Comprehension, Vocabulary Development, Adjectives, Formal Letter Writing. 

Back to: English Language Primary 5

Hey Lovelies, welcome back to class.

COMPREHENSION

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

Hare was a boastful creature. He was very proud of his sleek fur, long ears and strong legs. He ran like the wind and no one could beat him. Rabbit had tried but couldn’t beat him. Badger had tried but could not beat him. Hare boasted that there was not an animal in the world that could run faster than he could.

Tortoise was very modest creature. He thought he was rather funny-looking with his heavy shell, wrinkled skin and small eyes. He was very slow. He had never raced Hare.

“I have beaten every animal around here,” boasted Hare.

“Well,” said Tortoise, “you have never beaten me. I am unbeaten”

Hare looked at Tortoise in surprise. It was true but Hare thought the idea of racing Tortoise was ridiculous.

“If I did race against you,” said Hare, “I would win easily.”

“Maybe you would,” said Tortoise, “but until you have raced against me, you can’t boast that you’ve beaten all the animals around here.”

“Right then,” said Hare “I challenge you to a race.”

“I accept,” said Tortoise.

The next day, all the creatures came to watch the race. Owl was the referee to ensure fair play. At the starting time, Hare was limbering up, shaking out his legs and taking long, deep breaths. Tortoise was still and quiet, and looked very calm.

“Ready, steady, go!” shouted Owl. Hare ran at a tremendous speed and was almost out of sight before Tortoise had taken the first step.

The animals cried ‘Come on Tortoise! Run! Run!” Tortoise smiled a little and walked on slowly.

Hare was running very fast. He looked back over his shoulder but Tortoise was nowhere in sight. “I don’t have to run so fast,” Hare said to himself “I cab take it easy. I think I shall sit down and have a little rest.”

Hare stopped running and lay down under the shade of a huge tree. He was a little tired so he closed his eyes. “I shall just have five minutes’ rest and then head for the finish line”, he thought. Hare closed his eyes. It was very warm and peaceful and soon Hare had nodded off.

Tortoise kept walking slowly on. He didn’t look to the right. He didn’t look to the left. He looked straight ahead and kept on going. Eventually, he saw Hare asleep under a tree. He didn’t stop. He just kept walking on.

Hare suddenly woke up. “I didn’t mean to go to sleep,” he muttered. “Not to worry. I’ll still get to the finish line before that slow Tortoise!

Hare set off toward the finish line. As he ran round the last bend, he could see Tortoise up ahead almost at the finish line!

“He is winning!” Hare cried. He put on a spurt and began closing in on Tortoise. Tortoise just kept carefully walking on. Rabbit cried, “He will win! He will win!” Tortoise had almost reached the finish line. Just a few more steps! Hare ran as fast as he could but it was no use. Tortoise crossed the finish line. He had beaten Hare. All the animals cheered.

             

QUIZ

Answer the questions according to the passage.

1. Which two characters had failed to beat Hare?
2. Why did Tortoise think he was ‘funny looking’?
3. How did Hare behave at the start of the race?
4. Why did Hare think he had time to sit down and have a little rest?
5. What did Tortoise continue to do when he saw Hare asleep under the tree?
6. Who won the race?

 

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

We will be finding out the meaning of the emboldened words in our passage about the Hare and the Tortoise. Please bring out your dictionary as we look at these words.

Note that the dictionary may have different meanings for a word. The meanings we gave these words are according to the passage.

 

Boastful… Always saying how good you are.

 

Sleek… Smooth and shiny.

 

Modest… Not talking about yourself.

 

Ridiculous… Really silly.

 

Tremendous… Great.

 

 

GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that describe a person or thing. They tell us what something is like. Also, adjectives are words that give more meaning to nouns by describing them. They answer questions like “what kind” or “how much.”

 That’s a good point.

Good is an adjective that gives more meaning the noun “point”. Good talks about the quality of the noun “point.”

My dad bought a blue car. Blue here shows color.

Pizza is delicious. Delicious refers to how pizza tastes.

My country is more peaceful now. Peaceful shows the present state of my country.

She likes to use contrasting colors in her painting. Contrasting shows the kind of colors.

My roommate is very talkative. Talkative shows how my roommate is.

 

 

WRITING

FORMAL LETTER

A Formal Letter is a letter written for official purposes. Formal letters are also called Official Letters. They are letter written to your principal or headteacher, an organization or to an editor of a newspaper or magazine.

A Formal Letter is a serious letter and so you cannot write like you are writing to your friends, classmates or relatives. In a formal letter writing, you cannot use contracted forms like don’t or can’t. You should rather use don not or cannot.

You also cannot use idioms. An example is under the weather, you should rather use sick.

You use also use direct words. You should say for example, increase rather than go up. You should use Television in place of TV in formal writing. Expressions like these are considered informal.

You may write a formal letter to seek permission, make inquiry about something, apply for job, express dissatisfaction or complain about something, to appeal about something, etc.

FEATURES OF FORMAL LETTERS.

Sender’s Address.

Date… 2^nd Oct, 2024

Recipient’s Job Position… Manager, Director, Principal.

Recipient’s Address

Salutation… Dear Sir/Ma

Title of the Letter… Letter of Complaint

Opening Paragraph… State your purpose for writing the letter.

Subsequent Paragraph, should be two

Closing Paragraph

A word of thanks

Complimentary Close… Yours Faithfully/ Regards

Signature

Sender’s Name

Sender’s Position (if necessary)

 

We will be writing a formal letter in our next class.

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