The Swing – Class 4 English Chapter 10 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 4EnglishChapter 10NCERT book: Santoor - English Class 4

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 10 of the NCERT Class 4 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

🎧 Listen to the content

Chapter 10: The Swing

Introduction

"The Swing" opens Unit 4: Up High. It is a famous poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that captures the joy of swinging high in the air and seeing the whole countryside. The chapter also teaches how to make sentences longer, words that are both verbs and nouns, the 'w' sound, rhyming words and prepositions.

What's in this Chapter

The poem:

"How do you like to go up in a swing, / Up in the air so blue? / Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing, / Ever a child can do!"

"Up in the air and over the wall, / Till I can see so wide, / Rivers and trees and cattle and all, / Over the countryside."

"Till I look down on the garden green, / Down on the roof so brown, / Up in the air I go flying again, / Up in the air and down!"

Meaning: The child feels swinging is the pleasantest (most enjoyable) thing. Going up over the wall, the child sees far – rivers, trees, cattle and the countryside – then looks down at the green garden and brown roof before flying up again.

New words: pleasantest, cattle, countryside.

Key Ideas

  • Simple joys like swinging make children happy.
  • From a height we can see much more of the world.
  • Poems use rhyme and rhythm to share feelings.
  • Language Learning

  • Stringing together (longer sentences): "Jeevan waited." → "Jeevan waited for the bus." → "…all morning." → "…in the rain." → "…because his scooter was in the garage being repaired."
  • Same word as verb and noun: "I swing (verb) on a swing (noun)." Also dance, play, answer, fly, waves.
  • Pronouncing 'W': make an 'O' shape with your lips – "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck…"; compare w and v words (wet – vet, wine – vine).
  • Rhyming words: swing – thing, blue – do, wall – all, wide – countryside, green – again, brown – down.
  • Prepositions: on, beside, between, above, in front of, behind, under (ladybug between the pots, butterfly above the flower).
  • Activities from the Book

  • Write about activities you enjoy in your free time.
  • Swings of Imagination: draw a magical swing that takes you anywhere and write about the adventure.
  • Find out about festivals or months when people enjoy swings.
  • Words to Learn

  • swing – a seat hanging by ropes to move back and forth (झूला)
  • pleasantest – most enjoyable (सबसे सुखद)
  • cattle – cows and bulls (मवेशी)
  • countryside – land outside towns with fields and villages (ग्रामीण इलाका)
  • wide – far and broad (विस्तृत)
  • roof – the top covering of a house (छत)
  • garden – land with plants and flowers (बगीचा)
  • poet – a person who writes poems (कवि)
  • Tips for Parents & Teachers

  • Take the child to a park swing and ask what they can see when high up.
  • Play "make it longer": start with one word and keep adding.
  • Say the woodchuck tongue twister together, slowly then faster.
  • Talk about the Teej or Sawan swing tradition, if known in your family.
  • Common Mistakes

  • Pronouncing 'w' like 'v' ("vet" for "wet").
  • Thinking "swing" can only be a thing – it can also be an action.
  • Using "in front of" and "behind" the wrong way round.
  • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓'The Swing' by Robert Louis Stevenson describes the joy of swinging high in the air.
    • ✓From the swing the child sees rivers, trees, cattle, the countryside, the green garden and the brown roof.
    • ✓Many words can be both verbs and nouns: swing, dance, play, answer, fly, waves.
    • ✓Make an 'O' shape with your lips for the 'w' sound; 'w' and 'v' sound different.
    • ✓Prepositions such as on, between, above, behind and under tell position.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Recite the poem with arm movements going up and down like a swing.
    • →Ask children what they would see if they swung very high over their school wall.
    • →Model 'stringing together' on the board, adding one part at a time.
    • →Use pairs of sentences to show a word as a verb and as a noun.
    • →Practise the tongue twister slowly, focusing on lip shape for 'w'.
    • →Set up objects on a table to practise prepositions before the worksheet.
    • →Read the poem 4–5 times and let children listen for rhyming sounds, not spellings.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the child recite the poem and name what the poet sees?
    2. Can the child find rhyming pairs in the poem?
    3. Can the child tell whether a word is used as a verb or a noun in a sentence?
    4. Can the child pronounce 'w' words correctly?
    5. Can the child use prepositions to describe a picture?