The NCERT Class 10 English book First Flight holds 9 chapters of stories, poems and a play across 140 printed pages, and the official PDF of every chapter is on this page.
What this page adds is a map of the book itself, measured from the text: each chapter’s page range, its classroom activities and its question load, so you can find the story, poem or grammar topic you were asked about without opening all nine files.
The listing is maintained for the 2026-27 session, the edition the PDFs print, and it lives inside the Class 10 books hub on this site.
Where to download the NCERT Class 10 English Book First Flight PDF
| Ch. | Chapter | Pages | Official PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Letter to God | 15 | |
| 2 | Nelson Mandela | 16 | |
| 3 | Two Stories about Flying | 16 | |
| 4 | From the Diary of Anne Frank | 15 | |
| 5 | Glimpses of India | 17 | |
| 6 | Mijbil the Otter | 14 | |
| 7 | Madam Rides the Bus | 17 | |
| 8 | The Sermon at Benares | 9 | |
| 9 | The Proposal | 21 |
NCERT’s own files: every PDF in the table above is published by NCERT and hosted on ncert.nic.in, so the download is official and free. Chapter 1, A Letter to God, for example, opens directly from the official Chapter 1 file on ncert.nic.in.
The English Class 10 PDF, at a glance
- 9 chapters — from A Letter to God to The Proposal, each verified against its official PDF.
- 9 official PDFs — NCERT’s own files on ncert.nic.in, linked in the download table above.
- 140 printed pages — the full length of the textbook as printed.
- Chapter study pages — the chapters with a dedicated study page are listed below; chapters still being built stay unlinked.
These counts describe the chapters on this page from the textbook, not the full CBSE English scheme.
What each First Flight chapter actually contains
| Ch. | Chapter | Sections | Activities | Figures | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Letter to God | — | 1 | — | 27 |
| 2 | Nelson Mandela | — | 1 | — | 23 |
| 3 | Two Stories about Flying | — | — | — | 16 |
| 4 | From the Diary of Anne Frank | — | 1 | — | 16 |
| 5 | Glimpses of India | — | 1 | — | 19 |
| 6 | Mijbil the Otter | — | 1 | — | 20 |
| 7 | Madam Rides the Bus | — | 1 | — | 20 |
| 8 | The Sermon at Benares | — | 1 | — | 5 |
| 9 | The Proposal | — | 1 | — | 2 |
Three columns need explaining. A section means one of NCERT’s own numbered headings — and First Flight prints none, because every chapter is built from the same fixed feature blocks: Before You Read, Oral Comprehension Check, Thinking about the Text, Thinking about Language, Speaking and Writing.
That is why the section column reads 0 across all nine chapters.
In First Flight, an activity is a classroom task printed in the chapter — 8 in all, one per chapter except Chapter 3. A question is a question item: across the book, 67 questions appear inside the text and the chapter-end exercises add more, for a total of 148 question items.
Two chapters also carry poem study blocks — Chapter 3 ends with Thinking about the Poem, and Chapter 7 pairs its story with the poem The Tale of Custard the Dragon.
Notice how unevenly the work is spread. The Proposal is the longest chapter at 21 pages yet carries only 2 exercise questions, while The Sermon at Benares — the shortest, at 9 pages — carries 5. This edition’s illustrations carry no printed captions in our capture, so there is no figure index to publish on this page.
Here is what each chapter teaches, one sentence each:
Chapter 1: A Letter to God
A farmer writes a letter to God after his crop fails, and his faith is put to the test in a thought-provoking story about the nature of belief — for a student looking for a short story about hope tested by misfortune.
Chapter 2: Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela’s account of becoming South Africa’s first Black president, and the long struggle for freedom and equality that led to that day — for a student reading a first-person account of a historical turning point.
Chapter 3: Two Stories about Flying
Two flying stories, a young seagull’s first flight and a pilot’s nerve in a storm, both about fear and courage — for a student comparing two narratives on a shared theme, and the only chapter in the book with no printed classroom activity.
Chapter 4: From the Diary of Anne Frank
A teenage girl’s diary entries, written in her own voice with a teenager’s honesty during the Second World War, and the language work her writing inspires — for a student meeting the diary as a literary form for the first time.
Chapter 5: Glimpses of India
A set of prose pieces on different regions of India, from a Goan baker’s bread to the tea gardens of Assam, celebrating local life, tradition and regional identity — for a student who needs to know this chapter is three linked pieces, not one continuous story.
