NCERT Solutions Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 9: Vocation

NCERT Textbook — Santoor

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

105 – 118 12 58 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 51 pages

Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · ENGLISH · SANTOOR

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 9: Vocation
Chapter 9 of Santoor opens Unit 5, Work is Worship. Vocation is a poem in three stanzas, and the book
credits it to Rabindranath Tagore (the poet’s name is printed at the end of the third stanza, on page 107). A
school-going child watches three working people — a hawker, a gardener and a watchman — and each time
wishes he could be them. A vocation is the work a person does. The chapter carries these banners: Let us
Recite, New Words, Let us Think (A and B), Let us Learn (A, B and C), Let us Listen, Let us Speak (A and B),
Let us Write (1–3), Let us Do and Let us Explore (A, B and C).

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Santoor (Class 5) 105 – 118

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

12 58

MEDIUM

English

Let us Recite — Pages 105–107
Vocation — a poem by Rabindranath Tagore

LET US RECITE

Poem Let us Recite — Vocation. Read the poem aloud and enjoy it.

Here is the whole poem, exactly as it is printed on pages 105, 106 and 107. Read it aloud once.
Then read it again slowly, and this time picture each scene in your mind.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

(1)

When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane,

Every day I meet the hawker crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no road he must take, no place he must go to, no

time when he must come home.

I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”

(2)

When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school.

I can see through the gate of that house the gardener digging the ground.

He does what he likes with his spade, he soils his clothes with dust, nobody takes him to task
if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet.

I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody to stop me from digging.

(3)

Just as it gets dark in the evening and my mother sends me to bed,

I can see through my open window the watchman walking up and down.

The lane is dark and lonely, and the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its

head.

The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow at his side, and never once goes

to bed in his life.

I wish I were a watchman walking the streets all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.

— Rabindranath Tagore

Who wrote it. The book prints the poet’s name at the end of the third stanza, on page 107:
Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore wrote in Bengali and in English. This poem comes from his book
of poems about children.
What happens, stanza by stanza:

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. Morning, ten o’clock. The gong sounds. The child walks to school by his lane and meets the
hawker selling crystal bangles. Nobody hurries the hawker. The child wishes he were the
hawker.
2. Afternoon, four o’clock. The child comes back from school. Through a gate he sees the
gardener digging. Nobody scolds the gardener for getting dirty, hot or wet. The child wishes
he were the gardener.
3. Evening, after dark. The child is sent to bed. From his window he sees the watchman
walking up and down with a lantern. The child wishes he were the watchman.

Why the child keeps wishing: Look at the three times — ten in the morning, four in
the afternoon, dark in the evening. The child’s whole day is decided by a clock and by
grown-ups. The three workers, seen for a moment from outside, look free. That is
what he is really longing for — freedom, not the work itself.

Tip for reciting: Say the first three lines of each stanza in a plain, watching voice, as
if you are telling a friend what you saw. Then say the last line — “I wish I were …” —
slowly and a little more softly. That last line is the child’s dream, and it should sound
like one.

A picture to notice: “the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its
head”. This is a simile — one thing described as being like another. The tall lamp-
post is the giant’s body and the glowing lamp is its single red eye.

Let us Think — Page 108
A. Answer the following questions

LET US THINK

A.1 Who is the speaker in the poem?

The speaker is a school-going child.
We know this from three things the child himself tells us in the poem:

1. “When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane” — so he goes
to school.
2. “When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school” — so he returns home in the
afternoon.

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as e
Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

3. “Just as it gets dark in the evening and my mother sends me to bed” — so he is still young
co m
enough to be sent to bed by his mother.
e m.
m l as
.co a g
The whole poem is spoken in the child’s own voice. Every stanza ends with his wish: “I wish I
m
l a se
were a hawker …”, “I wish I were a gardener …”, “I wish I were a watchman …”

a g

co m
A.2 Why does the speaker want to be a hawker?
e m . ag
g l as
ANSWER a
The speaker wants to be a hawker because the hawker seems free, and the child is not.
co m
se m.
The poem says it plainly: “There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no road he must take, no

o m l a
.c any street he likes and go home whenever he likes. ag
place he must go to, no time when he must come home.” Nobody rushes the hawker. He may

e m
schild’s
walk down
l a
ag
The own morning is the opposite. The gong sounds ten, and he must walk to school — by
our lane, the same one every day. He has a road he must take, a place he must reach and a

m a s
.co agl
time by which he must reach it.

se m
g l a
Why this matters: The child is not saying that selling bangles is easy. He is saying
a
that the hawker’s day looks like it has no fences round it. What he really wishes for is

m
a day of his own choosing.

. co
e m
m l as
.co a g
a s em What does he like about the gardener?
gl
A.3

a
se m
m a

o
c pleases, get as dirty as he likes, and nobody scolds ag
He likes that the gardener can do as .he l
se m
him for it.
l a
ag one after another:
The poem gives three reasons,

“He does what he likes with his spade” — nobody tells the gardener how to dig.
co m
m .
se
“He soils his clothes with dust” — he may get muddy, and that is fine.

o m l a
g sun or in the rain.
.cmeans scolds him. Nobody scolds him for standing in theahot
“Nobody takes him to task if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet” — takes him to task

a s em
agl That is why the stanza ends, “I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody
.c
to stop me from digging.” The child is thinking of all the times he is told to keep his clothes
s e m
m a
co agl
clean and come out of the sun.

m .
ase
a g l

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A.4 What does the speaker compare the street lamp to?

The speaker compares the street-lamp to a giant with one red eye in its head.
The line is: “The lane is dark and lonely, and the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red
eye in its head.”

Why the picture fits: A street-lamp is very tall and stands still, like a huge person. It
has just one lamp burning at the top — one glowing eye, high up in its head. In the
dark, lonely lane, that is exactly what a sleepy child at a window would see.

Name the device: This is a simile. A simile compares two different things using the
word like or as. Here the street-lamp is compared to a giant, and the word that joins
them is like.

A.5 On the basis of the poem that you have read, share the daily schedule of the
speaker.

The poem tells us three fixed points in the child’s day. Here is his schedule, taken straight from
the poem.

TIME WHAT THE SPEAKER WHOM HE SEES THE LINE IN THE POEM
DOES

Ten in the The gong sounds. He The hawker, calling “When the gong sounds ten in
morning walks to school by his lane. “Bangles, crystal the morning and I walk to
bangles!” school by our lane”

Through the He is at school. — Understood from “I come back
day from the school”

Four in the He comes back home from The gardener, digging “When at four in the afternoon
afternoon school. the ground I come back from the school.”

Evening, as it His mother sends him to The watchman, walking “Just as it gets dark in the
gets dark bed. He looks out of his up and down with his evening and my mother sends
open window. lantern me to bed”

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What the schedule shows us: Every one of these three moments is decided by
somebody else — the gong, the school, his mother. That is the whole point of the
poem. The child’s day is neatly fenced in, and the people he watches seem to have
no fences at all.

Let us Think — Page 108
B. Think and discuss

THINK AND DISCUSS

B.1 Why does the speaker admire people with different vocations?

He admires them because each of them seems to have the one thing he does not have —
the freedom to choose his own day.
Look at what he notices about each person. He never once mentions money, or comfort, or how
easy the work is.

