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1059 – FIRST FLIGHT

ISBN 81-7450-658-6
Textbook for Class X

First Edition
February 2007 Magha 1928 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
q No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
Reprinted or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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August 2019, January 2021 and means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
November 2021
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 Foreword
T HE National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005,
recommends that children’s life at school must be linked
to their life outside the school. This principle marks a
departure from the legacy of bookish learning which
continues to shape our system and causes a gap between
the school, home and community. The syllabi and
textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt
to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to
discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp
boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these
measures will take us significantly further in the direction
of a child-centered system of education outlined in the
National Policy of Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that
school principals and teachers will take to encourage
children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue
imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise
that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new
knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to
them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the
sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why
other resources and sites of learning are ignored.
Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive
and treat children as participants in learning, not as
receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school
routines and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily
time-table is as necessary as rigour in implementing the
annual calendar so that the required number of teaching
days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used
for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective
this textbook proves for making children’s life at school a
happy experience, rather than a source of stress or
boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the
problem of curricular burden by restructuring and
reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater

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consideration for child psychology and the time available
for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to
opportunities for contemplation and wondering,
discussion in small groups, and activities requiring
hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and
Training (NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the
textbook development committee responsible for this book.
We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group
in languages, Professor Namwar Singh, and the Chief
Advisor for this book, Professor R. Amritavalli, for guiding
the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed
to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their
principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the
institutions and organisations which have generously
permitted us to draw upon their resources, materials and
personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of
the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the
Department of Secondary and Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resource Development under the
Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and
Professor G.P. Deshpande for their valuable time
and contribution. As an organisation committed to
systemic reform and continuous improvement in the
quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and
suggestions which will enable us to undertake further
revision and refinements.

Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 November 2006 Research and Training

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 RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to

reduce content load on students. The National
Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the
content load and providing opportunities for
experiential learning with creative mindset. In this
background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise
to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning
Outcomes already developed by the NCER T across
classes have been taken into consideration in this
exercise.
Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised
in view of the following:
• Content based on genres of literature in the
textbooks and supplementary readers at
different stages of school education
• Content that is meant for achieving Learning
Outcomes for developing language proficiency
and is accessible at different stages
• For reducing the curriculum load and
examination stress in view of the previling
condition of the Pandemic
• Content, which is easily accessible to students
without much interventions from teachers and
can be learned by children through self-learning
or peer-learning
• Content, which is irrelevant in the present
context
This present edition, is a reformatted version
after carrying out the changes given above.

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 To the Teacher
First Flight, a textbook in English for Class X, is based
on the new syllabus in English which was prepared as
a follow-up to the National Curriculum Framework,
2005. The English curriculum lays emphasis on
providing a variety of rich, comprehensible inputs to
learners to enable their engagement in learning; and
on recognising the multilinguality of everyday
experience in India. This textbook aims at helping the
learner to read for meaning in context, thus providing
a bank of language to serve as a base for
communication in English.
• This book presents you with texts in a variety of
genres, including the diary, the formal address, the
travelogue, and the play, on literary, cultural and
sociological themes that touch upon aspects of life
relevant to adolescents. Questions and ideas about
the individual and society, the understanding and
management of one’s emotions, and of one’s place
in a larger time and space, are here presented both
by such voices from contemporary history as Nelson
Mandela and Anne Frank, and in fiction from India
and abroad, chosen for their enduring value. There
are units that present glimpses of our country, and
depict our relationship with the natural world.
• The units in the book have been loosely structured
in the following way. An introductory section, Before
You Read, gives information or activates knowledge
about the text to be read, and suggests some warm-
up activities. Let children participate in these to the
fullest extent; where necessary or possible, add some
activities of your own.
• An innovation made in consultation with teachers is a
while-reading activity, the Oral Comprehension Check,
which aims at a quick, ongoing check that learners are
indeed following the text up to that point, so that they
can progress meaningfully to the parts of the text that

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 follow. Let learners briefly share their understanding by
orally answering the questions in this section.
Reflection, expression of individual opinion and deeper
understanding of the text can occur later, when the text
has been read and understood in its totality, in the section
Thinking about the Text. The questions in the latter
section are designed to enable the learner to move from
factual understanding to critical thinking.
• Thinking about Language provides exercises or tasks
that follow naturally from the contexts suggested by a
particular unit, for enrichment of vocabulary and other
language skills. Exploit them well and also create your
own activities. Exercises for the communicative skills of
listening, speaking, and writing have been given in
contexts that support group or pair activity. A variety of
writing tasks have been aimed at.
• While dealing with poems, let children understand and
enjoy the theme and the language by reading a poem with
close attention, more than once, silently or along with the
teacher or a partner. Where some information has been
provided about the poet or the background to the poem,
this should not stand in the way of the learner accessing
the poem directly, and attempting to make sense of it.
How do we read poetry? Here is what one teacher says.
All poetry requires patience. Be patient with the text;
read carefully for nuance and inference. Know what the
words mean. Look up words that are unfamiliar — look
up words that are familiar but you cannot specify. Pay
attention to words or phrases that resonate with other
things you know and try to identify the connection. Be
patient and read slowly, and you will be amply rewarded.
• Each unit includes some guidelines for your assistance,
under the head In This Lesson, organised under two
subsections — What We Have Done, and What You Can
Do. The first subsection summarises the theme of the unit,
and/or its activities. The second suggests interesting
possibilities for you to go beyond the text, using the text as
a springboard for a variety of language activities appropriate
to your particular group of learners. Suggested here, for
example, are group activities for speaking or making a ticket
collage, as well as dictation. As you follow these suggestions
and take these activities forward along your own lines, you
will be able to enrich your students’ learning.