Chapter 6: Mijbil the Otter
A naturalist’s account of keeping an otter as a pet half a century ago, and the companionship that grew from close observation of a piece of wildlife — for a student reading narrative non-fiction for the first time.
Chapter 7: Madam Rides the Bus
An eight-year-old named Valli saves her pocket money for a bus ride into town, a story about curiosity, independence and childhood — for a student studying character and motive in a short story.
Chapter 8: The Sermon at Benares
The Buddha’s first sermon, preached at Benares, on grief, acceptance and compassion for those who mourn — for a student studying how a religious teaching is turned into a prose lesson.
Chapter 9: The Proposal
A one-act play in which a marriage proposal in Russia descends into argument, the only drama — and the only comedy — in the book, for a student meeting the play form, including reported speech, for the first time.
First Flight chapter study pages
Deeper treatment: the chapters below have their own study page, where each story or poem gets line-by-line reading, question practice and revision notes. Chapters still being built stay unlinked.
| Ch. | Chapter page |
|---|---|
| 1 | A Letter to God (coming soon) |
| 2 | Nelson Mandela (coming soon) |
| 3 | Two Stories about Flying (coming soon) |
| 4 | From the Diary of Anne Frank (coming soon) |
| 5 | Glimpses of India (coming soon) |
| 6 | Mijbil the Otter (coming soon) |
| 7 | Madam Rides the Bus (coming soon) |
| 8 | The Sermon at Benares (coming soon) |
| 9 | The Proposal (coming soon) |
How to use the CBSE Class 10 English book for revision
A revision order for this specific book, from the chapters that demand the most writing to the ones you can read once:
- Read the prose chapter once for the story. Start with Chapter 1, A Letter to God, and get the plot before you annotate anything.
- Answer the Oral Comprehension Check questions immediately, before the long questions — they are short and confirm you actually followed the story.
- Practise the Thinking about the Text questions in writing. Chapters 1 and 2 carry the heaviest question loads at 27 and 23 items, so most of the book’s writing practice sits there.
- Use the Thinking about Language blocks as grammar revision — the grammar map below shows which chapter teaches what.
- Treat the play and the poems differently. Read Chapter 9, The Proposal, and the poem blocks in Chapters 3 and 7 aloud; track characters in the play and imagery in the poems.
Step 4 works best with the grammar map below, which collects every language focus in the book:
| Chapter | Grammar and language focus |
|---|---|
| Chapter 1, A Letter to God | Relative clauses, negatives for emphasis, metaphors |
| Chapter 2, Nelson Mandela | Idiomatic expressions |
| Chapter 4, From the Diary of Anne Frank | Phrasal verbs, idioms, contracted forms |
| Chapter 9, The Proposal | Reported speech |
One caveat: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus before deciding what to revise.
Related NCERT book pages
- All NCERT books — the root of this directory, with every class listed: NCERT books root.
- Class 10 hub — the Class 10 books on this page, including First Flight: Class 10 books.
Sources and data verification
Four plain statements about where this page’s numbers come from:
- Where the data comes from: the official NCERT Class 10 English First Flight PDFs hosted on ncert.nic.in — the editions this site indexes.
- What this page covers: 9 chapters with their page ranges, activities and question items. It does not index the book’s illustrations, because they carry no printed captions in our capture, so no figure count is published here.
- Session: this listing is maintained for the 2026-27 session, the edition the PDFs themselves print.
- Who settles what: NCERT settles textbook editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.
Reference: NCERT Class 10 English textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.
Frequently asked questions about First Flight
How many chapters are in the NCERT Class 10 English book First Flight?
Nine chapters. The book runs from A Letter to God (pp. 1-15) to The Proposal (pp. 120-140), with two poem study blocks inside that range.
Is the First Flight PDF on this page official and free?
Yes. Every file in the download table above is NCERT’s own PDF, hosted on ncert.nic.in, and free to download. No login or payment is involved.
Which chapter is the play in First Flight?
Chapter 9, The Proposal, is the only play in the book. It is set around a Russian wedding, and its language work covers reported speech.
Where does First Flight teach relative clauses and reported speech?
Relative clauses appear in Chapter 1’s Thinking about Language block, and reported speech in Chapter 9’s. Chapter 2 adds idiomatic expressions, and Chapter 4 works on phrasal verbs and contracted forms.
Does the official First Flight PDF include answers to the exercises?
No. The textbook prints the questions without an answer key, including the Oral Comprehension Check and Thinking about the Text sections. You need a separate resource with worked answers.