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Grade 7 (A1–A2) · Story · 180 words

The King Who Was Afraid

A story about Dan, who gets the part of a king in the class play and is afraid to go on stage, and the idea that helps him.

Tap any word to hear it · dotted words have a definition in the glossary

🎧 Listen

1Dan loved stories, and he loved to read them out loud to his little sister. But when his teacher, Ms. Peretz, gave him a in the class play, his hands began to .

2His was not big. He was the king, and he had only six . Still, every time Dan in front of the class, his voice became very quiet. “What if I forget my words?” he asked his mother at home. “What if everyone laughs at me?”

3His mother had an idea. “Read your to your sister, just like you read her stories,” she said. Every evening that week, Dan stood in the living room and read his to Noga. She clapped after every line, even the boring ones.

4On the night of the play, Dan's heart was fast. Then he saw Noga in the front row, at him. He took a deep breath and said his first line. It came out loud and clear. When the play ended, the audience clapped, and Dan smiled the biggest smile of his life.

📘 Glossary
  • part - a role that an actor plays in a show
  • shake - to move quickly from side to side, often because of fear
  • lines - the words an actor says in a play
  • practised - did something again and again to get better
  • beating - making a regular thumping movement, like a heart
  • waving - moving a hand to say hello
  • deep breath - taking a lot of air into your lungs

Questions

  1. Finding details

    1. What part did Dan have in the play?
  2. Making inferences

    2. Why did Dan's hands begin to shake?
  3. Finding details

    3. What TWO things was Dan afraid of?
  4. Finding details

    4. What was his mother's idea?
  5. Reference words

    5. In paragraph 3, who does "She" refer to in "She clapped after every line"?
  6. Word meaning

    6. Copy the word from paragraph 4 that means "the people who watch a show".
  7. Making inferences

    7. How did seeing Noga in the front row help Dan?
  8. Main idea

    8. What is the lesson of the story?

Answer every question to get a score (0/8)

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