English · Class 9

Active learning ideas

Santosh Yadav's Ascent

Active learning works for Santosh Yadav's story because her journey blends personal resilience with social transformation. Students grasp the depth of her sacrifices and triumphs better when they simulate decisions, debate ideas, and reflect personally rather than passively reading the text.

• CBSE Learning Outcomes
• CBSE: Reach for the Top - Class 9

• 25–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Expert Panel
• 30 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Family Dilemma

Divide students into pairs: one plays Santosh facing parental pressure for marriage, the other her family member. They improvise dialogue based on the text, then switch roles and discuss real-life parallels. Conclude with class sharing of insights.

Differentiate the societal expectations Santosh Yadav faced from her personal aspirations.

Facilitation Tip

For the Inspiration Journal: Personal Reflection, model one entry yourself first to demonstrate how to link Santosh’s story to personal values and future goals.

What to look for

Pose this question to the class: 'Santosh Yadav faced significant opposition to her dreams. What specific arguments might her family or village elders have used against her pursuing mountaineering? How would you respond to those arguments, drawing on Santosh's own experiences?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Expert Panel
• 40 min · Small Groups

Achievement Timeline: Collaborative Mapping

In small groups, students create a visual timeline of Santosh's life events from the story, adding quotes and images. Each group presents one key milestone and its challenges overcome. Display timelines in class for reference.

Assess the significance of her achievements in inspiring others to overcome challenges.

What to look for

Ask students to write two sentences on their exit ticket: 1. One societal expectation Santosh Yadav defied. 2. One personal quality that enabled her to overcome that expectation.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Formal Debate
• 35 min · Small Groups

Formal Debate: Gender Barriers Today

Form two teams per group to debate if Santosh's success means gender barriers are gone in India. Use text evidence and current examples. Vote and reflect on predictions for societal change.

Predict the long-term impact of individuals like Santosh Yadav on gender roles in society.

What to look for

Present students with three scenarios: A) A girl being pressured into early marriage. B) A young man wanting to become a chef instead of a farmer. C) Santosh Yadav wanting to climb Everest. Ask students to identify which scenario best reflects Santosh's struggle and explain why in one sentence.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Expert Panel
• 25 min · Individual

Inspiration Journal: Personal Reflection

Individually, students write a journal entry as if they met Santosh, noting one lesson learned and a personal goal inspired by her. Share in pairs for feedback before whole-class highlights.

Differentiate the societal expectations Santosh Yadav faced from her personal aspirations.

What to look for

Pose this question to the class: 'Santosh Yadav faced significant opposition to her dreams. What specific arguments might her family or village elders have used against her pursuing mountaineering? How would you respond to those arguments, drawing on Santosh's own experiences?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should anchor discussions in Santosh’s lived experiences, using her choices as a lens to examine broader social issues. Avoid turning the story into a generic ‘girl power’ narrative; instead, focus on the specific barriers she faced and how she navigated them. Research shows that when students engage with real-life role models, they internalise resilience more deeply than through abstract lessons.

Successful learning looks like students confidently articulating Santosh's challenges, connecting her struggles to their own contexts, and applying her determination to real-life scenarios. They should move from passive listeners to active participants in shaping her narrative and its relevance today.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: Family Dilemma, watch for students assuming Santosh’s success came easily. Redirect them to the scripted details in the text where she worked part-time, trained rigorously, and faced criticism, using these moments to challenge the 'talent-only' myth.

  During Role-Play: Family Dilemma, students will naturally highlight Santosh’s struggles when they read aloud the text’s descriptions of her part-time work and training. Use their role-play scripts to ask, 'Where in this conversation does Santosh prove her hard work? What does this show about success in mountaineering?'.

• During Debate: Gender Barriers Today, watch for students claiming gender barriers no longer exist in rural India. Redirect them to the data they researched on rural disparities and Santosh’s story to ground their arguments in evidence.

  During Debate: Gender Barriers Today, provide students with a table comparing Santosh’s era to today’s rural challenges. Ask them to cite specific statistics or examples from the text to support their claims, ensuring their arguments are rooted in data rather than assumptions.

• During Achievement Timeline: Collaborative Mapping, watch for students viewing Santosh’s achievements as isolated events. Redirect them to the timeline’s ripple effects, such as how her climbs inspired others or shifted local perceptions of women.

  During Achievement Timeline: Collaborative Mapping, ask groups to add an 'Impact' column to their timeline where they note how Santosh’s actions influenced others. Use their additions to discuss how individual actions create collective change.

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Methods used in this brief

• Expert Panel
• Formal Debate