General English Language Skills-7 T-7

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 1.1 Listening to pre-recorded audio/YouTube videos on Interviews/Conversations/Motivational Speech (Suggestions: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; How can anyone handle Ego? by Mr. and Mrs. Murthy)
• 1.2 Describing gadgets of everyday use, two-wheelers
• 1.3 Describing places, people and pictures
• 1.4 Writing Reports (Reporting an event)

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

Listening means hearing with attention and understanding the meaning. Hearing is natural; listening is a skill we must practise. In this topic, students listen to recorded interviews, conversations and motivational speeches. The syllabus suggests talks by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the video “How can anyone handle Ego?” by Mr. and Mrs. Murthy (Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty).

Types of listening

• Active listening: full attention, eye contact, nodding, asking questions.
• Informative listening: listening to learn facts (news, lectures).
• Critical listening: judging whether an idea is true or useful.
• Empathetic listening: understanding the feelings of the speaker.
• Appreciative listening: listening for enjoyment (music, poetry).

Steps for listening to a video

1. Know the topic and the speaker before you start.
2. Listen once for the main idea.
3. Listen again and note key words, examples and the speaker’s message.
4. Notice tone, pauses and stress — they show the speaker’s feelings.
5. Write a short summary in your own words.

What we learn from such talks: Dr. Kalam’s speeches usually stress dreams, hard work, learning from failure and service to the nation. A talk on ego teaches humility: success should not make us proud, and listening to others keeps relationships healthy.

Barriers to listening: noise, mobile phone, lack of interest, prejudice, thinking of a reply while the speaker is still talking.

1.2 Describing Gadgets of Everyday Use, Two-wheelers

To describe an object means to tell what it is, what it looks like, what it does and how to use it. A good description is clear, in order and uses exact words.

Points to cover

• Name and purpose of the gadget
• Size, shape, colour, material (plastic, metal, glass)
• Main parts and features
• How it works / how to use it
• Advantages, care and safety

Useful words

compact, portable, lightweight, durable, rechargeable, user-friendly, energy-saving, fuel-efficient, sleek, handy.

Model description (our own): A Smartphone

A smartphone is a small, portable gadget used for calling, messaging and using the internet. It is rectangular, thin and fits in a pocket. The front has a touch screen and the back has one or more cameras. It runs on a rechargeable battery. We can pay bills, attend online classes and take photos with it. We should not use it while driving.

Model description (our own): A Scooter (Two-wheeler)

A scooter is a two-wheeler used for short trips in the city. It has a seat, handlebar, headlight, mirrors, brakes and a storage space under the seat. Many scooters have an automatic gear, so they are easy to ride. Electric scooters run on a battery and cause no smoke. A rider must wear a helmet and follow traffic rules.

1.3 Describing Places, People and Pictures

Describing a place

Tell where it is, how to reach it, what you can see, hear and smell, and why it is special. Move in an order: outside to inside, or left to right.

Example (our own): Futala Lake in Nagpur is a popular spot in the evening. Coloured fountains light up the water and people sit on the lakeside enjoying snacks and the cool breeze.

Describing a person

Cover appearance (height, build, face, dress), personality (kind, honest, hard-working), habits and why the person matters to you. Use adjectives, but give examples to prove them.

Describing a picture

1. Begin with a general sentence: “The picture shows a busy market.”
2. Describe the foreground, middle and background.
3. Use the present continuous tense: “A man is selling vegetables.”
4. Use place words: in the centre, on the left, behind, next to.
5. End with the mood or message of the picture.

1.4 Writing Reports (Reporting an Event)

A report is a factual account of an event that has already happened. It is written in the past tense and usually in the passive voice or third person. It answers the 5 Ws and 1 H: What, When, Where, Who, Why and How.

Format of a news report

• Heading (short and catchy)
• By-line (By ___, Reporter)
• Place and date line
• Opening paragraph: the main facts
• Body: details — programme, chief guest, activities
• Conclusion: result, vote of thanks, impact

Model report (our own)

