Note to mentor: Please send the entire lesson, EXCLUDING these instructions to your mentee. This week’s lesson consists of a story on friendship, a fill in the blanks exercise which uses verbs from the story and a poem. Please explain the new vocabulary contained in this story to your mentee. It is up to you and to your mentee, but they might like to memorize this poem on friendship. The poem is called Talk to Me!
Paragraph .
Hari’s Restaurant
Aakash loved telling jokes. They weren’t very funny, but his best friend, Hari, thought they were. Hari would laugh so hard at the jokes that tears would roll down his cheeks.
But one day, Aakash said to his friend, “Do you want to hear my new joke?
Hari didn’t reply. His thoughts were far away.
Again Aakash asked, “Do you want to hear my new joke?
Hari replied, “Do you think you could tell it to me later? I’m rather busy just now. I’m making important plans.”
“What could be more important than hearing my new joke?” Aakash shook his head sadly.
Hari continued, “I’m planning to open a restaurant. It will be very hard work, but you’ll help me, won’t you?”
Hari worked very hard. He organized the kitchen and wrote menus. He bought furniture, plates and bowls and glasses and cutlery.
His friend sat in their favourite spot under the shade of a tree and looked most unhappy.
The restaurant was a great success. It was filled with people all day.
Hari worked hard. He chopped vegetables, he sliced mangoes and bananas and squeezed lemons and oranges all day.
He ran backwards and forwards from the kitchen to the tables.
By the time he closed for the night, he was exhausted.
The next day was just the same and so was the next.
By the end of the week, Hari was not just tired, but also miserable and bad-tempered.
That night, he cried.
Everything was going wrong. He was so proud of his restaurant, but it was too much work for one person. And the worst thing was that his best friend was annoyed with him. Aakash was his only real friend!
He was lost in thought when he heard Aakash say, “Do you need anything?”
Aakash told a joke and then another. They weren’t funny, but Hari roared with laughter. The customers started to laugh, too.
At the end of a long day, the two friends sat under the stars and told jokes and stories.
“Would you like to hear my new joke?” asked Aakash.
“Yes, please,” replied Hari.
Well, I’m too sleepy, said Aakash. He was smiling. “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
Exercise: Fill in the correct form of the verb in brackets in present tense.
I ____ to open a café. (To plan)
My friend___ to go to college. (To plan)
I ___ five oranges for juice. (To squeeze)
Hari is thirsty. He ___two lemons and ___ them. He adds sugar and water to the juice. (To slice, to squeeze)
My sister is making soup. She ___ the onions and the vegetables. (To chop)
My friend ___ the apple in half. (To slice)
I _____an onion to make pakodas. (To slice)
Poem
Talk To Me!
Tell me why you’re crying,
Tell me why you’re sad,
Tell me why you’re silent,
Tell me what’s so bad.
Talk to me, I’ll listen,
I’m sometimes lonely too,
Together we can beat it,
Together – me and you.