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Unit 5: Culture and Tradition – Class 6 English Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 6EnglishChapter 5NCERT book: Poorvi - English Class 6

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 5 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 5: Culture and Tradition — Kalakritiyon ka Bharat, The Kites, Ila Sachani: Embroidering Dreams with her Feet

Unit Overview

Unit 5: Culture and Tradition celebrates India's unity in diversity. It opens with a short passage, "Hamara Bharat — Incredible India!", and then has three main pieces:

  • Kalakritiyon ka Bharat — children from four states describe a folk art or craft from their region.
  • The Kites — a poem by Daphne Lister about a child who wishes to ride a kite.
  • Ila Sachani: Embroidering Dreams with her Feet — the true story of an embroidery artist who works with her feet.

    • The unit ends with a poem on the National War Memorial, New Delhi, to be read aloud and remembered.

    Hamara Bharat — Incredible India!

    "Bharat has been known worldwide as a land of wise and heroic individuals."

    Its rich and diverse culture has attracted travellers since ancient times. People live in unison, showing the world unity in diversity. The passage mentions rivers, lakes, high mountains and green forests full of plants, insects, birds and animals. Its advice: as inhabitants, we need to continue working hard and make sure that Bharat prospers.

    Kalakritiyon ka Bharat

    In a big hall, students join an Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat programme. Renu explains that it is "to know that we all belong to one nation… our unity in diversity makes us the most wonderful country in the world." On a video screen, four children greet the class in their own way and describe an art form:

  • Aakansha — Uttarakhand — Aipan (folk art): drawn with *white rice-flour paste on brick-red walls coloured with geru*, on floors and walls of puja rooms and outside the main door, for family functions and festivals. Made by the women of the family*; designs are beautiful and mathematical, based on cultural traditions and observations of nature*.
  • Priyaranjan — Odisha — Dhokra (4000-year-old metal craft): make a clay figure → dry it → cover with wax → carve fine details on the wax → cover with clay and put in fire → wax melts and comes out of small openings → pour melted brass scrap into the empty space → remove outer clay and finish.
  • Chitra — Kerala — Coconut shell craft: clean a brown coconut shell → smooth it with sandpaper/machine → shape it and fix a base to make it stable → polish with wood polish. Bowls and jewellery are made; it is biodegradable.
  • Balamurali — Andhra Pradesh — Kondapalli toys (400 years old): carve soft wood from nearby hills part by part → join with makku (paste of tamarind seed powder and sawdust) → add details → colour with oil/water colours, vegetable dyes or enamel paints. Toys show folk stories, animals, birds, bullock carts and rural life.

    • Each greeting is different — Pranam, Suprabhat, Suprabhaatam, Subhodayam — a small sign of India's variety.

    Listening: Sushil from Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) describes gakkad bharta — wheat-dough balls roasted on high heat, with a bharta of roasted brinjal and tomatoes, garnished with onions, coriander, green chillies and salt, served with ghee. It is made without frying.

    Explore: Madhubani painting (Bihar) with natural colours — yellow from haldi, green from leaves, blue from neel.

    The Kites (Poem) — Daphne Lister

    Up in the air / See the kites fly, / Like coloured birds / In the wind-whipped sky.

    The speaker watches kites that look like coloured birds. The child wishes to be "small / And light as air" so they could climb on a kite and sail up there, drift on the paper wings and hear "the songs / That the wild wind sings." It would be fun to look down over the park and the rooftops of town, while people below "would stand and stare, / And wish they were me / High, high in the air."

    Poetic devices:

  • Simile (comparison using like/as): kites like coloured birds; light as air.
  • Alliteration (same starting consonant sound): wind-whipped (stanza 1); wild wind (stanza 3).
  • Repetition: High, high in the air shows the kite is flying very high.
  • Rhyme: fly–sky, air–there, wings–sings, down–town, stare–air.

    • Language work: parts of a kite (nose, spine, cover, kite line, tail, reel); movement words (drift, glide, soar, swoop, dive, circle); writing a cinquain (five-line poem: noun → 2 adjectives → 3 action words → 2 adverbs → synonym).

    Listening: the Kite Festival is held during Makar Sankranti in January; it is called Uttarayan in Western India, mainly in Gujarat; Punjab flies kites at Baisakhi and Basant Panchami; people also fly kites on Independence Day. The 13th-century Marathi saint Namadeva called a kite a gudi, made of kaagad (paper).

    Ila Sachani: Embroidering Dreams with her Feet

  • Ila Sachani works in a tiny room in Moti Vavdi village, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, making cushions, bedcovers and pillows with Kathiawar embroidery.
  • Born into a farmer's family in Amreli, Gujarat, she could not use her hands in the usual way — her hands hung loose by her sides. She longed to draw on a slate like other children.
  • Her mother and grandmother, skilled in Kathiawar embroidery, were single-minded in helping her and taught her to embroider with her feet. Her parents helped her eat and comb her hair with her legs; her younger brother and sister helped too.
  • Threading a needle was hard, but she did not give up. She also learnt Kachhi, Kashmiri and Lucknawi styles.
  • The government office in Surat displayed her work at a state exhibition — this "opened new doors". She went on to national exhibitions and received the President's Medal.
  • Most important was her new independence: a regular income and joy in doing what she loved.
    • "…art has the power to rise above physical boundaries and touch the soul."

