Hekko – Class 4 English Chapter 9 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 4EnglishChapter 9NCERT book: Santoor - English Class 4

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 9 of the NCERT Class 4 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 9: Hekko

Introduction

"Hekko" introduces a traditional team game from the Mokokchung district of Nagaland. The name comes from a folk story: 'Hek' means to challenge and 'ko' means tiger, so Hekko means "Challenging the tiger." The chapter explains how the game is played, and teaches homophones, animal sounds and the simple past tense.

What's in this Chapter

The folk story. Long ago, humans and animals lived together. They disagreed about who was superior. The humans – Aami (the Man) – challenged Aakho (the Tiger), and this challenge came to be known as Hekko.

How Hekko is played today:

  • It is a team game between Aami and Aakho. The strongest people in the village are identified through it.
  • There are 11 players in each team. A toss decides which team is Aami and which is Aakho.
  • A circle is drawn. The Aami team stays inside the circle by making a human chain; the Aakho team stays outside.
  • Two Aakho players enter the circle and try to push Aami players out. A player pushed out is out and cannot enter again.
  • The Aami team tries to catch Aakho players by surrounding them. A caught Aakho player is not released until he says "Joko" (surrender). Then another Aakho player enters.
  • A team gains points whenever it gets an opposite player out.
  • The game ends when all Aakho players are caught, all Aami players are pushed out, or time runs out. The team with maximum points wins.
  • The fastest Aami player gets the title "Khozuba"; the strongest Aakho player gets the title "Khotiba".

    • Key Ideas

  • Traditional games carry stories and culture.
  • Strength, speed and teamwork all matter in Hekko.
  • Rules keep a game fair.
  • India has many regional games worth learning about.

    • Language Learning

  • Homophones (same sound, different spelling and meaning): their/there, two/too, threw/through, caught/cot, right/write.
  • Consonant blends: st (stairs), ch, gl.
  • Animal sounds: tiger – roars, horse – neighs, elephant – trumpets, dove – coos, goat – bleats, monkey – whoops.
  • Simple past tense: add -ed (visit → visited, jump → jumped, decide → decided). Some verbs are irregular and don't take -ed: came, drank, drove, saw.

    • Activities from the Book

  • Listen to descriptions and guess traditional games (Lagori with seven stones, the breath-holding chanting game, gilli-danda with two sticks, the arch-and-song game, marbles).
  • Identify games in pictures and talk about favourites.
  • Invent a new game with rules, number of players and fouls.
  • Find out about Nagaland's Hornbill Festival.

    • Words to Learn

  • challenge – ask someone to compete (चुनौती)
  • superiority – being better than others (श्रेष्ठता)
  • disagreement – not agreeing (असहमति)
  • surrender – give up (हार मानना, आत्मसमर्पण)
  • declared – said officially (घोषित किया)
  • toss – flipping a coin to decide (टॉस)
  • circle – a round shape (घेरा)
  • human chain – people holding hands in a line (मानव शृंखला)
  • points – scores in a game (अंक)

    • Tips for Parents & Teachers

  • Play a safe, gentle version of Hekko in the playground with soft rules (no rough pushing).
  • Use a map to show Nagaland and Mokokchung.
  • Practise homophones with a spelling game: say a sentence, child picks the right spelling.
  • Make animal-sound cards and match them.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Mixing their/there and right/write.
  • Adding -ed to irregular verbs ("comed", "drinked").
  • Swapping the team names: Aami = man (inside the circle), Aakho = tiger (outside).

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Hekko means 'challenging the tiger' ('Hek' = challenge, 'ko' = tiger); it comes from a Naga folk story.
    • ✓It is played in Mokokchung, Nagaland, by two teams of 11 – Aami (man) inside a circle and Aakho (tiger) outside.
    • ✓A caught Aakho player must say 'Joko' (surrender); the team with most points wins.
    • ✓Homophones like their/there, two/too, right/write sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning.
    • ✓Past tense often adds -ed, but irregular verbs change form (came, saw, drank).

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Show Nagaland on a map and tell the Aami–Aakho folk story first.
    • →Draw the circle and demonstrate positions with a few children, without rough pushing.
    • →Link to Lagori from the previous chapter to compare traditional games.
    • →Use sentence pairs on the board to practise homophones.
    • →Play an animal-sound matching game.
    • →Let children invent their own game with rules and fouls in groups.
    • →Show pictures of the Hornbill Festival for the 'Explore' task.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the child explain the meaning of 'Hekko'?
    2. Can the child describe the two teams and how a player gets out?
    3. Can the child say when the game ends and who wins?
    4. Can the child choose the correct homophone in a sentence?
    5. Can the child form the past tense of regular verbs with -ed?

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    All chapters in Santoor - English Class 4

    1. 1. Together We Can
    2. 2. The Tinkling Bells
    3. 3. Be Smart, Be Safe
    4. 4. One Thing at a Time
    5. 5. The Old Stag
    6. 6. Braille
    7. 7. Fit Body, Fit Mind, Fit Nation
    8. 8. The Lagori Champions
    9. 9. Hekko
    10. 10. The Swing
    11. 11. A Journey to the Magical Mountains
    12. 12. Maheshwar