KCSE ORAL SKILLS
TRIAL 11
Read the narrative below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Long ago, there was famine in Gikuyu land. This famine had made the cows and goats to die. Only human beings were left and even them, it could be seen that they were not going to live much longer. Now the people asked themselves, “What shall we do?” It was decided that the most beautiful girl, one called Wanjiru should be sacrificed to god so that the rain could fall. She was brought to a place where there was a big river. She started to sing:
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
My father said I should be lost. I should be lost My mother said I should be lost. I should be lost
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
She went down on her knee, she sang:
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
My father said I should be lost, I should be lost
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
The water reached the waist, she sang
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
My father said I should be lost, I should be lost
My mother said I should be lost, I should be lost
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
The water reached the neck, she sang
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
My father said I should be lost, I should be lost
My mother said I should be lost, I should be lost
Rain fall and make this ridge green
Make this ridge green
The head went in
Very heavy rains fell on this land. The grass grew, a lot of food and the people began to feel better. Now where Wanjiru went she found her people who had died before her. These people had a lot of cows and goats. Now they asked her what she would like. She said she wanted cows and goats. She was given many goats and cows and then she was told to lie down in a place. When she woke up she found that she had returned back to her people. She woke up at a place where there was a river and she had her cows and goats. Now when the people saw her they rejoiced greatly.
The story ends there.
Adapted from: The Oral Literature of the Gikuyu by WanjikuKabira and Karega Mutahi.
QUESTIONS
- Why do you think this community makes the choice of a beautiful girl such as
Wanjiru to sacrifice to god so as to get rain? (1 mark)
- Which functions does this song serve in this narrative? (2mark)
- Describe one character trait of the villagers in this narrative. (2 marks)
- In point form, list how events follow each other in this story. (3 marks) (e) Identify and explain two features of oral narration employed in this narrative.
(4 marks)
- Identify two elements of fantasy in this story. (2 marks)
- Describe Wanjiru’s tone in the song. (3marks)
- Which social/cultural practices of the Gikuyu are brought out in this narrative?
(2 marks)
- What does this phrase mean? “My father said I should be lost.” (1 mark)
TRIAL 12
Read the following narrative and answer the questions which follow.
There was a great famine in the land where Obunde and his wife, Oswera, lived with their nine children. The only creatures who had some food were the ogres and before they would part with their food, they demanded a lot of things.
One day, Oswera went to one Ogre’s home and asked him for some food, for by then her children were almost dying of hunger.
‘I have no more food except sweet potatoes, the ogre told her.
‘I shall be happy to have the potatoes. We have nothing, not a grain of food at my house and the children are starving. Please let me have some and I shall repay you after the harvest.
‘No, if you want food you must exchange with something right now. Will you give me one of your children in exchange for my potatoes? Oswera hesitated, her children were dear to her, but then they would die without food.
‘Yes, I shall let you have one of them for his meal, if only you could let us have some potatoes,’ Oswera answered. Then she took a big basket full of potatoes and told the ogre the exact time he could go to her home to collect one of her children for a meal.
Oswera thought hard and she decided she would not give a single one of her children to the ogre for a meal. She therefore cut young banana stalks and cooked them nicely.
When the ogre came, she gave them to him and the beast greedily went away satisfied.
Soon the potatoes were finished and she had to go to the ogre again.
Oswera and Obunde, her husband kept on cooking banana stalks for the ogre each time he came for one of their children, until one day, she had no more banana stalks to cook for the animal.
“You have now eaten all my children, yet we still need the potatoes. What shall we give your now?” Oswera asked in despair.
‘Then I shall come for you and your husband,’ the ogre replied angrily as he helped Oswera to load her basket of potatoes on her head.
‘Yes come tomorrow at the usual time in the afternoon and get me. I shall have cooked myself for you,” Oswera said calmly.
The following day the ogre went promptly as Oswera had told him and he found the home almost deserted. He looked everywhere but a part from Obunde there was no trace of anybody.
Then he looked at the usual place and found a huge bowl of a big meal Oswera had cooked for him. The ogre did not realize they had prepared a dog instead of Oswera.
When he had eaten the ogre told Obunde he would come for him the following day. Obunde got very worried and that night he could not sleep. The following day he started crying:
“Ah Oswera my wife, how did you cook yourself and how shall I cook myself for the ogre?” He sat down in the dust of his compound and wept. Oswera became very annoyed with her husband.
You, you stupid, foolish man! Why sit and cry there all day long? How do you think I cooked myself? Take one of the dogs and quickly prepare it for the ogre!’
Very quickly Obunde got up, caught, killed and prepared a dog for the ogre. Then he joined his wife and children in a huge hollow part of a tree in his compound where they had hidden.
That day the ogre knew he was going to have his last meal of juicy human flesh. Being a generous and unselfish ogre, he brought many of his fellow ogres. They were going to have a feat.
Suddenly as they were eating, they heard a man singing very happily. No they could not believe it! It was Obunde singing! And he was boasting of how he had cheated the ogre.
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family; The greedy ogre ate a dog Not Obunde Magoro!
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family; Now come and get Obunde, His children and wife.
Obunde sang the words and the ogres got very angry. The first ogre rushed into the hollow of the tree, but Oswera had heated a long piece of iron until it was white. She pushed the iron into the ogre’s mouth. The beast fell down dead. The next one rushed into the hollow and Oswera killed him in the same way. In this way she killed all the ogres and saved her husband and all their children.
My story ends there.
