ACTIVITIES ON FUNDAMENTALS OF INTER-PERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND BUILDING VOCABULARY

UNIT – I

ACTIVITIES ON FUNDAMENTALS OF INTER-PERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND BUILDING VOCABULARY

Inter- Personal Communication

Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information, feelings, and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages: it is face-to-face communication.

It is an exchange of information between two or more people. It is also an area of study. Communication skills are developed and may be enhanced or improved with increased knowledge and practice. During interpersonal communication, there is message sending and message receiving. This can be conducted using both direct and indirect methods. Successful interpersonal communication is when the message senders and the message receivers understand the message.

Starting a Conversation – General Tips :

When starting a conversation, people face many problems such as not knowing what to say or how to keep the conversation going on once it has been started. Following are some tips to overcome these problems:

·         Search for common ground

·         Keep the conversation going on by asking open – ended questions such as Why, What, How etc.

·         Be attentive and maintain a positive attitude.

·         Search for ‘hot button’ topics (topics of common interest).

·         Self – Disclosure( Share your feelings, experiences, opinions and talk about yourself)

·         Maintain positive body language (smile, lean forward, eye contact, nod etc.).

·         Step out of your comfort zone and try to overcome shyness

Responding to a Conversation – Effective Responses :

An effective response is essential for a healthy communication. The following is the list of eight responses helpful in creating a healthy communication:

·         Understanding

·         Clarification

·         Self-Disclosure

·         Questioning

·         Information Giving

·         Reassurance (e.g. Don’t worry, It’s alright, It’s quite natural etc.)

·         Analytical Response (involves giving reasons, explanations for a particular situation/behavior etc.)

·         Giving Advice

BASIC CONVERSATIONAL EXPRESSIONS

INFORMAL GREETINGS:

·         Hi!

·         Hello!

·         What’s up?

·         What’s new?

·         How’s it going?

·         How are you?

·         How’s life?

·         How’re things going?

·         How are you getting along?

MORE FORMAL GREETINGS:

·         Good morning. How are you today?

·         Good afternoon. How’s everything?

·         Good evening. How have you been?

GREETING SOMEONE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN FOR A WHILE

·         I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?

·         What a surprise to see you here!

·         Never thought I’d see you here!

·         Long time no see!( Informal)

RESPONDING

·         I’m fine, thanks. And you?

·         Great. How about you?

·         Not too bad, thanks.

·         Not so well.

ASKING WHAT SOMEONE IS OR HAS BEEN DOING

·         What are you up to?

·         What have you been doing?

RESPONDING

·         Working a lot

·         Studying a lot

·         I’ve been very busy

·         Same as usual

·         Not much or nothing much

BODY LANGUAGE/NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Non verbal communication is communication without the use of written or spoken word. It is concerned with body language, voice patterns, time, distance, touch etc.

The inner state of emotions of a person is expressed through the movements of different parts of the body. These are called Gestures. Our facial expressions and eyes also show happiness, anger, frustration, fear etc. They change automatically and effortlessly unless we try to mask them deliberately. Our body posture also indicates feelings like confidence, fear, anxiety etc.

GESTURE	INTERPRETATION
1. pointing finger 2. shrugging shoulders 3. tapping fingers 4. winking an eye 5. slapping forehead 6. biting nails	Authority Indifference Impatience Intimacy Forgetfulness Anxiety, nervousness, inferiority complex

POSTURE	INTERPRETATION
1. standing erect 3. stretched out legs 3. crossed legs 4. shaking legs	Enthusiasm and confidence Relaxation Domination, confidence Anxiety, irritation

USING THE RIGHT BODY LANGUAGE

Non- verbal communication reveals the personality of the person concerned. It also depicts the behavior of a person. An awareness of proper body language enables a person to handle different relationships better and to enjoy harmony with others. However the interpretation of non-verbal communication is likely to differ from culture to culture.

