Unit-I

Critical Thingkig

Working with words

A. Find the words from the text that match with the following meanings.

        a. Shuffling walking by dragging one's feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground

        b. Doodling drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else

        c. Plaque a piece of flat metal with writing on it

        d. Precept a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought

        e. Sneak move or go in a furtive or stealthy way

B. Consult your teacher and define the following thinking skills.

a.     Convergent thinking: Using our memories, the resources around us, or reasoning, convergent thinking is the act of coming up with the best response to a topic or problem. It doesn't require a lot of creativity. For problem - solving and critical or difficult situations, it is not the ideal approach. Instead, it employs fairly simple mental processes, tested methods, and memory recall to get at the 'right’ or ‘correct’ answer.

b.     Divergent thinking: Divergent thinking is the complete opposite of convergent thinking, which entails developing answers, strategies, or new concepts when there is no one right solution. The answer to a complex question like "should I pursue a career as a lawyer or a doctor?" may not be obvious. Both possibilities might make you happy and lead to a fulfilling life if you are skilled at both. So, which choice is best for you? You need to dissect the options and examine each component in order to come up with answers to queries that lack obvious answers. Make a list of advantages and disadvantages.

c.     Critical thinking: It is the ability to clearly and logically consider information that is presented to us. It involves analyzing something in order to form a judgement about it. It is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

d.   Creative thinking: On the other side, it is about coming up with new, original, or useful ideas. Since it is more imaginative, it is mostly beneficial when composing poetry and other creative works. Its nature is divergent and non-judgmental.

Answer the following questions.

a. Who was Jack? How did he make children laugh?

• Jack was a student in the narrator's class who was popular among other kids because he used to make them laugh by telling jokes. As a result, Jack had many friends and was loved by others.

b. Why are “Sharks” important to Reid?

• "Sharks" are important to Reid because he thinks they eat dead things in the ocean, which keeps the environment clean.

c. What does Mr. Browne think about the most important thing?

• The most important thing, in Mr. Browne's opinion is knowing ourselves and life's precepts because they direct us toward success.

d. What is that has not been noticed by the student?

• The student has not noticed a plaque next to the door of this school that reads, "Know Thyself." This signifies that it is crucial to understand who we are and why we attend school, college, or university.

e. How did Jack make fun of the English class?

• When Jack's teacher told the students that it was crucial to understand who they were and what they were there for in school, he made fun of the English class by saying that the pupils were there to study English rather than to know themselves.

f. What were the students going to do at the end of the month?

• At the end of the month, the students were going to write an essay about precepts.

g. What particular act of students surprised a girl student?

• According to Mr. Browne, his students used to come up with their own personal precepts, write on a postcard, and mail it to him after their graduation. This particular act of students surprised a girl student. 

Critical thinking

a. Have you made your own precept after you read this lesson? What is it? Share it with your friends.

            Yes, I have made my own precept after reading this lesson, which includes:

            -Do good for others.
            -Always be positive.
            -Always be happy with what you have.

b. According to Josh Lanyon, “If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.” Justify this statement with your logic.

According to Josh Lanyon, one life skill that is urgently needed and very useful is the ability to think critically. The ability to think with a critical objectivity is concerned with survival skills for humans because it is a guidepost that leads one to find the facts. Furthermore, it looks at everything from the point of view of asking how it can be improved in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Without this skill, it is impossible for us to succeed in our lives. For example, if we have a problem regarding the number of tigers in the world, we first try to find the facts about it, including analyzing the problem, evaluating it, reasoning about it, solving it, and making a decision about it. In fact, it helps us determine the truth about unknown things. Therefore, it enables us to distinguish between right and wrong.

Writing

Write an email to your friend explaining an interesting class you had.

To: kesh.rana@nou.edu.np

Subject: About an interesting class

Dear Simon,

Thank you for the email that you sent me. I am happy to learn that you are doing well at your studies there. Today, I am writing this email to share my experience about an interesting class that I have had at in a Japanese language class.

As I was interested in studying Japanese, I attended a class nearby. We were all together, 12 students in the class, waiting for the teacher. A teacher entered the room and began the class. As it was the first introductory class, the teacher introduced himself, and so did we. Though the instruction was in Japanese, he taught the language in a way that we could grasp what he meant as he used gestures. More importantly, the teacher was so energetic and smart, and the class was so interesting that I will never forget it. To make his class interesting, he mostly used visual aids and other supportive materials. Moreover, his voice was soothing and spellbinding, which made us listen to him. His cheerful appearance was also appealing. Though the class lasted for about an hour, I did not realize it passed so swiftly. This is the most interesting class that I have ever had so far in my student life. I have been a fan of the teacher and his teaching style since the beginning of the class.

As your aim is to become an ideal professor, try to use various techniques that help you draw students’ attention, which in turn can make your classes interesting. However, you are well aware of all these things. We will share other sorts of interesting experiences in our next email.

Take care.

Best regards,

Ryan

Grammar

Question Tag

A. Study the following examples.

    a. You are tired, aren’t you?

    b. He left Kathmandu, didn’t he?

    c. Your father never touched alcoholic drinks, did he?

B. Rewrite the following sentences adding appropriate question tag.

    a)     Gill does not know Ann, does he?

    b)    I’m very patient, aren’t I?

    c)     They’d never met me before, hadn’t they?

    d)    Listen carefully, will you?

    e)     Let’s have a break, shall we?

    f)     Let us invite them, will you?

    g)    Hari used to live in France as a boy, didn’t he?

    h)    You’d better not take a hard drink, hadn’t you?

    i)      Sheep eat grass, don’t they?

    j)      Mr. Pande can speak nine languages, can’t he?

    k)    She’s finished her classes, hasn’t she?

    l)      She barely managed to reach the goal, did she?

    m)   Don’t let him swim in that pond, will you?

    n)    There are lots of people here, aren’t there?

C. Read the following situations. What do you say in these situations? Use question tags.

a)     The sky is full of cloud. You can see lightning and hear thunder. It’s going to rain soon, isn’t it?

b)    You want to pay the taxi fare, but you are short by 100 rupees. Shyam, you lend me some money, don’t you?

c)     You have met a stranger at a party, and you want to have a chat with him/ her. Let's have a chat, shall we?

d)    You came out of the film hall with your friend. You enjoyed the film. The film was interesting, wasn’t it?

e)     You and your friend listened to a comedian on the stage and felt spellbound by his/her performance. He gave an excellent performance, didn’t he?

f)     You think your friend’s father has arrived from the US, but you are not sure. Your father might have arrived home, mightn’t he?

g)    You think Susan will join the new job tomorrow, but you are not sure. Susan may join us tomorrow, mayn’t she?

h)    Your friend’s hair looks too short. You have got hair trimmed, haven’t you?

i)      You want to go for a picnic with your friends in class. Let’s go for a picnic, shall we?

j)      You want permission from your father to go for a walk. Let me go for a walk please, will you?