THE WHAT THE CHILD ADMIRES WHAT THE CHILD CANNOT DO
PERSON

The hawker No road he must take, no place he must reach, no He must reach school by ten, by the
time to be home same lane

The gardener Does what he likes with his spade; may get dirty, hot He is told to keep clean and stay
or wet; nobody scolds him out of sun and rain

The watchman Walks the streets all night with a lantern He is sent to bed as soon as it gets
dark

There is a second reason too. A child is curious. All three of these people work outdoors, where
things happen — a street full of people, a garden full of earth, a dark lane at night. Compared
with sitting at a desk, that looks like an adventure.

What to notice, and say in the discussion: The child is watching each person for
only a minute, from a distance. He is seeing a picture of their work, not their whole
day. That does not make his wish silly — every child has felt it — but it does mean he
is admiring their freedom, not their work.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: The speaker admires the hawker, the gardener and the watchman because
their days look free to him. Nobody hurries the hawker or tells him which road to take. Nobody
scolds the gardener for getting dust on his clothes. The watchman is out in the street at the very
hour when the speaker is sent to bed. The speaker’s own day is decided for him — school at ten,
home at four, bed at dark. So he looks at these three people and thinks how good it would be to
be his own master. He is admiring their freedom, and he does not yet know how hard each of
these jobs really is. The hawker walks all day to earn what he earns, the gardener works in the
hot sun and the rain, and the watchman stays awake all night so that others can sleep safely.
Every one of these is real work, done well, and the poem does not say any of it is easy — the
child simply has not seen that part yet.

B.2 What are the things that you observe on your way to school and your way back
home?

This is your own answer, so it will be different from your friend’s. Walk through the journey in
your mind, from your gate to the school gate, and write down what you actually see, hear and
smell.

What a good answer needs: real things from your own route (not made-up ones); a
few named people and places; something you hear or smell, not only what you see;
and one thing that is different on the way back from the way there. Write in full
sentences.

Sample answer: On my way to school I walk down our lane and past the milk booth, where a
queue has already formed with empty cans. The vegetable seller is setting out tomatoes and
coriander on his cart, and he calls out the prices. A little further, the tea shop is full of steam and
the smell of ginger tea. I cross the road near the temple, where the traffic policeman stands in
his white sleeves and stops the scooters for us. Two street dogs sleep in the same sunny spot
every morning.
On my way back at half past three the road looks quite different. The vegetable cart is nearly
empty. The bangle seller has come, and girls are crowded around him. The koel is calling from
the neem tree, and the shade has moved to the other side of the road. Near our lane, the kulfi
cart has arrived, and my friends and I stop there for a minute before we go in.

Why this question comes after this poem: The whole poem is made of things the
child noticed on the way to school and back — a hawker, a gardener, a watchman.
Tagore is showing us that an ordinary daily walk is full of things worth looking at, if
you keep your eyes open.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us Learn — Page 109
A. Match each word with its meaning

LET US LEARN

A.1 Here are some of the words from Vocation. Read the poem and match each word
with its meaning. Gong — ?

Gong → A metal disc that produces a loud sound when hit with a small hammer.
A gong is a big round plate of metal. You hang it up and strike it with a small padded hammer,
and it gives one long, deep sound that carries a long way.
In the poem: “When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane”. The
gong is being used as a clock — it is struck ten times to tell everyone it is ten o’clock.

Where you may have seen one: in a temple, in an old school where a metal plate is
struck instead of a bell, or in a film where a large gong is struck before an
announcement.

A.2 Spade — ?

Spade → A tool used for gardening.
A spade has a flat metal blade at the bottom and a long wooden handle at the top. You press
the blade into the soil with your foot and lift the earth out. It is used for digging, for turning the
soil and for making beds for plants.
In the poem: “He does what he likes with his spade”. The gardener is digging the ground with it.

A.3 Lane — ?

Lane → A narrow path.
A lane is a narrow road or path, usually between houses. It is much smaller than a main road.
Two cycles can pass in a lane; two buses cannot.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
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The word comes twice in the poem. “I walk to school by our lane” in the first stanza, and “The
co m
e
lane is dark and lonely” in the third. The same narrow lane looks busy in the morning and lonely
m.
m l as
.co g
at night.

m a
l a se
a g
A.4 Giant — ?

com
m . ag
l a se
ag of great height and strength.
Giant → An imaginary man-like creature

m
A giant is not a real animal or a real person. It is a huge, man-shaped creature out of stories —

co
m.
very tall and very strong.

o m l a se
In the poem: “the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head”. The tall lamp-
g a single red eye.
.clike a giant standing in the dark lane, and its lamp looks like
a
se m
post looks

l a
ag
m a s
.co agl
A.5 Lantern — ?

se m
g l a
a

Lantern → A case that holds a candle or light in any form and can be easily carried.

co m
.
A lantern is a light inside a case, with a handle on top so that you can carry it in your hand. The

e m
as
case protects the flame from the wind, so the light does not blow out.
m l
.co a g
em
In the poem: “The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow at his side”. Because

l a s
he swings it as he walks, his shadow moves about beside him — which is why the child says he

ag is “chasing the shadows with my lantern”.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl
A — Solved matching The completed matching exercise.

m

. co
Here are all five pairs together. Draw your lines in the book like this.
em
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD MATCHES WITH THE LINE IN THE POEM

Gong A metal disc that produces a loud sound when hit with a “When the gong sounds ten in the
small hammer morning”

Spade A tool used for gardening “He does what he likes with his
spade”

Lane A narrow path “I walk to school by our lane”

Giant An imaginary man-like creature of great height and “the street-lamp stands like a giant”
strength

Lantern A case that holds a candle or light in any form and can be “The watchman swings his lantern”
easily carried

How to check a matching exercise: Count the words and count the meanings.
There are five of each, so every meaning is used exactly once. If one meaning is left
over, one of your lines is wrong.

Let us Learn — Pages 109–110
B. There is one mistake in each sentence. Underline it and rewrite the sentence correctly

LET US LEARN

B.1 There is one mistake in each sentence given below. Underline the mistakes and
rewrite the correct sentences in the given space. One example has been done for
you. 1. I has recently read a new book.

I have recently read a new book. — this one is done for you in the book.
The mistake is the word has. It is underlined in the book, and the corrected sentence is written
below it in handwriting.

The rule: I and you and we and they take have. Only he, she and it (and one single
person or thing) take has.
I have · you have · we have · they have
he has · she has · it has · Ravi has

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B.2 2. The speaker goes for school at ten in the morning.

The speaker goes to school at ten in the morning.
The mistake is the word for. Underline it, and put to in its place.

The little rule: We use to with the verb go when we say the place we are going. Go
to school, go to the market, go to Delhi. We say “go for” only with a few set phrases
— go for a walk, go for a swim.

From the poem: This sentence is about our poem. The gong sounds ten in the
morning, and that is when the speaker walks to school.

B.3 3. The fox ran fast than the others.

The fox ran faster than the others.
The mistake is the word fast. Underline it, and write faster.

The rule: When you compare two things, add –er to the word and use than. Fast →
faster than. Tall → taller than. Big → bigger than. The word than in a sentence is a
signal: an –er word must come before it.

B.4 4. Mita was slept when the doorbell rang.

Mita was sleeping when the doorbell rang.
The mistake is the word slept. Underline it, and write sleeping.

The rule: After was or were, we use the –ing form of the verb to show an action that
was going on. She was reading. They were playing. Mita was sleeping. The doorbell
rang in the middle of that sleeping.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Also correct: “Mita was asleep when the doorbell rang.” Asleep is a describing word,
not a verb, so it can follow was. But was slept is never right.

B.5 5. The old elephant walked slow to the river.

The old elephant walked slowly to the river.
The mistake is the word slow. Underline it, and write slowly.

