A Smile: NCERT Class 2 English Poem (Marigold Unit 3)

etmantra13 Jun 20206 min read

This little poem is about something every child knows: a smile. It shows children, in a playful way, that one kind smile can make another person smile too.

Open now: the CALP Class 2 English course (Mridang)
Every lesson of Mridang, NCERT’s new book, with read-along videos, new words with Hindi meanings, and listen-and-say practice with a score, made for young children with a parent nearby. ₹999 for the whole year, and “Start here” and the first lesson’s notes are free to try.
See the free lessons and enrol →

From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 2, unit 3. NCERT’s newer Class 2 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: A Smile

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Rhyming words: face and place, you and two
Words about the face and feelings: smile, wrinkles
The idea that kindness spreads
Reciting a short poem with a happy voice

What the poem is about

The poem calls a smile a funny thing. It wrinkles up your face, and when it goes away, no one can find its secret hiding place.

Then the poem says something even better: when you smile at someone, they smile back at you. So one smile turns into two. The message is that kindness spreads easily from person to person.

New words, with Hindi meanings

smile: a happy look on your face when your lips curve up (हिंदी: मुस्कान)
funny: strange or interesting, or something that makes you laugh (हिंदी: अजीब / मज़ेदार)
wrinkles: makes small folds or lines on the skin (हिंदी: झुर्रियाँ डालता है)
secret: something hidden that others do not know (हिंदी: छुपा हुआ / राज़)
hiding place: a place where something is hidden (हिंदी: छुपने की जगह)
wonderful: very, very good (हिंदी: बहुत अच्छा / अद्भुत)

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What does a smile do to your face?
What happens when you smile at someone?
How does one smile make two?
Who smiled at you today? How did it make you feel?

Answers for parents

It wrinkles up your face.
They smile back at you.
You smile at someone and they smile back, so now there are two smiles.
For example: My grandmother smiled at me in the morning. It made me feel happy.

Grammar corner: Rhyming words

Rhyming words end with the same sound. In this poem, 'face' rhymes with 'place', and 'do', 'you' and 'two' rhyme. Rhymes make a poem easy to remember.

I see a smile on my mother's face.
My smile can go to any place.
I smile at you, and you smile too.

Practice at home

Spot the rhyme: Which word rhymes with 'face'? (smile / place / thing)
Fill in the blank: One smile makes ___.
Make a sentence with 'smile'.

Answers: 1. place · 2. two · 3. For example: I smile when my friend comes to play.

Try this

Play the smile game. Sit in a circle or face each other. One person smiles at the next, who must smile back and pass it on. Count how many smiles you can make from one. Then look in a mirror and see how a smile wrinkles up your face.

Tip for parents

Ask in Hindi first: 'जब तुम किसी को देखकर मुस्कुराते हो, तो वो क्या करता है?' Then say the English line together: 'I smile at you, you smile at me.' If your child answers half in Hindi, smile back and repeat it in English; that is the poem in action.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem A Smile about?

It says a smile is a funny thing that wrinkles up your face. When you smile at someone, they smile back, so one smile makes two.

Which words rhyme in A Smile?

'Face' rhymes with 'place', and 'do', 'you' and 'two' rhyme with each other.

Which book is the poem A Smile from?

It is from NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 2 (Unit 3). The newer NCERT books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 2 lesson with CALP

Every lesson of Mridang, NCERT’s new book, with read-along videos, new words with Hindi meanings, and listen-and-say practice with a score, made for young children with a parent nearby. ₹999 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →