–
Monthly Bulletin – Level 3 Issue 5 November 2016
Advancing Career Skills
Better Employment for a Better Life
Unit 5
A Strange Love Poem
Exercise 1
Read the following poem and fill in the blanks with suitable rhymes. In the last verse
the rhymes should be internal rhymes, ie matching a word in the same line.
In the fourth verse, you should find words that occur elsewhere in the poem that
provide internal rhymes.
Exercise 2
Match the highlighted words with these meanings – good spirits, shines, relation,
being jealous, making cold, tomb, bad spirits, separate, special good spirits, were
jealous,
Exercise 3
Read the poem aloud, individually in turn, and then in groups. Emphasize the songlike quality of the poem as you read.
Annabel Lee
(Edgar Allan Poe -1809-1849)
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may ……..
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
Rhyme and Rhythm
Functional Language
Rhythms to express feelings
Doing a Survey
Chronological Charts
Prepositions
Important Announcement
When you study this unit, pay
careful attention to the building
blocks of language. This includes
learning how sentences are
formed, and how you join them
together to show events in
sequence or explain how and
why they happened. You must
also learn the different ways in
which we use verbs or action
verbs.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the ……..:
But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from ……,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than …… And neither the angels in heaven ……..,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
For the moon never beams, without bringing me ……..
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright ……
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-long, I go on with my …….
Of my wonderful Annabel Lee.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came ….. of the cloud by night,
………. and killing my Annabel Lee.
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Exercise 4
Write a short poem of your own, half serious like this one, and half entertaining, about a beautiful tree that has fallen, or a cake
that you have eaten.
Repairing a television
Exercise 5
Act out the following conversation in your different groups. .
Mr. Rupasinghe’s television set isn’t working. Padma and Rani, his two children, are worried about this. Mr. Rupasinghe calls
Nimal the TV technician to repair it.
Nimal
Mr. R
Rani
Mr. R
:
:
:
:
Padma
Rani
Padma
Rani
Nimal
:
:
:
:
:
Padma
Mr. R
Nimal
Mr. R
Rani
Padma
Nimal
Mr. R
Nimal
Rani &
Padma
Nimal
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
What’s wrong with the TV, Mr. Rupasinghe?
I don’t really know
It was working yesterday.
I switched on for the news bulletin at six this morning and
there was no picture.
And it doesn’t work now.
I think it may be the power connection…..
Oh really, Rani, as if you know.
…or it might be the input terminals.
Well, let me have a look inside. Have you switched off the
electricity?
I’ll do that.
What seems to be the problem?
It could be the tube – I hope not – that’s very expensive to repair.
Oh dear, I hope it’s not that.
Can you fix it by tonight? I want to watch the cricket match.
Oh. Do be quiet, Rani. Let Nimal get on with his work.
Ah – that’s it. The aerial terminal is faulty.
Is that all?
Yes. I’ll replace it. Your TV will soon be working again.
: Oh, thank you.
: Now you can watch your cricket match.
Exercise 6
Read the conversation on the problem that occurred and answer the following questions. Give reasons for your answers where
they are not obvious from the text.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the possible problems that are suggested?
Which sister is older?
What important safety measure is indicated here?
Has Nimal been to the house before?
Will replacing the aerial terminal be expensive?
Exercise 7
Match the sentences in Column A with their functions or purpose in Column B
Language Functions – A
Examples - B
(a) What’s wrong with the TV ?
(i)Expressing gratitude
(b) The aerial terminal is faulty
(ii) Making a suggestion
(c) I think it may be the power Connection
(iii) Expressing irritation
(d) Oh, do be quiet, Rani.
(iv) Asking for information
(e) Thank you.
(v) Giving information
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A Critical War Poem
Exercise 8
Read the following poem and match the highlighted words to these meanings - group of guns, fired, broken, section of an army,
swords, made a mistake, fell back, upset, pushed into, measure of distance
The Charge of the Light Brigade
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson -1809-1892)
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league, onward,
All in the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!’ he said,
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Exercise 9
Note that all the pronouns in this poem refer to the six hundred men who made up the Light Brigade, except for the singular
pronoun. It is not clear to whom that refers. Apart from what he said, is there a verb in the poem that could apply to him?
The noun to which the possessive pronoun ‘theirs’ refers is not clear. You need to understand that that sentence means ‘It was
not their business (or responsibility) to make a reply, it was only their business to do (what was required) and die’. The word but
means ‘only’ here.
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Almost all the verbs in the poem refer to the Light Brigade. Identify the verbs in the fourth verse, full and participles, that apply
to others.
In the one before the last line of the fourth verse, the pronoun still applies to the Light Brigade. What is the effect of the last
line? Where is this made more clear?
Exercise 10
Read the poem aloud, individually in turn, and then in groups. Emphasize the rhythms which are different from those usually
used in English. In most lines the first syllable is emphasized, and then the next two are not emphasized. This helps to create
the sense of a horse galloping.
Normally, in English speech, and therefore in poetry, syllables go in sets of two, one of which is emphasized. When this changes,
so that there are sets of three, the poem moves more quickly.
When two syllables are emphasized one after the other, the poem slows down. This helps to create a sense of seriousness or
sadness. Make sure when you read that you emphasize the last two lines of the fourth verse correctly.
Exercise 11
This poem was written about a real incident in a war that took place between England and Russia in the 1850s (Cossacks were
supposedly very brave fighters amongst the Russians). Write a brief report of this incident from the point of view of
a.
one of the survivors of the Light Brigade
b.
the officer who gave the order to charge
c.
one of the Russians or Cossacks who survived
Exercise 12
In groups prepare and present the discussion that may have taken place between various officers before the Light Brigade was
ordered to charge.
Write in your own words an account of this discussion and of the charge of the Light Brigade, and also the discussion that took
place afterwards.
Conversation
Read the following conversation between a teacher and students who are planning to organize an English Day. Fill in the blanks
with suitable helping verbs, including modal verbs (note when you have to use a modal verb that requires ‘to’ before the action
verb).
Teacher
Students
Teacher
Students
Teacher
Students
: What sort of events should we have?
: We ……… have a debate, and also a recitation contest.
But that …… allow only the best students to take part. We should try to include everyone.
: I ………. (not) think everyone can take part. We need an audience as well. But you’re right, we ……… involve many
students.
: What about a play? If we find something with many characters then lots of students …….. take part.
It …….. (not) be easy finding a play with many things for lots of students to say.
It doesn’t have to be much. And it will be all right if several students speak together, so long as they all speak.
What about the story of the frog and the swans?
But the swans were so proud that they ……. not talk to the frog.
: But later, when the hunter trapped them, and they needed help, they spoke. That would be good, since many
students ……..all ask together for help.
: Even the weaker students …….. enjoy themselves shouting for help.
But we should also give the better students a chance to show their abilities. We …….to think of an interesting
topic to allow them to shine.
Now prepare and act out a conversation in which you discuss the topic of the debate.
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How a television works
Read the text and complete the exercises given.
How does a television work? The picture we see on television has been transmitted
into the tube behind the television screen by electricity.
The picture begins in the television camera. The television camera has a light
sensitive plate. The image of the scene in front of the TV camera goes through the
camera lens and on to the plate. It is turned into hundreds of horizontal lines. Each
line is made up of tiny dots of light. These dots are turned into electric signals,
which are in turn changed into radio waves at the TV transmitter. These waves
travel through the air to the television aerial on the roof of your home.
The aerial turns the waves into electric signals, which pass into the TV set, and are
changed into an electric beam in the tube behind the screen. This beam is pointed
at the screen and moves from left to right, receiving the signals as they come in.
The pictures are built up rapidly dot by dot and line by line. This happens in a split second, so we see these separate images as
one picture. This picture is the same picture which the TV camera is filming.
When we watch our television, we see three colour pictures at once: one red, one green and one blue. Our eyes combine these
to form one picture in full colour.
Television pictures are sent through the air in the form of radio signals. They start from the television camera (1), then go to the
transmitter (2). The radio signals are picped by an aerial on the building (3) which is connected to the television.
Exercise 13
Work in pairs to answer the following questions.
(1) Where does the TV picture begin?
(2) What does the plate in the television camera do?
(3) What does the TV transmitter do?
(4) What is the function of the TV aerial?
(5) At which point do radio waves turn back into electrical signals?
(6) What are three main colours used in colour TV?
Exercise 14
In groups discuss how often you watch television and what your favourite programmes are. Choose one programme you think
others should watch, and one you think they should not waste their time watching. Present your arguments to the class.
Discuss the presentations as a class and decide which was the most persuasive about watching, and which the most
persuasive about not watching.
Exercise 15
In groups, do a survey of programme preferences. Prepare a questionnaire, which each group should get filled by all the other
students. The purpose is to find out the percentages that like each of the following categories of programmes - News /
Teledramas / Cartoons / Music Shows / Sports / Documentaries / Others
Each group should design its own questionnaire, which can include attention to individual programmes and to different
television channels as well as to categories, but remember that there should be a purpose to each question.
After you have finished your survey, prepare a pie-chart that records preferences. Write a letter to at least three television
stations making your suggestions for better programming.
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Religions
Exercise 13
Read the following text and answer these questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
From where did the Aryans come?
Who were the earlier inhabitants of India?
What are the sacred books of the Hindus called?
Who are the principal gods in Hinduism?
Name three other gods and what they represent.
Which Emperor from which dynasty abandoned Hinduism in favour of Buddhism?
Which Emperor from which dynasty encouraged Hinduism though he was of another religion himself?
In what countries and in what island is Hinduism the main religion now?
What is the main religion of the rest of Asia?
Under whose rule did Hinduism spread to other parts of the world?
Exercise 14
Using the information in the passage, fill up the blanks in this chronological chart of developments in Hinduism.
Date
2000 BC
1st millennium AD
Beginning of 2nd
millennium AD
Event
Hinduism enters Asia
Hinduism replaced by
Buddhism
Co-existence of
Hinduism and Islam
Place
From Central Asia
India – Mauryan
Empire
South East Asia
From West Asia
Persons(s)
Aryan invaders
Muslim invaders
Akbar
Various parts of the
world
Using this table, write a brief account of the development of Hinduism over the last 4000 years.
Hinduism
Hinduism is by far the oldest of all the religions practiced widely in the world today. Unlike the other widely practiced religions, it
did not come from one teacher. Again, unlike those other religions we cannot say exactly when it started.
It is the main religion of India and, apart from in India, most people who practise Hinduism in the world are descended from
people who moved from India in the last couple of hundred years. But we cannot be sure that Hinduism actually began in India.
Some people believe Hinduism began when invaders from Central Asia, called the Aryans, moved into India somewhere around
2000 BC.
The term Hindu is said to come from the Indus river, which was named Sindhu initially and pronounced by the Aryans as Hindhu.
It is also possible that they were influenced by the religion of the previous inhabitants of India, who are generally known as
Dravidians.
Hinduism took on a form similar to that which we know now after the Aryan migration. Holy books called the Upanishads and the
Vedas were written and are still considered the basis of Hinduism. Vedas means knowledge and it is claimed that the wise men
who wrote the Vedas received this knowledge as revelation from God.
There is a very strong philosophical aspect to Hinduism, which is based on the study of the Upanishads. The qualities and
different roles of the three main Hindu gods, Brahma and Shiva and Vishnu, are complex and difficult to understand. Most
Hindus are particularly devoted to one of these Gods as the main spiritual influence in their lives.
There are also a number of other gods in Hinduism, which suggests that earlier religions based on natural phenomena were
absorbed as Hinduism developed more philosophical aspects. This is different from what happened in religions such as
Christianity and Islam, which are based on a single god. As these religions emerged, they rejected the many gods of the cultures
that had previously flourished amongst the people who adopted the new religion.
