What a Tank!: NCERT Class 5 English Lesson (Santoor Chapter 6)

etmantra3 Nov 20265 min read

Have you ever seen a water tank shaped like a football or an aeroplane? This lesson takes children from India's old ways of storing water to the unusual roof tanks of rural Punjab. It opens a lively talk about saving water at home.

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From NCERT’s new English book Santoor for Class 5, unit “Water”. Chapter 6.

What your child learns

Words about water: conservation, store, tank, overhead
Sentences that show strong feeling, like 'What a tank!'
Old and new ways of storing water in India
Simple ways to stop wasting water at home

What the lesson is about

The lesson begins by saying that people have saved water for hundreds of years. Big old water stores gave drinking water, protected cities from floods and brought people together. Some old ways are still used: Ooranis in Tamil Nadu store rainwater, Panam Keni wells in Kerala do not dry up even in hot months, and Tankas in Rajasthan's Thar are underground tanks that hold water for six to seven months.

Today most homes keep overhead tanks on their roofs. In rural Punjab, these tanks come in surprising shapes, like a giant flower, a football, a rooster or an aeroplane. The shape often tells you about the family: a farmer may have a tractor-shaped tank, and a football lover a football. The tanks are built with a frame of steel rods and given shape with concrete, then placed on the roof.

New words, with Hindi meanings

conservation: saving something so it is not wasted (हिंदी: संरक्षण)
store: to keep something safe to use later (हिंदी: जमा करना)
overhead: above our heads, high up (हिंदी: ऊपर)
underground: below the ground (हिंदी: ज़मीन के नीचे)
heritage: old ways and things passed down to us (हिंदी: विरासत)
unique: not like any other (हिंदी: अनोखा)
concrete: a hard building material made with cement (हिंदी: कंक्रीट)
rooster: a male chicken (हिंदी: मुर्गा)

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.

Why did people build big water stores long ago?
What shapes of water tanks can you see in rural Punjab?
What can a tank's shape tell us about the family?
How does your family save water at home?

Answers for parents

To store drinking water, to protect cities from floods, and they also brought people together.
Shapes like a giant flower, a football, a rooster, a statue or an aeroplane.
It shows what the family does or likes. A farmer may have a tractor-shaped tank and a football lover a football-shaped one.
For example: We use a mug, not a running tap, when we brush our teeth.

Grammar corner: Exclamatory sentences

An exclamatory sentence shows a strong feeling, like surprise or joy. It often starts with 'What' or 'How', or a word like 'Wow', and ends with an exclamation mark (!). The title of this lesson is one.

What a big football tank!
How clever that farmer is!
Wow, the tank looks like an aeroplane!

Practice at home

Put the right mark at the end: What a beautiful rooster tank ___
Choose the right word: Tankas are (overhead / underground) tanks in Rajasthan.
Say aloud one way to save water at home.

Answers: 1. ! · 2. underground · 3. Sample answer: I turn off the tap while I soap my hands.

Try this

Play 'Design my tank'. Ask your child: if our house had a tank on the roof shaped like something we love, what would it be? Draw it together on any paper, then say one exclamation about it, like 'What a funny tank!' Next, walk around the house and spot one place where water gets wasted.

Tip for parents

Start in Hindi: 'हम घर में पानी कैसे बचाते हैं?' Let your child answer in Hindi, then pick out one or two English words together, like 'tap', 'bucket', 'save water'. If your child mixes both languages in one sentence, that is good progress; praise it.

Questions parents ask

What is the lesson What a Tank! about?

It is about saving water. It describes old Indian ways of storing water and the unusual, fun-shaped overhead water tanks of rural Punjab.

Why are the water tanks in Punjab special?

Many rural Punjab homes have roof tanks shaped like things such as a football, a rooster, a tractor or an aeroplane, often showing what the family likes or does.

Is What a Tank! in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is Chapter 6 of NCERT's new Santoor book for Class 5, in Unit 3, 'Water'.

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 →