The rule: To tell us how an action was done, we usually add –ly to the word. Walked
slowly, spoke softly, ran quickly, wrote neatly. Slow describes a thing (a slow train);
slowly describes an action (it moved slowly).

B.6 6. Radhika is tall than Suman.

Radhika is taller than Suman.
The mistake is the word tall. Underline it, and write taller.

The same rule as sentence 3: Two people are being compared, and the word than is
there. So the describing word must take –er: tall → taller than.

B.7 7. Sudhanshu ran faster of all the runners.

Sudhanshu ran fastest of all the runners.
The mistake is the word faster. Underline it, and write fastest.

The rule: Use –er … than for two. Use –est … of all for three or more. Here it is “of
all the runners”, which means many runners, so we need fastest.
Two: Sudhanshu ran faster than Mohan.
Many: Sudhanshu ran the fastest of all the runners.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Look for the signal word: than → –er. of all or in the class → –est.

B.8 8. My mother are cooking.

My mother is cooking.
The mistake is the word are. Underline it, and write is.

The rule: One person or thing takes is. More than one takes are. “My mother” is one
person, so it must be is.
My mother is cooking. · My parents are cooking.

B.9 9. He go to school everyday.

He goes to school everyday.
The mistake is the word go. Underline it, and write goes.

The rule: With he, she or it, add –s or –es to the verb when we speak of something
done regularly.
I go · you go · we go · they go
he goes · she goes · it goes
(Go takes –es because it ends in o. So do do → does and wash → washes.)

A spelling tip: The book prints everyday as one word here. When you mean “on every
single day”, it is better written as two words — “He goes to school every day.” The
one-word everyday means ordinary, as in “an everyday umbrella”.

B.10 10. The birds is flying.

The birds are flying.
The mistake is the word is. Underline it, and write are.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
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co m
m.
The rule: Birds ends in –s, so there is more than one bird. More than one takes are.

m as e
l
The bird is flying. · The birds are flying.
.co a g
a s em
gl all ten together: In every sentence you changed exactly one word. If you
aCheck
changed two, look again — the exercise says there is only one mistake in each

co m
ag
sentence.
m .
as e
a g l
Let us Learn — Page 111
co m
em.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g
m a s
m .co agl
l a se
a g

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C. Look at the pictures. Have you seen these objects? Where have you seen them? What are they used for?

LET US LEARN

C.1 Look at the pictures and read the words written under them. Have you seen these
objects? Where have you seen them? What are they used for?

telescope
The first object pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A telescope is a long tube with special glass lenses inside. It makes faraway things look
big and near.
In the picture on page 111 the telescope is a long grey tube standing on a three-legged stand
called a tripod, with a small tube on top for aiming it.

Where you may have seen it: in a school science lab, in a planetarium or a science centre,
on a night-sky programme on television, or in the hands of a sailor in a picture book.
What it is used for: to look at the moon, the stars and the planets, and to look at faraway
things on land or at sea.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Whose tool it is: an astronomer — a scientist who studies the stars and planets.

C.2 hammer

hammer
The hammer pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A hammer is a tool with a heavy metal head and a wooden handle. It is used to hit things
— mainly to drive nails into wood.
The hammer in the picture has a curved claw at the back of its head. That claw is for pulling old
nails out again.

Where you may have seen it: in a carpenter’s shop, in the toolbox at home, or with the man
who came to fix a hinge or hang a photo frame.
What it is used for: to hammer nails in, to pull nails out, and to knock parts together.
Whose tool it is: a carpenter, and also a mason and a cobbler.

Be careful: A hammer is heavy. It should always be used by a grown-up, or with a
grown-up standing beside you.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.3 camera

camera

The camera pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A camera is a machine that takes photographs.
The picture shows a black camera with a big round lens in front and a small window on top for
looking through.

Where you may have seen it: at a wedding or a birthday party, at a school function, in a
photo studio, and — as a small one — inside a mobile phone.
What it is used for: to take pictures and to record videos, so that a moment can be kept and
looked at again years later.
Whose tool it is: a photographer.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.4 screwdriver

screwdriver
The screwdriver pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A screwdriver is a tool with a thin metal rod and a fat handle. Its tip fits into the little slot
on the head of a screw, so that the screw can be turned.
The one in the picture has a blue and grey handle, made fat so that your hand can grip it and
twist hard.

Where you may have seen it: in a toolbox at home, with the electrician who came to fix a
switch, or in a cycle repair shop.
What it is used for: to turn screws in (to hold two things together) and to turn them out (to
take something apart).
Whose tool it is: an electrician, a mechanic and a carpenter.

Why a screw and not a nail: A nail is hammered straight in. A screw has a spiral
ridge running round it, so it bites into the wood as it turns and holds much more
tightly.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
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co m
m.
sickle
e
C.5

m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g

co m
e m . ag
g l as
a

co m
e m.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g sickle

m a s
.co agl
The sickle pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

se m
g l a
a

. com
A sickle is a curved blade with a short wooden handle, used for cutting crops and grass.

m a s emis on the inside of
gl
In the picture the blade curves round like a half-moon, and the sharp edge

. co In Hindi it is called a hansiya or darati. a
em
the curve.

a s
agl Where you may have seen it: in the fields at harvest time, with someone cutting grass or
fodder for cattle, or in a village home hanging on a wall.

se m
com l a
What it is used for: to cut wheat, paddy and other standing crops, and to cut grass for the
. a g
m
animals.

ase
agl
Whose tool it is: a farmer and a farm worker.

Why it is curved: The curve lets the worker gather a bunch of stalks inside it and cut

co m
them all with one pull. A straight blade would cut only what it touched.
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.6 stethoscope

stethoscope
The stethoscope pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A stethoscope is an instrument for listening to the sounds inside a person’s body.
It has two earpieces at one end, a long soft tube, and a round metal disc at the other end. The
disc is placed on the chest or the back, and the sound travels up the tube to the doctor’s ears.

Where you may have seen it: at a clinic or a hospital, at the school health check-up, or
round a doctor’s neck.
What it is used for: to listen to the heartbeat and to the sound of breathing, so that the
doctor can tell whether the heart and the lungs are working well.
Whose tool it is: a doctor and a nurse.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.7 grater

grater

The grater pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A grater is a flat metal sheet covered with small sharp holes. Rubbing food against it
shreds the food into tiny bits.
The grater in the picture has a red and yellow rim round a rough metal face full of tiny raised
holes.

Where you may have seen it: in your own kitchen at home.
What it is used for: to grate coconut, carrot, radish, ginger, cheese or a lemon rind.
Whose tool it is: a cook or a chef — and anybody who cooks at home.

Be careful: The little holes are sharp. Hold the food from the top and stop grating
while a good piece is still left, so that your knuckles stay safe.

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C.8 tongs

tongs

The tongs pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

Tongs are two long arms joined at one end. You squeeze them together to pick something
up without touching it with your fingers.
The pair in the picture has blue grips at the joined end and two flat, ridged tips for holding.

Where you may have seen it: in the kitchen at home. The Indian kitchen tongs used to lift a
hot roti or a hot vessel is called a chimta.
What it is used for: to pick up hot things — a roti off the flame, a hot pan, coals in an
angeethi — and also to serve salad or ice.
Whose tool it is: a cook, and also a blacksmith, who uses big iron tongs to hold red-hot
metal.

