Unit 4
Reprint 2025-26
The World Wars fought in the past stand testimony to the fact that fighting wars brings severe human suffering. The sufferers, including women and children are left behind with trauma and indelible impressions on their minds.
You have read in the Class X English textbook the account of one such war in the diary of Anne Frank who captured the miseries of war in her diary. In this lesson, we will explore more about diaries, war experiences, and personal accounts of historical events.
The World Wars fought in the past stand testimony to the fact that fighting wars brings severe human suffering. The sufferers, including women and children are left behind with trauma and indelible impressions on their minds.
You have read in the Class X English textbook the account of one such war in the diary of Anne Frank who captured the miseries of war in her diary. Discuss how you may relate to Anne Frank's feelings of alienation and isolation.
Think about a time when you felt isolated or alienated from others. How did you cope with those feelings? What helped you through that difficult time?
Choose a word or expression that completes each of the following sentences:
I can't tell you the plan because I don't know about .
One should learn to defend against bullies.
The girls were helping you were probably Rahul's friends.
These dresses belong to you. I am sure they are .
The fire caused serious to the group of houses.
The board was plans for the tournament.
Refer to the lesson 'From the diary of Anne Frank' in your Class X textbook. There are some idiomatic expressions in the text. For example:
(a) Our entire class is quaking in its boots.
Quake in (one's) boot: to tremble with fear or nervousness
(b) Until then we keep telling each other not to lose heart.
Not to lose one's heart: not to lose hope or not to feel demoralised
Choose the correct meaning for each idiomatic expression:
1. "All's fair in love and war"
2. "Call the shots"
3. "Raining cats and dogs"
4. "Icing on the cake"
5. "Chalk and cheese"
6. "Breaking the ice"
Fill in the blanks using the contracted forms of the verbs:
You should not eat so much. → You eat so much.
They have written the story. → written the story.
Let us go watch a movie. → go watch a movie.
He did not play tennis. → He play tennis.
I could not find my friend in the crowd. → I find my friend in the crowd.
Here is your bag. → your bag.
I would guide him. → guide him.
They are not rich. → They rich.
Fill in the blanks with the phrasal verbs given below. Change the tense of the verbs wherever required.
Suhasini wanted to with her mother to the book shop. Her mother came back home very late. She said that her car on the way back. She had to a mechanic. She several apps for roadside assistance but then that her internet was not working.
Read this quote from Max Müller. There are errors in the text. Find out the errors and write the correct word in the space provided:
"If I was asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some for its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has find solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of them who have studied Plato and Kant, I should pointed to India. And if I were me from what literature we who has been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of the Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw the corrective which is most want in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact most truly a life... again I should point to India."
Listen to the YouTube link on 'The Siege of Leningrad' and make notes in the first box. Then write a narrative account of it in the second box.
(Source: 8th September 1941: Start of 'The Siege of Leningrad')
The following poem is taken from The Diary of Lena Mukhina:
Discuss these qualities with your partner. Think of a person who has some of these qualities and talk about them to your partner. You can highlight the incidents and actions of the person that reflect these qualities.
You have read in the passage 'A Journal of the Plague Year' by Daniel Defoe about how the news of plague was reported in those times. What are the means of reporting today?
Write a report on any one of the following — conservation of environment, plantation of trees, waste disposal, water harvesting, and the cleanliness drive under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan carried out in your locality.
Work in groups of four. Find out about 'The Bengal famine of 1943'. It was a major famine in the Bengal province in India during World War II. Collect information on the following points on The Bengal famine of 1943 for the project:
Prepare a poster using pictures and highlighting the information you have collected. Give a title of your choice to the poster and display it in the class.
One of the three islands in the Juan Fernandez archipelago, 700 km off the Pacific coast of Chile was discovered in the 16th century. Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor was marooned there for four years and four months. He related his experience to Daniel Defoe, who wrote his famous adventure book Robinson Crusoe based on the sailor's experience, since then the island is known as Robinson Crusoe.
There is a seemingly unbelievable true story of the orphaned bear cub, which was found by Polish troops during World War II who travelled with them through Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Italy and Scotland. During the war, Wojciech Narebski and his fellow Polish servicemen had to lift crates of heavy metal artillery. Fortunately for them, one of the soldiers had superhuman strength: Corporal Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear. When the bear saw that soldiers were struggling, he'd want to help... he'd come over, grab a crate and carry it to the truck. This can be heavy work, even for a bear. When Wojtek (bear) got tired, he would simply stack one crate on top of the other which also helped the soldiers because they didn't have to lift the crate off the ground. Of course, Corporal Wojtek (bear) got a reward of honey and marmalade. That was his favourite!
You know, things can happen that you wouldn't normally think are true. Collect some more stories under the title— 'Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.'