What does Ndidi mainly learn in this story?

That some problems get easier when you try less, not more. (The last two sentences state it: some things do not need more effort, some things need less. That is what floating taught her.)

How long did it take Ndidi to float?

Five weeks. (The text says plainly, "It took five weeks." Eleven is the number of seconds she floated, not weeks.)

Why does Roos ask Ndidi to lie back and do nothing in the first lesson?

Because Ndidi must learn to trust the water before she can swim. (Roos says the water already holds her up and her job is to stop helping. The lesson is about letting the water do the work (trusting it) before learning strokes.)

In this passage, shallow water is water that is:

not deep (She can stand up in it when she starts coughing, so it is water that is not deep.)

Eleven Seconds Of Floating: Level 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

Ndidi signed up for swimming lessons at forty-one. She was the oldest person in the pool by twenty years, and she knew it.

The first lesson was not about swimming. The teacher, a calm woman named Roos, asked her to lie back in the shallow water and do nothing. Ndidi could not do nothing. Her legs dropped. Her shoulders tightened. Water went up her nose, and she stood again, coughing. "You are trying to hold yourself up," Roos said. "The water already does that. Your job is to stop helping."

It took five weeks. Then, one Tuesday evening, Ndidi lay back, opened her arms, and felt the water take her weight. She stayed there for eleven seconds. She counted them.

She still cannot swim far. Her stroke is slow and her breathing is loud. But she remembers those eleven seconds whenever a hard problem makes her tighten up. Some things do not need more effort, she thinks. Some things need less.

Comprehension questions