vi

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Textbook Development Committee
CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY GROUP IN LANGUAGES
Professor Namwar Singh, formerly Chairman, School of
Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
CHIEF ADVISOR
R. Amritavalli, Professor, Central Institute of English and
Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad
CHIEF COORDINATOR
Ram Janma Sharma, Professor and Head, Department
of Languages, NCERT, New Delhi
MEMBERS
Kalyani Samantray, Reader, SBW College, Cuttack
Kirti Kapur, Lecturer, Department of Languages, NCERT,
New Delhi
Lakshmi Rawat, TGT, BRD Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya,
Prasad Nagar, Karol Bagh, New Delhi
Nasiruddin Khan, Reader, Department of Languages
NCERT, New Delhi
Padmini Baruah, Reader, Department of ELT, Guwahati
University, Guwahati
Sadhana Agarwal, TGT, SKV Dayanand School,
Daryaganj, Delhi
Sadhana Parashar, Education Officer (ELT), CBSE,
Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi
Sandhya Sahoo, Reader, Regional Institute of Education
(NCERT), Bhubaneswar
Shruti Sircar, Lecturer, Centre for ESL Studies, CIEFL,
Hyberabad
MEMBER – COORDINATOR
R. Meganathan, Lecturer, Department of Languages,
NCERT, New Delhi

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 Acknowledgements
THE National Council of Educational Research and Training is
grateful to Professor M.L. Tickoo, formerly of the CIEFL,
Hyderabad and the Regional Language Centre, Singapore;
Professor Jayasheelan formerly of the CIEFL, Hyderabad; and
Professor Rajiv Krishnan of the CIEFL, Hyderabad, for their
valuable suggestions and advice in the development of this book.
We thank Dr Shyamla Kumaradoss for developing the
teacher’s guidelines for each unit so as to maximise learning.
For permission to reproduce copyright material in this
book, NCERT would like to thank the following: Sahitya
Akademi for ‘A Baker from Goa’ by Lucio Rodrigues from
Modern Indian Literature: An Anthology, (Volume Three — Plays
and Prose); Media Transasia India Limited, New Delhi, for
‘Coorg’ and the accompanying photographs by Lokesh Abrol;
Little Brown and Company, London, for the extract ‘Nelson
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ from Long Walk to Freedom:
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela; National Book Trust,
India, New Delhi, for ‘Madam Rides the Bus’ by
Vallikannan and for ‘Tea from Assam’ from Story of Tea by
Arup Kumar Dutta; R. K. Laxman for the illustrations in
‘Madam Rides the Bus’; Macmillan Publishing Company, New
York, for ‘The Ball Poem’ by John Berryman and for ‘Fire and
Ice’ and ‘Dust of Snow’ by Robert Frost from the Anthology of
American Literature II : Realism to the Present (Third Edition);
Puffin Books, London, for ‘From the Diary of Anne Frank’, an
extract from The Diary of a Young Girl’; Longmans for the
extract, ‘Mijbil the Otter’ from Ring of Bright Water; Random
House, New York, for the poem ‘The Panther’ by Rainer Maria
Rilke, edited and translated by Stephen Mitchell; Amitai
Etzioni, George Washington University, for the text ‘Good Grief’;
Holt, Rinehard and Winston Inc., New York, for the text ‘The
Sermon at Benares’ by Betty Renshaw.
Special thanks are also due to the Publication
Department, NCERT, for their support. NCERT gratefully
acknowledges the contributions made by Neena Chandra,
Copy Editor; Mohammed Harun and Arvind Sharma,
DTP Operators; Parash Ram, Incharge, Computer Resource
Centre, NCERT; and Mathew John, Proof Reader.

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 Contents
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
To the Teacher vii

1. A Letter to God 1
[Link]
Dust of Snow 14
ROBERT FROST
Fire and Ice 15
ROBERT FROST

2. Nelson Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom 16

NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA
A Tiger in the Zoo 29
LESLIE NORRIS

3. Two Stories about Flying 32

I. His First Flight
LIAM O’ FLAHERTY
II. Black Aeroplane
FREDERICK FORSYTH
How to Tell Wild Animals 43
CAROLYN WELLS
The Ball Poem 46
JOHN BERRYMAN

4. From the Diary of Anne Frank 48

ANNE FRANK
Amanda! 61
ROBIN KLEIN

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5. Glimpses of India 63
I. A Baker from Goa
LUCIO RODRIGUES
II. Coorg
LOKESH ABROL
III. Tea from Assam
ARUP KUMAR DATTA
The Trees 77
ADRIENNE RICH

6. Mijbil the Otter 80

GAVIN MAXWELL
Fog 93
CARL SANDBURG

7. Madam Rides the Bus 94

VALLIKKANNAN
The Tale of Custard the Dragon 107
OGDEN NASH
8. The Sermon at Benares 111
For Anne Gregory 118
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

9. The Proposal 120

ANTON CHEKOV

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