My Elder Brother: NCERT Class 5 English Story (Marigold Unit 4)

etmantra15 Jan 20217 min read

My Elder Brother is a short play about two brothers who are very different. One loves books and the other loves playing in the fields. Children will see themselves in Munna, and learn that wisdom also comes from life and experience.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 4. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: My Elder Brother

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

Comparing with ‘than’: older than, more than
Big words: responsibility, experience, wisdom
That we learn from life as well as from books
Reading a play with feeling, in two voices

What the story is about

The play is based on the Hindi story Bade Bhai Sahib by Munshi Premchand. Two brothers, aged 9 and 14, live in a hostel. The elder brother, Bhaiya, studies for hours and keeps writing the same words again and again. The younger brother, Munna, loves drawing, kabaddi, volleyball and flying kites. Bhaiya scolds Munna for wasting time and their father’s money, and makes him a timetable. Yet when the results come, Bhaiya fails and Munna tops his class.

The next year the same thing happens: Munna passes and Bhaiya fails again. Bhaiya becomes gentler, and Munna starts to think he does not need to study. One day Bhaiya catches him chasing a kite. He explains that understanding does not come only from books; their parents studied little but know far more from experience. He says Munna is his responsibility. Munna feels sorry and tells his brother he loves him.

New words, with Hindi meanings

affectionate: showing love and care (हिंदी: स्नेह भरा)
foundation: the strong base on which something is built (हिंदी: नींव)
tremendous: very great (हिंदी: बहुत ज़्यादा)
hostel: a building where students live and sleep away from home (हिंदी: छात्रावास)
punctuality: being on time (हिंदी: समय की पाबंदी)
responsibility: someone or something you must take care of (हिंदी: ज़िम्मेदारी)
experience: knowledge you get by doing and living through things (हिंदी: अनुभव)
wisdom: good sense and understanding (हिंदी: समझदारी)

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 Munna love to do when he should be studying?
What happened when the exam results came out?
According to Bhaiya, why do their parents know more than the brothers, even without much schooling?
Do you have an elder brother, sister or cousin? How do they look after you?

Answers for parents

He loves drawing, playing kabaddi and volleyball, and flying kites.
Munna passed and topped his class, but Bhaiya failed. The next year, Munna passed and Bhaiya failed again.
Because they have much more experience of life. Bhaiya says understanding does not come only from reading books.
For example: My elder sister helps me with my homework and walks me to the bus stop.

Grammar corner: Comparing with ‘than’

We use ‘than’ when we compare two people or things. We put a comparing word, like older, taller or more, before ‘than’. Bhaiya often compares himself with Munna in this way.

Bhaiya is five years older than Munna.
Munna likes kites more than books.
Their parents know more than the two brothers about life.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: Munna is younger ___ Bhaiya.
Match the word to its meaning: punctuality, foundation, wisdom — a strong base, good sense, being on time.
Make a sentence about two people in your family using ‘older than’.

Answers: 1. than · 2. punctuality–being on time, foundation–a strong base, wisdom–good sense · 3. For example: My cousin is older than me.

Try this

Read or act out one scene with two people, one as Bhaiya and one as Munna. Then swap roles. Afterwards, make a simple timetable together on paper for one day, with time for both study and play, and talk about why both are important.

Tip for parents

This play comes from a Hindi story, so you can tell your child about Bade Bhai Sahib in Hindi first. Then read Munna’s and Bhaiya’s lines in English together, and talk in any language about what Ma and Baba learnt from life. Praise your child for reading with feeling, even if some words are hard.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of My Elder Brother?

Learning from our everyday experiences is as important as learning from books. Bhaiya shows that their parents, with little schooling, still know a great deal from life.

Who are the characters in My Elder Brother?

The play is about two brothers: Bhaiya, who is 14 and studies all the time, and Munna, who is 9 and loves to play. Their parents, Ma and Baba, are talked about but do not appear.

Who wrote the story behind My Elder Brother?

The play is based on the famous Hindi story Bade Bhai Sahib by Munshi Premchand. The chapter is Unit 4 of NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 5.

Learn every Class 5 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 →