CBSE Class 6 English Honeysuckle Syllabus

FOREWORD

THE National Curriculum Framework, 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-centred 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 consideration for child psychology and the time
available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
endeavor 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 December 2005 Research and Training

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, English and Foreign Languages University
(EFLU), Hyderabad

CHIEF COORDINATOR

Ram Janma Sharma, Former Head, Department of Education
in Languages, NCERT, New Delhi

MEMBERS

Amita Kochar, PGT (English), Chiranjeev Bharati School, Gurgaon
Parminder Dutta, Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Airports Authorityof India, New Delhi
R. Meganathan, Assistant Professor, Department of Education
in Languages, NCERT, New Delhi
Shalini Advani, Formerly Principal, British School, New Delhi

MEMBER-COORDINATOR

Nasiruddin Khan, Former Reader in English, Department of
Education in Languages, NCERT, New Delhi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE National Council of Educational Research and Training is
grateful to Professor M.L. Tickoo, formerly of the Central Institute
of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, and the Regional
Language Centre, Singapore, for going through the manuscript
and making valuable suggestions.
For permission to reproduce copyright material in this book
NCERT would like to thank the following: M/s Rupa & Co.,
New Delhi for ‘The Banyan Tree’ by Ruskin Bond; Orient Longman
Private Limited, New Delhi for ‘A Different Kind of School’ from
Onward English – Book 5; M/s Ratna Sagar Private Limited, Delhi
for ‘A House, A Home’ and ‘Where Do All the Teachers Go?’;
R.K. Laxman for the cartoon from The Best of Laxman; the
Department of Advertising and Visual Publicity, Government of
India for the photograph of Kalpana Chawla; and Hamish Hamilton
for the two photographs of a mongoose and a cobra along with the
accompanying paragraph from Animals in India by Ylla.
Special thanks are also due to the Publication Department,
NCERT, for their support. NCERT gratefully acknowledges the
contributions made by Bharati Guleria, Copy Editor; Keerti Lingwal,
Proof Reader and Vijyanti and Uttam Kumar, DTP Operators.

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Fundamental Duties

Fundamental Duties – It shall be the duty of every citizen of India —
(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the
National Flag and the National Anthem;
(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle
for freedom;
(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to
do so;
(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the
people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional
diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;
(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes,
rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry
and reform;
(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective
activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour
and achievement;
(k) who is a parent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education to
his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen
years.