Why we say “a pair of tongs”: Tongs are one tool, but they are made of two arms
working together — just like a pair of scissors and a pair of spectacles.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.9 compass

compass
The compass pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

The compass in this picture is the geometry compass — two arms joined at the top, one
ending in a sharp point and the other holding a pencil. It is used to draw circles.
You press the sharp point on the paper, open the arms as wide as you want the circle to be, and
turn the pencil arm all the way round.

Where you have seen it: in your own geometry box, in the maths class, and on the
blackboard as a big wooden one.
What it is used for: to draw a circle, to draw an arc, and to measure off equal lengths.
Whose tool it is: a student, a draughtsman and an engineer.

Two different compasses: There is another instrument also called a compass — a
small box with a magnetic needle that always points north. That one is used to find
direction. The picture on page 111 is not that one; it is the drawing compass from
your geometry box.

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as e
Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
mouse
e
C.10

m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g

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g l as
a

co m
em.
m l as
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l a se
a g
a s
com
mouse
. agl
a sem
agl
The computer mouse pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

co m
m .
o m l a se
g and a wire, used to
.ca computer mouse — a small hand-held device with buttons
a
m
se a computer.
This is

g l acontrol
a You slide it on the table and a pointer moves on the screen. Then you press a button to “click”.

se m
com
Where you may have seen it: in the school computer room, at a cyber café or a Common
g l a
m . a
e
s pointer on the screen, to click and open things, and to drag
Service Centre, at a railway booking counter, or beside a computer at home.
athe
g l
things from one place toaanother.
What it is used for: to move

m
Whose tool it is: anybody who works on a computer — a typist, a data-entry operator, a
. co
m
designer, a programmer.

o m l a se
m ag your palm, and the wire
.cWhy it is called a mouse: Look at it. It is small, it sits under
l a se
ag coming out of the back looks just like a tail.

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g l as
a

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.11 saw

saw

The saw pictured on page 111, with the word printed under it.

A saw is a long flat metal blade with sharp teeth along one edge. It is used to cut wood.
The saw in the picture has a green handle at one end, shaped so that four fingers can go
through it.

Where you may have seen it: in a carpenter’s workshop, at a timber shop, or with a
gardener cutting a thick branch.
What it is used for: to cut a plank of wood into pieces, and to cut branches off a tree.
Whose tool it is: a carpenter, and also a gardener.

How the teeth work: Each little tooth scrapes away a small bit of wood. You push
and pull, and hundreds of tiny scrapes together make one clean cut.

Look at all eleven together: Each tool belongs to somebody’s vocation — the
telescope to an astronomer, the sickle to a farmer, the stethoscope to a doctor, the
saw and hammer to a carpenter, the camera to a photographer. That is why this
exercise comes inside a chapter called Vocation.

Let us Listen — Page 112

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Group activity — frame two WH-questions on the poem and answer one another

LET US LISTEN

Listen • Sit in groups of five. • Each group will discuss and create two questions on the
poem Vocation using the question words from the WH-family. Note down the
questions. • Now, put your textbooks back in your bags. • Each group will get to
share their questions with the class. • One group will present their questions,
and the remaining groups will answer the questions. This will continue till all the
groups have shared their questions.

What this activity is. Your group makes up two questions about the poem. Then the books go
away, one group asks its questions aloud, and the other groups listen and answer from
memory. So the real skill here is listening carefully and holding a question in your head.
The WH-family. These are the question words. Nearly all of them begin with the letters wh.

QUESTION WORD WHAT IT ASKS FOR A QUESTION ON THIS POEM

Who a person Who does the speaker meet on his way to school?

What a thing What is the hawker selling?

When a time When does the speaker come back from school?

Where a place Where does the speaker see the gardener?

Why a reason Why does the speaker want to be a hawker?

Which a choice Which tool does the gardener use?

Whose who it belongs to Whose lantern swings in the dark lane?

Whom a person, as the receiver Whom does the mother send to bed?

How the way something is done How does the street-lamp look to the speaker?

How to do it, step by step:

1. Sit in a group of five and read the poem once together.
2. Pick two different WH-words. Do not let both your questions begin with the same word.
3. Make sure the answer to each question is actually inside the poem. A question the poem
does not answer is not a fair question.
4. Write the two questions in your notebook and read them once aloud in the group, so they
sound clear.
5. Put the textbooks in your bags.

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6. When another group asks a question, listen right to the end before you raise your hand.

Sample answer — two questions from each of five groups, with their answers:

GROUP QUESTION ANSWER

1 Who is the speaker of the poem? A school-going child.

1 What does the hawker cry as he He cries, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”
walks?

2 When does the gong sound? At ten in the morning.

2 Where does the speaker see the Through the gate of a house, on his way back from
gardener? school.

3 Why does nobody take the Because it is his own work and his own garden; nobody
gardener to task? minds if he gets dusty, hot or wet.

3 How does the street-lamp look to Like a giant with one red eye in its head.
the speaker?

4 Which three people does the A hawker, a gardener and a watchman.
speaker wish to be?

4 Whose shadow walks at the His own shadow, made by the swinging lantern.
watchman’s side?

5 What does the speaker do at four He comes back home from school.
in the afternoon?

5 Who sends the speaker to bed in His mother.
the evening?

Two things that make a good WH-question: it can be answered from the poem,
and it cannot be answered with just “yes” or “no”. “Is the hawker selling bangles?” is
a yes/no question. “What is the hawker selling?” is a WH-question.

Let us Speak — Pages 112–113

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A. Listen and repeat

LET US SPEAK

A Your teacher will say aloud the following words. Listen carefully and repeat after
the teacher. cushion ration fashion tension mention attention nation vocation

All eight words end with the very same sound — “shun”. They are spelt in three different
ways, but your mouth does exactly the same thing at the end of each one.

WORD SAY IT LIKE THE ENDING IS WHAT IT MEANS
THIS SPELT

cushion CUSH – un –shion A soft pad you sit on or lean against.

ration RA – shun –tion A fixed share of food given out to each family.

fashion FA – shun –shion The way of dressing that is popular just now.

tension TEN – shun –sion A worried, tight feeling.

mention MEN – shun –tion To speak of something briefly.

attention a – TEN – shun –tion Careful looking and listening.

nation NAY – shun –tion A country and its people.

vocation vo – KAY – shun –tion The work a person does. This is our chapter’s
own word.

The sound rule: In English the letters –tion, –sion and –shion nearly always say the
same thing: “shun”. So nation is not “na-tion” with a hard t. It is “NAY-shun”. Once you
know this, you can say hundreds of new words correctly the first time you meet
them — station, action, question, decision, direction.

Where the beat falls: The “shun” part is never the loud part. The loud beat comes
just before it — NA-tion, MEN-tion, FA-shion, at-TEN-tion, vo-CA-tion. Tap the desk
on the loud beat as you say each word.

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co m
m.
Practise like this: Say the eight words down the list. Then say them again, but say

as e
coatmall. Then put the beginnings back on. l
only the ending — “shun, shun, shun …” — and notice that your lips and tongue do
. a g
em
not change
a s
agl
Let us Speak — Page 113
. com ag
a s
B. Listen and speak — “The speaker of the poem emwants to do many things.”
LET US SPEAK agl

co m
em.
The speaker of the poem wants to do many things. Think of a time when you

as
B.1

m l
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wanted to do many things but could not.
a g
se m
g l a
a Think of one real day when you had too many things to do and too little time. Do not invent a

m a s
.co agl
story — a real day is always easier to speak about.

se m
g l a
What a good answer needs: one clear day or afternoon; what made it crowded; and
a
one honest line about what you had to give up. Speak in full sentences.

co m
m .
Sample answer: Last Saturday I wanted to do many things but I could not do them all. It was

o m l a se
the only holiday I had that week. My cousin had come from Kanpur, my school project on water

m .c on Monday, and my friends had planned a cricket matchagon the ground behind our
se There were only a few hours between breakfast and evening, and I wanted to be in three
was due

g l ahouse.
a places at once.

