Sing a Song of People: NCERT Class 5 English Poem (Marigold Unit 9)

etmantra24 Sept 20217 min read

Sing a Song of People takes children on a quick trip through a busy city. Its fast rhythm feels like people hurrying along the streets. It also makes them think about the many strangers we see every day but never really know.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 9. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Sing a Song of People

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

City words: sidewalk, subway, taxi, elevator
Rhyming words at the ends of lines
Opposites: fast and slow, alone and in a crowd, quiet and loud
Reading a poem with a quick, steady rhythm

What the poem is about

The poem describes people in a big city. They walk fast or slow, move along pavements, ride buses, travel on underground trains and take taxis. Some wear hats, some carry umbrellas in the rain, and some go up and down in lifts in tall buildings.

The poem notices all kinds of people: some alone and some in crowds, some quiet and some loud, some smiling and some grumpy. Many just hurry past without looking at you. It ends by singing of city people we see but never know. The feeling is busy and lively, with a touch of wonder about why everyone is in such a hurry.

New words, with Hindi meanings

hurry: move or do something very fast (हिंदी: जल्दबाज़ी)
sidewalk: the path for walking at the side of a road; a pavement (हिंदी: फ़ुटपाथ)
subway: a train that runs under the ground (हिंदी: भूमिगत रेल)
elevators: lifts that carry people up and down in a building (हिंदी: लिफ़्ट)
singly: one by one, alone (हिंदी: अकेले-अकेले)
crowd: a large group of people together (हिंदी: भीड़)
grumpy: in a bad mood (हिंदी: चिड़चिड़ा)
pours: rains very heavily (हिंदी: मूसलाधार बरसना)

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.

Name three places where the poem says we see people.
What do people carry when it rains and pours?
Why do you think everyone seems to be in such a hurry?
When you go to a market or a bus stop, what kinds of people do you notice?

Answers for parents

On the sidewalk, on the bus and on the subway. The poem also names taxis, tall buildings, stores and elevators.
They carry umbrellas.
For example: They may be rushing to work, to school, or to catch a bus or a train on time.
For example: At the market I see shopkeepers calling out, people carrying bags, and children holding their parents' hands.

Grammar corner: Rhyming words

Poems often end their lines with words that rhyme, which means they end with the same sound. In this poem, slow rhymes with go, bus rhymes with us, and ground rhymes with round. Rhymes give a poem its beat.

The lift goes up, the lift comes down, it carries people round the town.
I saw a crowd at the bus stop, and a man with sweets outside his shop.
Some people hurry, some walk slow, but all of them have somewhere to go.

Practice at home

Spot the rhyme: which word rhymes with "ground"? (round / slow / bus)
Write the opposites: fast → ___, loud → ___
Make up one line about people in your town that ends with a rhyme.

Answers: 1. round · 2. slow, quiet · 3. For example: People at the bus stop, people in the shop.

Try this

Play “people watching” from a window, a balcony or on a walk, or simply remember a busy market. Together, name the people you see in the poem’s style: “people walking fast”, “people on a scooter”, “people with umbrellas”. Then try making up two new lines of your own about people in your town.

Tip for parents

Read a few lines in English, then ask in Hindi: "शहर में लोग कहाँ-कहाँ दिखते हैं?" Let your child answer in Hindi, like फ़ुटपाथ, बस or लिफ़्ट, and then find the matching English word in the poem together. Praise every match your child makes.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Sing a Song of People about?

It is about the many people in a busy city: walking, riding buses, subways, taxis and lifts, alone or in crowds. It ends with the city people we see but never know.

Which words rhyme in Sing a Song of People?

Some rhyming pairs are slow and go, bus and us, ground and round, doors and pours, crowd and loud, and too and you.

Which book and class is Sing a Song of People from?

It is Unit 9 of Marigold, NCERT's older English book for Class 5. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

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 →