EnglishForToday 12 17 (PDF)

Prescribed by the National Curriculum & Textbook Board
as a Textbook from the academic session 2001-2002

ENGLISH FOR TODAY
For Classes 11-12

Writers
Dr. M Shahidullah
Jahurul Islam
Iffat Ara Nasreen Majid
Najma Shams

Editor
Dr. Arifa Rahman

Unit 24 written by M S Hoque

NATIONAL CURRICULUM & TEXTBOOK BOARD, DHAKA

PREFACE
This new English textbook has been developed for classes 11 & 12 by English Language
Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) jointly funded by the Government of Bangladesh
and DFID of the UK Government. A team of writers trained in the UK under ELTIP has
written the book over a period of one and a half years. The whole process of writing,
trialling and evaluating the manuscript was carried out by a national and an expatriate
consultants of ELTIP in cooperation with NCTB.
The book is based on the principle that has guided the writing of the English For Today
books from class 6 onwards —the principle of learning a language by actually practising
it. This practice, which is carried out through the four language skills of speaking,
listening, reading and, writing, usually in an interactive mode, underlies the
communicative approach to language learning.
As the focus is on the communicative functions of language, the main aim of the textbook
is to provide ample opportunities for students to use English for a variety of purposes in
interesting situations. The book is divided into units. Each unit, based on a theme, has
several lessons that contain reading texts and a range of tasks and activities designed to
enable students to ptactise the different skills, sometimes individually and sometimes in
pairs or groups. Some literary texts have also been included. However, the emphasis in
such cases is not just on content but on the exploitation of the texts to trigger a variety of
language activities.
The emphasis on the communicative approach, however, does not disregard the role of
grammar. Instead of treating grammar as a set of rules to be memorised in isolation, the
book has integrated grammar items into the lesson activities allowing grammar to assume
a more meaningful role in the learning of English. Thus students develop their language
skills by practising language activities and not merely by knowing the rules of the
language.
This communicative approach to learning English is familiar to the students of classes 11
& 12 who have already used the English For Today textbooks from class 6. A Teacher‘s
Guide will be written to facilitate the teaching of this new book.
A unit on population education has been appended to the book to raise awareness about
the adverse effects of overpopulation on the socio-economic conditions of the country.
It is expected that the new textbook will be an effective resource for the learning of
English at this level.

Professor Dr. Md. Masir Uddin
Chairman
National Curriculum & Textbook Board, Dhaka

Syllabus
ENGLISH
PAPER -1
Seen Comprehension
There will be a seen comprehension passage followed by a choice of questions. The
comprehension questions should be equally divided between objective and more free /
open. Comprehension question types should include the following:
(a) Objective: (i) multiple choice (ii) true/false, (iii) filling in gaps with clues, (iv)
information transfer, (v) making sentences from substitution table(s), (vi) matching
phrases/ pictures, etc.
Note: Questions will be set on any four of the above types (objective) every year. Each
type will carry 5 marks ((54=20). There will be 5 questions carrying 1 mark each (i.e. 1
5 = 5) in one type.
(b) More free: (vii) open-ended, (viii) filling in gaps without clues, (ix) summarising, (x)
making notes, and (xi) re-writing in a different form.
Note: Questions will be set on any four of the above types every year. There will be 5
questions carrying 1 mark each (i.e. 1 x 5 = 5) in one type.
All the questions should test the students‘ ability to understand the passage as a whole,
rather than their ability to copy sections from it. Although the seen comprehension
passage will be taken from a set textbook, it will not encourage memorisation, because (i)
the passage will be reproduced on the question paper, and (ii) the questions will not come
from the textbook, but rather, will be new.
Vocabulary
There will be question on vocabulary contextualised in the form of doze passages the
clues, and doze passages without clues. In order to provide more communicative contexts,
the topics should be related to those already encountered by the students in seen and
unseen comprehension.
Writing: Guided
There will be a number of writing tasks. The following types of exercises should be
given:
(i) producing sentences from substitution tables,
(ii) reordering sentences, and
(iii) answering questions in a paragraph.
Note: There will be no alternative questions in all the three types.
Distribution of Marks
(a)
Seen comprehension:
Objective questions
More free/open questions
(b)
Vocabulary
Cloze test with clues
Cloze test without clues
(c)
Guided writing

