TU || Flax Golden Tales || Four Levels of Interpretation Lesson 12

Flax Golden Tales, To know fly

Level: B.A/ B.B.S || Lesson 12 The Good Example

Vicente Riva Palacio, Mexico (1832-1896) (Translation from the Sanish: Moti Nissani)

Words Meaning
Foothill = Bottom part of the hill

Gigantic = Huge

Chorus = A group of singers

Splendid = Excellent

Faltered = Stumbled

Veritable = Real

Martyr = A person who dies for the welfare of a country

Exasperating = Tired some

Monotony = Boring

Cacophonous = Harsh sound

Catchecism = Question answer method

Perch = Nest

Crumbs = Fragments

Scalding = Very hot

Destination = Target

Ghostly = Terrible

Majestically = Impressively

Disperse = Scattered

Desolate = Destroy

Started = Surprised with fear

Cheerfully = Happily

Chant = Song

Unison = Unity

Summary

This text was written by a Mexican novelist- Vicente Riva Palacio. First this text was written in Mexican language but later on Moti Nissani translated it into English language. According the writer, there was a school in he Southern part of Mexican Republic. Don Lucas Forcida had run that school in the village. Don Lucas was popular among his villagers. Lucas followed old traditional way of teaching. Repetition Chanting, imitating alphabets, Syllable formulae, multiplication table were taught by rote learning. When his school was over, Lucas used to spend his time with his parrot named Perico.

The parrot-Perico used to sit above the school door. Lucas and Perico had good friendship. They understood each other’s feeling very well. One day Peerico left Lucas’ house and flew far away. Lucas felt sorry but he couldn’t find the bird Perico. As usual he started at his school. One day he was going to another village, he had to go through the jungle. He was on the horse. Suddenly he heard the sound of children chanting alphbets in the jungle. Then lucas thought that someone had opened a similar school in the jungle but later on he saw flock of parrots chanting alphabets in the jungle. Perico was teaching other parrots following Don Lucas’ method of rote learting.

Four Levels of Interpretation

  1. Literal Comprehension:

This text was written by a Mexican novelist- Vicente Riva Palacio. First this text was written in Mexican language but later on Moti Nissani translated it into English language. According the writer, there was a school in he Southern part of Mexican Republic. Don Lucas Forcida had run that school in the village. Don Lucas was popular among his villagers. Lucas followed old traditional way of teaching. Repetition Chanting, imitating alphabets, Syllable formulae, multiplication table were taught by rote learning. When his school was over, Lucas used to spend his time with his parrot named Perico.

The parrot-Perico used to sit above the school door. Lucas and Perico had good friendship. They understood each other’s feeling very well. One day Peerico left Lucas’ house and flew far away. Lucas felt sorry but he couldn’t find the bird Perico. As usual he started at his school. One day he was going to another village, he had to go through the jungle. He was on the horse. Suddenly he heard the sound of children chanting alphbets in the jungle. Then lucas thought that someone had opened a similar school in the jungle but later on he saw flock of parrots chanting alphabets in the jungle. Perico was teaching other parrots following Don Lucas’ method of rote learting.

  1. Interpretation:

This story is a satire against the Mexican way of teaching. According to the writer rote learning is monotonous. Repetition, imitation, chanting etc. are the traditional way of teaching learning method. This story satirizes on Don Lucas’ teaching style. The writer presents himself against memory based education system. He shows that wild animals can also open a school due to rote learning method.

  1. Critical Thinking:

The writer presents a funny story to his readers. He shows how a parrot opened a school in the jungle though it is a bird. When we read the text, we feel joy but we can raise a question how a bird can open a school similar to human beings. It can’t be true. However they can imitate sound but it is impossible to open a school like us. This text is only to criticize Done Lucas’ teaching style at his school.

  1. Assimilation:

After reading this story, I remembered my gurus who used to give much importance to rote learning. They asked us to learn multiplication table, alphabets, drills etc. at home. If we didn’t learnt them, they would have beaten us with a bamboo stick. It is still fresh in my mind. When I was at primary level at Seta Gaun Higher Secondary School, my social study teacher asked us to cram whole lesson at home thought he didn’t teach us. His class was monotonous though we kept silence in class. My friend Harry who is inspector now as well as I used to cry when he used to beat us with sticks.

Possible Questions

  1. Do you agree with the statement “The Good Example” be viewed as a satire on education? (The Good Example)
  2. Compare Nepali educations today to Mexican education in the 19th century, Does Nepali education promote memorization or understanding?

Read more:

TU || Flax Golden Tales Lesson 8

TU || Flax Golden Tales Lesson 9