Textbook of English for Class 2

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 0223 – Mridang
Textbook for Class II ISBN 978-93-5292-434-9

First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

May 2023 Jyeshtha 1945  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
Reprinted photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the
publisher.
March 2024 Chaitra 1946  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade,
be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s
consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
 The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised
price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is
incorrect and should be unacceptable.

OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION

DIVISION, NCERT

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© National Council of Educational P.O.Navjivan
Research and Training, 2023 Ahmedabad 380 014 Phone : 079-27541446

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Opp. Dhankal Bus Stop
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Kolkata 700 114 Phone : 033-25530454

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` 65.00
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division

Chief Editor : Shveta Uppal

Chief Production : Arun Chitkara

Officer
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
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by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training, Assistant Production : Sunil Kumar
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 Officer
016 and printed at Taj Printers, 69/6A,
Najafgarh Road Industrial Area, Near Kirti
Nagar Metro Station, New Delhi - 110 015

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 Foreword

India has a rich tradition of nurturing the holistic development of children

during their most formative years. These traditions provide for complementary
roles for the immediate family, the extended family, the community, and
formal institutions of care and learning. In addressing the first eight years
of a child’s life, this holistic approach — which includes the cultivation of
sanskar which are passed on from generation to generation — has a critical
and positive lifelong influence on every aspect of a child’s growth, health,
behaviour, and cognitive capabilities in the later years.
Considering the importance of the early years in a child’s lifelong
development, the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) envisioned a
5+3+3+4 curricular and pedagogical structure as providing a much needed
focus on formal education and childcare in the country during the first five
years corresponding to ages 3-8, naming it the Foundational Stage. Classes
1 and 2 form an integral part of this Foundational Stage, continuing from
the ages of 3-6 years, in which a child’s holistic growth is taken care of in
Balvatika. An individual’s lifelong learning, social and emotional behaviour,
and overall health depend deeply upon the experiences gained during this
critical Foundational Stage.
The Policy thus recommended developing a National Curriculum
Framework specifically for this Stage, which would comprehensively guide
the whole education system toward providing high-quality education
in children’s early years, thereby carrying this momentum forward to
the other later stages of school education. Based on the principles and
objectives enunciated under NEP 2020 — as well as on research from a
range of disciplines (including neuroscience and early childhood education),
on experiences and accumulated knowledge from the ground, and on the
aspirations and goals of our Nation — the National Curriculum Framework
for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) was developed and released on 22 October
2022. Subsequently, textbooks have been developed to bring to life the
curricular approach of the NCF-FS. The textbooks attempt to connect to the
children’s real life by recognising their learning in the classroom and the
significant learning resources in the family and the community.
The approach in the NCF-FS is also resonant with the Panchkoshiya Vikas
(the development of the five sheaths of human personality) as elucidated
in the Taittiriya Upanishad. The NCF-FS enunciates the five domains of
learning, i.e., physical and motor; socio-emotional; cognitive; language and
literacy; and cultural and aesthetic, which map to the Indian tradition of
Panchkosh consisting of five kosh viz. Annamaya, Pranmaya, Manomaya,
Vijnanmaya and Anandmaya. Besides, it also focuses on integrating a child’s
experiences at home with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that would be
developed within the school’s precinct.

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 The NCF-FS, which covers Classes 1 and 2, also articulates a play-based
approach to learning. According to this approach, books form an essential
part of the learning process; however, it is also important to understand that
books are only one among many pedagogical tools and methods, including
activities, toys, games, conversation, discussion, and more. This marks a
departure from the prevailing system of merely learning from books to a
more congenial play-way and competency-based learning system, where
children’s engagement with what they do and learn becomes critical. Thus,
the book in hand must be seen as an instrument to promote a play-based
pedagogical approach in its entirety for this age group of children.
The present textbook attempts to provide competency-based content in
a simple, interesting, and engaging manner. The endeavour has been to
make it inclusive and progressive by breaking several stereotypes through
the presentation of text and illustrations. The child’s local context, which
includes traditions, culture, language usage, and rootedness in India
and is central to students’ holistic development, has been reflected in the
books. An effort has been made to make it engaging and joyful for the child.
The book integrates art and craft to help children appreciate the aesthetic
sense inherent in such activities. The textbook provides children with
situational awareness to understand the underlying concepts relating to
them in their own contexts. Though light in terms of content, this textbook
is rich in substance, providing varied experiences and integrating play-way
methods of learning through toys, games, and a variety of other activities.
It includes questions that will help children develop critical thinking and
problem-solving abilities. Besides, the textbook has rich subject matter
and activities to help children develop the necessary sensitivity towards
our environment. It also provides ample scope for our States/UTs to add/
adapt content with local perspectives in the versions that they may develop
as per the recommendations of NEP 2020.
NCERT appreciates the hard work done by the committee set up to develop
the syllabus and learning-teaching material for the foundational stage. I
thank the Chairperson of this committee, Professor Shashikala Wanjari, and
all other members for completing this task in time and in such an admirable
way. I am also thankful to all the institutions and organisations which have
generously extended their help and assistance in making this possible. I am
especially thankful to Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Chairperson of the National
Steering Committee, and its other members, including those of the Mandate
Group, its Chairperson Professor Manjul Bhargava, and members of the
Review Committee, for their timely and valuable suggestions.
As an organisation committed to reforming school education in Bharat
and continuously improving the quality of all learning and teaching material
that it develops, NCERT looks forward to critical comments and suggestions
from all its stakeholders to further improve upon this textbook.

Professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani

Director
27 January 2023 National Council of Educational
New Delhi Research and Training

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 About the Book

Language is not only a medium of communication but also a vehicle

for the continuous development of human beings. As per the National
Education Policy 2020, language plays an important role in promoting
national development and contributes to the development of a just
society. This policy has given much importance to the development
of language and literacy in the education of children as these create
a foundation for the learning of other subjects. NEP 2020 focusses
on developing the skills of learning to learn, problem-solving, logical
reasoning, critical thinking and creative thinking along with language
development at the Foundational Stage.
In consonance with the approach advocated by the National
Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2022 and for Language Education and
Literacy at the Foundational Stage, children learn concepts rapidly in
their home language. Therefore, the primary medium of instruction
would optimally be the child’s home language, mother tongue or familiar
language. Hence, here English is considered as second language (L2).
Accordingly a communication-focused approach has been adopted
in the English textbooks. The aim of this book is to enable the child
to develop strong oral language skills (adequate vocabulary and oral
expression skills) by the end of Foundational Stage. In addition to
oral language development, written language is also being introduced
to the learner in a gradual and sequential way. The textbook takes
into consideration the curricular goals, competencies and learning
outcomes mentioned in the NCF-FS 2022 and the syllabus developed
for the Foundational Stage.
Children learn through observation, imitation and collaboration.
They also learn through concrete experiences, using their senses
and acting upon the environment; this has been kept in mind while
developing the textbook. The content included in this book is drawn
from the experiences of children and is suitable for their developmental
needs as it provides ample opportunities for imagination, storytelling,
art, music and play. The content is also supported with art-integrated
and cross-curricular based activities which makes learning fun for the
child as well as reflects the life of and around the learner. Both prose
and poetry are centered around the themes of self and society, toys and
games, health and hygiene, cleanliness, environment, travel, culture,