    Message: challenges can be turned into victories with focus, hard work, positivity and never giving up, and support from family matters. (Pre-reading also introduces Pranav M. Balasubramaniam of Palakkad, Kerala — an artist, singer and para-sportsperson born without both hands.)

    Listening: Kathiawar embroidery is a very old form with bright colours, chain stitch, seen on children's caps, uses small mirrors, and designs of squares and triangles.

    Word Power

  • unison — together, in agreement (एकता से)
  • diversity — variety (विविधता)
  • geru — red clay used as colour (गेरू)
  • carve — to make a design with a sharp tool (नक्काशी करना)
  • scrap — small unwanted pieces (कबाड़/टुकड़े)
  • stable — not able to move, steady (स्थिर)
  • biodegradable — will not harm the environment (प्राकृतिक रूप से नष्ट होने वाला)
  • tamarind — an edible sour fruit (इमली); sawdust — dust of wood (बुरादा)
  • dyes — colours (रंग); enamel — paint that forms a protective layer
  • wind-whipped — beaten by strong wind (तेज़ हवा से झकझोरा)
  • drift — move slowly, floating (धीरे-धीरे बहना)
  • challenges — difficulties (चुनौतियाँ)
  • single-minded — focused (एकाग्र)
  • determination — will power (दृढ़ निश्चय)
  • awestruck — amazed (चकित); popularity — fame (लोकप्रियता)

    • Grammar & Language Focus

    Sequence words

    first, to begin, then, next, after that, at last, finally — used by the children to describe how crafts are made. Example: First, I get up… Then, I wear my school dress… Finally, I pick up my bag.

    Simple present tense

    Used for things that happen regularly. With he / she / it, add -s/-es: He speaks very loudly. / She draws beautiful flowers. But: I know how to dance. / They practise spellings on Friday.

    Words of quantity

    many (countable: many buses), much (uncountable: How much milk?), little (uncountable: little milk), few / a few (countable), some / lots of (both), e.g. I ate some rice.

    Synonyms and antonyms (Ila Sachani)

    tiny–small / huge; wonderful–fantastic / terrible; quiet–silent / noisy; task–work / pastime; tough–difficult / easy.

    Rising tone

    Yes/No questions end with a rising tone: Did you go to school? ↗

    Speaking and Writing Tasks

  • Speak about a local art form of your region using first… after that… next… at last.
  • Write five sentences on the art form you liked most, and why.
  • Write "I am a Kite" (about 100 words) and your own cinquain.
  • Ask Ila Sachani two questions; create an artwork from waste items and describe it.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Mixing up states: Aipan–Uttarakhand, Dhokra–Odisha, coconut shell craft–Kerala, Kondapalli–Andhra Pradesh.
  • Saying Dhokra uses gold or iron — it uses brass scrap; the wax melts away.
  • Calling "like coloured birds" a metaphor — it is a simile (uses like).
  • Thinking Uttarayan is in Eastern India — it is Western India (Gujarat), in January.
  • Saying Ila was born in Bhavnagar — she was born in Amreli; she works in Moti Vavdi, Bhavnagar.
  • Forgetting -s/-es with he/she/it in the simple present.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Explain 'unity in diversity' and the Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat programme
    • ✓Describe Aipan (Uttarakhand), Dhokra (Odisha), coconut shell craft (Kerala) and Kondapalli toys (Andhra Pradesh) and the steps used to make them
    • ✓Identify simile, alliteration, repetition and rhyme in Daphne Lister's 'The Kites'
    • ✓Retell Ila Sachani's journey — from a farmer's daughter in Amreli to a President's Medal winner who embroiders with her feet
    • ✓Use sequence words, the simple present with -s/-es, and words of quantity (many, much, few, little, some)

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Make a large map of India on the board and let students pin each art form (Aipan, Dhokra, coconut shell, Kondapalli) to its state as they read
    • →Have students act out the video-call: each child greets the class in a different way (Pranam, Suprabhat, Suprabhaatam, Subhodayam) and explains their craft in steps
    • →Turn the Dhokra process into a flowchart activity using sequence words — first, then, next, after that, finally
    • →Read 'The Kites' aloud outside or near a window; ask students to close their eyes and describe what they would see from the kite
    • →Hunt for devices: give each group one stanza to find similes, alliteration and rhyming words
    • →Before reading Ila Sachani's story, let students try to thread a needle or hold a pencil with their toes for a moment, and discuss how it felt
    • →Collect waste materials for the artwork task and let students present their work using simple present tense
    • →Invite a family member or local artisan who does embroidery or a local craft to talk to the class

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student match each child, state and art form correctly and list the main steps of one craft?
    2. Can the student identify one simile, one example of alliteration and the repeated words in 'The Kites'?
    3. Can the student explain how Ila's family helped her and why the state exhibition was a turning point?
    4. Can the student write a short paragraph describing a process using sequence words and the simple present tense?
    5. Can the student choose the correct word of quantity for countable and uncountable nouns?

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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