Learning Together
Unit 1
LEARNING TOGETHER
The Day the River Spoke
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Close your eyes and quietly listen to the sounds around you for a minute.
1. Are they trying to tell you something?
2. Do you think the things around you also listen to you all day long?
Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher.
II Jahnavi was a bright young girl who lived with her parents and three
brothers in a coastal village in India. Her parents worked on the farm.
She had a dream.
1. What could that dream be?
2. How could she make her dream come true?
3. What is your dream? What can you do to make your
dream come true?
Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher.
Reprint 2026-27
, Poorvi
Let us read
splashed: fell in I
drops, making a
sound A big bright tear splashed down her nose. And another.
slithered: moved
A kingfisher swept down, its wings an arrow of blue in the
by sliding from sunlight. And a green lizard slithered down to the river’s edge
side to side to bask in the sun.
murmuring: “Dear, dear!” said a sleepy, murmuring voice, “What’s the
speaking in a matter?”
low voice
Jahnavi was startled, because she was sure she had been quite
startled: alone. It couldn’t have been the lizard. And the kingfisher was
surprised up in the thicket of bamboo eating the fish it had caught. It
couldn’t be the parrots, because parrots shrieked and this was
thicket: a dense such a sleepy voice. She looked around her. There wasn’t a
group of bushes
soul in sight. She was rather scared and wanted to run away.
and trees
shrieked: made
“You shouldn’t cry, you know,” the voice went on. “And you
a high-pitched really shouldn’t be scared, when you have been coming here
sound to see me every day, well, almost every day.”
2
Reprint 2026-27
, Learning Together
She was puzzled. It was such a voice, like
the river. It couldn’t be the river!
“Well, tell me all about it,” said the River,
for it was the River. “I’ve got to hurry to reach
the sea, you know.”
“They won’t let me go to school,” said Jahnavi.
“I asked my mother, ‘Why can’t I go to school
like Ettan and Meena?’ And Mother had
replied, ‘You are too small, baby. Maybe
later.’ ” But when she was five, little
Ramu was born and Mother still said,
“Maybe next year. Jahnavi, mind your
little brother while I go to the fields.”
Now, she was nearly ten and minding
Little Appu, who was the smallest. “They
don’t want me. They only...”—she stopped with a sob...
“I am scared to go to school. And I’m so old now, they’ll never
let me go. But I want to go. I want to learn to read like Ettan
and Meena.” Jahnavi called her brother ‘Ettan’. Ettan means
‘Elder brother’, but his real name was Gopi. “I want to know
why spiders are yellow in yellow flowers, why bamboo
trees rustle, why the moon always comes from rustle: light
behind the hills, never the other way, why sound made by
the baby fish in the field water become leaves rubbing
against each
frogs, why...”
other
“Stop!” said the River. “You make me
breathless. So many whys! I can tell
you where the moon goes,” the River
said conspiratorially. “It goes down conspiratorially:
towards the sea. I’ve seen; it always secretly
takes the same way—over the
mountains and down to the sea,
like me!”
Let us discuss
1. What was Jahnavi’s dream? Was it
important to her? Why?
2. Do you think the river can help
her in fulfilling her dream? How?
3
Reprint 2026-27
, Poorvi
II
“Even little Ramu goes to school,” said Jahnavi, “pity, the school
isn’t by the sea,” said the River. “Then I could take you along,
you know. But, I suppose I couldn’t really. You’d get your feet
clump: wet. And that would never do! I’m afraid there’s only one thing
a small group of
you can do.”
trees growing
together “Can I do something?” asked Jahnavi. “Well, it’s up to you,”
said the River. “Seems to me little girls can do as much as little
boys—they swim as fast as little boys. You just slip along one
rattling: noise
made by shaking
morning and sit there in the school and listen to what’s going
things on, and maybe the teacher will let you stay.”
“I couldn’t,” gasped Jahnavi. “I couldn’t! They’d scare me!
catamaran: a They’d chase me out.”
kind of boat The River laughed. “You? Scared?” the River said, “when you’re
not afraid of the green lizard, or of the snake in the bamboo
wailed: (here) clump, (Jahnavi startled) or the big trains rattling past that
complained in a bridge.” “Trains are noisy; I prefer ships,” said the River.
loud voice
Jahnavi never knew the snake lived in the bamboo clump.
“What are ships?” she asked.
“Big boats,” said the River, “so big that they can take hundreds
of people, and they sail along the sea with lights that shine all
night.”
Jahnavi held her breath. “Will they come here?” she asked.
“I’m afraid not,” said the River. “Too large, you know. Chandu’s
catamaran is good enough for me. Chandu can take you to see
a ship, someday.”
“They’d never let me!” wailed Jahnavi.
“Try going to school first,” said the River. “Remember—it’s up
to you!”