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Hinduism however seems to have retained earlier beliefs too, so that gods such as Indra and Agni, personifying Rain and Fire,
are still worshipped. In addition Hinduism recognizes gods who represent desirable qualities, such as Ganesh who personifies
Wealth, or Saraswathi who personifies Learning.
Though Hinduism seems to have dominated India in the first part of the first millennium BC, it was challenged in the middle of
that millennium by two new religions, Jainism and Buddhism, both of which were founded by individuals whose dates and lives
have been recorded. These two religions proved welcome to many people who had felt themselves oppressed by the caste
system of Hinduism, which confined power and influence to a few people.
Buddhism in particular became the religion of most of India when it was taken up by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in the 3rd
century BC. But there was a reaction, and the Brahmins who were the dominant caste in Hinduism had reasserted their
influence by the middle of the first millennium AD.
There was a second challenge to Hinduism towards the end of that millennium, with the arrival of Islam from West Asia. There
were several Muslim conquerors of various parts of India, and at first the religion spread rapidly. Later however, with Mughal
emperors such as Akbar in the 15th century, there was encouragement of Hinduism too, and it remained the religion of a
majority of the inhabitants of India.
Hinduism had spread through traders to other parts of Asia during the first millennium AD, though it was dominant only in
present day Malaysia and Indonesia. In the rest of South East Asia and China and Japan Buddhism in its different forms
continued to dominate. With the arrival of the Muslims, Hinduism faded in the rest of Asia. It is therefore the principal religion
now only in India, in the north of Sri Lanka, and in Nepal, which lies just to the north of India. However it is also the main religion
of the sizeable Indian populations who settled in Africa or the West Indies or the Pacific or the central hills of Sri Lanka during
the 19th century during British rule. And it continues as the main religion of the small island of Bali in Indonesia, which had
remained predominantly Hindu when the rest of Indonesia converted to Islam.
Exercise 15
Note the highlighted phrases, which are in the past perfect tense. Actions described in that tense had occurred in the distant
past but were of interest at a particular point in the past after their occurrence.
Thus, in the first example, we are talking about the time at which the gods were rejected. What period are we talking about in
the next example? In the third example, the focus is the end of the first millennium AD. In the third example, the focus is the
period at which the Muslims arrived. Hinduism had spread well before that, which was relevant because it faded now ‘With the
arrival of the Muslims’. What is the period focused on in the last example?
Identify the subject of these past perfect verbs. Where it is a pronoun, to what does that pronoun refer?
Exercise 16
Match the italicized words above with these meanings – faithful, complicated, thousand years, be the most important, things
that happen and can be seen, treated badly, something given direct, limited, support for, been popular
Exercise 17
Identify five clauses in this passage, along with the conjunctions used, which show connections of time or reason or result. You
may include concessional clauses (where what was expected did not happen) amongst clauses of reason.
Exercise 18
Read the following passage and answer these questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Where did Islam begin?
Where was Prophet Mohammed born?
Who is considered a Prophet by both Jews and Arabs?
What was Mohammed known for before he became a Prophet?
Who was Mohammed’s wife?
What is the Holy Book of Islam called?
Who is supposed to have dictated God’s message to Mohammed?
What was the most important new teaching of Islam?
To which city did Mohammed have to escape?
How far west did Islam spread?
Exercise 19
To what do the pronouns highlighted here refer?
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Exercise 20
Form questions to which the italicized phrases provide answers.
Islam
The most recent of the main religions practiced in the world today is Islam. Those who believe in Islam are called Muslims. Islam
began in what is now Saudi Arabia, and is associated with the Arabs who live in the Middle East, though now it is practiced in
many parts of the world amongst different races and different cultures. However, all Muslims see themselves as brothers
because of their common religion.
Before the birth of the founder of Islam, the Arabs had various different religions, none of which were widely practiced or highly
thought of. A new religion was needed in that area, and when it arose it rapidly spread throughout an area extending from Spain
in Europe across much of Africa and Asia into India and parts of China.
