Trains: NCERT Class 3 English Poem (Marigold Unit 6)

etmantra24 Feb 20216 min read

Children love trains, and this poem has the rhythm of a train racing along the tracks. It helps children hear the beat of a poem and learn useful words about travel.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 3, unit 6. NCERT’s newer Class 3 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Trains

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

Travel words: passengers, mail, freight cars
Kinds of land: mountains, plains, rivers
Time words: day, darkness, dusk, dawn
Saying a poem aloud with a steady beat

What the poem is about

The poem describes trains crossing mountains, plains and rivers. They carry passengers and mail, and they bring their precious loads safely, without fail.

Thousands of freight cars rush on, all through the day and the dark night, from dusk to dawn. The poem ends just as it began, with the trains coming over the mountains, plains and rivers. The repeated lines and quick beat give a feeling of busy, never-stopping movement.

New words, with Hindi meanings

plains: large areas of flat land (हिंदी: मैदान)
passengers: people who travel in a train, bus or car (हिंदी: यात्री)
mail: letters and parcels sent by post (हिंदी: डाक)
precious: very valuable and important (हिंदी: कीमती)
loads: things that are carried (हिंदी: सामान)
without fail: every time, always (हिंदी: हर बार)
freight cars: train coaches that carry goods, not people (हिंदी: मालगाड़ी के डिब्बे)
dusk and dawn: evening when it gets dark, and early morning when it gets light (हिंदी: शाम और भोर)

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 the trains go over in the poem.
What do the trains carry?
When do the freight cars rush on?
Have you ever travelled by train? Where did you go?

Answers for parents

Mountains, plains and rivers.
They carry passengers and mail, and bring their precious loads.
They rush on through day and darkness, from dusk to dawn.
For example: Yes, I went by train with my parents to my grandmother's village.

Grammar corner: Action words with -ing

When something is going on, we often use an action word with -ing. In the poem the trains are carrying, bringing and rushing. These words make us feel the trains are moving right now.

The train is crossing a long bridge.
People are waiting on the platform.
The guard is waving a green flag.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: People who travel on a train are called ___.
Match: dusk, dawn. (early morning / evening)
Add -ing and say aloud: run, carry, bring.

Answers: 1. passengers · 2. dusk – evening; dawn – early morning · 3. running, carrying, bringing

Try this

Make a family train. Everyone stands in a line holding the shoulders of the person in front. Move around the room saying the poem in a steady beat, like the sound of a train. At “over the mountains” lift your arms high, at “over the plains” stretch them out flat, and at “over the rivers” make wavy movements.

Tip for parents

First tell your child in Hindi what the poem says: रेलगाड़ी पहाड़ों, मैदानों और नदियों के ऊपर से जाती है. Then say the English words together, linking each pair: यात्री is passengers, डाक is mail. Let your child mix the two languages while they learn, and praise them for keeping the beat.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Trains about?

It is about trains crossing mountains, plains and rivers, carrying passengers, mail and goods day and night without stopping.

Which words rhyme in the poem Trains?

Plains rhymes with trains, and mail rhymes with fail.

Which NCERT book has the poem Trains?

It is Unit 6 of NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 3. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

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

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