40 Marks
20
20
20 Marks
10
10
40 Marks
Total = 100 Marks

PAPER-2
Unseen Comprehension
There will be an unseen comprehension passage followed by a choice of question. The
comprehension passage will be of a different type than that used in the seen
comprehension (i.e. paper—I). Comprehension question types should include the
following:
(a) Objective: (i) multiple choice. (ii) true/false, (iii) filling in gaps with clues, (iv)
information transfer, (v) making sentences from substitution table(s), (vi) matching
phrases / pictures, etc.
Note: Questions will be set on any four of the above types every year. There will be 5
questions carrying 1 mark each (i.e. 1 x 5 = 5) in one type.
(b) More free: (vii) open-ended, (viii) filling in gaps without clues, (ix) summarising, (x)
making notes, and (xi) re-writing in a different form.
Note: Questions will be set on any four of the above types every year. There will be 5
questions carrying 1 mark each (i. e 1 x 5 = 5) in one type.
Grammar
There will be questions on grammatical items contextualised in the form of cloze
passages with clues (50%), and cloze passages without clues (50%). In order to provide
more communicative contexts, the topics should be related to those already encountered
by the students in the seen and unseen comprehension. There will not be any questions on
explicit grammatical knowledge. Neither will explicit grammatical terms be used in the
paper. Rather, questions will test the use of grammatical items within specific,
meaningful contexts.
Writing : More free
The following types of exercises should be given:
(i)
answering questions about themselves,
(ii)
continuing a passage,
(iii)
writing from a model (provided in the paper),
(iv)
writing creatively from their own experience and / or imagination.
Note 1 : There will be no alternative questions in any of these types.
Distribution of Marks
(a)
Unseen comprehension:
40 Marks
Objective questions
20
More free/open questions
20
(b)
Grammar
20 Marks
cloze test with clues
10
cloze test without clues
10
(c)
Semi-guided to free writing
40 Marks
Total =100 Marks
Prescribed Book:
English For Today, For Classes 11-12
Published by: National Curriculum & Textbook Board, Dhaka.

CONTENTS
Page No.
Preface

i

Syllabus
Book Map

iii
xii
Unit One: Families Home and Abroad

Lesson

Title

Page

1

Our Family

1

2

A Myanmar family

4

3

A Kenyan family

6

4

Mr Fraser‘s family

8

5

Changing trends

10
Unit Two: English Around Us

1

The language of newspapers and advertisements

14

2

We write and speak differently

16

3

Understanding instructions

19

4

Write it formally and informally

21

5

Words, words, words

23

6

British or American

25

7

English in literature

28

8

Daffodils

30
Unit Three: Learning English

1

Learning a language

33

2

Why learn English

34

3

How to learn English

36

4

Different learners, different ways

37

5

Dealing with grammar

39

6

Integrated skills development

40

7

How well do I know my dictionary?

42

Unit Four: Pastimes
Lesson

Title

Page

1

Things we enjoy doing

45

2

Some unusual pastimes

47

3

Through the lens

50

4

Plants for pleasure

52

5

Under the banyan tree

54

Unit Five: Personality Types
1

What is he like!

57

2

Introverts and extroverts

59

3

Strange personalities

61

4

People I live with

64

5

How assertive are you

66

6

Jerry

69
Unit Six: Our Environment

1

The environment and the ecosystem

71

2

How the environment is polluted

72

3

The world is getting warmer

73

4

Let‘s not be cruel to them

76

5

Beware of pollution

78

6

Forests should stay

79

7

How to manage waste

81

Unit Seven: Disasters We Live With
1

A furious force

83

2

Grass fires

85

3

The parched earth

87

4

Erosion

89

5

The shake and the quake

91

6

‗Under the greenwood tree‘

92

Unit Eight: Towards Social Awareness
Lesson

Title

Page

1

Caring and sharing

95

2

Waste not, want not

97

3

Isn‘t it too loud!

98

4

Think of others too

101

5

Getting along with

103

6

Rules, conventions and us

105

7

How can I contribute?

108

Unit Nine: Getting Educated
1

Why we need education

110

2

Options open to us

111

3

Problems we face

113

4

Towards higher education

114

5

Higher education abroad-I

116

6

Higher education abroad-II

117

7

What is life?

120

8

True education

122
Unit Ten: Entertainment

1

Getting the best out of TV

124

2

Fostering good will through sports

125

3

Film buff

127

4

Entertainment through the ages

129

5

The sound of music

131

Unit Eleven: Cultures Around the World
1

Cultural patterns

133

2

Changing dress patterns

135

3

Food habits and ways of eating

136

4

Food habits in some other countries

138

Lesson

Title

Page

5

Changing norms of behavior

140

6

Visiting Bangladesh tips for foreigners

141

7

Etiquette in English society: tips for Bangladesh going to Britain

143

8
9

Some cross-cultural differences
Festivals and celebrations in different cultures

145
147

Unit Twelve: Personalities
1

Personalities at home

150

2

National heroes: our martyred intellectuals

152

3

Rabindranath Tagore

153

4

The man behind the Shaheed Minar

155

5

Wole Soyinka

157

6

A scientist on a wheelchair

158

Unit Thirteen: We and Our Rights
1

Children have their rights

161

2

Women have rights too

164

3

The rights of the old must not be neglected

167

4

Some basic human rights

169

5

Rights of the wage-earner

171

6

Citizens and their rights

174

7

What would you call him

176

Unit Fourteen: Human Resources
1

Literacy: an age-old concept

178

2

Bringing about a difference

180

3

Enriching the workforce

182

4
5

Investing in development
Tapping our future generation

184
186