A TEXT BOOK

FOR

COMMUNICATION SKILL PRACTICAL

(N Scheme)

DR. RAMESH VARADARAJAN

M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., B.Ed., PGDTE,
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT/ENGLISH (etrec)
THIAGARAJAR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
SALEM 636 005

R.S.P.R. PUBLISHERS
140 A1 P.L. ILLAM, FOURTH STREET
KENNADY NAGAR, SALEM-636 005
 CONTENTS

1. LISTENING SKILL

1. Listening fo speeches by great

speakers/1V News 3

2. Listening to short stories 17

3. Listening to Indian/British/American
English 24

2. READING SKILL

Skimming and Scanning 44

Intonation 49

6. Tongue twisters/Tongue Modulators 66

7. Reading Newspaper 71
8. Frequently mispronounced words 78
3. SPEAKING SKILL

9 Polite expressions (Greeting, Requesting, 83

Thanking, Apologizing, Opinions,
Suggestions)
10. Introducing yourself/Friends/Family 93
11. Recite quotes of 97
leaders/scholars/scientists
12. Face to face conversation 100
 4. WRITING SKILL

13. Thought fillers 110

14. Completing an incomplete story 118

15. Nonverbal communication 126

5. APPENDICES

Appendix - I Scheme and Syllabus 133

Appendix - |I Model Question Paper 136

Appendix - Il Board Practical
139
Examination

Appendix -IV Guidelines for the conduct

of practical classes and 142
writing of record note book
Appendix - V Laboratory Equipments 144
 PRACTICAL 1- PART A

LISTENING TO SPEECHES BY GREAT SPEAKERSs

EXERCISE
1. Listen to the speech of a Great Speaker played to you and take
notes.

Gettysburgh Address by Abraham

-
Lincoln
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this

continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the

proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a civil
war. testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so

dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place
for thosewho here gave their lives that the nation might Iive. It is

altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger

sense. we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this

ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here. have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget

what they did here.

Answer: (in the form of notes)

1. This nation was built fourscore and seven years ago.

2. The basic ideas in building the nation were liberty and equality.
3. The present civil war puts these principles in danger.
4. We meet here to glorify the sacrifice of those who died in defending
 these principles.
5. The world may remember or forget our words. But it will never

forget the sacrifice of these people who died here.

 EXERCISE

1. Listen to the following Tv news played to you and write down

the gist of the news.
Five, incuding JeM ultras. jawan, die in J&K gunfight
1hree Jaish e Molammed terrorists, a civilian and a soldier died on

Thursday in an cncounter in Pulwama district of Jammu and

Kashmir police said. Ineriminating material including ammunition

wer recovered from the encounter site, a police spokesman said.

10 arrested for thrashing five men

Ten people have been arrested for locking up five men in a room and
torturing them for days together at Singanallur here following a fight
that broke out during a birthday bash. At the birthday bash, a fight
broke out between Ajith and Gokulraj.
Monsoon slightly late this year
Monsoon this year is expected to arrive over the Indian mainland five

days later than the normal date and is likely to hit Kerala on June 6.

the Indian Meteorological Department said on Wednesday. The

normal date of monsoon's onset is June 1.

MG Motor stops diesel products

MG Motor. which has just rolled out brand new SUV Hector in

petrol, diesel and hybrid varieties to take on competitors, will not

have any diesel products when it enters more mass market volume

segments.
Kholi is confident
Virat Kholi is very confident that his men would display a
is
spectacular performance and win the World Cup this year. He
declared that his team is well balanced and brimming with

enthusiasm.

Answer
Five men die in J&K gunfight
Ten persons arTrested for thrashing five men in birthday bash
Monsoon is late by six days this year
MG Motor stops diesel products

Kholi is confident that his team will win World Cup this year.
 EXERCISE

ana
to you
1. / played
read out
Isten to the following short storv
choose the best word provided under each qu1estion

the edge of a
forest. The elder
ere once two brothers who lived on

brother and ate up all the

food and took
uier was very mean to his vounger

the forest to find

a nis good clothes. One day, the elder brother went into
some firewood to sell in the market. As he went around chopping the branches

aree alter tree, he came upon a magical tree. The tree said to him, Oh
Kind sir. please do not cut my branches. If you spare me, I will give you my
golden apples. The elder brother agreed but was disappointed with the
number of apples the tree gave him. Greed overcame him and he threatened to
Cut the entire trunk if the tree didn't give him more
apples. The magica tree
instead showered upon the elder brother hundreds
upon hundreds of tiny
needles. The elder brother lay on the ground in crying
as the sun pain began
to lower down the horizon. The younger brother grew worried and
went in
search of his elder brother. He found him with
hundreds of needles on his
skin. He rushed to his brother and removed each needle
with painstaking love.
 19

After he finished, the elder brother

apologised for treating him badly and
promised to be better. The tree saw the
change in the elder brother's heart and
gave them all the golden apples they could ever need. It is important to be
kind and gracious as it will
always be rewarded.
guestions:
1. Where did the two brothers live?
The two brothers lived at the
edge of the forest.
2. Why did the elder brother
go to the forest?
The elder brother went to the forest to
get firewood.
3. What did the
magical tree do to the elder brother?
The magical tree showered hundreds
and hundreds of needles on the
elder brother.
4. What is the lesson learnt
by the elder brother?
The elder brother realized his mistake of
ill-treating his younger
brother.
5. What is the moral of the story?
Kind and gracious actions will be rewarded.

