Answer the following questions.

Question 1.
What is the main purpose of giving homework to children?
Answer:
The main purpose of giving homework is to reinforce and strengthen the
child’s learning.

Question 2.
How can excessive homework decrease students’ interest in studies?
Answer:
Excessive amount of homework can have a detrimental effect as it
reduces the ability of a child to spend time for social, family and other
activities like sport. This will make a student lose interest in studies.
Large amount of homework can also makes students feel tired and bored.
Research conducted by many experts around the world have shown that
excessive homework can increase the stress on students and is not
effective in increasing learning.

Question 3.
Why do many teachers defend large amounts of homework?
Answer:
Many teachers defend heavy homework. They say it is necessary as it
helps prepare students for a world that has become very competitive.

Question 5.
How does homework take time away from important elements of daily
life?
Answer:
Heavy homework reduces the amount of time that children have to do
other important activities. They don’t get enough time to play, exercise or
spend time with family and friends. It also reduces the time for fun and
sleep.

Question 6.
Is the writer in favour of or against homework? Justify your reasons.
Answer:
The writer is not in favour of excessive homework. In this essay, he
argues for limited, interesting, enjoyable homework that has been
designed in a creative manner. He lists “less is more” as the correct
approach for homework and lists many harmful effects of excessive
homework.

Project Work
Conduct a survey to find out the kind of reading material the
children like to be included in the textbook which makes them
more interesting.

Ask them which of the following they enjoy most and complete the table :

comics poems
biographies fairy tales
playlets stories
skits jokes
scientific essays news reports
folklore diaries
songs magazines
essays speeches

Work in groups and consolidate the data you have collected.

Collect the data in the given format.
Prepare a pie chart with the collected data.
Analyse the pie chart and name the materials they enjoyed
reading.

S No. Name of the Child Material Liked Example of

Title
1 Ramesh and 15 others Comics Nagraj
2 Radha + 5 Essays Pollution in India
3 Srikant + 4 Poems Ozymandias
4 Aparna + 11 Skits The Magic Pencil
5 Puran + 7 Scientific Essays Climate Change
6 Manisha + 9 Folklore Komaram
Bheem
7 Gina + 5 Speeches Mahatma
Gandhi
8 Sai + 8 Diaries Nehru
9 Lalitha + 9 Biographies Narendra Modi
10 Venkat + 12 Playlets The Vultures
11 Vivek + 11 Jokes Tenali Rama’s
12 Arif + 8 Magazines India today
13 Mahesh + 5 New Reports Sports roundup
14 Pari + 9 Stories Charlie and
Chocolate
Factory
15 Govind + 8 Fairy Tales Tinderbox
16 Anne + 2 Songs Saami Saami
 Reading Survey of school Children

Comics, Jokes Stories, Follklore, Fairytales

19% 20%

Songs, Poems
6%

Biographies, Diaries and

Speeches
17%
Playlets, skits
17%

Essays, Scientifc Essays

News reports, Magazines 10%
10%