SITUATIONAL DIALOGUE/ROLE PLAY

Often students have problems using English to speak and to listen. As a result, they experience difficulty using English to make friends, to share thoughts/ideas, to listen to others, and so on. Also the fear of being laughed at makes them tongue tied. Role plays/ Situational Dialogues help to remove this fear. The students are made to speak in English. Although they make mistakes, they continue to speak with errors. Gradually they learn from their mistakes and develop accuracy. Role play creates a platform to improve the speaking skills, non-verbal communication and contextual usage of language and make them understand how to face real-life situations.

            Role Play is any speaking activity where a person puts himself into somebody else’s shoes or may stay in his own shoes but put himself into an imaginary situation.

            The most important components of role play are – speaking skills, listening skills and non-verbal communication. The speaking skills include – the ability to use suitable vocabulary, spoken forms of English and the ability to compose sentences and speak fluently. 

                                           SAMPLE ROLE PLAY

FLUENT BUT INCORRECT Ram: Hello! My name is Ram. Your name? Venu: Venu. Your subject? Ram : ECE B. You which subject? Venu: I am CSE. Where you stay? You come by bus? Ram: I stay Ameerpet. I come in college bus. Venu: Aray, I live in S.R.Nagar. You and I same bus. We friends now onwards. Ram: OK yaar. As you wish. Venu: Thank you. It is class time .We will go. OK we will go.

FLUENT BUT CORRECT Ram: Hello, I am Ram.(extends his hand) Venu: Hai! I am Venu. I’m from CSE branch. From which branch are you? Ram: I am from ECE-B section. Venu: Where do you reside? Do you come to college by bus? Ram: I stay at Ameerpet and I come by college bus. Venu: Really? I stay at S.R. Nagar. We both can come by the same bus. Let’s be friends from now. Ram: Sure. We are friends from now. Venu: Thank you Ram. It’s time for our class. Let’s go to our class. Yes, let’s go.

Exercises

1. Raghu is suffering from fever and cold. He goes to Dr. Bharat for medication. Dr. Bharat examines Raghu and prescribes medicine. Build a dialogue.

2. Madhav, the reporter of D TV gets a chance to interview the Finance Minister. He decides to interview him regarding the budget proposals for 2010.

3. The General Manager visits a software company in USA. He decides to call for a meeting to know the progress of the given project. One of the employees arranges a video conference so that the employees could give report of their project to the manager.

4. A customer comes to a bank to apply for a bank loan and approaches the manager.

5. Suresh, an applicant for the post of Software Engineer is interviewed by the HR Manager, Mr. Raju and the General Manager Mr. Swaroop.

DISCOURSE SKILLS

Discourse skills refer to the effective use of words to exchange thoughts and ideas.

Following are some tips to improve our discourse skills:

1.      Learn phrases, not just individual words

2.      Listen to more English

3.      Practice thinking in English

4.      Get an online conversation partner

5.      Remember that communication is more important than grammar

6.      Speak slowly

7.      If you forget a word, use other words

8.      Relax & have a positive, confident attitude

9.      Learn phrases suitable for everyday life

VOCABULARY BUILDING

Vocabulary building is of major concern to all the four language skills. We will not be able to listen (understand) or speak confidently; or read and write effectively if we do not have reasonable vocabulary competence. Vocabulary development involves learning or knowing a new word; knowing its different shades of meaning, using in various contexts, grammatical characteristics, pronunciation and so on. 

Synonyms – Synonyms are words with similar meaning.

Antonyms – Antonyms are words with dissimilar/opposite meaning.

WORD authentic benevolence captivity cognizance concise deflate discard discretion elegant emancipate erudite esteem facsimile fragile

SYNONYM Reliable, authoritative Generosity, charity Bondage, imprisonment Understanding, wisdom Compact, succinct Empty, exhaust, humble Abandon, reject Carefulness, caution Fine, beautiful, handsome Liberate, release Scholarly, enlightened Admiration, regard Replica, copy Breakable, frail

ANTONYM False, spurious Cruelty, malevolence Liberty, independence Ignorance Verbose, redundant Inflate, fill, flatter Keep, adopt, embrace Foolishness, rashness Common, vulgar, rustic Subjugate, confine Ignorant, unlettered Criticism, blame Variation, opposite Strong, tough

WORD ROOT

                        A root is a part of any word that reveals its essential meaning, a meaning that never changes; even though, other letters or word parts may be added at the beginning or the end. Recognizing word roots makes unfamiliar words become more meaningful. Roots also help in memorizing clump of words with similar meanings which in turn helps to decode unfamiliar words.