QUESTIONS
| (i) Whom do you consider to be the hero in this story and why? | (2mks) | |
| (ii) In your own words, describe the setting of this story. | (2mks) | |
| (iii) Compare Obunde and the ogre as they are presented in this story. | (2mks) | |
| (iv) What is the role of the song in this story? | (2mks) | |
| (v) Describe the character of Oswera, the wife as seen in this story. | (2mks) |
- Other than the song, identify and illustrate one other feature of style used in the story.
(2mks)
- (a) Explain the moral teaching of this story. (2mks)
(b) Use an appropriate proverb to summarize this lesson. (1mk)
- List down three characteristics of the above genre. (3mks)
- If you were to collect the above, what methods of data collection would you use?
(2mks)
KCSE ORAL SKILLS
TRIAL 13 QUESTIONS
a.) Read the narrative below and answer the question that follow(7mks)
One afternoon, a big wolf waited in the dark forest for a little girl to come a long carrying a basket of food. Finally, the little girl did come along and she was carrying the basket of food. “Are you carrying the basket to your grandmother?” asked the wolf. The little girl answered, “Yes I am.” So the wolf asked the girl where her grandmother lived. When the girl told him he disappeared to the woods. When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother’s house, she noticed there was somebody in bed with a night cap and a night gown.She realized that it was the wolf, so the little girl took a dagger from her basket and stubbed the wolf dead.
i.)If you were narrating this story, how would you ensure your audience remains glued to
it? (2mks)
ii.)How would you say the words of the wolf and the little girl in your narration?(2mks) iii.)How would you prepare yourself to tell the story effectively? (3mks)
- Provide a word pronounced in the same way as each of the ones below(4mks)
i) Bald – ii) Manna – iii) Colonel –
iv.) Liar –
- Insert the following words in the corresponding column to show whether it has a /s/, /z/, /à/, /Ø/ sound as per the one underlined type (4mks)
Tenth, Sugar, Special, Father, Garage, Mathematics, Leisure, Themselves
| /θ/ | /ʃ/ | /Ʒ/ | /ð/ |
- A leader of a Theatre Group is visiting your school to arrange for the staging of Literature Sets Books. You have been appointed by the class to negotiate for favorable entry fee for your class and you are meeting the leader for the first time. Explain 4 negotiation skills that you would employ to ensure successful negotiations. (4mks)
KCSE ORAL SKILLS
TRIAL 14 QUESTIONS
Read the narrative below and then answer the questions that follow. 8mks once upon a time there lived a man called Kiundu. At one time it happened that two of the neighbouring villagesf were each going to eat an elder’s cow. Since Kiundu because of his central position was acceptable in both villages he decided that he would have a share of both cows. On the day appointed Kiundu woke up very early picked up his should er bad, fly whisk and three legged stool and made off to the first village. There he found the elders tying the cow ready to kill and helped them to tie it. He then excused himself and went on to th next village. Here he found that the cow had already been killed and that they were busy skinning it. He started talking to the elders, but his conscience told him that the other cow would be ready for sharing shortly. So he excused himself and ran back there. To his surprise and disappointment, he met people carrying their pieces of meat and he was told that nothing had been saved for him. On hearing this unpleasant news, he doubled back to the other village, hoping against hope. But as fate and luck would have it, he just arrived on the scene to see the last man disappear with his red chunk of meat round the corner. To this day we have a saying in Kimeru, ‘You will be lost in the mddle like Kiundu.’
QUESTIONS
i). How would the narrator capture the audience’s attention at the beginning of this story? (2mks) ii). Explain two non-verbal cues that you would use to render this story interesting.
(2mks)
iii). How would you tell that your audience is fully involved in the performance of this story? (2mks)
iv). State how you would say last paragraph of this narrative to effectively pass the
moral intended. (2mks)
b). Supply another word that is pronounced the same as the ones below. (5mks) i). Fair – …………………………………………….. ii). Whale – …………………………………………….
iii). Mourn – ……………………………………………. iv). Bow – …………………………………………….
v). Blew – …………………………………………….
c). You have been sent to a neighbouring school to participate in a group discussion. Explain ways in which you would best benefit from the discussion. (4mks)
KCSE ORAL SKILLS
TRIAL 15 QUESTIONS
a) Read the following oral narrative and answer the questions that follow
One day, the chameleon and the donkey were arguing as to who could run faster than the other. The donkey said, “You chameleon, you are very old and tired. You can’t compete with a man like me in a race.”
The chameleon replied,” Don’t blow your own trumpet. I am not going to praise myself, but you know you can’t defeat me in a race. We shall be equal.”
The race began and without donkey’s knowledge, the chameleon jumped on the donkey’s tail. They ran and ran, until the donkey was so tired until he stopped to rest. As soon as the donkey stopped, the chameleon jumped from the donkey’s tail and said, “Now my friend, are you any faster than I?”
“No, now I know that you are a man,” answered the poor donkey.
Answer the questions that follow.
- What would you do in order to capture the attention of the audience before you begin to tell the story? (2 marks)
- How would you say the words in bold to make your narration more effective?(4 marks)
- If you are part of the audience for this story, explain two things you would do to show that you are participating in the performance. (4marks)
b) Indicate the correct intonation for the following sentences. (4 marks) i) What a pleasant surprise! ii) Could I join you, please? iii) When are we expecting the visitors?
iv) Get out!
- For each of the following words, write two sentences to bring out two different
meanings. (6 marks) i) Can ii) Tie iii) Soil
- For each of the following words, write another that is pronounced the same way.
(4 marks)
i) Purl ii) Ode
iii) Retch iv) Wine
e) Imagine that you have been invited to attend an interview for a job placement as a clerk at IEBC. State six things you will do to ensure your grooming is right. (6 marks)