2. Listen to the following short story read out / played to

you and
choose the best word provided under each question.
Akbar once put a question to his court that left
everyone puzzled. As they al
tried to figure out the answer, Birbal walked in and asked what the matter
Was. And so they told him the question. How many crows are there in the
city?
Birbal immediately smiled, went up to Akbar and announced that the answer
to his questions was twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-three.
When asked how he knew the answer, Birbal replied. Ask your men to count
the number of crows. If there are more, then the crows' relatives from outside
the city are visiting them. If there are fewer, then the their
crows are visiting
relatives outside the city.' Pleased with the answer. Akbar presented Birbal
with a ruby and pearl chain. Having an explanation for your arnswer is just as

important as having an answer.

Questions:
1. What did Akbar do in the court?

Akbar put a
question.
2. What was the question?
The question was how many crows were there in the city.
3. What is Birbal's reply?
Birbal gave the figure as twenty one thousand five hundred twenty
three.
4. What is Birbal's reward?
Birbal's reward was a ruby and pearl chain.
5. What is the moral of the
story?
Explanation and answer are equally important.
1. Listen to the passage carefully. At the end, you have to fill in the
blanks in the given sentences with the exact words from the
the
passage read out to you.

A pond is a body of standing water either natural or manmade that is

usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of manmade bodies of water

are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic

ornamentation, fishponds designed for commercial fish breeding and

solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds and lakes are

distinguished from streams via current speed. While currents in

and lakes possess thermally driven
streams are easily observed, ponds
 driven
c u r r en
ntts
s.. These features
wind
micro currents and moderate
other aquatic
terrain features
features stream
a pond from many
distinguish

pools and tide pools.

in the following sentences with the exact

Now ill in the blanks

words from the passage.

or manmade. (natural
1. A pond is a body of standing water,
2..and solar ponds designed to store energy. (thermal)

3 Ponds and lakes are distinguished from via current speed.

(streams)
4.
A water gardens designed for aesthetic .(ornamentation)
5. These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic
features. (terrain)
 1. Listen carefully to the
following passage and answer the questlOns.
The atmosphere of the Earth serves
as key factor in maintaining thee
a
planetary ecosystem. The thin
in
layer of gases that surrounds the Earth is held
place by the planet's
gravity. Dry air consists of 78 percent Nitrogen,
percent Oxygen. 1 percent 21
and Organ other inert gases like
carbon dioxide.
The
remaining gases are often referTed to as trace
gases gases. The greenhouse
come under this group.
They include water vapour, carbon
dioxide.
 35

methane. nitrous Oxide and methane.

Filtered air includes trace amounts of
many other chemical compounds. Air also
contains a variable amount of
water vapour and
suspensions of water droplets and ice crystals seen as
clouds. Many natural substances may be present in tiny amounts in an
unfiltered air sample such as dust,
pollen and spores.

guestions
Now fill in the blanks in the
following sentences with the exact words
from the passage.
1. The planet's keeps the thin layer of gases around the earth in
place. (gravity)
2 Nitrogen and Oxygen 21% are found in dry air along with others.

(78%)
3. Filtered air contains traces of compounds. (chemical)

4 crystals are found in a cloud. (ice)

untiltered air
5. Dust and are the two among many found in an

sample. (pollen)
 TONGUE TWISTERS

These tongue twisters enable the learners to train the

movement of their
of meaning and
Speech organs in such a way that they speak without any loss
also in the accepted style.
1. Doubtful doom of human kind
2 Noiseless music of the night
3. Silent lightning under the stars
4. The drowned maiden with her diadem to be tied

5. Cloud, sunset, moonrise, star shine, too

66. The changes in the pages in these ranges

7. Language jokes of strangers
8. Wantonly wasted words of ours

9 Deputy director providing directions for all district development

officers
10. Sinking of ships sailing in stormy seas
Peter bought some butter

But the butter was bitter

To make the bitter butter better

He bought some better butter

And made the bitter butter better.