ROOT Audi Aqua Dict Cred Flu Logy Gen Manu Dia Cide Corp Cur/curr/curs

MEANING Hear Water Say Believe Flow Study Birth Hand Through/Across The act of killing Body/bodily run

EXAMPLE Audible, audience, auditorium Aquarium,  aqua-culture Dictate, dictation Credible, credentials Fluid, fluent Biology, technology Generate, genesis Manual, manuscript Diagonal, diameter Germicide, suicide Corpse, corporal Cursive, cursory, current

WORD ORIGIN

            English language, in its origins, had little to do with England itself. English has drawn upon a number of words inherited from other languages. More than half of the English words trace to Latin as a source.

            Word origin refers to the life history of a word. Learning the origin of words makes their present meaning clearer and more nearly unforgettable.

1. Abacus – comes from the Greek word ‘abax’ which means ‘sand tray’. Originally, columns of pebbles were laid out on the sand for the purpose of counting.

2. Alarm – from the Italian ‘All arme’ – “to arms”. It refers to any sound used to warn of a danger.

3. Appendix – in Latin it means “the part that hangs”. A human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine; appendices come at the end of the books

4. Ballot – from the Italian term “pallotte” for “small ball or pebble”. Italian citizens earlier voted by casting a small pebble or ball into one of the several boxes.

5. Biscuit – from the medieval French “bis+cuit” meaning “cooked twice”

6. Candidate – from the Latin “candidus” meaning ‘bright, shining, glistening white’. The ancient Rome candidates for office would wear bright white togas.

7. Deer – from the old English, “deor”, meaning “animal”.

8. Fowl – from the old English, “fugol”, meaning “bird”.

9. Gorilla – New Latin from Greek “Gorillai”, for “a tribe of hairy woman, perhaps of African origin.

10. Home – from the old English ‘hum’, from which we also got the suffix ‘ham’ as in Nottingham.

ONE-WORD SUBSTITUTES

One – word substitution refers to the expression of lengthy phrases and clauses in the form of a single word without a change in the meaning. Acquiring command over one-word substitutes enables a person to use the language with comfort and ease.

1. A person who can neither read nor write –illiterate

2. A person who eats human flesh – cannibal

3. one who looks on the brighter side of things – optimist

4. one who carves in stone – sculptor

5. the art of gardening – horticulture

6. one who looks on the dark side of things – pessimist

7. one who collects postage stamps – philatelist

8. one who compiles a dictionary – lexicographer

9. the sleeping rooms in a college or public institution – dormitory

10. a residence of monks and priests – monastery

IDIOMS

Idioms are expressions which function as single units and whose meaning cannot be deduced from its separate parts. For example, the idiomatic expression ‘kick the bucket’ means ‘to die’. The meaning of this expression cannot be derived from the meanings of the words kick or bucket.

Write the meanings of the following idiomatic expressions and use them in sentences of your own.

1. all and sundry: each and everyone

We cannot invite all and sundry to dinner.

2. bag and baggage: with all belongings

He migrated to Bombay bag and baggage.

3. hard and fast: strict

There are no hard and fast rules for becoming rich.

4. in the nick of time: just on time

I was able to catch the train in the nick of time.

5. a man of letters: a scholar

Mulk Raj Anand was a man of letters.

PHRASAL VERBS

A Phrasal Verb is an idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another element, typically either an adverb, as in break down, or a preposition, for example see to, or a combination of both, such as look down on.

Write the meaning of the following phrases and use them in sentences of your own:

1. break into: enter by force

The burglars broke into the bank yesterday.

2.  run over: hit by a vehicle

A school boy was run over by a lorry at the cross-roads yesterday.

