English: Class 4 — Chapter 6: Braille

Long ago in France, a three-year-old boy named Louis Braille was playing near his father's blacksmith workshop. While playing with the tools, a sharp tool accidentally pierced his eye. Within a few days, he lost sight in that eye, and eventually, the infection spread, rendering him totally blind.

In 1819, at the age of ten, Louis joined the Royal Institute for Young Blind Persons in Paris. He initially learned letters using wood, cloth, or pins arranged in pincushions. Around this time, he learned about Night Writing, a system of raised dots and dashes invented by Capt. Charles Barbier de la Serre for soldiers to read in the dark. Finding it too complex, Louis simplified it to create the Braille alphabet.

Braille is a method of reading through touch. It consists of raised symbols representing the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. Because the raised dots cannot be placed too close together, Braille books require more space and are much thicker than regular printed books.

The Past Continuous Tense is used to describe actions or events that started in the past and continued for some time.

• Rule for Singular: was + action word + ing (e.g., The student was writing.)
• Rule for Plural: were + action word + ing (e.g., The students were writing.)

Examples:

• Present: I am sleeping. → Past: I was sleeping.
• Present: The dogs are barking. → Past: The dogs were barking.

Practice pronouncing words containing the consonant cluster spl and sp:

• spl- words: splinter, splash, split, splendid
• sp- words: spoon, spin, speak, space

1. Describe the Braille alphabet.
2. Why was 'Night Writing' not a success?
3. What did Louis Braille do to make reading easier for the blind?

Practice writing simple words like Cat, Man, Boy, and Jug using the Braille alphabet system by pasting small circular objects like 'bindis' on paper.