Q1.
I. Work in groups of four and choose a role each. Use the cues given below to present a role play in the class. Frame your responses logically in complete sentences. You may frame appropriate questions to ensure continuity in the conversation.
Music teacher: encourages the student to take up music classes
Student 1: confused – feels music class may take away time from studies
Student 2: music learner – is convinced that music is beneficial and can manage time
Parent: initially doubtful but later supportive after the discussion
Answer
A group speaking task. What follows is the method, the checklist of what the role play must contain, and a model exchange to show the register expected.
What a good role play needs:
- Everyone speaks at least three times, and nobody delivers a speech. Four turns of two sentences beat one turn of eight.
- Each speaker must respond to what was actually said — pick up the other person’s word and answer it. That is what ‘ensure continuity’ means.
- Use questions to hand the turn on: “But how would you manage it before the exams?”, “How many hours a week are we talking about?”
- The parent must change for a stated reason. ‘Doubtful, then supportive’ is only convincing if something in the discussion causes it — usually a concrete plan, not enthusiasm.
- Complete sentences, and a courteous register. This is a discussion between a teacher, two students and a parent, not a quarrel.
Sample answer (an extract from the role play):
Music teacher: Aarav, you have a good ear — you picked up that taal in one hearing this morning. Have you thought about joining the music class on Tuesdays and Fridays?
Student 1 (confused): Thank you, ma’am, but I am not sure. Class nine is a heavy year, and two afternoons a week is two afternoons away from my books. What if I fall behind?
Student 2 (music learner): May I answer that? I have been in the class for two years, and my marks have not dropped. The class is forty-five minutes, not an afternoon. What it costs me is the time I used to spend on my phone.
Student 1: That is easy to say now. What about the week before the exams?
Student 2: Ma’am lets us skip that week. And honestly, the twenty minutes of riyaz I do every morning is the only part of my day when I am not thinking about marks — I study better afterwards.
Parent (doubtful): That is what worries me. Every activity begins with forty-five minutes and grows. Aarav has boards next year.
Music teacher: That is a fair concern, and I would answer it with a plan rather than a promise. Let him join for one term. We keep it to two forty-five-minute periods a week, we do not add extra rehearsals, and if his class teacher reports any slipping, he stops. Would that be acceptable?
Parent (after a pause, supportive): A term with a review — yes, I can agree to that. And I will say one thing in favour of it. My own father played the flute, and I gave it up in class ten because of exactly this argument. I have regretted it for thirty years.
Student 1: Then I would like to try, papa — for a term. Ma’am, may I sit in on Friday’s class before I decide?
Music teacher: Come and sit at the back. Bring nothing but your ears.
Student 1 (confused): Thank you, ma’am, but I am not sure. Class nine is a heavy year, and two afternoons a week is two afternoons away from my books. What if I fall behind?
Student 2 (music learner): May I answer that? I have been in the class for two years, and my marks have not dropped. The class is forty-five minutes, not an afternoon. What it costs me is the time I used to spend on my phone.
Student 1: That is easy to say now. What about the week before the exams?
Student 2: Ma’am lets us skip that week. And honestly, the twenty minutes of riyaz I do every morning is the only part of my day when I am not thinking about marks — I study better afterwards.
Parent (doubtful): That is what worries me. Every activity begins with forty-five minutes and grows. Aarav has boards next year.
Music teacher: That is a fair concern, and I would answer it with a plan rather than a promise. Let him join for one term. We keep it to two forty-five-minute periods a week, we do not add extra rehearsals, and if his class teacher reports any slipping, he stops. Would that be acceptable?
Parent (after a pause, supportive): A term with a review — yes, I can agree to that. And I will say one thing in favour of it. My own father played the flute, and I gave it up in class ten because of exactly this argument. I have regretted it for thirty years.
Student 1: Then I would like to try, papa — for a term. Ma’am, may I sit in on Friday’s class before I decide?
Music teacher: Come and sit at the back. Bring nothing but your ears.
Why this version works: each speaker answers the previous one directly; the objection (time) is met with a number, not with enthusiasm; the parent is turned by a concrete safeguard — one term, two periods, a review — and by his own memory; and the scene ends with a small, doable action rather than a grand conclusion. That last point matters in a role play: finish on something a person could actually do on Friday.