3. look into: investigate

The CBI is looking into the Telecom scam.

4. run across: discover by chance

While digging a pit to plant some saplings, the farmer ran across a nugget of gold.

5. preside over : to occupy the place of authority or control, act as Chairman or President.

The General Manager presided over the Annual General Body Meeting.

AFFIXES

            In English, a word is sometimes made up of one or more than one element such as root plus an Affix (prefix or suffix). Affix is an addition to the base form or stem of a word in order to modify its meaning or create a new word.

 PREFIX

            A prefix refers to a word or part of a word fixed before another word to add something to its meaning. It may even be a syllable. Most of the English prefixes are borrowed from Latin and Greek.

PREFIX                                             MEANING                                        EXAMPLE

a/an                                          without, not                              amoral,  amorphous, anemia                      

                                                                                                                                              

circum                                     around, on all sides                   circumference, circumscribe

                                                                                                                                        

di/bi                                         two                                          disyllabic, bicycle

homo                                       same                                        homogeneous, homonym

inter                                         between, among                      interrupt, intersect

SUFFIX

            A suffix refers to a word or a part of a word fixed after another word to add something to or modify its meaning. Suffixes can change the word-class and meaning of a word i.e. suffixes can form nouns from nouns and adjectives, and adjectives from nouns and verbs.

NOUNS FROM VERBS

SUFFIX         MEANING                 VERBS                                             NOUNS

-ment               act of, result      appoint, arrange, agree                 appointment,  arrangement,

                                                  judge, argue, commit                                        judgment, argument,    

                                                                                                                         commitment  

-ion/tion     state, result           act, attract, add, combine                   action, attraction, addition,

                                                            converse                                  combination, conversation

NOUNS FROM ADJECTIVES

SUFFIX          MEANING                     ADJECTIVES                                 NOUNS

-ity                    state, quality           able, active, inferior, local                       ability, activity,               

inferiority, locality

-ness                  state of                   happy, kind, weak, fond                                 happiness, kindness,

                                                                                                                      weakness, fondness

ADJECTIVES FROM NOUNS

SUFFIX          MEANING                     NOUNS                                         ADJECTIVES

-y                  made up of, allow,       air, cloud, grass, rose, oil                      airy, cloudy, grassy,    

                       bring about                                                                                    rosy, oily

-ish                origin, nature,                         book, red, boy                  bookish, reddish, boyish                               resembling      

ADJECTIVES FROM VERBS

SUFFIX         MEANING                          VERBS                                                  ADJECTIVES

-able             capable of, fit for             admire, avoid, compare,             admirable, avoidable,                                                                                                                                    prefer, read                             comparable, preferable, 

                                                                                                                               readable             

-ful      full of, characterized by          thank, help, use                              thankful, helpful, useful

ANALOGY

An analogy is a comparison between two objects, or systems that highlights respects in which they are thought to be similar. In simple words, it is a comparison of two things based on their being alike in some way.

1. flow : river :: stagnant : ________   ( b  )

a. rain              b. pool

c. stream          d. canal

2. paw : cat :: hoof : ________  ( d  )

a. lamb             b. elephant

c. lion              d. horse

3. ornithologist : bird :: archeologist : __________  ( c  )

a. islands         b. mediators

c. archeology   d. aquatic

4.peacock : India :: bear : _________  ( b )

a. Australia      b. Russia

c. England        d. America

5. nation : antino :: hungry : __________  ( b  )

a. hnugry         b. uhngyr

c. yrnguh         d. unhgyr

COLLOCATIONS

(Source: http://www.englishleap.com/vocabulary/collocations)

A collocation is a combination of words that are commonly used together; the simplest way of describing collocations is to say that they ‘just sound right’ to native English speakers. Other combinations that may mean the same thing would seem ‘unnatural’. Collocations include noun phrases like ‘ stiff wind’ and ‘weapons of mass destruction’, phrasal verbs such as ‘to get together’ and other stock phrases such as ‘the rich and famous’

Collocations starting with the verb ‘do’
Do me a favour
Do the cooking
Do the housework
Do the shopping
Do the washing up
Do your best
Do your hair

