Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Chubukov says of Natalya: “... as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a lovesick cat...” Would you agree? Find reasons for your answer.

Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

   greedy            naive                   stupid                ungrateful 
   selfish            comical               unquestioning

Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?

Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

What ideals does Nelson Mandela set for the future of South Africa?

Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?

How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his country

(i) in the first decade, and
(ii) in the final decade of the twentieth century?

Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?

Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)

Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

What does Mandela mean when he says he is “simply the sum of all those African patriots”, who had gone before him ?

Have you ever had a similar experience, where your parents encouraged you to do something that you were too scared to try? Discuss this in pairs or groups.

Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
 

What kind of a person is Valli? To answer this question, pick out the following sentences from the text and fill in the blanks. The words you fill in are the clues to your answer.

There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

Match the words on the left with a word on the right. Some words on the left can go with more than one word on the right.

(i) a portion of – blood
(ii) a pool of – cotton
(iii) flakes of – stones
(iv) a huge heap of – gold
(v) a gust of – fried fish
(vi) little drops of – snow
(vii) a piece of – water
(viii) a pot of – wind

What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?