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as wanted to do?
B.2
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What were the things you
a
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Make a short list. Say each one in a full sentence, not as a single word.
m l
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Sample answer: I wanted to do four things that day. First, I wanted to finish my project on

a s emwater, because the chart paper was still blank. Second, I wanted to play the cricket match,
agl because I was the wicket-keeper and my team needed me. Third, I wanted to take my cousin to
.c
m
the fair near the temple, because he had never seen it. And fourth, I wanted to simply sit and

m a s e
co agl
read the new library book I had brought home on Friday.

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Tip: Use first, second, third to hold your list together. It makes your speech easy to
follow and stops you from repeating “and then”.

B.3 What difficulties did you face in doing many things at once?

Say what actually went wrong. This is the most useful part of the answer, so give real details.
Sample answer: I faced three difficulties. The first was time. Each thing needed an hour or
more, and I had only about five hours in all. The second was that I could not give my mind fully
to any one thing. While I was drawing the chart I kept looking out at the ground, and while I was
fielding I kept thinking about the chart. The third difficulty was that other people were waiting
for me. My team could not start without a wicket-keeper, and my cousin sat alone in the room
while I painted. In the end my chart was untidy, because I finished it in a hurry at nine at night.

Why doing many things at once is hard: Our attention is like a torch. It lights up
one thing brightly. If we keep swinging it about, everything gets a little light and
nothing gets enough.

B.4 How did it make you feel?

Name the feeling honestly, and then say what you learnt from it.
Sample answer: At first I felt excited, because all four things were things I liked. By the
afternoon I felt hurried and a little tense, as though somebody were pushing me from behind.
When I saw my untidy chart at night I felt disappointed, because I knew I could have done it
much better. But I did not feel sad for long. I learnt something useful: it is better to do two
things properly than four things badly. The next Saturday I made a small list in the morning and
put a time against each thing, and that day went much better.

Words for feelings you can use: excited, hurried, tense, restless, torn,
disappointed, relieved, satisfied. Choose the one that is true for you.

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B.5 Share your views with your classmates.

How to share well:

1. Stand where everybody can see you and speak a little louder than usual.
2. Begin with the day itself: “Last Saturday I wanted to do four things …”
3. Give your list, then your difficulty, then your feeling. Keep that order — it is easy to follow.
4. Finish with one sentence about what you learnt.
5. When a classmate is speaking, listen right to the end. Then you may say whether the same
thing has happened to you.

Sample answer — what one child said to the class: “Last Saturday I wanted to do four things
— finish my water project, play the cricket match, take my cousin to the fair and read my library
book. I could not do them all, because each one needed an hour and I had only five. The hardest
part was that my mind was never fully on the thing in front of me. By night I felt disappointed
with my untidy chart. What I learnt is that I should choose two things and do them well, and
that is what I do now. Has this happened to any of you?”

How this joins back to the poem: The child in Vocation wants to be a hawker, a
gardener and a watchman — three lives at once. Nobody can live three lives, and
that is exactly the feeling you have just described. Tagore put a very ordinary
childhood wish into a poem.

Let us Write — Page 114
1. What’s missing? · 2. Vocations in your family · 3. Five well-known Indians

LET US WRITE

1 What’s missing? The child sees only the fun part of each job. What do you think
might be the difficult or boring part of being a hawker, a gardener or a watchman?
Write a paragraph to express your thoughts.

How to build this paragraph:

1. Start with one sentence saying what the child saw — the free, happy side.
2. Take the three workers one by one. For each, name one hard thing and one dull thing.
3. Think about the body (tired legs, sun, rain, no sleep) and about money (a day with no sale).
4. End with one sentence saying that the work is still worth respect. Do not end by saying the
child was silly — his wish was a real one.

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What a good answer needs: real difficulties, not made-up ones; one for each of the
three workers; and a respectful last line. The chapter is called Work is Worship, so the
paragraph should end by respecting the worker, not by pitying him.

Sample answer:

The child watches each worker for only a minute, and in that minute the work looks like

freedom. But he does not stay long enough to see the rest of the day.

The hawker walks from street to street for hours with a heavy load of bangles on his head.

His legs ache, and he must call out again and again in the heat until his throat is dry. Some

days nobody buys, and then he has walked all day for very little. He cannot stop when he is
tired, because he earns only when he sells.

The gardener does what he likes with his spade, but digging is hard work. His back and

shoulders hurt by the afternoon. He works in the burning sun of May and in the rain of July,

and the dust he gets on his clothes has to be washed off by somebody at the end of the day.

Watering and weeding must be done again the next morning, and the morning after that —

the same work, over and over.

The watchman stays awake all night while the whole lane sleeps. Night after night he walks

up and down the same street, and there is very little to see. It is cold in winter and lonely

always, and he must sleep in the daytime, when children are playing and shops are open. If

anything goes wrong in the lane, it is he who must face it first.

So the child’s wish is a lovely one, but it is only half the picture. These are three real jobs,

done by three people who work hard and are needed. That is worth knowing, and worth

respecting.

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Why the book asks this: The heading is “What’s missing?” The poem is honest
about what the child sees. This task asks you to fill in what he does not see — so that
you admire the workers for the right reason.

2 In the poem, the speaker tells us about the vocations of different people. Write the
vocations of any three of your family members, in 50-60 words each, from the list
below. Mother, Grandmother, Aunt, Sister, Father, Brother, Uncle

How to write each paragraph:

1. Begin by naming the person and the vocation: “My mother is a …”
2. Say where she works and what she does in a day.
3. Name one tool or thing she uses.
4. End with one line about why her work matters.
5. Count your words. The book asks for 50 to 60 words for each person — that is about four or
five sentences.

One important point: Work at home is work too. Cooking, washing, cleaning, caring
for a baby, milking the cow, looking after a grandparent — all of that is real work,
even though nobody pays a salary for it. If a family member works at home, write
about that work with the same respect you would give any other vocation.

Sample answer — three paragraphs, each about 55 words:
My mother. My mother is a homemaker. She runs our whole house. She wakes at five, cooks
breakfast and packs three tiffins, then washes clothes and cleans the rooms. In the afternoon
she stitches blouses for two neighbours on her sewing machine and earns a little from it. Her
work never stops, and nothing in our home would run without her. (56 words)
My father. My father is an electrician. He works in the shops and houses of our locality. When a
fan stops or a wire burns, people call him and he goes with his bag of tools. He uses a
screwdriver, a tester and a roll of black tape. His work keeps the lights and fans of many homes
working. (56 words)
My uncle. My uncle is a farmer in our village. He grows wheat in winter and paddy in the rainy
season. He is in the field by six in the morning, watering the crop and pulling out weeds. At
harvest time he cuts the wheat with a sickle. Because of farmers like him, we all have food on
our plates. (57 words)

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
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co m
m.
Check your own writing: Count the words of each paragraph on your fingers, ten at

mtake out the sentence that repeats something. glas
a time. If you are under fifty, add a sentence about a tool or a working hour. If you e
. c o a
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are over sixty,
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ag
What vocations are the following people associated with? • A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
.
3.1

e m
g l as
a
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was a scientist and an engineer — and later the President of India.

