Strange Talk: NCERT Class 2 English Poem (Marigold Unit 10)

etmantra18 Oct 20217 min read

Strange Talk is a playful poem about animals that can only speak in their own sounds. Children love making the noises of the frog, the duck and the puppies, and it is a fun way to learn animal names, homes and sounds in English.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 2, unit 10. NCERT’s newer Class 2 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Strange Talk

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

Animal sounds: croak, quack, bow-wow
Animal homes: log, sty, kennel
Place words: under, by, in
Reading a poem aloud with fun sounds

What the poem is about

The poem visits a group of animals. A little green frog lives under a log and says only “croak” instead of good morning. A duck lives by the water and says “quack quack” when asked how it is. A fat little pig lives in a sty and cries out loud for its dinner. Some puppies live in a kennel, love to make a noise, and say “bow-wow” when they want to go out.

At the end, the poem asks a funny question: what if all these animals talked as much as children do, and all spoke at the same time? It would make a very big noise. The poem is light and cheerful, and gently teases children who love to chatter.

New words, with Hindi meanings

strange: unusual or different from what we expect (हिंदी: अजीब)
log: a thick piece of a tree trunk (हिंदी: लकड़ी का लट्ठा)
croak: the deep sound a frog makes (हिंदी: टर्र-टर्र)
sty: a small home or pen for pigs (हिंदी: सूअर का बाड़ा)
kennel: a small house for a dog (हिंदी: कुत्ते का घर)
row: a loud noise (rhymes with cow) (हिंदी: शोर-शराबा)
at once: all at the same time (हिंदी: एक साथ)
noise: a loud sound (हिंदी: शोर)

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.

Where did the little green frog live, and what did he say?
What did the duck say when asked “How do you do?”
What did the puppies say when they wanted to go out?
What happens in your class or home when everyone talks at once?

Answers for parents

He lived under a log and only said “croak”.
The duck only said “quack quack”.
They said “bow-wow”.
For example: When everyone talks at once in my class, it gets so noisy that nobody can hear the teacher.

Grammar corner: Place words: under, by, in

Place words tell us where something is. In the poem, the frog lives under a log, the duck lives by the water, and the pig lives in a sty.

Our cat sleeps under the bed.
The dog waits by the gate for Papa.
The hens stay in a coop at night.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The little green frog lived ___ a log.
Match the animal to its home: frog, pig, puppies → sty / kennel / log
Say aloud the sound each animal makes: frog, duck, puppy.

Answers: 1. under · 2. Frog: log; pig: sty; puppies: kennel. · 3. Frog: croak; duck: quack quack; puppy: bow-wow.

Try this

Play an animal sound game. One person names an animal from the poem, and everyone makes its sound and points to where it lives: under a log, by the water, in a sty or in a kennel. Then try the last verse: everyone makes their animal sound at the same time and listens to how noisy it gets.

Tip for parents

Ask in Hindi, “मेंढक कैसे बोलता है?” and let your child answer with the sound. Then say the English together: “The frog says croak.” Animal sounds are a happy bridge between the two languages, so laugh along and praise every try.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Strange Talk about?

It is about animals that can only speak in their own sounds: a frog, a duck, a pig and some puppies. At the end it wonders how noisy it would be if they all talked as much as children do, all at once.

Which animals are in Strange Talk?

A little green frog, a duck, a fat little pig and some puppies.

Which NCERT book is Strange Talk from?

Strange Talk is Unit 10 of Marigold, NCERT's older English book for Class 2. The newer NCERT English 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 →