Braille: NCERT Class 4 English Lesson (Santoor Chapter 6)

etmantra3 Nov 20264 min read

How can someone read without seeing? This true story about Louis Braille amazes children and helps them understand and respect people who are blind.

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From NCERT’s new English book Santoor for Class 4, unit “My Beautiful World”. Chapter 6.

What your child learns

How Braille lets people read by touch
Respecting and helping people with low or no vision
Past actions with was/were + -ing
Keeping our eyes safe

What the lesson is about

Louis Braille was a little boy in France. When he was three, he was playing with tools in his father's workshop (his father was a blacksmith), and a sharp tool hurt his eye. Soon he lost sight in both eyes. At ten, in 1819, he joined a school for blind children in Paris, where he learnt letters made of wood, cloth or pins.

Around then, an army man, Charles Barbier, had made 'Night Writing', raised dots and dashes that soldiers could feel in the dark. It was too hard to use, but the teenage Louis made it simpler and created the Braille alphabet. Braille has one raised-dot symbol for each of the 26 English letters. It needs more space, so Braille books are thick, and anyone, blind or sighted, can learn it.

New words, with Hindi meanings

blacksmith: a person who makes things from iron (हिंदी: लोहार)
pierced: went into something with a sharp point (हिंदी: चुभ गया)
blind: not able to see (हिंदी: अंधा, दृष्टिहीन)
pincushions: small soft pads to keep pins in (हिंदी: पिन रखने की गद्दी)
invented: made something new for the first time (हिंदी: आविष्कार किया)
simplified: made easier (हिंदी: आसान बनाया)
raised: standing up above the surface (हिंदी: उभरा हुआ)
touch: feeling with your fingers (हिंदी: छूना)

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.

How did Louis Braille lose his sight?
Why was Night Writing not a success?
What is Braille?
How can you help a classmate who cannot see well?

Answers for parents

When he was three, a sharp tool in his father's workshop hurt his eye, and later both eyes lost sight.
It was too difficult to use.
Braille is a way of reading by touching raised dots. Each letter has its own dot pattern.
For example: I can read the lesson aloud to her or print it in big letters.

Grammar corner: Was/were + -ing for past actions

To say an action was going on for some time in the past, we use 'was' or 'were' with an -ing word. Use 'was' for one person or thing and 'were' for more than one.

Little Louis was playing near the workshop.
His father was working with hot iron.
The children at the school were learning letters with pins.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The soldiers ___ reading in the dark. (was / were)
Change to the past: I am writing a letter.
Make a sentence with 'invented'.

Answers: 1. were · 2. I was writing a letter. · 3. For example: Louis Braille invented a new alphabet for the blind.

Try this

Make 'touch letters'. Press hard with the back of a pencil on a sheet of paper to draw a circle, a plus sign or a letter. Turn the paper over, close your eyes and feel the raised lines. Can you guess the shape? Swap with a friend and try again.

Tip for parents

Ask your child in Hindi, 'Bina dekhe kaise padh sakte hain?' and let them guess. Then teach the English words 'touch' and 'dots'. Let your child tell Louis's story in Hindi first and then in simple English; praise every try.

Questions parents ask

Who invented Braille?

Louis Braille, a blind boy from France, made the Braille alphabet as a teenager by simplifying Night Writing.

What is the lesson Braille about?

It tells the story of Louis Braille and explains Braille, a way of reading with the fingers using raised dots.

Is Braille in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is Chapter 6 in NCERT's new Santoor book for Class 4.

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 →