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 national identity and patriotism and the values pertaining to Global
Citizenship Education (GCED). Further, the textbooks also encourage
the teachers to go beyond the content and use a variety of relevant
learning–teaching material depending on the context and the cognitive
appropriateness of their learners.
Illustrations are of primary importance and more so in a second
language textbook, they are not mere add-ons to the textbooks, but are
integral to it. Plenty of picture-stories as well as colourful and relevant
illustrations support all the texts throughout the book to augment
their comprehension. In addition to that, illustrations also provoke the
learner’s critical thinking.
The contents selected for learners are meaningful, engaging and
provides scope for further discussion. Sight words are a crucial part of
each poem and story to help the children with building their vocabulary.
In Class 2, although instructed writing and shared writing constitutes
a major part, independent writing has also been introduced.
An effort is made to present language-learning as a holistic process
of thinking, listening, observing, speaking, reading, imagining and
writing. So, a reading activity may be followed by a drawing task or an
oral discussion or could be preceded by a discussion on a picture and
so on. A variety of activities, tasks, songs, poems and stories help the
learner comprehend and practice the concepts. These are done through
various sections, like ‘Let us Sing’, ‘Let us speak’, ‘Let us Read’, ‘Let us
Draw’, ‘Let us Say’ and ‘Let us Write’. This not only helps the learner in
the process of language acquisition but also builds up their confidence
level.
The curricular goals (CG-as mentioned in NCF-FS) have been
addressed in the textbook. CG 9.1 ‘listens to and appreciates simple
songs, rhymes and poems’ finds ample reflection in the action songs and
engaging short poems given at the beginning of every chapter. Young
learners are encouraged to think of rhyming words, which addresses
CG 9.2. Words related to familiar objects and events from day-to-day life
are found in all the lessons in this textbook. This is related to CG 9.7—
‘knows and uses enough words to carry out day-to-day interactions
effectively and can guess the meaning of new words by using existing
vocabulary’. Further, there are exercises provided for young learners
to engage in meaningful conversation, which is very important in L2.
CG 9.3 rightly addresses ‘converses fluently and can hold a meaningful
conversation’.
One of the highlights of the book is the focus on communication in
each lesson/chapter/theme in the subsection titled ‘Let us speak’. The
objective of the activities is to encourage conversation and develop the
child’s confidence in speaking in English, so that the child will move
progressively towards independent engagement with English language.
Activities such as ‘Colour the hut’ are examples of a series of
instructions that the child needs to understand to complete a given
task, as indicated in CG 9.4. Interesting stories in simple language

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 are provided in the textbook in accordance with CG 9.5 and CG 9.6
which covers comprehension and narration of stories and identification
of characters. A lot of exercises related to phonological awareness have
been introduced at regular intervals throughout the book, to address
CG 11.1. Phonological awareness is the ability to discriminate between
similar sounding words. Since a child who is phonologically aware is
more likely to become a successful reader, it was important to find
ways of developing this awareness through tasks given in the textbook.
Most importantly, children are encouraged to have fun and play with
words.
One of the major recommendations of NCF-FS 2022 is the inclusion
of knowledge of India. Indian values and traditions have been presented
to the learner in an easily comprehensible and acceptable way. This
has been achieved through aptly placed illustrations with Indian local
games and Indianised form of Cricket i.e. bat-ball in ‘Out! Out!’, and
with the simple yet meaningful portrayal of regional diversity in ‘We
are all Indians’. ‘Little Drops of Water’, a short yet an important poem is
reflective of the Indian value of cooperation and peaceful co-existence.
In Unit 1 titled ‘Fun With Friends’, children get a glimpse of having
fun by oneself in ‘My Bicycle’ and the joy of playing a variety of games
like Bat-ball, gilli-danda with friends during holidays
In Unit 2 titled ‘Welcome to My World’ young learners are exposed
to a variety of verbs through the actions they do in ‘It’s Fun’ whereas
‘Seeing without Seeing’ sensitises them towards differently abled people.
It also introduces the idea of belonging to home and beyond in ‘This is
My Town’.
Unit 3 titled ‘Going Places’ focuses on the concept of travel and modes
of transport — the journey of reaching school from the perspective of a
young learner.
Unit 4 ‘Life Around Us’ brings forth the skill of observation,
imagination and perception in the poem ‘A Show of Clouds’. It also
includes a story of a fly that has forgotten its name.
The poem “The Crow” brings out the concepts of self-esteem and
the idea of self in a subtle way. Hygiene and cleanliness is the central
idea of the story “The Smart Monkey” which brings into discussion the
necessity of taking care of oneself and of the surroundings. Chapter 8
focuses on regional and National identity, patriotism and togetherness.
The chapter aligns with the Indian ethos of ‘Unity in Diversity’. The
chapter ends with a short play on ‘Charkha’ and its association with
Mahatma Gandhi.
Multilingualism has been interwoven into the tasks and activities
with specific guidelines to the teacher, wherever required. This facilitates
the learner to move progressively from the home language to English.
It also helps to shift from teacher-driven classroom to learner-centric
classroom.

