GRADE: 9 English Notes: Ls.

1 The Fun They Had -Isaac Asimov

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Summary of the lesson

The Fun They Had was written by Isaac Asimov. The story is set in the future when books and schools are
conducted digitally through virtual classrooms. These classes are taken by a mechanical teacher (robot)
instead of a human class teacher. The story starts with two children named Margie and Tommy. They live in
a world where computers dominate each and every sphere of life, and children attend virtual classes. With
the onset of virtual schools, the concept of books and classrooms has transformed considerably from the
olden days.
On 17th May 2157, Margie wrote in her diary about how Tommy found a real book. It was an old book that
consisted of stories. Margie’s grandfather once told her that his grandfather informed him that all the stories
used to be printed on paper in those days. Both Margie and Tommy started turning the yellow and crumpled
pages of the book to discover more about those days. They found it hilarious to read the book as the words
stood fixed in one place instead of moving, contract to what they had seen on a computer screen. From this,
it is clear that in the future, there will be telebooks only and that no hard copies of books will be available to
read. Tommy exclaims that it is an utter waste to read a book and throw it away once completed. He feels
that their television screen has a million books on it and could store plenty more without throwing it away.
Soon, they start reading about a school during ancient times when human beings were teachers. Although
Margie hated the concept of schools, she was surprised to know actual people taught at school. This is
because she has only seen robots teaching at her school. Moreover, she was not so fond of the school that
was next to her bedroom as she did not have any classmates, and the mechanical teacher always gave her
loads of homework to do.
Both Margie and Tommy study in a virtual classroom that includes electronic gadgets, robots, etc. Their
daily lesson appears on a computer screen. It teaches them different subjects like maths, science, etc. Once,
Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to fix the mechanical device on which Margie attends her
virtual classes. He put the big black screen together again. However, the little girl was disappointed about
the device getting fixed so soon. She knew she would again need to feed homework and test papers into it
through a punch code.
Further, as both the children continue reading the book, Margie’s mother calls her to attend her classes.
While Margie attends her school, the mechanical teacher teaches about fractions, but Margie’s mind starts
wondering about the fun her grandparents would have had while visiting a school in the olden days. Those
days, a school used to be a special building and all the kids of the same age studied together. She imagines
how the kids from different areas in the neighbourhood would come together and attend school merrily.
Margie gets fascinated by the fun the children had centuries ago when they went to a real school.

Extract Based Questions:

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1.Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary.
a. What did Margie write in her diary?
b. What date did she put on the top of the diary page?
c. What had she been thinking about when she started writing her diary?
d. What did she write about Tommy?

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Answer
a. Margie wrote about the book, Tommy had brought, in her diary.
b. She put May 17, 2157 on the top of the diary page.
c. She was thinking about the book and the kind of school the children used to have centuries and centuries
ago.
d. She wrote that that day Tommy had found a book which had fixed alphabets that did not change.
2.He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at
Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn't know how to
put it together again, but he knew how all right, and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and
black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked.
a. Who was the round little man?
b. Why had he come there? Who had called him?
c. Why did Margie hope that he wouldn’t be able to put it together?
d. Who/what was large and black and ugly?
Answer
a. The round man was the county inspector.
b. He had come there to check Margie’s mechanical teacher. Margie’s mother had called him to check the
mechanical teacher.
c. Margie hoped that he wouldn’t be able to put it together as earlier in case of Tommy’s teacher, it was to
be taken to workshop and took almost a month.
d. Margie’s mechanical teacher was large and black and ugly.

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3.“But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that
each kid has to be taught differently."
a. Who is the writer of the fiction?
b. Why did the mother say that the teacher has to be adjusted?
c. What kind of teacher was there in Margie’s school?
d. Why did the mother say ‘each kid has to be taught differently’
Answer
a. The writer of the fiction is Isaac Asimov.
b. The mother said that the teacher had to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that
each kid has to be taught differently.
c. The teacher in Margie’s school was a mechanical teacher which was large and black and ugly.
d. The mother said that each kid has to be taught differently because each kid has different needs and should
be taught according to his/her caliber and IQ.

