THE MAN CUB

Note: The transactional processes suggested in CISCE curriculum are highlighted in grey.

Learning Outcomes
Ɣ To recognise the text as an extract from the popular ‘Jungle Book’
Ɣ To infer the importance of parental love and care
Ɣ To appreciate the love and care provided by the animals
Ɣ To comprehend the joy of caring and sharing

Pre-reading
This section focusses on assessment for Take it further by asking students who have
learning as it introduces the class to the pets, to talk about them (their names; how
concept of adoption and how the adopted they take care of them; what kind of food they
ones become a part of the family. have; how they play with them and so on).
Let students study the two images. Proceed to the next part of the Pre-reading
Ask students: section and generate a discussion on how
their own families take care of them at home
Who is Tabby? How is he being treated? (with and then gently make them aware that
love and affection) What does this tell us? animals whom we adopt, are no less than the
(that the pet is being treated as a member rest of the family and should be taken care of
of the family) with love and affection.

READING

Students read to comprehend, predict and Discuss:

organise events sequentially
Why is it important for cubs to have adults
Play the audio / Read the text and pause around? (For care and protection) Did the
at relevant points to explain / check human baby need care and protection? How
comprehension. do you think he was here without adults
Ɣ It was a quiet…to stand up around? (Allow free response) What do you
think will happen now? (Let students predict;
Ask students: this will help develop prediction skills)
What time of the day was it? Who were the Ɣ “A man’s cub!” said Father Wolf…mouth
members that made up this family? What was of the cave.
the family doing? What did they hear? What did
the wolves sense in the roar? (anger) Discuss
Did the baby feel any fear upon seeing the
Shere Khan is a . (Ans: Tiger) wolves? (No) Which words in the text tell you this?
(The baby looked up at them and laughed)

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Why was the baby not afraid? (was too small to help? What are the words that describe these
understand the dangers lurking around) animals? Can you think of other words to
Ask students: describe them? (Allow free response and list
the words on the board)
Why did they decide to take the baby inside? Do
you think Shere Khan will take the baby away? Do you think that the wolf pack will face
Why? Why not? any dangers if they decide to keep Mowgli
Ɣ What do you need…of the wolf family. with them? (Accept any logical response.
Suggested answer: Yes, they may and the
Ask students: wolf pack will have to protect Mowgli
Why was the wolf angry upon meeting Shere from Shere Khan if they keep him.)
Khan? Do you think Shere Khan was telling the
truth when he said that the parents had run Personification
away? Why do you think he said that? (he was
finding an excuse to claim the human baby) Talk to the class about how the characters in
the story have been given human traits.
What is a growl? (Let students make the Tell students that when we give human traits
animal-sound) to an object, animal, or anything that is not
Which one is louder—a roar or a growl? human it easier for readers to feel like they do
(A roar; let students ‘roar’ and ‘growl’ and and demonstrate the non-human’s role and
show the difference) feeling in the story more clearly.

How did they manage to chase Shere Khan Discuss how the characters in the story
away? Why did they have to take the consent talk and act like humans. Brainstorm with the
of the pack? (They were following the rule class all the words that point towards this
of the jungle as they should) Who else was concept. (Gender specific words like he, she…;
there besides the wolves and how did they feelings and reactions to situations; a meeting
to come to a conclusion and so on)
Post-reading
This task focusses on assessment as learning. Students learn to identify the main characters
and develop the story line while they share their thoughts with the class.
Make a flow chart on the board and let students help you fill in the details. Let them refer to
the Readers if required. They may copy in their notebooks. This will help students organise
ideas sequentially.
The main A wolf family hears the angry roar of Shere Khan and then sees a human baby.
characters: The wolves take the baby inside to keep it safe and protected from Shere Khan.
Father Wolf, Shere Khan demands that they hand over the human baby to him to which
Mother they refuse and send the tiger away.
Wolf, Shere
Khan, They name him Mowgli. That night, they show the human baby to the wolf
Bagheera, pack and ask for permission to keep the baby.
Baloo Baloo says that he would teach Mowgli all about the Jungle and Bagheera
says that he could be a part of the wolf pack.
The wolves agree with Baloo and Bagheera and Mowgli becomes a part of
the wolf family.