Tree Plantation Drive Held in College

By Riya Patil, Student Reporter

Nagpur, 5 July: The NSS unit of our college organised a tree plantation drive on the college campus on 4 July. The programme was inaugurated by the Principal. Nearly 150 students took part and 300 saplings of neem, peepal and gulmohar were planted. Students promised to water the plants regularly. The programme ended with a vote of thanks by the NSS officer.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) What is active listening? Give any four tips for listening to a motivational speech.
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Write a report on the Annual Sports Day held in your college.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Which tense is generally used while describing a picture?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What are the 5 Ws and 1 H of report writing?
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Give any two adjectives used to describe a gadget.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 2.1 Water: Elixir of Life – C.V. Raman
• 2.2 The Enchanted Scorpion – Sudha Murthy
• 2.3 The Maori Fairy Fishermen: A Tale from New Zealand
• 2.4 Nisha’s Story – Suchita Marathe
• (Applied Tenses and activities – Ref: Oxford Practice Grammar with Answers, 2nd ed., 1999, OUP)

2.1 Water: Elixir of Life – C.V. Raman

About the author: Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970) was a great Indian physicist. He discovered the Raman Effect (1928) about the scattering of light and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1954. National Science Day (28 February) marks his discovery.

Summary: In this essay Raman praises water as the real “elixir of life”. People in old stories searched for a magic drink that gives long life, but Raman says the true elixir is common water, found everywhere. Water has given birth to great civilisations; he gives the example of Egypt and the river Nile. A lake or a river adds great beauty to a landscape, and the blue colour of water in seas and lakes is itself a scientific wonder. Rain water feeds rivers and fields. But running water also carries away the fertile top soil — this is soil erosion. Cutting of forests and overgrazing make it worse. Raman suggests planting trees, controlling the flow of water and storing rain water in tanks and reservoirs. Water can also produce electricity (hydro-electric power). He ends by asking for a careful, scientific study and use of water for the prosperity of India.

Themes: value of water; science in daily life; conservation of soil and water; the link between water, farming and national wealth.

Style: simple, clear, scientific yet poetic; uses examples from history and nature.

2.2 The Enchanted Scorpion – Sudha Murthy

About the author: Sudha Murty (born 1950, Shiggaon, Karnataka) is an engineer, teacher, writer and social worker. She was chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and writes in Kannada and English. Her well-known books include Wise and Otherwise, Grandma’s Bag of Stories and The Magic of the Lost Temple. She received the Padma Shri (2006) and Padma Bhushan (2023).

About the story: Like most of her stories for young readers, this is a simple tale with a magical element — an enchanted (bewitched) scorpion. Her stories are usually told in a grandmother’s voice and end with a clear moral.

Themes and message: the story deals with greed and honesty, the reward of kindness and the idea that good fortune comes to those who deserve it. Things are not always what they seem; something frightening like a scorpion may hide a lesson or a blessing.

Features of Sudha Murty’s style: easy language, folk-tale form, moral at the end, Indian setting, humour and warmth.

2.3 The Maori Fairy Fishermen: A Tale from New Zealand

Background: The Maori are the native people of New Zealand. Their folk tales explain how people learned useful arts. This tale explains how the Maori learned to make fishing nets.

Summary: A man named Kahukura came upon a group of fairies fishing at night on the sea shore. They were pulling in a large net full of fish and singing. Fairies work only in darkness and must flee before sunrise. Kahukura was fair-skinned, so in the dark he mixed with them and helped pull the net. When the fish were being tied on strings, he cleverly made his knots slip, so the work kept getting delayed. At last the dawn came. The fairies saw he was a human and ran away, leaving the net and fish behind. Kahukura studied the knots of the fairy net and learned how to make one. He taught the art of net-making to his people, and so the Maori learned to make fishing nets.

Themes: human cleverness; knowledge as a gift; folk explanation of a skill; contrast of night (fairies) and day (humans).

2.4 Nisha’s Story – Suchita Marathe

About the lesson: This is a short, realistic piece from the prescribed textbook Endearing Edges-II. It tells the life story of a girl named Nisha. As the title shows, it is told as a personal story, and it is placed in the book to build life skills such as courage, self-belief and the will to face difficulties.

How to study it: note the problems Nisha faces, how she reacts, who helps her, and what change happens in her by the end. Write the lesson’s message in 2–3 lines.

Likely values: grit, confidence, the importance of education and support, and the dignity of women.

Applied Grammar: Tenses and Activities

• Use simple present for universal truths: “The sun rises in the east.”
• Use present perfect with just, already, yet, since, for.
• Use past perfect for the earlier of two past actions.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Why does C.V. Raman call water the elixir of life? Explain his views on soil erosion.
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) How did the Maori learn the art of making fishing nets? Narrate the tale briefly.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Which civilisation does Raman associate with the river Nile?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Who tricked the fairy fishermen in the Maori tale?
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Change into past perfect: “The fairies leave the net.”

