Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?
No, Mr Keesing was not a strict teacher because a teacher did something for the welfare of his students. Like every other loyal and motivated teacher, he wanted his students to concentrate on their studies. Any teacher would be annoyed ifchildren keep on talking in the class. Secondly, if he had been strict he would not have laughed at Anne’s funny arguments.
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?
Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?
There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
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
What did Mij do to the box?
Why were two national anthems sung?
At the beginning of his speech, Mandela mentions “an extraordinary human disaster”. What does he mean by this? What is the “glorious human achievement” he speaks of at the end?
Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
1. The trees lost all their leaves.
2. The letter was addressed to God himself.
3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.