The Reading / Listening - Learning to Read - Level 5

A 104-year-old woman from India passed a state literacy test. Kuttiyamma only learned to read and write last year. She had a year's tuition and was older than the average pupil, but she passed her test with flying colours. She got 89 per cent on the Kerala literacy test. Kerala's education minister congratulated her. He tweeted: "With the utmost love and respect, I wish Kuttiyamma…the best." He uploaded a photo of her in which she is grinning from ear to ear. Another person tweeted: "I salute Kuttiyamma for her dedication. It will inspire others for sure."

Kerala has India's highest literacy rate at 96.2 per cent. It invests heavily in education, with a strong focus on adult education. She has shown that age is just a number and that people can achieve anything when they put their minds to it. Kuttiyamma did not go to school. Her tutor called her "a very sharp woman". He said she was "overjoyed" after she saw her test results. A state official said: "Kuttiyamma is a role model and motivation to all women in adult education". Kuttiyamma will now start writing letters and continue her studies to improve her skills.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Learning to Read - Level 4 or  Learning to Read - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/104-year-old-kerala-woman-sets-to-inspire-scores-89-out-of-100-in-the-literacy-test-1876854-2021-11-15
  • https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2021/11/16/indian-woman-104-aces-test-after-learning-to-read-and-write/
  • https://www.india.com/viral/never-too-late-104-year-old-woman-kuttiyamma-scored-89-100-literacy-exam-joy-on-her-face-is-evident-see-pic-5095984/


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. a state literacy
  2. she passed her test with
  3. Kerala's education
  4. With the utmost
  5. He uploaded a
  6. she is grinning from
  7. I salute Kuttiyamma for
  8. It will inspire others
  1. ear to ear
  2. love and respect
  3. for sure
  4. flying colours
  5. her dedication
  6. test
  7. photo of her
  8. minister

Paragraph 2

  1. India's highest literacy
  2. It invests heavily
  3. a strong focus
  4. age is just
  5. people can achieve
  6. when they put their
  7. a very sharp
  8. improve her
  1. skills
  2. anything
  3. woman
  4. in education
  5. a number
  6. rate
  7. minds to it
  8. on adult education

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A 104-year-old woman from India passed a (1) ___________________. Kuttiyamma only learned to read and write last year. She had a (2) ___________________ was older than the average pupil, but she passed her test (3) ___________________. She got 89 per cent on the Kerala literacy test. Kerala's education (4) ___________________. He tweeted: "With the utmost love and respect, I wish Kuttiyamma...the best." He uploaded a photo of her in which she is (5) ___________________ to ear. Another person tweeted: "I salute Kuttiyamma for her dedication. It will (6) ___________________ sure."

Kerala has India's (7) ___________________ at 96.2 per cent. It invests heavily in education, with a (8) ___________________ adult education. She has shown that age is just a number and that people can achieve anything when they (9) ___________________ to it. Kuttiyamma did not go to school. Her tutor called her "a very sharp woman". He said (10) ___________________ after she saw her test results. A state official said: "Kuttiyamma is a role (11) ___________________ to all women in adult education". Kuttiyamma will now start writing letters and continue her studies to (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

A104-year-oldwomanfromIndiapassedastateliteracytest.Kuttiyam
maonlylearnedtoreadandwritelastyear.Shehadayear'stuitionandwa
solderthantheaveragepupil,butshepassedhertestwithflyingcolours.
Shegot89percentontheKeralaliteracytest.Kerala'seducationministe
rcongratulatedher.Hetweeted:"Withtheutmostloveandrespect,Iwis
hKuttiyamma...thebest."Heuploadedaphotoofherinwhichsheisgrinn
ingfromeartoear.Anotherpersontweeted:"IsaluteKuttiyammaforher
dedication.Itwillinspireothersforsure."KeralahasIndia'shighestlitera
cyrateat96.2percent.Itinvestsheavilyineducation,withastrongfocus
onadulteducation.Shehasshownthatageisjustanumberandthatpeop
lecanachieveanythingwhentheyputtheirmindstoit.Kuttiyammadidn
otgotoschool.Hertutorcalledher"averysharpwoman".Hesaidshewas
"overjoyed"aftershesawhertestresults.Astateofficialsaid:"Kuttiyam
maisarolemodelandmotivationtoallwomeninadulteducation".Kuttiy
ammawillnowstartwritinglettersandcontinueherstudiestoimproveh
erskills.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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