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 3.1 On Growing Old – John Masefield
• 3.2 Poppies: Red, Black, and White – Ranjana Sharan
• 3.3 The Tiger and the Deer – Aurobindo Ghosh
• 3.4 A Litany for Survival – Audre Lorde
• (Poetic Devices: Double sonnet, Allusions, Didactic, Contrasting Images, Parallelism)
• (Life Skills: Acceptance and Gratitude, Positive Outlook, Innocence and Optimism, Grit and Tenacity)

3.1 On Growing Old – John Masefield

About the poet: John Masefield (1878–1967) was an English poet and novelist. He went to sea as a boy, and the sea appears often in his poems (“Sea-Fever”, “Cargoes”). He was Poet Laureate of England from 1930 to 1967.

Summary: The speaker is an old man sitting by a dying fire, with his old dog asleep near him. He feels his youth has passed; he can no longer enjoy the adventures, the sea and the passions of young days. He does not ask for wealth, fame or the busy life of the world. He prays to Beauty to stay with him and give him the power to understand and create beautiful things even in old age. If Beauty stays, he says, even the night (old age and death) will blossom like a rose.

Themes: old age and acceptance; the lasting power of beauty and art; inner peace over worldly success.

Devices: personification (Beauty addressed as a person), imagery (dying fire, sleeping dog), metaphor (night = death; rose = beauty and hope), apostrophe. It is often studied as a double sonnet (two 14-line parts).

Life skill: acceptance and gratitude — accepting age calmly and valuing what remains.

3.2 Poppies: Red, Black, and White – Ranjana Sharan

About the poet: Ranjana Sharan (Ranjana Sharan Sinha) is an Indian poet writing in English, included in the prescribed book Endearing Edges-II.

Background of the symbol: Poppies grew on the battlefields of the First World War. The red poppy became the symbol of remembrance of soldiers who died. The white poppy stands for peace and for all victims of war. The black poppy is used to remember the forgotten contribution of Black and colonial soldiers.

Central idea: Through the three colours, the poem looks at war, death, remembrance and the hope of peace. Colours become contrasting images — blood and sacrifice (red), sorrow and loss (black), purity and peace (white).

Themes: futility of war, memory of the dead, longing for peace, positive outlook after loss.

3.3 The Tiger and the Deer – Aurobindo Ghosh

About the poet: Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) was a freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi and poet. He set up an ashram at Pondicherry. His epic Savitri is his best-known poem.

Summary: A tiger moves silently through the forest, with bright, cruel eyes and powerful body. A gentle deer is drinking water at a pool, unaware of danger. Suddenly the tiger leaps and kills the deer. Then the poet turns to a deeper thought: the strong tiger, which once ruled the forests, is now vanishing from the earth, while the weak and gentle deer still lives on. So the mighty perish because of their own might, and the slain survive the slayer.

Themes: violence destroys itself; gentleness and innocence survive; nature’s justice; extinction of the tiger.

Devices: contrasting images (tiger: power, cruelty / deer: innocence, peace), paradox (“the slain survive the slayer”), vivid imagery, irony.

Life skill: innocence and optimism — goodness lasts longer than force.

3.4 A Litany for Survival – Audre Lorde

About the poet: Audre Lorde (1934–1992) was an African-American poet and activist who wrote about race, gender and justice. She called herself “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. The poem is from The Black Unicorn (1978).

Summary: A litany is a prayer with repeated lines. The poem speaks for people who live “on the edge” — the poor, the oppressed, those who were never expected to survive. They live with fear all the time: fear when they speak and fear when they are silent. The poet says silence will not protect them. Since fear exists in both cases, it is better to speak out.

Themes: courage against fear, voice of the marginalised, survival, resistance.

Devices: parallelism and anaphora (repeated “For those of us who…”), free verse, contrast (speaking/silence, love/fear).

Life skill: grit and tenacity.

Poetic Devices

• Double sonnet: a poem of 28 lines made of two 14-line sonnets joined in one idea.
• Allusion: a short reference to a well-known person, place, event or book. E.g. “He is a Karna in giving” (Mahabharata).
• Didactic: poetry that teaches a moral lesson. E.g. “The Tiger and the Deer” teaches that cruelty does not last.
• Contrasting images: two opposite pictures placed side by side to make the meaning sharp — tiger and deer, light and dark.
• Parallelism: repeating the same grammatical structure. E.g. “We came, we saw, we conquered.”

Life Skills

• Acceptance and Gratitude: accepting what we cannot change and being thankful for what we have. It reduces stress.
• Positive Outlook: seeing opportunity in difficulty; expecting good results while working for them.
• Innocence and Optimism: a pure, trusting mind and hope that things will get better.
• Grit and Tenacity: passion plus long-term effort; not giving up after failure.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) What prayer does the old speaker make to Beauty in “On Growing Old”?
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Explain the contrast between the tiger and the deer in Sri Aurobindo’s poem.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What is a double sonnet?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Define parallelism with one example.
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What does the red poppy symbolise?

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• 4.1 What is communication?
• 4.2 Vertical and Horizontal Communication
• 4.3 Components of Communication
• 4.4 Voice Modulation

4.1 What is Communication?

The word communication comes from the Latin word communis, meaning “common”. Communication is the process of sharing ideas, information, feelings and messages between two or more people so that they reach a common understanding.

Definition: Communication is a two-way process in which a sender sends a message through a channel to a receiver, who understands it and gives feedback.

Types

• Verbal: oral (talk, phone call, speech) and written (letter, email, report).
• Non-verbal: body language, facial expression, gestures, eye contact, posture, dress.
• Formal and informal communication.
• Visual: charts, signs, pictures.

Importance

• Builds relationships and teamwork
• Helps in decision-making
• Needed for jobs, interviews and leadership
• Avoids misunderstanding

Barriers

Noise, language difference, poor listening, emotions (anger, fear), cultural difference, wrong channel, information overload.

The 7 Cs of effective communication

• Clear: one main idea, simple words.
• Concise: short, no unnecessary words.
• Concrete: facts and figures, not vague talk.
• Correct: right grammar, spelling and facts.
• Coherent: ideas connected in a logical order.
• Complete: all needed information is given.
• Courteous: polite and respectful.

4.2 Vertical and Horizontal Communication

In an organisation, messages move in different directions.

• Downward: from top to bottom — orders, circulars, notices. Principal → teachers → students.
• Upward: from bottom to top — reports, requests, complaints, suggestions. Student → class teacher.
• Horizontal: among equals — teacher to teacher, clerk to clerk.

There is also diagonal communication (across levels and departments) and the informal grapevine.

4.3 Components of Communication

1. Sender: the person who starts the message.
2. Message: the idea, information or feeling to be shared.
3. Encoding: putting the idea into words, signs or symbols.
4. Channel / Medium: the path — speech, letter, phone, email, WhatsApp.
5. Receiver: the person who gets the message.
6. Decoding: understanding the meaning of the message.
7. Feedback: the receiver’s response; it makes communication two-way.
8. Noise: any disturbance that spoils the message (physical noise, language, emotions).
9. Context: the situation, place and relationship in which communication happens.

Example: A teacher (sender) wants to announce a test (message). She writes it in simple words (encoding) on the notice board (channel). Students (receivers) read and understand it (decoding) and ask a doubt about the date (feedback). Loud talk in the corridor is noise.

4.4 Voice Modulation

Voice modulation means changing and controlling the voice — its pitch, volume, speed and tone — to express meaning and feeling and to keep listeners interested. A flat (monotonous) voice makes listeners bored.

Elements

• Pitch: high or low sound of the voice. Rise for questions/excitement, fall for statements.
• Volume: loud or soft; loud enough for the last row.
• Pace / Rate: speed of speaking; slow down for important points.
• Pause: short silence to give effect and time to think.
• Tone: the feeling in the voice — friendly, serious, polite.
• Stress / Emphasis: extra force on key words. “I did finish the work.”
• Clarity: clear pronunciation of each word.

Tips

• Breathe deeply and stand straight.
• Practise reading aloud and record yourself.
• Match voice to content: soft for sad news, energetic for motivation.
• Drink water; avoid shouting.

Practice (our own example)

Read the sentence “You have passed the exam” in three ways: (1) with a rising pitch, as a surprised question; (2) with a falling, warm tone, as happy news; (3) slowly with a pause after “You”, to stress who passed. The words stay the same, but the meaning changes with the voice.

Do’s and Don’ts

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Explain the components of communication with an example.
2. (Long, SAQ (about 50 words, 5 marks)) Distinguish between vertical and horizontal communication.
3. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What is feedback in communication?
4. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) Give one example of upward communication.
5. (Short, VSAQ (1 mark)) What is meant by voice modulation?