NCERT Book Class 7 English The Tiny Teacher

The Tiny Teacher

NAME the smallest insect you have seen, and the wisest. Is it the fly? No, it isn’t. Is it the mosquito? No, not the mosquito. Then it must be the worm. No, none of these. It is the ant—the commonest, the smallest but the wisest insect. The story of an ant’s life sounds almost untrue. But people have kept ants as pets, and have watched their daily behaviour closely. So we know a number of facts about this tiny, hard-working and intelligent creature.

An ant uses its feelers or antennae to ‘talk’ to other ants by passing messages through them. Watch a row of ants moving up or down the wall. Each ant greets all the others coming from the opposite direction by touching their feelers.

There are many kinds of ants. The commonest among them are the black or red ones. We have seen them since we were children, but haven’t paid enough attention to them. Where do they live? In their comfortable homes called ‘nests’ or ‘anthills’. Each has hundreds of little rooms and passages. In some of these rooms the queen ant lays eggs. Others are nurseries for the young ones (called ‘grubs’). Workers have their reserved quarters. They spend most of their time searching for food. Some rooms serve as storehouses for this food. Soldiers have separate barracks. No worker has ever tried to live in a soldier’s house; no soldier has ever gone out searching for food. No worker or soldier or cleaner has ever harmed a grub. So you see, an ant’s life is very peaceful. Each does its share of work intelligently and bravely, and never fights with other members of the group.

Exercise

Discuss the following topics in groups.

1. (i) What problems are you likely to face if you keep ants as pets?

(ii) When a group of bees finds nectar, it informs other bees of its location, quantity, etc. through dancing. Can you guess what ants communicate to their fellow ants by touching one another’s feelers?

2. Complete the following poem with words from the box below. Then recite the poem.

Soldiers live in barracks

And birds in ———————,

Much like a snake that rests

In a ———————. No horse is able

To sleep except in a ———————.

And a dog lives well,

Mind you, only in a ———————.

To say ‘hi’ to an ant, if you will,

You may have to climb an ———————.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 English The Tiny Teacher