My Computer Needs A Break (Poem)

Poem: My Computer Needs a Break

Poet: Shanthini Govindan

Warm Up

In pairs, tell each other how computer plays a vital role in every field.

1. Computer helps students learn new things.

My Computer Needs a Break

My computer has always been so brainy and smart –
It seems to know mountains of information by heart.
If I type in a question, and give my mouse a click,
My computer always gives me the answer really quick!

But of late, my computer has been behaving badly too,
It’s so absent-minded, that I don’t know what to do.
It forgets to ‘save’ my work, and store it away,
And instead, makes it vanish in the most dreadful way.

My computer doesn’t check that my spellings are right,
And hides my files, so that they vanish from sight.
And one day, my naughty computer actually gobbled a worm,
And behaved so erratically that it made me squirm.

Then my computer caught a virus, and fell very sick,
So I had to call in a doctor, double quick.
As the doctor examined my computer, I just had to say,
‘Doctor, do you think my tired computer wants a holiday?’

About the Author

Shanthini Govindan is a widely published, award-winning author of children’s literature in English in India, who has written over 50 books for children including poetry, picture books and short stories for children of all ages.

Glossary

Word	Meaning
brainy (adj)	very intelligent
absent-minded (adj)	being forgetful
vanish (v)	disappear
dreadful (adj)	unpleasant
gobbled (v)	ate hastily or greedily
erratically (adv)	unsteadily or unpredictably
squirm (v)	to twist the body in discomfort

A) Answer the following:

1. How does the poet describe her computer?
2. What happened to the computer?
3. List four things that the computer could not do after it became absent-minded.
4. What made the poet squirm?
5. Why did the poet call the doctor?

B) Fill in the blanks.

1. Computers are ______ and ______.
2. We get answers for questions by a ______.
3. The computer forgot to ______ the poet’s work.
4. The computer actually gobbled a ______.
5. The poet feels that his computer needs ______.

C) Pick out the rhyming words from the poem.

• Smart – __
• click – __
• right – __
• sick – __

D) Match the poetic lines with Figures of Speech.

Line	Figure of Speech
1) So brainy	personification
2) Mountains	hyperbole
3) It’s so absent minded	personification
4) Computer gobbled a worm	metaphor
5) Very sick	metaphor

E) Find the alliterating words from the poem.

1. Save – ________
2. Doctor – ________
3. Virus – ________
4. Makes – ________
5. Gobbled – ________

Parallel Reading

Ode to Technology…
Tien Dang

You’ve brought us closer,
Then made us more distant.

Made us more aware,
Then made us doubtful of ourselves.

Introduce us to more friends,
Then invited more enemies.

Given us more publicity,
Then exploited us.

Save us more time,
Now it’s spent to be more busy.

Simplify our tasks just to make life more difficult.
You’re an entrapping blessing in disguise.

Made us feel more secure,
Yet gave us more tools to break in.

You’ve become our new addiction,
Just a second without you,
Got us in technology withdraw.

You’re a complication in simplicity.
There’s so much to love you but also so much to hate.
Can’t live with you or without you…

Practice Practice Exercises

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. How does the poet describe her computer?

2. What happened to the computer?

3. List four things that the computer could not do after it became absent-minded

4. What made the poet squirm?

5. Why did the poet call the doctor?

1. Computers are and .

2. We get answers for questions by a

3. The computer forgot to the poet's work.

4. The computer actually gobbled a

5. The poet feels that his computer needs

Smart -

click -

right -

sick -

1. Save -

2. Doctor -

3. Virus -

4. Makes -

5. Gobbled -