co m
m.
His vocation was aerospace science and engineering. He worked at ISRO, our space

o m
organisation, and at DRDO, which builds equipment for our defence.
l a se
g work on our missiles.
.c build India’s first satellite launch vehicle and later led the
a
m
se of that work people call him the “Missile Man of India”.
He helped

g l aBecause
a He became the eleventh President of India and served from 2002 to 2007.

m
He also loved teaching. Even as President he said he liked being called a teacher best of all,
a s
em
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and he spent much of his later life speaking to schoolchildren.
agl
a s
agl — aerospace scientist, missile engineer, teacher, and
In one line: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
President of India.

com
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a s em
3.2 • M. Visvesvaraya

ag l
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M. Visvesvaraya was a civil engineer. om
g l a
m .c a
l a s—e the designing and building of dams, canals and water
ag
His vocation was engineering
systems.
He planned and built the Krishna Raja Sagara dam across the Kaveri river in Karnataka,
which still gives water to farms and to the city of Mysuru.
. com
m he planned flood
He designed a system of gates for dams that let water out safely,eand
s
o m
cprotection gl a
. a
em
for the city of Hyderabad.

g l as He later served as the Diwan of Mysore, where he started schools, factories and a bank.
a c
m .
Did you know? His birthday, 15 September, is celebrated all over India as
m a s e
Engineers’ Day.
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3.3 • Janaki Ammal

Janaki Ammal was a botanist — a scientist who studies plants.

Her vocation was plant science. She studied the tiny parts inside plant cells to understand
how plants change and how new kinds are formed.
She worked on sugarcane, and helped develop sweeter varieties that could grow well in
India.
She travelled through the forests of India studying wild plants, and she spoke up for saving
the forests of the Silent Valley in Kerala.
She was one of the first Indian women to become a leading scientist, at a time when very
few women could.

In one line: Janaki Ammal — botanist and plant scientist, remembered for her work
on sugarcane and on the wild plants of India.

3.4 • M.S. Subbulakshmi

M.S. Subbulakshmi was a singer — a great Carnatic classical vocalist.

Her vocation was music. She sang Carnatic music, the classical music of South India, and
also devotional songs and bhajans that ordinary people loved.
She sang at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 1966 — the first Indian
musician to do so.
She was the first musician to be given the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
Many people in South India still wake to a recording of her voice singing the Suprabhatam in
the early morning.

In one line: M.S. Subbulakshmi — Carnatic classical singer, whose voice carried
Indian music to the whole world.

3.5 • Salim Ali

Salim Ali was an ornithologist — a scientist who studies birds.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

His vocation was the study of birds. The word ornithologist is made of two parts: ornith,
which means bird, and ologist, which means one who studies.
He travelled all over India with a notebook and a pair of binoculars, counting birds and
writing down where each kind lived.
He wrote The Book of Indian Birds, which taught two generations of Indians how to
recognise the birds around them.
He worked hard to protect bird homes such as the Bharatpur bird sanctuary in Rajasthan. He
is called the “Birdman of India”.

PERSON VOCATION BEST KNOWN FOR

A.P.J. Abdul Aerospace scientist and engineer; India’s missile and space programmes; the
Kalam President of India “Missile Man of India”

M. Visvesvaraya Civil engineer The Krishna Raja Sagara dam; Engineers’ Day is
his birthday

Janaki Ammal Botanist (plant scientist) Work on sugarcane and on India’s wild plants

M.S. Carnatic classical singer Singing at the United Nations; first musician to
Subbulakshmi receive the Bharat Ratna

Salim Ali Ornithologist (bird scientist) The Book of Indian Birds; the “Birdman of India”

What the five have in common: Not one of them did an ordinary job in an ordinary
way. Each turned his or her work into a lifetime’s calling — which is exactly what the
word vocation means.

Let us Do — Page 115

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Job Mix–Up! — six pictures in which the wrong person is doing the job

LET US DO

Do.1 Job Mix–Up! There is something unusual in the given pictures. Notice carefully the
things that you find strange. One has been done for you. Write two sentences in
your notebook for each picture, following the example provided for you. Picture 1
(top left)

Picture 1 (top left) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

This is the example the book has done for you.
What is in the picture: a big red fire engine with a ladder on its roof, and sitting in the driver’s
seat is a chef — you can tell by his tall white cap and his white coat.

For example: A chef’s job is to cook delicious meals, not to drive a fire engine.

That’s something firefighters do.

Notice the shape of the two sentences. Follow this pattern for all the other
pictures.
Sentence 1: A ______’s job is to ______, not to ______.
Sentence 2: That’s something ______s do.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do.2 Picture 2 (top right) — a woman in a white doctor’s coat, with a stethoscope round
her neck, is standing in the middle of a road at a zebra crossing with both hands
raised, stopping the traffic.

Picture 2 (top right) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

What is strange: A doctor is standing on the road doing a traffic policeman’s work. She is at a
zebra crossing, next to a traffic light, holding up both hands to stop the cars — but she is
wearing a white coat and a stethoscope, and her place is in a clinic.

A doctor’s job is to examine patients and treat them when they are ill, not to stop the traffic

at a crossing.

That’s something traffic police officers do.

The clue in the picture: the stethoscope round her neck and the white coat. A
traffic police officer would be in uniform, with a whistle and white sleeves.

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co m
m.
Picture 3 (middle left) — a police officer in khaki uniform, with a cap and a walkie-
e
Do.3

comcouch.
talkie, is holding a stethoscope to the chest of a boy who is lying back on a
g l as
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doctor’s

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Picture 3 (middle left) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

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.co a g l
a s em
What is strange: A police officer is doing a doctor’s work. He is in full khaki uniform with a

agl peaked cap, a badge and a walkie-talkie on his belt — and he is checking a boy’s heartbeat with

m
a stethoscope, with a report sheet in his other hand.

a se
. com a g l
m
ase
A police officer’s job is to keep people safe and to keep order, not to listen to a patient’s

heartbeat with a stethoscope. agl
m
That’s something doctors do.
. co
se m
o m l a
.cNotice: Pictures 2 and 3 are a swapped pair. The doctoragis doing the police officer’s
m work, and the police officer is doing the doctor’s work. Find the pairs and the puzzle
l a se
ag
.c
becomes easy.

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m a
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a

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do.4 Picture 4 (middle right) — a man in a black lawyer’s robe with a white neck-band is
bending over a drawing board, drawing a plan with a scale and a set square.

Picture 4 (middle right) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

What is strange: A lawyer is doing an architect’s work. He is in a black court robe with the white
bands at his collar, but he is leaning over a big wooden drawing board, using a long scale, a set
square and a pencil to draw a plan.

A lawyer’s job is to argue a case in court and to explain the law, not to draw building plans

on a drawing board.
That’s something architects do.

New word: An architect is the person who designs a building — who draws the plan
showing where each room, door and window will go — before the masons begin to
build it.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do.5 Picture 5 (bottom left) — a firefighter in a fire suit and helmet, with a breathing
mask and a cylinder on his back, is standing at a blackboard that says “Santoor
Grade 5” and pointing at it as if teaching.

Santoor
Grade 5

Picture 5 (bottom left) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

What is strange: A firefighter is doing a teacher’s work. He is in his full yellow fire suit with
reflective stripes, a helmet, a breathing mask and a cylinder on his back — and he is standing at
a blackboard on which “Santoor Grade 5” is written, with one finger raised, teaching the class.

A firefighter’s job is to put out fires and rescue people from danger, not to teach a Grade 5

class at the blackboard.

