Tripura Board's Class IX Language and literature Chapter-1 Note: Name of the Chapter: The Fun they Had

 

Q. How was the book that Tommy found different from his own books?

Ans. The book that Tommy found was an old, real book which belonged to his grandfather’s grandfather. It had crinkly, yellow pages whereas, Tommy’s books were tele-books and were taught by mechanical teachers and computers.

Q. What kind of book did Tommy show to Margie?

Ans. The book that Tommy showed to Margie was an old, real book which belonged to his grandfather’s grandfather. It had crinkly yellow pages, where all the stories were printed on paper and the words stood still.

Q. Why did Margie find the book strange?

Ans. The book had yellow and crinkly pages and the words were standing still unlike moving on a screen. When they turned back to the pages read before, there were the same words on it when they read it the first time. All these things were strange for Margie.

Q. Tommy thought the old books were funny and a big waste. Why?

Ans. Tommy thought that the old books were a waste because the words stood still and did not run. He also thought that they were a big waste because, they could not be reused like the screen of their mechanical teacher.

Q. Why did Margie hate school?

Ans. Margie hated school, which was a room in her house only, because her teacher was a mechanical one. It kept giving her test papers where answers had to be written as punch codes. The results were given instantly.

Q. What differences do you find in present school and the school described in the lesson ‘The Fun They Had’?

Ans. In present day schools, students studied together in a separate building and teachers are human beings whereas, according to the lesson the school was at home and the teacher was mechanical.

Q. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teachers?

Ans. Earlier, the teachers were not mechanical teachers, they taught the children in a special building where all children went to learn. They asked questions and gave them home work. They used to teach face to face.

Q. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector? What did he do ?

Ans. Margie was not performing well in her Geography tests. The County Inspector took the teacher apart and put it together again as its geography sector was geared a little too quick.

Q. Why did the County Inspector’s visit disappoint Margie?

Ans. The County Inspector’s visit disappointed Margie because she had expected that he would take her teacher (computer) away for a month like Tommy’s teacher. She also hoped that the inspector wouldn’t know how to put the teacher back (i.e., to re-assemble the components of computer) after opening it. But nothing like that happened.

Q. Why did Margie hope that the County Inspector would take away her mechanical teacher?

Ans. Margie hoped that the County Inspector would take away her mechanical teacher because once Tommy’s teacher had been taken away for nearly a month as the History sector had blocked out completely. She hoped the same for her teacher as well.

Q. What did County Inspector do to improve Margie’s performance?

Ans. The County Inspector found that the Geography sector had been geared too quick. He slowed it up to an average 10 years level. He found the overall pattern of Margie quite satisfactory.

Q. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

Ans. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers, computer and telebooks. Their school had no separate building. They had robotic teachers showing lessons and testing papers. Their teachers were always on and kept waiting for them.

Q. How was Margie’s school different from the schools that existed hundreds of years ago?

Ans. Margie’s school was at home. She had a mechanical teacher, telebooks, no other students were there in the class and work was fed in by the mechanical teacher by punch codes. Whereas, the old schools had proper buildings, many students, human teachers who gave homework and asked questions. Everyone learned the same things and the books were written on paper. So, it is clearly visible that Margie’s school was totally different from the schools that existed hundreds of years ago.