Alice in Wonderland: NCERT Class 4 English Story (Marigold Unit 4)

etmantra20 Jul 20209 min read

A rabbit that talks, wears a waistcoat and carries a watch? Alice cannot believe her eyes, and she follows it into a strange new world. This chapter brings a famous adventure to young readers and sparks their imagination.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 4, unit 4. NCERT’s newer Class 4 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Alice in Wonderland

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

Making wishes with ‘I wish I could…’
Story words: curiosity, delight, longed, wondered
Following the order of events in an adventure
Imagining and telling what happens next

What the story is about

Alice is lying under a tree, listening to her sister read a story. Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes hurries past. It takes a watch out of its waistcoat pocket and says it will be too late. Alice is full of curiosity and runs after it.

The rabbit pops down a large rabbit hole, and Alice jumps in too. She falls down and down, wondering if she will reach the other side of the Earth. At last she lands on a pile of dry leaves and sees the rabbit hurry away again.

Alice finds a tiny door, only about fifteen inches high, and a golden key on a glass table. The key fits the lock. Through the door she sees the loveliest garden, full of bright flowers and cool fountains. But she is too big to get even her head through, and she wishes she could become smaller.

New words, with Hindi meanings

waistcoat: a short jacket with no sleeves (हिंदी: सदरी, वास्कट)
curiosity: a strong wish to know or learn something (हिंदी: जिज्ञासा)
wondered: thought about something with surprise (हिंदी: सोच में पड़ गई)
whiskers: the long stiff hairs near an animal's mouth (हिंदी: मूँछें)
delight: great happiness (हिंदी: बहुत ख़ुशी)
longed: wanted something very much (हिंदी: तरस गई)
fountains: places where water shoots up into the air (हिंदी: फव्वारे)
doorway: the open space of a door (हिंदी: दरवाज़ा)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the story and its word meanings in Hindi, then go back to the English video.

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 was so different about the White Rabbit?
Where did Alice land after falling down the rabbit hole?
Why could Alice not go into the beautiful garden?
If you found a tiny magic door, what would you like to see behind it?

Answers for parents

It could talk, it wore a waistcoat and it carried a watch.
She landed on a pile of dry leaves.
The door was only about fifteen inches high, and Alice was too big to get even her head through it.
For example: I would like to see a garden full of talking animals and a river of mango juice.

Grammar corner: Making wishes with ‘I wish I could’

We say ‘I wish I could…’ when we want to do something that is not possible right now. After ‘could’, we use the simple action word, like fly, go or become. Alice uses this kind of wish when she is too big for the door.

I wish I could talk to rabbits like Alice.
I wish I could fall through the Earth to the other side.
I wish I could walk among those bright flowers.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: Alice found a little golden ___ on a glass table.
Choose the right meaning of ‘curiosity’: (a) a strong wish to know (b) feeling sleepy.
Make your own sentence starting with ‘I wish I could’.

Answers: 1. key · 2. (a) a strong wish to know · 3. For example: I wish I could fly like a bird.

Try this

Ask your child to imagine what Alice saw in the garden and draw it. Then ask them to write three or four sentences about what might happen next: how could Alice become small enough to go through the door?

Tip for parents

Let your child tell you the story in Hindi first, from the rabbit to the tiny door. Then ask, “Alice ne kya wish kiya?” and help them say it in English: “I wish I could become smaller.” Mixing languages is fine; praise the imagination as much as the English.

Questions parents ask

Who are the characters in this Alice in Wonderland chapter?

The chapter has Alice, her sister who is reading a story, and the White Rabbit with pink eyes, who talks and carries a watch.

Why did Alice follow the White Rabbit?

She was full of curiosity, because the rabbit could talk, wore a waistcoat and carried a watch. So she ran after it and jumped down the rabbit hole.

Which NCERT book has Alice in Wonderland?

This chapter is Unit 4 of NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 4. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 4 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →