General English Language Skills-5 T-5

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 1.1 Listening to pre-recorded audio / YouTube videos on Interviews / Conversations / Motivational Speech (Suggestions: Ratan Tata – Moving the Tata Group Beyond India; Chetan Bhagat – Live for Yourself)
• 1.2 Reading a Story [Suggestion: A Day's Wait – Ernest Hemingway]
• 1.3 Extempore
• 1.4 Drafting Concise Messages / Dialogues

1.1 Listening to Pre-recorded Audio / YouTube Videos (Interviews, Conversations, Motivational Speeches)

Listening means hearing with attention and understanding the meaning. Hearing is natural; listening is a skill we must practise.

Suggested videos

• Ratan Tata – Moving the Tata Group Beyond India: Ratan Tata (1937–2024) was chairman of the Tata Group from 1991 to 2012. He took the group global. Under him Tata bought big foreign companies like Tetley Tea (2000), Corus Steel (2007) and Jaguar Land Rover (2008). Listen for his ideas: think big, take risks, keep values and honesty, and believe Indian companies can compete with the world.
• Chetan Bhagat – Live for Yourself: Chetan Bhagat is a popular Indian writer (Five Point Someone, 2 States) and motivational speaker. The message: do not live only to please society; follow your own interests, enjoy small things and keep your inner happiness.

Types of listening

• Listening for the main idea (gist)
• Listening for details (names, numbers, dates)
• Critical listening (judging the speaker's point)
• Empathetic listening (understanding feelings)

Tips for active listening

1. Remove distractions; keep the phone away.
2. Note key words, not full sentences.
3. Notice the speaker's tone, pauses and examples.
4. Pause and replay the video if needed.
5. After listening, write a 3–4 line summary in your own words.

1.2 Reading a Story [Suggestion: A Day's Wait – Ernest Hemingway]

Author: Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American writer known for short, simple sentences. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His famous works are The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms. "A Day's Wait" was published in 1933 in the collection Winner Take Nothing.

Summary

A nine-year-old boy, called Schatz by his father, is ill with flu. The doctor comes and says his temperature is 102 degrees. The boy becomes very quiet and serious. He stares at the foot of the bed and does not want anyone to come into the room. His father reads to him from a book of pirates, but the boy is not listening. The father goes out hunting quail with his dog and comes back. The boy is still lying stiff and tense. In the evening the boy asks, "About what time do you think I'm going to die?" Then the truth comes out. At school in France, boys had told him that a person cannot live with a temperature of 44 degrees. He did not know that France uses the Celsius scale and America uses Fahrenheit. So he had been waiting all day to die. The father explains that the two thermometers are different, like miles and kilometres. The boy slowly relaxes. The next day he is very easy and cries over small things.

Themes and points

• Misunderstanding: one small confusion causes great fear.
• Courage of a child: the boy faces "death" bravely and silently.
• Gap between father and son: the father does not notice the boy's real fear for a long time.
• Irony: the reader and father know he is not in danger; the boy thinks he is dying.

How to read a story well

Read once for the plot, a second time for characters and theme. Mark the turning point (here, the question about dying). Write a short summary and the moral.

1.3 Extempore

Extempore means speaking on a topic without preparation. The topic is given on the spot and you usually get 1–2 minutes to think and 2–3 minutes to speak.

Steps

1. Understand the topic and choose one clear angle.
2. Think of 3 points (use a simple plan: past–present–future, or problem–cause–solution).
3. Start with a strong opening: a question, a fact or a short story.
4. Speak the points one by one with an example each.
5. End with a short conclusion or message.

Model opening (topic: Mobile phones and students)

"Good morning everyone. Today almost every student has a mobile phone in the pocket. Is it a friend or an enemy? I feel it is both, and it depends on how we use it..."

Do's and don'ts

• Do keep eye contact, speak slowly and clearly, use simple words.
• Don't memorise, don't repeat "umm" often, don't go off the topic.

1.4 Drafting Concise Messages / Dialogues

A concise message gives full information in few words. It is used in SMS, WhatsApp, notes and emails. Use the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, why.

Model message

Ravi, Prof. Deshmukh called. The English seminar is shifted to Friday, 11 a.m., Room 12. Please bring your PPT on a pen drive. – Neha

Dialogue writing

A dialogue is a written conversation between two or more people. Write the speaker's name, a colon, then the words. Keep turns short and natural.

Student: Excuse me sir, may I get my library card renewed?

Librarian: Sure. Do you have your ID card?

Student: Yes, here it is.

Librarian: Done. It is valid till March. Please return books on time.

Student: Thank you, sir.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Why did Schatz think he was going to die in 'A Day's Wait'? How was the misunderstanding cleared?
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) What is extempore speaking? Give any four tips for a good extempore speech.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Who wrote 'A Day's Wait'?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Write a concise message (about 30 words) informing your friend that the college exam has been postponed.
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Name any two foreign companies acquired by the Tata Group under Ratan Tata.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 2.1 The Night Train at Deoli – Ruskin Bond
• 2.2 Professions for Women – Virginia Woolf
• 2.3 My Greatest Olympic Prize – Jesse Owens
• 2.4 Train to Benares – Prantik Banerjee
• Applied Tenses and activities (Ref: Oxford Practice Grammar with Answers, 2nd ed., 1999, OUP)

2.1 The Night Train at Deoli – Ruskin Bond

Author: Ruskin Bond (born 1934, Kasauli) is a much-loved Indian writer in English. He lives in Landour, Mussoorie. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award (1992) for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra and the Padma Bhushan (2014). His stories are simple, gentle and full of hills, trains and small towns.

Summary

The narrator is a college student. Every summer he travels by the night train to Dehra to stay with his grandmother. Early in the morning the train stops for about ten minutes at Deoli, a small, quiet station before the jungle. Nobody gets on or off there. One day he sees a young girl selling baskets on the platform. She has long black hair and dark, shining eyes. He buys a basket and they talk a little. He feels a strong attraction. On his way back he sees her again and she is happy to see him. As the train moves, he touches her hand and promises to break his journey at Deoli one day. The next year she is not there. The stationmaster does not know where she has gone. Every year he looks for her but she never comes. He never gets down at Deoli, because he wants to keep his hope and dream alive.

Themes

• First, innocent love and attraction
• Loss, longing and loneliness
• Hope versus reality – the narrator prefers a dream to a painful truth
• Life as a journey: people meet and part

Critical points

• Written in the first person; simple and nostalgic tone.
• The empty platform is a symbol of the narrator's lonely heart.
• The ending is open; the reader never learns what happened to the girl.

2.2 Professions for Women – Virginia Woolf

Author: Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was an English modernist novelist and essayist. Famous works: Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and A Room of One's Own (1929). "Professions for Women" was a talk she gave in January 1931 to a society for women's employment in London. It was published after her death in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays (1942).

Summary

Woolf says her own profession, writing, was easy for a woman to enter because paper is cheap and the family is not disturbed. She earned her first money by writing reviews and bought a Persian cat with it. But she faced two problems. The first was a ghost she calls "the Angel in the House" (a phrase from a Victorian poem by Coventry Patmore). This Angel was the ideal Victorian woman: sweet, unselfish, pure, always agreeing with men. When Woolf wrote reviews of men's books, the Angel whispered to her to flatter and be charming. Woolf says she had to "kill" the Angel to write honestly. The second problem was telling the truth about her own experiences as a woman, especially about the body and passions. She felt men would be shocked, and she says she could not solve this problem. At the end she says women now have "rooms of their own" in many professions, but they must decide how to furnish them and on what terms to share them with men.

Themes and message

• Women's freedom and independence
• Fighting social conditioning inside the mind
• Honesty and the right of women to speak truth
• Economic independence of women

Devices

Metaphor (the Angel in the House, the room), personal anecdote, and a friendly, ironic speaking style.

2.3 My Greatest Olympic Prize – Jesse Owens

Author: Jesse Owens (1913–1980) was a Black American athlete. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics he won four gold medals: 100 m, 200 m, long jump and 4×100 m relay.

Summary

The 1936 Olympics were held in Hitler's Germany. Hitler wanted to show that Germans (the "Aryans") were the best race. Owens was nervous and angry. In the long-jump qualifying round he fouled his first jump and failed in the second. Only one chance was left. Then a tall German jumper, Luz Long, came and introduced himself. He advised Owens to draw a line a little before the take-off board and jump from there, so he would not foul. Owens did this and qualified easily. In the final Owens won the gold and Luz Long won silver. Luz was the first to congratulate him, in front of Hitler. They became close friends and wrote letters. Luz was later killed in the Second World War. Owens says the medals may fade, but this friendship was his greatest Olympic prize.

Themes

• True sportsmanship and fair play
• Friendship above race and nation
• Humanity defeats racism and hatred

2.4 Train to Benares – Prantik Banerjee

This prose piece by Prantik Banerjee is set on a train journey to Benares (Varanasi), the holy city on the Ganga. It shows small moments ("cameos") among people sitting together in a small, closed space. At its centre is a quiet bond between two men separated by age. Read the text closely and note: who the two travellers are, how their talk begins, what each learns from the other, and how the journey changes them.

How to answer questions on it

• Describe the setting: a train compartment, strangers, the journey to a sacred city.
• Explain the relationship between the old and the young traveller.
• Bring out the themes: human connection, respect between generations, life as a journey.

Applied Grammar: Tenses and Activities

A tense shows the time of an action. There are three main tenses, each with four forms.

Key rules

• Simple present for habits and facts: The train stops at Deoli every morning.
• Present perfect for past action with present result: She has gone away.
• Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions: The train had left before he reached.
• Use "since" with a point of time and "for" with a period: since 2020, for two years.

Activity: Correct – "He has bought a basket yesterday." → "He bought a basket yesterday."

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Describe the narrator's meeting with the girl at Deoli station. Why did he never break his journey there?
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) What is the 'Angel in the House' in 'Professions for Women'? Why did Woolf have to kill her?
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What advice did Luz Long give Jesse Owens?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Change into the present perfect tense: She writes a letter.
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Correct the sentence: I have seen him yesterday.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 3.1 Anthem for Doomed Youth – Wilfred Owen
• 3.2 Courage – Edgar A. Guest
• 3.3 Motiyarin – Usha Kiran Atram (Translated by Dr. Santosh Kumar Sonekar)
• 3.4 Father Returning Home – Dilip Chitre
• Poetic Devices: Personification, Simile, Irony, Imagery
• Life Skills: Critical Thinking, Perseverance and Determination, Openness to Experience, Empathy

3.1 Anthem for Doomed Youth – Wilfred Owen

Poet: Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) was an English soldier-poet of the First World War. He wrote this poem in 1917 in Craiglockhart hospital, where Siegfried Sassoon helped him revise it. Owen was killed on 4 November 1918, one week before the war ended.

Summary

The poem is a sonnet. In the first eight lines (octave) the poet asks what funeral bells ring for soldiers who die "as cattle". He says their only bells are the angry noise of the guns, their only prayers are the fast rattle of rifles, and their only choir is the scream of shells. In the last six lines (sestet) the scene moves to their homes. There are no candles; the light is in the eyes of the boys. The pale faces of the girls are their funeral cloth. The flowers are the patient minds of those who mourn, and every evening the drawing-down of blinds is a sign of mourning.

Themes

• Horror and waste of war
• Lack of dignity in soldiers' death
• Grief of families at home

Devices

• Form: Petrarchan-style sonnet with an English rhyme scheme (ABAB CDCD EFFE GG)
• Onomatopoeia and alliteration: "stuttering rifles' rapid rattle"
• Personification: guns have "monstrous anger"
• Simile: soldiers die "as cattle"
• Irony: the title "Anthem" for a sad death

3.2 Courage – Edgar A. Guest

Poet: Edgar Albert Guest (1881–1959) was born in England and lived in Detroit, USA. He wrote simple, hopeful poems for the Detroit Free Press and was called "The People's Poet".

Summary

The poet says courage is not a brilliant, sudden act done in one flash of excitement or despair. True courage is something deep in a person's soul. It works quietly every day. It means to keep going, to bear trouble patiently, to face hard days without giving up, and to keep working towards a goal.

Themes and message

• Real courage = patience, endurance and steady effort
• Ordinary people can be brave in daily life
• Links with the life skill of perseverance and determination

Devices

Rhyming couplets (aabb), simple diction, contrast between "flash" courage and lasting courage, and a didactic (teaching) tone.

3.3 Motiyarin – Usha Kiran Atram (Translated by Dr. Santosh Kumar Sonekar)

Poet: Usha Kiran Atram is a Gond tribal poet from Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Her collection Motiyarin has been translated into English by Dr. Santosh Kumar Sonekar.

Meaning of the title: "Motiyarin" is a Gondi word. It is the position given to a woman leader who looks after the young girls in the Gond community's youth house (gotul).

Key points

• The poem gives voice to the tribal woman and her strength.
• It shows Gond culture, traditions and closeness to nature.
• It speaks of tribal identity and pride, and of women's role as leaders.
• It is an example of Adivasi literature, which brings marginal voices into the mainstream.

While studying, note the images of forest life, the qualities of the Motiyarin, and the poet's tone of pride.

3.4 Father Returning Home – Dilip Chitre

Poet: Dilip Chitre (1938–2009) was a bilingual poet in Marathi and English, also a painter and translator (of Tukaram). This poem is from Travelling in a Cage (1980).

Summary

The speaker describes his old father returning from work in the late evening on a crowded Mumbai local train. He stands among tired commuters; his eyes are weak with age, his clothes wet with rain, his raincoat muddy and his bag full of old books. He walks home on a muddy road. At home he drinks weak tea, eats a stale chapati and reads a book. He sits alone thinking about man's distance from the world man has made. At dinner he hardly speaks; his children do not share their thoughts with him. He sleeps and dreams of his ancestors and grandchildren, and of nomads who once entered India through a mountain pass.

Themes

• Loneliness and alienation in city life
• Generation gap and lack of communication
• Old age and the dull routine of a common man

Devices

Free verse, vivid imagery (muddy raincoat, stale chapati), the train as a symbol of mechanical life, and a sad, observing tone.

Poetic Devices: Personification, Simile, Irony, Imagery

Life Skills: Critical Thinking, Perseverance and Determination, Openness to Experience, Empathy

• Critical thinking: checking facts and reasons before believing or deciding.
• Perseverance and determination: continuing to try despite failure (Owens after two fouls; Guest's "Courage").
• Openness to experience: being curious and ready to try new ideas, places and people.
• Empathy: understanding another person's feelings from their point of view (the reader's feeling for the lonely father).

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) How does Wilfred Owen show the horror of war in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'?
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Describe the daily life of the father in Dilip Chitre's 'Father Returning Home'. What does it tell us about his loneliness?
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) According to Edgar A. Guest, what is true courage?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Identify the figure of speech: 'The wind whispered through the trees.'
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Define empathy.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 4.1 Confidence
• 4.2 Persuasion
• 4.3 Being Respectful
• 4.4 Taking Responsibility

Interpersonal skills are the skills we use to deal with other people: talking, listening, working in a team and solving problems together. Employers look for them along with degrees. This unit covers four of them.

4.1 Confidence

Confidence is belief in your own abilities and judgment. A confident person is calm, speaks clearly and is ready to try. It is different from over-confidence, which means ignoring your limits.

Signs of confidence

• Straight posture and eye contact
• Clear voice and short answers
• Accepting mistakes and learning from them
• Asking questions without fear

How to build it

1. Prepare well – knowledge creates confidence.
2. Practise speaking in front of a mirror or friends.
3. Set small goals and celebrate success.
4. Use positive self-talk ("I can learn this").
5. Dress neatly and take care of health.

Example: Before an interview, a student practises answers, reaches early, greets politely and answers calmly even when he does not know something: "I am not sure, sir, but I will find out."

Common enemies of confidence

• Fear of failure or of being laughed at
• Comparing yourself with others all the time
• Poor preparation
• Negative people around you

Confidence grows slowly with practice. Each small success, like asking one question in class, makes the next step easier.

4.2 Persuasion

Persuasion is the skill of changing someone's opinion or action through reasons and good communication, without force. It is used in sales, leadership, debate and daily life.

Three appeals (Aristotle)

• Ethos – trust in the speaker (honesty, knowledge)
• Pathos – appeal to feelings
• Logos – appeal to logic, facts and examples

Tips

1. Know your listener's needs.
2. Give clear reasons and proof.
3. Show the benefit to the listener.
4. Listen to objections and reply politely.
5. End with a clear request.

Sample: "Sir, if the library stays open till 8 p.m., students who work in the day can also study. Many colleges do this. We will help keep it clean and quiet."

Don't: lie, pressure, or insult the other person.

Persuasion is different from manipulation. Persuasion is open and honest and helps both sides; manipulation uses tricks and helps only the speaker. Good persuasion also needs good body language: a smile, a calm voice and patience.

4.3 Being Respectful

Respect means treating others with dignity, valuing their feelings, time and opinions, even when we disagree.

Ways to show respect

• Use polite words: please, thank you, sorry, excuse me.
• Listen without interrupting.
• Be on time.
• Respect differences of caste, religion, gender, language and opinion.
• Do not gossip or make fun of others.
• Respect rules, property and the environment.

Respect builds trust and teamwork. At the workplace it creates a healthy culture. Respect also includes self-respect: not allowing others to insult you and not doing wrong to please others.

Respect is shown not only in words but also in body language: a calm voice, a polite tone and attention to the speaker. Online, too, we should be respectful – no rude comments, no sharing of others' private photos, and no trolling.

Example: In a group discussion, Priya disagrees with Amit but says, "That is a good point, Amit. I see it a little differently..."

4.4 Taking Responsibility

Responsibility means accepting your duties and the results of your actions, good or bad, without blaming others.

Features of a responsible person

• Keeps promises and completes work on time
• Admits mistakes and corrects them
• Does not make excuses
• Cares for family, society and nature

How to develop it

1. Make a to-do list and plan your time.
2. Say "I will" and do it.
3. When you make a mistake, say "It was my mistake; I will fix it."
4. Take small duties at home and college.

Responsibility has many levels: personal (health, studies), family (helping parents), social (voting, keeping the area clean) and professional (doing your job honestly). A responsible citizen follows laws and pays attention to the needs of others.

Benefits: people trust you, you grow as a leader, and you gain self-respect.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) What is confidence? How can a student build confidence?
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Explain persuasion and the three appeals used in it.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Give any two ways of showing respect to others.
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What does 'taking responsibility' mean?
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) How is persuasion different from manipulation?