Who was the Great Teacher who preached this religion? We call him Prophet Mohammed. A prophet is someone who speaks to
people on behalf of God. This prophet was born in Mecca around 571 AD. He came from a good family but his parents died
when he was quite young.
Mohammed was a man of high principles. He was known to be totally honest and he worked for some time for a rich widow
named Kadijah. Since he handled her affairs so well, after some time she asked him to marry her, although she was 15 years
older than he was.
It was a happy marriage but Mohammed had already begun to think about spiritual matters. At that time Mecca was already a
holy city to which people came on pilgrimage. It was blessed with a special Black Stone which both Arabs and Jews said had
been given to Prophet Abraham by God.
Mohammed was not satisfied with the existing beliefs and he used to go to think and pray on a mountain nearby. Suddenly
there was a dramatic reawakening in his life. As was related in the Koran that he wrote, one night, when he was alone on the
mountain, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him he should devote his life to spreading the teaching of Allah. The
revelations dictated to Prophet Mohammed by him were written down in the Koran, which is the sacred book of the Muslims.
He taught belief in one God, who soon displaced the many Gods that people used to believe in. The religion spread rapidly and,
though initially Mohammed had to flee from Mecca to Medina, to escape those who opposed the new religion, before long he
came back in triumph with Islam accepted through the whole region.
When his wife died, Mohammed mourned her greatly, for she was of immense help to him. His mission lasted 23 years, before
he died at the age of 63. Soon his followers spread his religion beyond the Arabian peninsula, and by the 8th century it had
reached many parts of Asia and Africa. Muslim rulers became great patrons of culture and the arts, and the beauty of cities
such as Damascus and Delhi and Cairo and Istanbul (the name given to Constantinople by the Muslim Turks who conquered it
in 1453) was much admired throughout the world.
Exercise 21
Find on a map the places mentioned in this passage. What is the capital of Saudi Arabia? What are the countries of which the
cities mentioned in the last paragraph are now capitals?
Exercise 22
There are ten mistakes of grammar in the following passage. Rewrite it correctly.
Zoroastrianism is perhaps the older religion in the world that are still practiced, but there are very few Zoroastrian now left. The
religion began in Persia, present day Iran, nearly 5000 years ago but, when Islam spread to Persia, the Zoroastrians who were
unwilling change to the new religion were fled to India. The descendants of that Persians are the modern day Parsis of India.
The Parsis are said to be extremely honourable men. The British trusted to them because their sense of honesty was so great
and many businesses sprang up headed by Parsis in British times. The owners of the great Tata Business House of the India are
Parsis. There are very few Parsi family still in Sri Lanka. In India there are a few hundreds of thousands, mainly in Mumbai,
earliest known as Bombay.
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Prepositions
These are not generally difficult, but we sometimes make mistakes when using them after other words, so you should study the
list below –
according to
angry with/about
change to
dislike for
filled with
guilty of
wait for
agree to/with
ashamed of
comment on
divide among/between
full of
opposite to
write about/to/with
aim at
blame for
complain of/to
equal to
good for
tired of
Fill in each blank with an appropriate preposition.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
My father doesn’t approve ……… smoking.
I must apologize …… you …… being rude.
Do you believe ……… superstitions?
I look forward ……… meeting you again.
I am relying ……. you to book my ticket.
I get very annoyed ……… people who queue-jump ……… bus stops.
The car burst ……… flames.
People will laugh ……… you if you behave like this.
I am getting tired ……… hostel food.
Who is responsible ……… this mess?
My friend is always complaining ……… her husband.
My brother confided ……… me that he was in love ……… his friend’s sister.
It amazes me how some women can cope ……… both a job and a family.
There can’t be many people ……… this world who haven’t heard ……… Barack Obama.
He was born ……… 10th March ……… the year 1978.
Draw a picture with a few objects in it and write these prepositions of place in appropriate places to show the relationships they
signify
at, in, on, between, among, around, by, close by, opposite, outside, before, in front of, behind, below, above, against, outside,
under, underneath, up, upon
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