Question

Comprehension Passage
With chalk in hand she wrote her name across a board once bare, and then she sat behind her desk without a single care. For fifteen minutes she did not make a sound until the final student had settled down. She then stood up before them and told them all her name and then politely asked each student to do the same. Then, without any hesitation, she took the papers from a sack and placed them in two piles, one white the other black. Then deliberately quite slowly, without a slight mischievous smile she began handing out the papers up and down each aisle .Once each student had a sheet, she continued within their sights to gather two piles of crayons, one black and the other white. Then she took the crayons, went up and down the rows and handed to each student the colours that she chose. “Now ,” she told her students, ”I want you to create a picture filled with beauty ,devoid of any hate.” Mouths dropped open widely; mumbles filled the room and students looked to one another as unasked questions seemed to loom. The students with white paper had been handed crayons the same shade and the students with black crayons had been given a raven-coloured page. The question was how could one create splendour with no colours to mix and match? The students were quite certain that the teacher had left out some important facts. “Teacher,” a student’s voice was heard, I’m not so sure I can,” staring at the white crayon and white paper in her hand. Silence overtook the room; it eerily crept about causing the teacher’s gentle voice to erupt into a shout. “You each share the same problem, you each possess the power to resolve but only the students with open minds will have the ability to solve.” Minutes ticked away, the class was nearing to an end and not one single student knew quite how to begin and when the bell rang, they hurried to their feet. The teacher told them commandingly to return to their seats. “ Before you leave this classroom, I think you each should know for this assignment you receive a failing grade, for you have no work to show and tomorrow and the day after your assignment shall remain the same and those who fail my class ,have no one but themselves to blame.” The next day and the following, the students weren’t quite sure what to do, until, at last a solution began to surface ,when one student with his crayon and paper both in black turned to the student behind him and asked ,”May I borrow that?" The student hesitated, then gave up his white crayon and ultimately the assignment no longer seemed a plight, for students all throughout the class switched crayons up and down the aisles. Certain that they had found the solution, their faces lit with smiles and just as every student began to draw across an empty page, the teacher whom they had all begun to see as certainly quite strange, collected all the pages and crayons without a single mark. Then she spoke aloud,” Thank you for bringing hope into my heart. You see, I wanted you to realize that in order to create a picture filled with beauty, devoid of any hate you needed first to recognize that a problem did exist and that a practical solution could be found within your midst, and that racism is a problem, each one of us must face working all as one, before it’s too late. With open eyes and with open hearts we must see the person and not the colour of their skin and come to the understanding that racism has to end for together we are family, we shed tears, we feel pain and though we may not look at that part, that’s exactly what we do. Crayons are just colours, and that’s all our skin is too. a) Give the meaning of each 0f the following words as used in the passage .One word answers or short phrases will be accepted: (1m ) i. mumbles ___________ ii. assignment ___________Answer the following questions in your own words: (i) How did the teacher begin the lesson? (2m) (ii) What instructions did the teacher give her students once she had distributed the crayons to each one of them? (1m) (iii) Why were the children confused with the assignment given to them? (1m) c) In not more than 50 words relate how the children found a solution to the problem they faced regarding the assignment given to them and what lesson they learnt through this exercise.​

Answer 1

Answer:

1m.i.to murmur.

ii.homework

2m.i.By writing across the board the name of the lesson and sat until the last student had settle down.

ii.she asked the students to create a picture filled with beauty and devoid of any hate