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 This book aids in the holistic development of the learner. The chapters
aim at stimulating development of socio-emotional domain of children,
through poems and narratives related to their family, neighbourhood
and community.
Language and literacy, physical, socio-emotional, aesthetic and
cognitive domains have been integrated along with the development of
positive habits to create a learning impression in totality for children.
Development of Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, and Vignyanmaya
kosha is an ongoing process which leads to the manifestation of
Anandmaya kosha. The present textbook is a step in this direction.
In addition to the material provided in the textbook, teacher may
also use the matter embedded in the QR code. Further, as suggested in
‘Note to the teacher’ sections given throughout the book, teachers are
encouraged to use local stories, proverbs and objects in the classroom,
as well as audio and video support from DIKSHA platform. The textbook
is only one tool, learning needs many resources.
This textbook is not the only source of learning, children learn
much more while observing the environment around them, talking
to peers and elders including grandparents, making things of their
interest, watching TV, playing with mobile, toys and games, listening
stories, poems, doing projects, visiting places of cultural importance
and travelling. Therefore, we, as teachers or parents, need to value this
learning which goes beyond the textbook and try to map it with the
competencies and curricular goals identified for this stage. Education
of our children is seen as our collective responsibility.

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 Development Team

Advisor
Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director, NCERT, New Delhi
Guidance
Shashikala Wanjari, Professor (Retd.) and Former VC, SNDT Women’s
University, Mumbai (Chairperson, Syllabus and Learning-Teaching
Material Development Committee)
Suniti Sanwal, Professor and Head, Department of Elementary
Education, NCERT, New Delhi (Member Convenor, Syllabus and
Learning-Teaching Material Development Committee)
Contributor
R. Savitha, Coordinator, Samvit Research Foundation, Bengaluru

Reviewers
Manjul Bhargava, Member, National Steering Committee and
Chairperson, Mandate Group
Gajanan Londhe, Director, Samvit Research Foundation, Bengaluru
Ranjana Arora, Professor and Head, Department of Curriculum Studies
and Development, NCERT, New Delhi
Jyotsna Tiwari, Professor and Head, Department of Gender Studies and
Department of Education in Arts and Aesthetics, NCERT, New Delhi
K.V. Sridevi, Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum Studies
and Development, NCERT, New Delhi
Academic Coordinator
Varada Mohan Nikalje, Professor, Department of Elementary Education,
NCERT, New Delhi

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 Acknowledgements

The text ‘We are all Indians’ is inspired by We Indians published by the
National Book Trust (NBT) which the Council gratefully acknowledges.
The lesson ‘Out! Out!’ has been taken from the graded reading series
Barkha published by NCERT.
The Council also acknowledges the efforts of Soumma Chandra,
Editor (Contractual), Publication Division, NCERT, for editing the
handbook. The Council is thankful to Pawan Kumar Barriar, In charge,
DTP Cell, Publication Division, NCERT; DTP Operators (Contractual)
Upasana, Publication Division; Kishore Singhal, Rohit Kumar,
Department of Elementary Education, NCERT, for giving this
document its final shape.
The Council is grateful to Akil Mohammad, Kadeem Ahmed
Illustrators (Aries Designing Studio); Henu Mehtani, Sanya Jain,
and Joel Gill, Artists; and Neelu and Amandeep Singh, artists and
graphic designers of CIET for providing the illustrations for the
textbook; Bharatheesha P., Graphic Designer, Rashtrotthana Parishat,
Bengaluru, and Joel Gill for creating the layout of the textbook.
The efforts of Kalpana Manwal, SRA (Contractual), Vidhi Joon, JPF
(Contractual), Shivangi Lohumi, JPF (Contractual), Onshangla Zimik,
JPF (Contractual), Department of Elementary Education, NCERT, Ilma
Nasir, Editor (Contractual), and Chanchal Chauhan, Assistant Editor
(Contractual) are appreciated for providing support in the development
of the textbook.

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 Contents

Foreword iii
About the Book v

1. Fun with Friends

My Bicycle 1
Picture Reading 8

2. Welcome to My World
It is Fun 18
Seeing without Seeing 27

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 3. Going Places
Come Back Soon 37
Between Home and School 42
This is My Town 48

4. Life Around Us
A Show of Clouds 54
My Name 61
The Crow 68
The Smart Monkey 76

5. Harmony
Little Drops of Water 84
We are all Indians 91

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