 77

10, Read the following passage aloud with proper

pauses, modulation,
tone and word clusters.
With raintall deticieney in both monsoons accounting to 695 last
year,
the public works department has found ground water table in as
many
as 20 districts in the state
seeing a considerable decline than last year
during the same period. At least in seven districts
Thiruvalloor.
-

Vellore. Dharmapuri, Thiruvarur, Perambalur, Ariyalur and Sivaganga

-

the
ground water table has touched a new low in this decade. Amid
protests in various parts of the state with drinking water
becoming
scarce, the state government on Tuesday made a fervent
appeal to the
people to use water
judiciously. When their repeated pleas for water
supply failed to evoke positive response from the district
administration. the villagers of Nallampalli panchayat near
Manapparai staged road rook with empty pots. Districts like
Perambalur, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Coimbatore and Salem are the
worst affected areas with poor groundwater table this year. We are
taking all efforts to improve efficiency in administration.
Water
leakage and burst of pipelines reported due to extremne climatic
conditions and we are setting them right. We request people to come

forward to complain about illegal tapping or unauthorised

connections," TWAD Managing Director, N Mahesvaran said,
Read the
commonly mispronounced words correctly.
Pizza
Dengue Bury Wednesday
Asthma Clothes Colleague February
Athlete
Escapee Especially Prescription
Ask Albeit Almond Pronunciation
Attaché Cache Chaos Coup
Coupon Debris Debut Divorce
Epitome Expresso Et cetera Faux pas
Film Flour Gauge Genre
Heinous . Hierarchy Hyperbole Ingenuity
Itinerary Jewellery Library Lingerie
 EXERCISE

1. Make a polite expression for the context provided.

Request your teacher for a book.

Good morming. Sir. I am sorry to disturb you, Sir. I have a request. I am

urgently in need of a reference book. The title of the book is "University
Grammar of English." The author is
Randolph Quirk.
I request you to
kindly lend your personal
copy of the book for my use for a few days. I
will returm the book within a week. Thank
you very much in advance.
Sir.

2. Make a
polite expression for the context
provided.
How will you politely apologize for coming late to the meeting?
Good morning, Sirs. At the outset, I express my sincere
apologies for
 91
coming late to the
meeting. I humbly submit that I met with am
iust before I
reached tlhe acciaeent
venue. A
the gate. cyclist knocked me down in 'ront o f
ckily, I
escaped with bruises. TI once
apologies tor
conning late and also
once again
agaln express my
exp
disturbing the
proceerlings.
3. Make a
polite expression for the context
provided.
Greeting your father's friend on his sixtieth birthday.
Good morning. Sir.
request you to kindly
accept my wishes on your
sixtieth birthday. I
have gained a lot from
your counsel arnd guidance all
these years. Your
valuable advice benefitted our entire
fanily. You
You
remain a great strength to my father.
I pray to God to give
you many
many more years of happy and life. healthy
4. Make a polite expression for the context
provided.
Thanking your uncle for his valuable advice about your studies.
Hello Uncle, Good morning. Please accept my sincere thanks for your
valuable advice about my future. I was in a dilemma - whether to choose
Higher Secondary Course or diploma programme. You clearly explained
the family background and advised me to join diploma programme. I
understand the truth behind your words. Please once again accept my
thanks.

5. Make a polite expression for the context provided.

Write your opinior. about a movie.

This is my opinion about the movie.

Hello, Saravanan. Good morning.
Please don't watch it even once. Don't waste your money. There is no

the movie, there is cheap comedy which is

story element. Throughout
The cast is poor in
taste. There is too much copying from other
boring.
 movies. You can
spend your time in much more useful ways. Bye.
6 Make a polite expression for the context provided.
Suggest a suitable reference book to your friend.

Hello Surya. Good morning. Why are you so sad? Ok, Ok. I understand.
You are bothered about your poor English. Don't worry. I suggest a

good book for your use. "The New Pattern

English Grammar and
Composition" by Tom Morris will solve all your problems. It contains
plenty of examples and exercises for spoken and written communication.
You buy it now itself and do the exercises regularly. You can speak to

me if you have a doubt. Bye for now.

 interviewers:
.Introducing oneself to
the

Sirs!
Hello, Very Good Morning,
I am S.P. Sailajah
in
My technical qualification is Diploma Electronics anand
Communication Engineering
I passed in First Class with Distinction in 2006
My college is Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Salem.
I have
undergone training in Networking, Router Administration and
System Software
I worked as Communication Engineer at Signal Processing Bureau.
Chennai for years. two
My hobbies include
reading books, playing cricket and
and listening to
music listening
.I can speak. read and
write Tamil, English, French
I am
eager to take up a and Telugu
and also challenging job that tests my skills and abilites
and abl
enough Scope to grow and
make the
organization to ero W.
 family.
. Introduce your friend to your
Since this is vour .
Hello Ashok ! How a r e vou ? Welcome. irst visit
members.
wish to introduce you to my family

Dear father. he is my friend, Raghav. He is also my classmate He

from Namakkal. Hence he stays in the hostel.
a village near

He is the eldest son to his parents. He has a younger brother and .

nd
sister. His brother is studying in ninth standard and his sister
studying in sixth standard.

His father is a farmer and mother is homemaker. The

a
family lives i
a farm house surrounded by small hillocks.
He loves playing
rural games like Kabbadi. In fact, he is the
captain a
his village team.
He very much likes to
spend his time in his villag
He feels fish out of water in this
town.
He also loves reading books. He is a friend and
very sincere friend and we lot
each other very much. We
we
plan to do
group study in our home.