping
_____________________
hopping
_____________________

2. Sometimes we join two words to make a describing

word. For example, Rip was a good-natured man,
everybody liked him.
Here are some more describing words. Use them to
complete the given paragraph.
long-sleeved high-heeled well-dressed
open-mouthed sweet-looking odd-looking
part-time

Mrs Das has a ___________________ job in a clothes

shop. Yesterday, an ___________________ woman walked

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 (ii) Fill in the blanks using the words in the previous
questions.
(a) _________________ and ________________ quickly!
You will be late for school.
(b) Shh! The baby is ________________. Don't make a
sound, or she will ________________.
(c) Are you still ________________? You should be
________________ now or you will not be able
to________________ in the morning for school.

Let's Talk

1. Lots of things must have happened in the village when Rip

was away. Imagine you are the neighbour who greets Rip
after 20 years. One student should act as Rip. Tell Rip
about all that had happened in the village after he left.
(Talk about what happened to his family, to his friends, to
the other villagers, to the children he played with, the
changes in the village… etc. Your teacher will guide you.)
You may start this way: Guess what happened on the day you
left. When you didn't come home in the evening, your wife…
2. Read the speech bubbles. Who walks to school most often?
Put them in order.

Mini
Anu
Arjun I sometimes Nazim
I don't
John I always walk to I usually
usually walk
I never walk to school, at walk to
to school. I
walk to school. I times I take school. It's
often go by
school. I live right the bus a nice way
cycle.
live very opposite also. to start the
far away. the school. day.

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 Creative Writing

1. Write about yourself using the following

expressions (do you play in the park, go to bed
late, fuss over food, study hard, etc.?)
always frequently usually
often sometimes rarely
For example: I always do my work neatly.
(i) __________________________________________________
(ii) __________________________________________________
(iii) __________________________________________________
(iv) __________________________________________________
(v) __________________________________________________

2. Use the following clues to complete the following exercise.

play stop buy learn see meet learn be

eat go travel start read visit
(i) Write three new things you have done in the last
three years.
(a) I have started ______________________________
(b) ____________________________________________
(c) _____________________________________________
(ii) Write three things you have not done in the last
three years.
(a) I have not played __________________________
(b) ____________________________________________
(c) _____________________________________________

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