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Unit 2: Friendship – Class 6 English Chapter 2 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 6EnglishChapter 2NCERT book: Poorvi - English Class 6

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 2 of the NCERT Class 6 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Unit 2: Friendship — The Unlikely Best Friends, A Friend's Prayer, The Chair

Unit Overview

Unit 2 of Poorvi is about Friendship: what a true friend is, how friends care for each other, and how to recognise real friends. It has three pieces:

  • The Unlikely Best Friends: a Jataka-based story retold by Subba Rao (kathakids.com)
  • A Friend's Prayer: a poem by Jill Wolf
  • The Chair: a story about Mario and a "magic" invisible chair

    • Big idea: A true friend cares for us, accepts us as we are and stands by us, even when others laugh.

    The Unlikely Best Friends (Subba Rao)

    Type: Story (from the Jataka tales: The Elephant and the Dog)

    What happens:

  • Gajaraj, the king's elephant, lives in the best booth of the royal stables. He has every comfort but is sad because he has no friends. The kind mahout feeds and bathes him, but he is a good caretaker, but not a friend.
  • One evening a tired, hungry stray dog wanders in. Gajaraj pushes some of his food towards him. The mahout doesn't mind, and the dog stays.
  • They become best friends. The dog goes with Gajaraj to the pond (and yelps when splashed, because he hates showers) and rides on the elephant's back.
  • A farmer recognises the dog as his lost Buntee and takes him home on a rope. Neither the farmer nor the mahout noticed that the two friends were in tears.
  • Both friends stop eating. The mahout worries that Gajaraj is ill. The farmer understands and says, "If you miss your friend so much, go to him."
  • Buntee licks the farmer's hand and runs back. Gajaraj swings him joyfully with his trunk. The mahout hugs the farmer:
    • "It's not only Gajaraj who has found a friend, I've also found one."

    Why 'unlikely'? A huge royal elephant and a small stray dog are very different, yet they become the closest of friends.

    A Friend's Prayer (Jill Wolf)

    Type: Poem, a prayer in rhyming couplets

    Meaning:

  • The poet prays that friendship will always be the most important thing to her. With special friends she feels blessed, so she wants to give my very best.
  • She wants to do much more than share her friends' hopes and plans; she will try all that a friend can do / To make their wishes come true.
  • The key lines:
    • "Let me use my heart to see, / To realise what friends can be, / And make no judgements from afar, / But love my friends the way they are."

    Message: A true friend is caring and thoughtful, does not judge, and accepts friends as they are.

    The Chair

    Type: Story (humorous, with a lesson)

    What happens:

  • Mario shows off about having lots of friends. His grandfather bets him a fruit chaat that many of them are only companions or partners.
  • Grandpa brings an invisible "magic" chair from the attic: if Mario sits on it at school, he will know who his real friends are.
  • At break time Mario tries to sit on it and falls again and again. Most classmates laugh. Mario, brave and determined, doesn't give up.
  • Suddenly he doesn't fall: Guneet, Asma and Deepa are holding him up. That is the "magic".
  • Mario learns that true friends are those who care for us; a friend wouldn't be someone who takes joy in our bad luck. Mario wins the bet, and the four friends enjoy fruit chaat and grandpa's stories.

    • Message: Real friends help you when you fall, while others laugh at you.

    Word Power

  • booth: rectangular space (कक्ष)
  • stables: living spaces for animals (अस्तबल)
  • strayed: came by mistake (भटककर आया)
  • munching: chewing (चबाना)
  • yelped: cried (कुत्ते का चीखना)
  • winced: shrank back in pain or distress (दर्द से सिकुड़ना)
  • chores: daily duties (रोज़ के काम)
  • indigestion: upset stomach (अपच)
  • relieved: thankful (राहत महसूस हुई)
  • blessed: lucky, thankful (धन्य)
  • judgements: opinions about others (राय बनाना)
  • showed off: boasted (शेखी बघारना)
  • attic: a storage space just under the roof (अटारी)
  • invisible: impossible to see (अदृश्य)
  • determined: firm in decision (दृढ़ निश्चयी)

