Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III – Central Luzon
SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE OF PAMPANGA
High School Blvd. Brgy. Lourdes, City of San Fernando

Phil-IRI (Reading Intervention) in ENGLISH 9

School Year 2022-2023
1lime

Name:________________________________ Score:_____________________
Year and Section:_______________________ Date:______________________

Mongoose Madness

“Look, Joe! Come and see our mongoose!” Barry yelled.

“What’s mongoose?” Joe yelled back.
“Come and look,” said Barry.
Joe went to look. Linda and Mrs. Karkle were looking too.
They were looking at a small box. There was something furry and brown
inside.
“A mongoose is an animal from India, “Barry said. “It kills snake. It’s
fast and dangerous.”
“I hope it won’t bite me,” said Linda.
Just then something furry jumped out of the box.
Linda tried to run, but instead she stepped on Mrs. Karkle’s foot.
Mrs. Karkle thought she’d been bitten by the mongoose.
She screamed and waved her arms. She knocked her wig off.
Joe saw something brown and furry on the ground. He thought it was
the mongoose. He grabbed it and threw it into the box.
Then Joe noticed that Mrs. Karkle didn’t have any hair.
“Where is your hair?” he asked.
“You put my hair in the mongoose box!” Mrs. Karkle cried angrily.
“Then where’s the mongoose?” asked Linda.
“Here it is!” said Barry. He laughed and laughed. He was holding an old
foxtail. It had been wired on a spring in the box.
“It’s a trick,” said Joe. He laughed too.
Just then Joe saw Ted.
“Look, Ted! Come and see our mongoose!” Joe yelled.
“What’s a mongoose?” Ted yelled back.

How Well Did You Understand?

A. Read each question. Encircle the letter of the best ending sentence.
1. Another good name for this story is….
a. “The Dangerous Pet”
b. “Barry’s Trick”
2. Before Barry called to Joe, he had to ….
a. put a brown furry mongoose in the box
b. wire a foxtail onto a spring in the box
3. Linda and Mrs. Karkle both must have thought….
 a. that mongoose is covered with brown fur
b. that they had been bitten by the mongoose
4. The joke in this story is….
a. that there really was no mongoose
b. that mongoose wasn’t really dangerous
5. You know Joe liked the trick because….
a. he asked Barry to do it again
b. he was going to try it on Ted

Learn about Words

B. Often you can find out the meaning of a word by seeing how it is used in a
story. The other words in the story give you clues.

Directions: Find the word in the story that best fits each
meaning. (A paragraph number tells you where to look.) Write the word
on the space provided.

1. covered with a coat of hair (4) _______________

2. likely to cause harm; not safe (5) _______________
3. snatched; took quickly (10) _______________
4. saw; discovered (11)_______________
5. fastened with a metal thread (14) _______________

C. Look at the words you wrote. Which one best fits in each sentence? Write the
word on the blank.

6. A mongoose is able to kill _______________ snakes.

7. Barry _______________ the foxtail so that it would jump out of the box.
8. A real fox is brown and _______________ like a mongoose.
9. Mrs. Karkle ______________ her wig and put it back on her head in a
hurry.
10. Linda _______________ that the “mongoose” didn’t have a face.

Think about It

D What happened first in the story? What happened second? What happened
third, and last?
first second third
fourth last

Direction: Read the sentences. They tell what happened in the story. But they
are not in the right order. Choose the word from the box that tells when each
sentence happened. Write the word on the space before the number.

__________ 1. Linda stepped on Mrs. Karkle’s foot.

 __________ 2. Joe, Linda, and Mrs. Karkle looked inside the box.
__________ 3. Joe threw the furry thing into the box.
__________ 4. The furry thing came out of the box.
__________ 5. Mrs. Karkle’s wig flew off.

E. A contraction is a short way of writing words. An apostrophe (‘) shows

where letters are left out.
there’s is made from there is
that’s is made from that is

Direction: Read each sentence. Make a contraction from the two

underlined words. Write your answer on the space provided.

6. “What is that furry thing in the box?” asked Joe. ____________

7. Barry said, “It is a mongoose from India.” ____________
8. “Where is the mongoose going? Asked Linda. _____________
9. “I know that is no mongoose!” cried Joe. ______________
10. “Here is the mongoose!” said Barry, holding a foxtail. _____________