UPLANDS COLLEGE
ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE EXAMINATION - JUNE 2025
GRADE 9
Examiners: KM, NA Moderators: GC, GB, MN Time Allocated: 2 hours Total
Marks: 70
___________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS
1. This question paper consists of 8 pages. Ensure that your question paper is
complete.
2. This paper has FOUR sections. Answer each question on a separate folio.
QUESTION 1 COMPREHENSION
QUESTION 2 POETRY
QUESTION 3 VISUAL LITERACY AND LANGUAGE
QUESTION 4 WRITING
Ensure that your name as well as your English teacher’s name are on
each folio.
3. Answer all questions in your own words unless instructed to do otherwise.
4. Read the questions carefully.
5. Number your answers exactly as the questions are numbered. 6. Draw
a margin down the right hand side and do not write in this margin. 7. Leave
a line blank/free after each answer.
8. Manage your time carefully and consider the mark allocation when formulating
your answers.
9. It is in your best interest to write neatly and legibly.
, 1
QUESTION 1: COMPREHENSION [20] Read the passage below and answer the
questions that follow. Extract from The Elephant Whisperer
1. By the time I saw her coming, it was too late. ET, the wild and troubled new
female elephant on my game reserve, was hurtling out of the bush towards
me like a missile, and I was in big trouble.
2. There was no option but to defy every instinct in my body and force myself to
hold my ground. Despite my mounting panic, I knew any attempt to flee
would be a deadly mistake.
3. All of a sudden, Nana, the 'resident' herd's matriarch, standing about 20
metres away, realised what was about to happen. She moved across
at surprising speed and blocked the charge with the broadside of her
body.
4. ET stumbled, knocked off course. She meekly swung around and lumbered
away while Nana resumed grazing as if nothing had happened. I stared,
barely breathing, pulling body, soul and nerves back together. I had never
heard of a wild elephant blocking the charge of another to protect a human.
5. Let’s just rewind six months…
6. Life had been peaceful at my game reserve. The rescued-elephant herd I took
on back in 1999 had settled in. Then came a call from the same animal welfare
group: 'There's a 14-year-old female that needs a home. Her entire family have
been shot and she's completely alone.' A week later, ET, short for Enfant
Terrible, arrived. If we tried to get close, she bolted. I have never witnessed
such terror in an animal. There was no doubt she thought we were going to kill
her, just as humans had killed her family.
7. Using techniques I had developed with the rest of the herd, I started to talk to
her gently. But ET remained petrified, charging at me from behind her
enclosure fence. It was weeks before she made a sound, but, instead of a
clear trumpet, she honked like a strangled goose.
8. Now I realised why she had been silent. The poor creature had destroyed her
vocal cords, screaming herself hoarse, calling for her family, lost and alone in
the wilderness. She was so depressed I feared she might die of a broken
heart.
9. I went looking for the other elephants. I needed their help to save her life.
'Coooome Nana,' I called when I saw them. I told Nana it was important, and I
needed her. Would she get the emotion and the urgency in my voice?
ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE EXAMINATION - JUNE 2025
GRADE 9
Examiners: KM, NA Moderators: GC, GB, MN Time Allocated: 2 hours Total
Marks: 70
___________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS
1. This question paper consists of 8 pages. Ensure that your question paper is
complete.
2. This paper has FOUR sections. Answer each question on a separate folio.
QUESTION 1 COMPREHENSION
QUESTION 2 POETRY
QUESTION 3 VISUAL LITERACY AND LANGUAGE
QUESTION 4 WRITING
Ensure that your name as well as your English teacher’s name are on
each folio.
3. Answer all questions in your own words unless instructed to do otherwise.
4. Read the questions carefully.
5. Number your answers exactly as the questions are numbered. 6. Draw
a margin down the right hand side and do not write in this margin. 7. Leave
a line blank/free after each answer.
8. Manage your time carefully and consider the mark allocation when formulating
your answers.
9. It is in your best interest to write neatly and legibly.
, 1
QUESTION 1: COMPREHENSION [20] Read the passage below and answer the
questions that follow. Extract from The Elephant Whisperer
1. By the time I saw her coming, it was too late. ET, the wild and troubled new
female elephant on my game reserve, was hurtling out of the bush towards
me like a missile, and I was in big trouble.
2. There was no option but to defy every instinct in my body and force myself to
hold my ground. Despite my mounting panic, I knew any attempt to flee
would be a deadly mistake.
3. All of a sudden, Nana, the 'resident' herd's matriarch, standing about 20
metres away, realised what was about to happen. She moved across
at surprising speed and blocked the charge with the broadside of her
body.
4. ET stumbled, knocked off course. She meekly swung around and lumbered
away while Nana resumed grazing as if nothing had happened. I stared,
barely breathing, pulling body, soul and nerves back together. I had never
heard of a wild elephant blocking the charge of another to protect a human.
5. Let’s just rewind six months…
6. Life had been peaceful at my game reserve. The rescued-elephant herd I took
on back in 1999 had settled in. Then came a call from the same animal welfare
group: 'There's a 14-year-old female that needs a home. Her entire family have
been shot and she's completely alone.' A week later, ET, short for Enfant
Terrible, arrived. If we tried to get close, she bolted. I have never witnessed
such terror in an animal. There was no doubt she thought we were going to kill
her, just as humans had killed her family.
7. Using techniques I had developed with the rest of the herd, I started to talk to
her gently. But ET remained petrified, charging at me from behind her
enclosure fence. It was weeks before she made a sound, but, instead of a
clear trumpet, she honked like a strangled goose.
8. Now I realised why she had been silent. The poor creature had destroyed her
vocal cords, screaming herself hoarse, calling for her family, lost and alone in
the wilderness. She was so depressed I feared she might die of a broken
heart.
9. I went looking for the other elephants. I needed their help to save her life.
'Coooome Nana,' I called when I saw them. I told Nana it was important, and I
needed her. Would she get the emotion and the urgency in my voice?