That’s something teachers do.

A small joke inside the picture: The book on the blackboard is Santoor, Grade 5 —
the very book you are holding.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do.6 Picture 6 (bottom right) — a man in a yellow hard hat and an orange safety jacket
is sitting at a table mending shoes with a hammer, with a pair of boots and some
nails beside him.

Picture 6 (bottom right) of the Job Mix–Up activity on page 115.

What is strange: A construction worker is doing a cobbler’s work. He is wearing a yellow safety
helmet and an orange high-visibility jacket, the clothes of a building site — but he is sitting at a
low table with a pair of brown boots, a grey shoe, a few small nails and a hammer, mending
shoes.

A construction worker’s job is to build houses, roads and bridges, not to mend and stitch

shoes.

That’s something cobblers do.

New word: A cobbler is the person who mends and stitches shoes. In Hindi he is
called a mochi. You have seen him sitting with his small box of tools at the corner of
the street.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PICTURE WHO IS SHOWN WHOSE WORK HE OR SHE IS DOING

1 (done for you) A chef A firefighter’s

2 A doctor A traffic police officer’s

3 A police officer A doctor’s

4 A lawyer An architect’s

5 A firefighter A teacher’s

6 A construction worker A cobbler’s

What makes these pictures funny: Every person is doing the job carefully and well
— the puzzle is only that they are in the wrong place. That tells us something true:
each vocation needs its own training, its own tools and its own skill. A doctor cannot
suddenly control traffic, and a police officer cannot suddenly listen to a heart. That is
why we need all of them.

Let us Explore — Pages 116–118

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Eight vocations in pictures · A. Which one would you choose? · B. Any other dream job? · C. Draw yourself
co m
em.
in it

m l as
.co a g
LET US EXPLORE

sem
g l a
aA Which vocation from the above illustrations would you choose for yourself? And
why?

co m
e m . ag
g l as
a

co m
e m.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se beekeeper photographer teacher dancer
a g
m a s
m .co agl
l a se
a g
m
chef pilot farmer florist
. c o
s e m here in simple
The eight vocations the book pictures on pages 116 and 117, drawn
outline with the names printed under them inathe book.
. com a gl
a s em
agl
se m
c m each one shows, so that you can choose
First, look at the eight pictures. Here isowhat g l a
. a
a s em
agl
properly.

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m .
m as e
.co a g l
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a c
m .
m a s e
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g l as
a

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VOCATION WHAT THE PICTURE ON PAGES 116–117 WHAT THIS PERSON DOES
SHOWS

beekeeper A person in a purple protective suit, a wide hat Keeps bees in hives, cares for them,
with a net veil and thick gloves, lifting a frame full and collects the honey and the wax.
of bees out of a wooden hive box. More hive
boxes are stacked beside, with flowers growing
on top.

photographer A woman in a yellow kurta and red salwar, with a Takes photographs of people, places,
green shoulder bag, kneeling on one knee and events and wildlife.
holding a big camera with a long lens up to her
eye.

teacher A woman in a saree and spectacles standing Teaches children, explains new things
beside a blackboard, talking with her hands to and helps them learn.
four children who sit at wooden desks.

dancer A woman in a classical dance costume — blue Performs classical or folk dance on
and pink pleated skirt, a gold belt, bangles, the stage, and often teaches it too.
necklaces and a flower headdress — standing on
her toes in a dance pose with her hands raised.

chef A man in a green kurta and a white apron, Cooks food in a hotel or restaurant
cooking in a pan on a gas stove, with a bowl of kitchen and plans the dishes.
fruit on the wooden counter beside him.

pilot A woman in a green flying suit and a flight Flies an aircraft — a passenger
helmet, standing beside a fighter aircraft that plane, a cargo plane or, as here, an
carries the Indian tricolour on its tail. Air Force jet.

farmer A man in a yellow turban, purple kurta and white Grows crops — ploughing, sowing,
dhoti standing at the edge of a green-and-yellow watering, weeding and harvesting.
crop field, holding a tablet. A drone is flying over Today many farmers also use new
the field, and a house and trees stand behind. tools like drones and phones.

florist A young man in a white shirt at a wooden stall, Grows, arranges and sells flowers,
arranging pots of yellow, red, pink and orange and makes bouquets and garlands.
flowers on the counter and holding a bunch of
pink roses.

How to choose and how to answer:

1. Pick the one you would really like, not the one that sounds grandest.
2. Say your choice in the first sentence: “I would choose to be a …”
3. Give two or three reasons. Link each reason to something you already enjoy doing.
4. Add one honest line about the hard part of that vocation, and say you are ready for it.
5. Say one thing you will have to learn or study to reach it.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Remember: No vocation in these pictures is bigger or smaller than another. A
florist’s work and a pilot’s work are both needed, and both are done with skill.
Choose the one that fits you.

Sample answer 1: I would choose to be a teacher. I like explaining things, and when my
younger cousin could not do subtraction with borrowing, I sat with her for two evenings and
she learnt it. I felt happier that day than when I had scored well myself. A teacher gets to do that
every day, with a whole class. I know that the work is not easy — a teacher has to plan lessons,
correct many notebooks, and be patient with a child who does not understand even after the
fourth time. To become a teacher I will have to finish school, go to college, and then take a
teacher-training course.
Sample answer 2: I would choose to be a photographer. I already look for things worth
looking at — the way the sky turns orange over our fields, or my grandmother’s hands making
rotis. A photographer can keep such moments so that other people can see them too. The
difficult part is that a photographer must wait for a long time for the right light or the right bird,
and must carry heavy equipment about. I would like to photograph birds, so I will also have to
learn their names and their habits, the way Salim Ali did.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B Is there any other vocation not shown in the pictures that you would like to take up
as your dream job? Support your answer with a reason.

beekeeper photographer teacher dancer

chef pilot farmer florist

The eight vocations the book pictures on pages 116 and 117, drawn here in simple
outline with the names printed under them in the book.

The book shows only eight vocations. There are thousands more. Think about the people whose
work you have actually watched — in your home, your street, your village or your town.

What a good answer needs: one vocation named clearly; a real reason from your
own life; and one sentence about what you would have to learn to do it. Do not just
say “I want to be a scientist because it is good.” Say which kind of scientist and why.

Some vocations not shown in the pictures:

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VOCATION WHAT THE PERSON DOES VOCATION WHAT THE PERSON DOES

Doctor Treats people who are ill Carpenter Makes doors, chairs and
cupboards out of wood

Engineer Designs and builds machines, roads Tailor Stitches clothes to a measured fit
and bridges

Veterinary Treats animals and birds Potter Shapes pots and lamps out of clay
doctor on a wheel

Nurse Cares for patients in a hospital Weaver Weaves cloth on a handloom

Forest officer Protects forests and the animals in Bus driver Drives people safely from place to
them place

Cricketer Plays cricket for a team, a state or the Journalist Finds out what is happening and
country reports it

Scientist Asks questions about the world and Musician Sings or plays an instrument
tests the answers

Sample answer 1: Yes. My dream job is to be a veterinary doctor — a doctor who treats
animals. We have two buffaloes at home, and last year one of them stopped eating. The vet
came on his motorcycle, examined her, gave her an injection, and by the next evening she was
eating again. I remember how relieved my grandfather looked. Animals cannot tell us where it
hurts, so a vet has to work it out by looking and touching carefully. That is difficult, and that is
exactly why I find it interesting. I will need to study science well, especially biology, and then go
to a veterinary college.
Sample answer 2: Yes. I would like to be a carpenter, like my father’s friend Iqbal chacha. I
have sat in his workshop and watched a flat plank turn into a window frame in one afternoon.
He measures twice before he cuts once, and everything he makes fits exactly. I like working with
my hands, and I already helped him hold the wood while he sawed it. The work is tiring and the
sawdust makes you sneeze, but at the end of a day you can point at something real and say, “I
made that.” I will learn by watching him and then by training properly.