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4.Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the
fun they had.
a. What was Margie thinking about?
b. What fun was she thinking about?
c. Why did she think ‘the kids must have loved it’?
d. Which old days was Margie thinking about?
Answer
a. Margie was thinking about the school that existed centuries and centuries ago about which she was
reading in the printed book brought by Tommy.
b. She thinking about the fun the children had when they studied together in a school building with printed
books and human teacher.
c. She thought that the kids must have loved it because they were studying together in a school being taught
by a human teacher where they could discuss their problems and get solutions.
d. Margie was thinking about the days when there were schools in a separate building, where children
studied together.
5.“This is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago."
a. Who said these words and to whom?
b. Why was the school described as ‘old kind of school’?
c. Why did the speaker say “ hundreds and hundreds of years ago."?
d. What were they talking about?
Answer
a. Tommy said these words. He said these words to Margie.
b. The school was described as ‘old kind of school’ because it was an assembly of many students in a
defined building away from home and under the guidance of man teacher.
c. The speaker said “ hundreds and hundreds of years ago." because his grandfather had told him that he had
learnt about such schools from his grandfather in his childhood.
d. They talking about the schools that existed centuries and centuries ago and had printed books where the
words did not move.
Short answer-based questions.
1. What did Tommy’s grandfather once tell him?
Tommy’s grandfather had once told him that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was
a time when all stories were printed on paper.

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2. What did Margie’s mother say about the teacher?
Margie’s mother said that a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that
each kid has to be taught differently."
3. What did the County Inspector tell Margie’s mother about her score in Geography?
The County Inspector told Margie’s mother that her score in Geography was low as the geography section of
the teacher was little fast to suit a child of her age and slowed it up to an average ten-year level. and overall
pattern of her progress was quite satisfactory.
4. Why did Margie say "1 wouldn't want a strange man in my house to teach me."?
When Tommy told her that a man teacher used to teach the children at school in the time when the books
were printed, Margie said that wouldn't want a strange man in her house to teach her.
5. What do you understand by word ‘nonchalantly’?
The word ‘nonchalantly’ means to say something in a casual, calm and relaxed manner.
6. What were the subjects the mechanical teacher was teaching Margie?
The mechanical teacher was teaching Margie History, Geography and arithmetic.
Long answer type questions

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1. Do you think the kind of school described in the story ‘The fun they had’ is an ideal school?
The kind of school described in the story ‘The fun they had’ is an ideal school. At present as we are in an era
where everything is done according to the set academic rules and patterns. Though emotional and humane
touch makes children feel cared and looked after but having children of different caliber
and IQ learn together makes some of them neglected. The challenge of competition has become so much
that parental and peer pressure can make a child feel disheartened and lead to depression. However,
whatever be the case whether there are mechanical or human teacher, a change is always considered better.
2. What did Margie’s mother say about the school and why?
Margie’s mother said that a school must start at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays
because little girls learn better if they learned at regular hours. She also said that a teacher must be adjusted
to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid must be taught differently. She believed in
having school next to the bedroom without other kids sitting together and disturbing each other. She wanted
Margie to learn all the subjects like history, geography and arithmetic. When she scored badly in
Geography, her mother sent for county inspector to check and confirm the status of her child’s education.
3. What kind of book did Tommy find? Where did he find it? What was strange about the book?
Tommy found a real printed book. He found it in the Attic of his house. The book was strange to them
because it was different from their telebook and had words that did not move and remained where they were.
Its pages were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving
the way they were supposed to--on a screen. And then, when they turned back to the page before, it had the
same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time.

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4. Do you think that mother was right when she said ‘that each kid has to be taught differently."?
Yes, the mother was right when she said "that each kid has to be taught differently" because every child has
a different brain and understanding of the subject. There are below standard, average, and intelligent
students. Their capabilities and intentions also make their efforts slow. We, in India, have all type of
students in every class who have different understanding for different subjects. Some excel in Mathematics,
some in Science, some in computers and some in other areas. Therefore, each kid has to be taught differently
unlike today’s environment.
5. Do you think the school described in year 2157 is ideal school?(Attempt on your own)