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GRAMMAR Collective and material nouns
Review the concept of common and proper nouns.
Direct students to form groups. Ask each group to go around the class and collect five
things. Now let them tell the rest of the class if they are common nouns or proper nouns.
Since most of what they collect may be common nouns, draw a grid on the board and
write down a mix of common and proper nouns.
Let students identify the proper nouns from the words written.
Elicit from the class what common nouns and proper nouns are. Prompt if required.
Collective nouns
Show the class, pictures of groups of things / people / animals on flashcards or a chart.
Write on the board as you show the pictures: A group of fish / A group of elephants
and so on. Underline the word group.
Proceed to explain that the word group can be replaced with school/shoal (for fish) herd
(elephants) and so on.
Explain the concept of collective nouns.
Collective nouns are names for a collection of people or things. Words like group, herd, flock
are collective nouns.
Explain the concept of material nouns with the help of the input given in the Reader.

LISTENING While-listening
The Listening task will help students stay focussed in class. Improved listening skills lead to
improved self-efficacy. Students who develop better listening skills are more likely to feel
confident and comfortable in a classroom as this helps students pick up their language
faster.
Instruct students to pay attention to the story while you play the track and to fill in the
blanks as they listen.
Play the track twice so that students complete their work/ check their work.
Review the answers.

SPEAKING Discussion
This task helps students share their opinions with their partners and assess the opinions
shared while they communicate using the right words and expression.
The images are a clear indication that animals are the happiest in their own free
environment.

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Students can thus include the following points in their discussions with their partners:
Ɣ An animal living in a forest/jungle has a better life than a caged one. It moves about
freely, eats what it wants, is surrounded by animals and not humans and breathes
free air.
Ɣ It is cruel to cage animals for our pleasure.
Ɣ Animals may feel helpless, lonely and unhappy being enclosed in cages and restricted
from moving freely.
Ɣ They may not like being watched by humans as they are used to wild animals in a forest
atmosphere/jungle.
Ɣ Cages are places where animals are treated like prisoners.
Ɣ Wild animals like to hunt their own food and will not like being fed a certain kind of
food every day.
Ɣ They may or may not be treated properly if they fall sick. (Allow free response as most
students will discuss this point based on their opinions and not prior knowledge.)
Ensure that students communicate in a precise manner and enunciate clearly, using the
right expressions. Guide them if required.
At the end of the session, have a general discussion in class and point out some good
answers and valid conversations that you captured while monitoring. This will help
students make a note of what they had missed out on.

WRITING Paragraph-writing
Explain the concept of paragraph-writing.
Tell the class that,
Ɣ a paragraph is made up of a few sentences.
Ɣ the first sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about. That is, it talks about the
main idea in the paragraph.
Ɣ the remaining sentences say something more about the main idea.
Ɣ the last sentence refers again to the main idea and closes the paragraph.
Write the first question given under Speaking and ask students to come up with their
answers. Write a few answers on the board. Point out that this tells the reader what the
paragraph is about.
Example: Today has been the saddest day in my life. I have lost my home in the jungle where
I used to roam free.
Move on to the next two questions and with the responses, help students understand how
the paragraph progresses.
Let students do the task.

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LIFE SKILLS
This integrates with EVS/Soc Studies and focusses on a wide range of skills and abilities.
Students develop intrapersonal, interpersonal and linguistic intelligences while taking part
in the discussion.

STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

The Man Cub
Pre-reading
Free response.
Comprehension
A. 1. F 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. F
B. 1. a. ‘They’ were Father Wolf and Mother Wolf.
b. Father Wolf had just woken up from sleep and Mother Wolf was lying with her
four cubs when they heard the roar.
c. Mother Wolf wondered what had made Shere Khan so angry. She and Father
Wolf walked up to the mouth of the cave to see what had happened.
2. a. The baby looked up Father Wolf and Mother Wolf and laughed.
b. The baby was standing in the bushes, in front of the cave where Father Wolf and
Mother Wolf lived.
3. a. Shere Khan wanted the baby. Mother Wolf brought the baby inside the cave to
save him from Shere Khan.
b. Father Wolf told Shere Khan that the baby belonged to the wolf family. When
Shere Khan did not leave, Mother Wolf leaped forward and told Shere Khan that
the baby was hers. She told him to leave.
4. a. Father Wolf and Mother Wolf had decided to keep the baby and came to meet
all the wolves of the jungle to show them the baby. They had to ask the pack if
they could let the baby live with them.
b. Baloo, the brown bear, and Bagheera, the wise panther, were also there at the
wolf pack meeting.
5. a. Baloo said that he would teach Mowgli the ways of the jungle. Bagheera asked
the wolf pack to let Mowgli be a part of the pack.
b. Mowgli was laughing and playing with rocks while the meeting was going on.
C. 1. No, the other animals in the jungle did not like Shere Khan.
‘“What do you need, Shere Khan?” asked Father Wolf, walking towards Shere Khan, with
angry eyes.’
Mother Wolf leaped forward, and stood in front of Shere Khan. “The man’s cub is mine!
You cannot kill him. He will live with our pack. Now, go away!”
2. Keeping the baby was dangerous because Shere Khan wanted the baby.
So, Father Wolf and Mother Wolf had to talk to the pack before deciding to keep
the baby.
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Grammar
A.
Proper nouns Common nouns
Bagheera cub
Mowgli cave
Baloo rock
Shere Khan baby
B. 1. a bunch of keys
2. a range of mountains
3. a school of fish
4. a galaxy of stars
5. a crowd of people
6. a flock of birds
7. a class of students
8. a litter of kittens
C. 1. The furniture in Ronald’s house is made of dark, polished wood.
2. Himanshi likes to wear clothes made of cotton.
3. In the past, people used metals like gold and silver to buy things.
4. Rohan told his neighbours to never burn things made of plastic.
5. Don’t play near that window. It is made of glass.
6. Please buy a ruler made of steel. Rulers made of wood sometimes break.
Vocabulary
1. fruits 2. vehicles 3. relatives 4. games 5. colours 6. countries
Listening
One day, a fisherman went to 1. the sea to catch fish. He took 2. his flute and his net with
him. He put the net on the shore and 3. started playing the flute. “Fish will 4. listen to my
music and come dancing into my net,” he thought. He 5. could not catch any fish by playing
music. Then, he kept his flute aside 6. and put his net into the sea. Soon, he had 7. ten
fish jumping in his net. He said to them, “How foolish you are! 8. You did not dance when
I played the flute. And now you are dancing without music.”
Listening text
Listen to this story and fill in the gaps as you listen. Then listen again and check your
answers.
One day, a fisherman went to the sea to catch fish. He took his flute and his net with him.
He put the net on the shore and started playing the flute. “Fish will listen to my music and
come dancing into my net,” he thought. He could not catch any fish by playing music. Then
he kept his flute aside and put his net into the sea. Soon, he had ten fish jumping in his net.
He said to them, “How foolish you are! You did not dance when I played the flute. And now
you are dancing without music.”

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Writing
Free response.
Dictionary Work
A. bush cave jungle panther wolf
B. table tennis time tread tumble twin

ANSWER KEY TO WORKSHEET 1

A. 1. P 2. C 3. C 4. P 5. C 6. P 7. P 8. C
B. Collective nouns Material nouns
1. family 1. stone
2. army 2. iron
3. group 3. cotton
4. flock 4. wood
5. team 5. plastic
6. crowd 6. paper
C.
shapes square, triangle, circle, rectangle
stationery pen, pencil, eraser, notebook
planets Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter
clothes shirt, trousers, jeans, skirt
D. Free response

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 QUESTION BANK
The Man Cub
A. Answer in brief.
1. What did the wolves sense when they heard the roar? What did they do soon after?
Ans: The wolves heard the roar and sensed that Shere Khan was angry. They found
a human baby and knew that Shere Khan must be after the baby. So, they took the
baby inside the cave and protected it.
2. What reason did Shere Khan give to claim the baby? Was he right?
Ans: Shere Khan said that the baby’s parents had run away leaving the baby behind
and that now the baby belonged to him. No, he was not right in saying this. He said
this so that the wolves would hand over the human baby to him.
B. Answer in detail.
How did the Mowgli become a part of the wolf pack?
Ans: Father Wolf and Mother Wolf found a human baby in the jungle and decided to
keep him but they had to take the consent of the pack for this. So, they took the baby
that night to the wolf pack for permission. Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear
said that the baby could stay with the wolf pack. The wolves agreed and that is how
Mowgli became a part of the wolf family.
C. Choose the Right Answer.
The wolves agreed to
a. only what Bagheera said.
b. Baloo and Bagheera
c. Shere Khan’s suggestion.
Ans: b
D. Think and answer.
How are the animals given human qualities in the story?
Ans: The story is narrated from the point of view of the animals displaying qualities of
humans. They talk and discuss as humans would do. The wolves feel love for the human
baby and want to adopt it. Shere Khan is shown as a rude and cunning personality.
He bluffs like a crook to have his way. The animals have a meeting to decide about the
baby.