C Draw yourself in the selected vocation in the blank space provided.

What to draw: Draw yourself, grown up, doing the vocation you chose in part A or B. The box on
page 118 is your drawing space.
How to make the drawing say what the vocation is — five steps:

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation
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1. Step 1 — Draw the person in the middle. Make yourself big enough to fill most of the box.
co m
Give your figure your own kind of hair.
se m.
o m l a
g shirt and the chalk
.c flying suit for a pilot, an apron and cap for a chef, a sareeaor
2. Step 2 — Put on the right clothes. Clothes tell the whole story: a white coat for a doctor, a
helmetm
se for a teacher, a veil and gloves for a beekeeper.
and
inla
ag
hand
3. Step 3 — Add the tool. One clear tool makes the vocation obvious — a stethoscope, a

m
camera, a spade, a sickle, a hammer, a bunch of flowers.
. co ag
em
4. Step 4 — Add the place. A few lines behind the figure are enough: a blackboard and two

g l as
desks for a classroom, a hive box and flowers for a bee farm, a field and a house for a farm, a
a
counter of pots for a flower shop.
5. Step 5 — Colour it and label it. Write the name of the vocation neatly under the drawing,

co m
m.
the way the book has labelled its own pictures.

o m l a se
g
What .ac good drawing needs: clothes, one tool and a place. Anybody
a
m
looking at

l a se picture, without reading the label, should be able to say what work you are
your
a g doing.

om a s
. c agl
Sample answer — a description of one child’s drawing, labelled “teacher”: I have drawn

a s
myself standing on the right side of the em
picture, in a blue kurta, with a piece of white chalk in my

a
raised hand. Behind me is a green glblackboard with a sum written on it: 47 − 19. In front of me
are three desks with children sitting at them, drawn from the back so that only their heads and
shoulders show. One child has her hand up. On the wall beside the blackboard I have drawn a
com
m .
e
map of India and a small clock showing ten o’clock — the same hour at which the gong sounds

m l as
.co g
in our poem. Under the picture I have written the word teacher.

m
eWhy a
a s
a gl the chapter ends here: The poem began with a child who wished he were
somebody else. The chapter ends by asking you to draw yourself in the work you
se m
com
would choose. That is the whole journey of Unit 5 — from wishing, to choosing, to
g l a
m. a
ase
respecting every kind of work.

agl

co m
m .
as e
om at a glance g l
.cStanza 1 — the hawker (page 105). The gong sounds ten in the morning. The child must
Chapter
a
se m
a
agl walk to school by his own lane. On the way he meets the hawker calling, “Bangles, crystal
c
m .
e
bangles!” Nothing hurries the hawker on. There is no road he must take, no place he must

m a s
co agl
reach, no time by which he must be home. So the child wishes he were a hawker.

m .
ase
Stanza 2 — the gardener (page 106). At four in the afternoon the child comes back from

g l
school. Through the gate of a house he sees the gardener digging the ground. The
a
gardener does what he likes with his spade, gets dust on his clothes, and nobody scolds

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

him whether the sun bakes him or the rain wets him. So the child wishes he were a
gardener, with nobody to stop him from digging.
Stanza 3 — the watchman (page 107). As it gets dark the child’s mother sends him to bed.
Through his open window he sees the watchman walking up and down. The lane is dark
and lonely and the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head. The
watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow beside him. So the child wishes he
were a watchman, walking the streets all night.
What the poem is really about. It is about a child’s longing to be free. The child’s own day
is cut into fixed pieces by a clock and by grown-ups — ten in the morning, four in the
afternoon, bedtime at dark. The three working people seem to have no such fences. The
poem is about that wish, not about one kind of work being better than another.
What the child does not see. He watches each worker for a minute or two, from a
distance. He does not see the hawker walking street after street to earn a day’s money, the
gardener working in the hot sun and the rain, or the watchman staying awake all night
while everyone else sleeps. The book’s own Let us Write task, “What’s missing?”, asks the
child to think about exactly this.
The picture in the poem. The strongest image is the street-lamp: it “stands like a giant with
one red eye in its head”. This is a simile — one thing described as being like another, using
the word like. To a sleepy child at a window, a tall lamp-post with a glowing lamp really can
look like a one-eyed giant.
New Words taught by the chapter: vocation, gong, lane, giant, spade, lantern.
The language work (Let us Learn). A — matching five words from the poem with their
meanings. B — finding one mistake in each sentence and rewriting it correctly: this covers
subject–verb agreement (is/are, go/goes), comparatives and superlatives (faster, tallest),
adverbs (slowly) and prepositions (go to school). C — eleven pictures of tools and
instruments, and three questions about where you have seen them and what they are used
for.
Speaking and listening. Let us Listen is a group activity: each group frames two WH-
questions on the poem and the other groups answer them. Let us Speak A drills eight
words that all end in the same “shun” sound — cushion, ration, fashion, tension, mention,
attention, nation, vocation. B asks the child to talk about a time when he or she wanted to do
many things but could not.
Writing, doing and exploring. Let us Write has three tasks: the difficult side of each job,
the vocations of three family members, and the vocations of five well-known Indians. Let us
Do is “Job Mix–Up!”, six funny pictures in which the wrong person is doing the job. Let us
Explore shows eight vocations — beekeeper, photographer, teacher, dancer, chef, pilot,
farmer and florist — and asks the child which one he or she would choose, and why.

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Class 5 English Chapter 9 Vocation AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS THE LINE IT A SENTENCE OF YOUR
APPEARS IN OWN

vocation The work a person does — The title of the poem, My aunt says teaching is not
especially work that a person feels Vocation just her job, it is her vocation.
made for.

gong A round metal disc that makes a “When the gong The gong sounds at eight and
loud sound when it is hit with a sounds ten in the we run to the assembly
small hammer. morning” ground.

hawker A person who sells things by “Every day I meet the A hawker sells roasted peanuts
carrying them through the streets hawker crying” near the bus stand.
and calling out.

crystal Clear, shining glass. “Bangles, crystal My sister bought two crystal
bangles!” bangles at the village mela.

lane A narrow path or a narrow road. “I walk to school by our Our house is in the third lane
lane” behind the temple.

hurry him To make somebody move faster. “There is nothing to Nobody hurried us on, so we
on hurry him on” walked home slowly.

spade A tool with a flat metal blade and a “He does what he likes The gardener loosened the soil
long handle, used for digging. with his spade” with a spade.

soils Makes dirty. “he soils his clothes Do not soil your uniform while
with dust” playing kabaddi.

takes him to Scolds somebody for something he “nobody takes him to My teacher took me to task for
task has done. task” coming late.

baked Dried and made very hot by the sun. “if he gets baked in the The field was baked hard by
sun” the May sun.

giant An imaginary man-like creature of “the street-lamp In the story a giant guards the
great height and strength. stands like a giant” gate of the castle.

lantern A case that holds a candle or a light “The watchman swings Grandfather carried a lantern
of any kind, and that can be carried his lantern” to the cowshed at night.
easily.

watchman A person whose work is to guard a “the watchman Our watchman blows his
place, especially at night. walking up and down” whistle once every hour.

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