    • Grammar & Language Focus

  • Opposites with prefixes: un- (unkind), in- (incorrect), dis- (disappeared), mis- (misuse). Other opposites from the story: awake–asleep, missing–found, sad–happy.
  • Three past tenses:

    • - Simple past: looked, gave, served, told (action happened earlier)

    - Past progressive: was/were + verb-ing (was munching, was looking), an action going on

    - Past perfect: had + 3rd form (had ordered, had tied, had followed), an action already completed

  • Neither…nor joins two negatives (Neither Rohit nor I want to play). Either…or gives a choice between two (either cricket or kho-kho).
  • Qualities of a friend: loyal, helpful, kind, caring, honest.
  • Root words and suffixes: friend + ly, sudden + ly, talk + ing, carry + ing; magic + al, care + ful, friend + ship, celebrate + tion, courage + ous.
  • Adjectives describe a person or thing: brave, determined, invisible, special. Adjective–noun pairs: brave soldier, true friends, heavy rain.

    • Writing & Speaking Tasks

  • Talk with a partner about your common likes and dislikes, then write six sentences about how you are similar and different (use both, but, unlike, neither…nor).
  • Write an 80-word paragraph on how your friendship began (When? Where? How?).
  • Write a message to your best friend, like Mario's notes to Deepa, Asma and Guneet.
  • Make an acrostic poem on FRIENDS.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Thinking the mahout was Gajaraj's friend. He was a caretaker, and his friendship came later with the farmer.
  • Mixing up was looking (past progressive) with had looked (past perfect).
  • Using neither…or ✗. It must be neither…nor / either…or.
  • Writing friendshipp or carefull: the suffix is -ful with one l.
  • Believing the chair was really magic. The "magic" was friends holding Mario up.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓True friends care for each other and suffer when apart (Gajaraj and Buntee in The Unlikely Best Friends)
    • ✓A good friend is caring and thoughtful and loves friends 'the way they are' (A Friend's Prayer)
    • ✓Real friends help when you fall, while others laugh (Mario and the invisible chair in The Chair)
    • ✓Grammar: simple past, past progressive and past perfect tenses; neither…nor / either…or
    • ✓Word building: prefixes for opposites (un-, dis-, in-, mis-), suffixes (-ly, -ful, -ship) and adjectives

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Start by asking students about 'unlikely friends' they know, such as pets of different species or friends of different ages
    • →Draw a timeline of The Unlikely Best Friends (meeting → bath → farmer takes Buntee → both stop eating → reunion) and have students fill it in
    • →Discuss the difference between a caretaker (the mahout) and a friend using a Venn diagram
    • →Have students underline the lines of A Friend's Prayer they agree with, then compare in groups
    • →Act out The Chair: one student 'sits' on the invisible chair while three classmates hold them up, then discuss how it felt
    • →Make a three-column chart for the past tenses and have students sort the verbs from the story
    • →Play 'neither…nor / either…or' by asking students about food and game preferences
    • →Ask each student to make a decorated friendship quotation card for the class board

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain why the friendship of Gajaraj and Buntee is called 'unlikely'?
    2. Can the student explain the lines 'make no judgements from afar, / But love my friends the way they are'?
    3. Can the student explain how the invisible chair showed Mario his real friends?
    4. Can the student correctly identify simple past, past progressive and past perfect verbs?
    5. Can the student form opposites with prefixes and use neither…nor / either…or correctly?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Poorvi - English Class 6

    1. 1. Unit 1: Fables and Folk Tales
    2. 2. Unit 2: Friendship
    3. 3. Unit 3: Nurturing Nature
    4. 4. Unit 4: Sports and Wellness
    5. 5. Unit 5: Culture and Tradition