NCERT Book Class 8 English (Honeydew) Chapter 8 On the Grasshopper and Cricket; A Short Monsoon Diary

UNIT 8
A Short Monsoon Diary
Some extracts from the diary of a nature lover who enjoys the
monsoon in the hills and observes the accompanying changes
in the world of flora and fauna.
Activities under working with language are numerous and of
different types. Spend sufficient time on each activity and
devise, wherever necessary, new but related exercises for
further practice.
The following project may be tried under writing.
Do you notice the changes that occur in nature as the
seasons change? Write five or six sentences about what
you see in nature in your part of the country during the
months of May, August and December.
Record the daily temperature for a fortnight and note down
the maximum and minimum temperatures.
Comment on the rise and fall in temperature.
Record the time of sunrise and sunset for a fortnight and
check if there is any appreciable change in the time.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket
This poem is relatively difficult. The difficulty lies in its brevity
of expression and complexity of thought.
The introductory note and activities under working with the
poem should be done elaborately adding additional
explanatory notes/tasks, wherever necessary.
Compare it with The Ant and the Cricket to bring out
differences of style and theme clearly with examples.
To concretise ‘the poetry of earth’ or ‘the sounds of nature’,
use the poem given below, which is all about animal cries.

102 Honeydew