4
Reprint 2026-27
Unit 1
LEARNING TOGETHER
The Day the River Spoke
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Close your eyes and quietly listen to the sounds around you for a minute.
1. Are they trying to tell you something?
2. Do you think the things around you also listen to you all day long?
Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher.
II Jahnavi was a bright young girl who lived with her parents and three
brothers in a coastal village in India. Her parents worked on the farm.
She had a dream.
1. What could that dream be?
2. How could she make her dream come true?
3. What is your dream? What can you do to make your
dream come true?
Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher.
Reprint 2026-27
, Poorvi
Let us read
splashed: fell in I
drops, making a
sound A big bright tear splashed down her nose. And another.
slithered: moved
A kingfisher swept down, its wings an arrow of blue in the
by sliding from sunlight. And a green lizard slithered down to the river’s edge
side to side to bask in the sun.
murmuring: “Dear, dear!” said a sleepy, murmuring voice, “What’s the
speaking in a matter?”
low voice
Jahnavi was startled, because she was sure she had been quite
startled: alone. It couldn’t have been the lizard. And the kingfisher was
surprised up in the thicket of bamboo eating the fish it had caught. It
couldn’t be the parrots, because parrots shrieked and this was
thicket: a dense such a sleepy voice. She looked around her. There wasn’t a
group of bushes
soul in sight. She was rather scared and wanted to run away.
and trees
shrieked: made
“You shouldn’t cry, you know,” the voice went on. “And you
a high-pitched really shouldn’t be scared, when you have been coming here
sound to see me every day, well, almost every day.”
2
Reprint 2026-27
, Learning Together
She was puzzled. It was such a voice, like
the river. It couldn’t be the river!
“Well, tell me all about it,” said the River,
for it was the River. “I’ve got to hurry to reach
the sea, you know.”
“They won’t let me go to school,” said Jahnavi.
“I asked my mother, ‘Why can’t I go to school
like Ettan and Meena?’ And Mother had
replied, ‘You are too small, baby. Maybe
later.’ ” But when she was five, little
Ramu was born and Mother still said,
“Maybe next year. Jahnavi, mind your
little brother while I go to the fields.”
Now, she was nearly ten and minding
Little Appu, who was the smallest. “They
don’t want me. They only...”—she stopped with a sob...
“I am scared to go to school. And I’m so old now, they’ll never
let me go. But I want to go. I want to learn to read like Ettan
and Meena.” Jahnavi called her brother ‘Ettan’. Ettan means
‘Elder brother’, but his real name was Gopi. “I want to know
why spiders are yellow in yellow flowers, why bamboo
trees rustle, why the moon always comes from rustle: light
behind the hills, never the other way, why sound made by
the baby fish in the field water become leaves rubbing
against each
frogs, why...”
other
“Stop!” said the River. “You make me
breathless. So many whys! I can tell
you where the moon goes,” the River
said conspiratorially. “It goes down conspiratorially:
towards the sea. I’ve seen; it always secretly
takes the same way—over the
mountains and down to the sea,
like me!”
Let us discuss
1. What was Jahnavi’s dream? Was it
important to her? Why?
2. Do you think the river can help
her in fulfilling her dream? How?
3
Reprint 2026-27
, Poorvi
II
“Even little Ramu goes to school,” said Jahnavi, “pity, the school
isn’t by the sea,” said the River. “Then I could take you along,
you know. But, I suppose I couldn’t really. You’d get your feet
clump: wet. And that would never do! I’m afraid there’s only one thing
a small group of
you can do.”
trees growing
together “Can I do something?” asked Jahnavi. “Well, it’s up to you,”
said the River. “Seems to me little girls can do as much as little
boys—they swim as fast as little boys. You just slip along one
rattling: noise
made by shaking
morning and sit there in the school and listen to what’s going
things on, and maybe the teacher will let you stay.”
“I couldn’t,” gasped Jahnavi. “I couldn’t! They’d scare me!
catamaran: a They’d chase me out.”
kind of boat The River laughed. “You? Scared?” the River said, “when you’re
not afraid of the green lizard, or of the snake in the bamboo
wailed: (here) clump, (Jahnavi startled) or the big trains rattling past that
complained in a bridge.” “Trains are noisy; I prefer ships,” said the River.
loud voice
Jahnavi never knew the snake lived in the bamboo clump.
“What are ships?” she asked.
“Big boats,” said the River, “so big that they can take hundreds
of people, and they sail along the sea with lights that shine all
night.”
Jahnavi held her breath. “Will they come here?” she asked.
“I’m afraid not,” said the River. “Too large, you know. Chandu’s
catamaran is good enough for me. Chandu can take you to see
a ship, someday.”
“They’d never let me!” wailed Jahnavi.
“Try going to school first,” said the River. “Remember—it’s up
to you!”
4
Reprint 2026-27
