English for Life Core Reader
Grade 4
Home Language
Hanna Erasmus • Lynne Southey
www.bestbooks.co.za
Pretoria • Cape Town
Eletelephony
Laura Richards
Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant–
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone–
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee–
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)
Vocabulary
trunk – an elephant’s nose
entangled – twisted together, entwined
buzzed – making a low droning or vibrating sound like that of a bee
Answer the following questions on the poem and see whether you understand the vocabulary.
1. Look at the title. Why would you consider it to be a good title?
2. Who is the poet?
3. How many stanzas does the poem have?
4. The poet forms words by combining two or more words. What do we call this?
5. Try to take the following words apart:
(a) telephant
(b) elephone
(c) telephunk
(d) telephong
6. How do you know that the poet is getting confused?
7. Why is the apostrophe used in the word “Howe’er”?
8. Why did the elephant have trouble using a telephone?
9. Why does the poet decide to “drop the song”?
The cow
Robert Louis Stevenson
The friendly cow all red and white
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;
And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.
Vocabulary
apple-tart – tart with apples as main ingredient
lowing – sound made by cattle
stray – wander away from the place where you should be
meadow – grassland
1. Can a cow really be friendly? What is this an example of?
2. Do you think the poet’s idea of a cow is realistic? Why not? (Refer to stanza 1)
3. What sounds do the following animals make?
a) A horse . . .
b) A cat . . .
c) A sheep . . .
d) A donkey . . .
e) A lion . . .
f) A frog . . .
g) A monkey . . .
4. Change the following sentences into past tense and then into future tense:
a) He milks the cow.
b) The cow sleeps in the barn.
c) The cow grazes in the field.
d) The donkey pulls the cart.
e) The milk is finished.
5. Write down the opposite gender of the following.
a) Not a hen but a . . .
b) The stallion runs around the . . .
c) The cows graze with the . . . in the field.
d) Not a sow but a . . .
e)There were more bitches than . . .
f) The lion roars to impress the . . .
6. What do we call the young of the following animals?
a) cow
b) horse
c) lion
d) cat
e) hen
f) sheep
7. Suggest a reason why the cow cannot stray.
The first tooth
Charles and Mary Lamb
Through the house what busy joy,
Just because the infant boy
has a tiny tooth to show!
I have got a double row,
all as white, and all as small;
yet no one cares for mine at all.
He can say but half a word,
yet that single sound’s preferred
To all the words that I can say
In the longest summer day.
He cannot walk, yet if he put
with mimic motion out his foot,
As if he thought he were advancing,
It’s prized more than my best dancing.
1. Why is the poem called “The first tooth”?
2. What does the word “infant” suggest about the age of the boy?
3. Give an example of alliteration from the poem.