Collocations with the verb ‘have’
Have a good time
Have a bath
Have a drink
Have a haircut
Have a holiday
Have a problem
Have a relationship
Have lunch
Have sympathy

Collocations with the verb ‘break’
Break the law
Break a leg
Break a promise
Break a record
Break someone's heart
Break the ice
Break the news to someone
Break the rules

Collocations with the verb ‘take’
Take a break
Take a chance
Take a look
Take a rest
Take a seat
Take a taxi
Take an exam
Take notes
Take someone's place

Collocations with the verb ‘make’
Make a difference
Make a mess
Make a mistake
Make a noise
Make an effort
Make money
Make progress
Make room
Make trouble
Collocations with the verb ‘catch’
Catch the bus
Catch a ball
Catch a cold
Catch a thief
Catch fire
Catch sight of
Catch someone's attention
Catch someone's eye
Catch the flu

Collocations with the verb ‘pay’
Pay respect
Pay a fine
Pay attention
Pay by credit card
Pay cash
Pay interest
Pay someone a visit
Pay the bill
Pay the price
Collocations with the verb ‘keep’
Keep the change
Keep a promise
Keep a secret
Keep an appointment
Keep calm
Keep in touch
Keep quiet
Keep someone's place

Collocations with the verb ‘save’

Save yourself the trouble

Save electricity
Save energy
Save money
Save someone a seat
Save someone's life
Save something to a disk
Save time

Collocations with the verb ‘go’
Go bald
Go abroad
Go astray
Go bad
Go bankrupt
Go blind
Go crazy
Go fishing
Go mad
Go missing
Go online
Go out of business
Go overseas
Go quiet
Go sailing
Go to war

Collocations with the verb ‘come’
Come under attack
Come close
Come direct
Come early
Come first
Come into view
Come last
Come late
Come on time
Come prepared
Come right back
Come to a decision
Come to an agreement
Come to an end
Come to a standstill
Come to terms with
Come to a total of

Collocations with the verb ‘get’
Get the sack
Get a life
Get a job
Get a shock
Get angry
Get divorced
Get drunk
Get frightened
Get home
Get lost
Get married
Get permission
Get ready
Get started
Get the impression
Get upset
Get wet
Get worried

Collocations related to time
Bang on time
Dead on time
Free time
From dawn till dusk
Great deal of time
Early/late 15th century
Make time for
Next few days
Past few weeks
Right on time
Run out of time
Time goes by
Time passes
Waste time

Collocations related to business English
Annual turnover
Keep in mind
Break off negotiations
Close a deal
Close a meeting
Come to the point
Dismiss an offer
Draw a conclusion
Draw your attention to
Launch a new product
Go bankrupt
Go into partnership
Make a profit/loss

BUSINESS VOCABULARY

 NOUNS

• advantage
• advertisement
• advice
• agenda
• apology
• authorization
• bill
• brand
• budget
• commission
• comparison
• competition
• competitor
• confirmation
• costs
• creditor
• customer
• deadline
• debt
• debtor
• decision
• decrease
• deficit
• delivery

• department
• description
• difference
• disadvantage
• distribution
• employee
• employer
• enquiry
• environment
• equipment
• estimate
• experience
• explanation
• facilities
• factory
• feedback
• goal
• goods
• growth
• guarantee
• improvement
• increase
• industry
• instructions

• interest
• inventory
• invoice
• knowledge
• limit
• loss
• margin
• market
• message
• mistake
• objective
• offer
• opinion
• option
• order
• output
• payment
• penalty
• permission
• possibility
• product
• production
• profit
• promotion

• purchase
• reduction
• refund
• reminder
• repairs
• report
• responsibility
• result
• retailer
• rise
• risk
• salary
• sales
• schedule
• share
• signature
• stock
• success
• suggestion
• supply
• support
• target
• transport
• turnover
• wholesaler

 

VERBS

• accept
• add
• admit
• advertise
• advise
• afford
• approve
• authorize
• avoid
• borrow
• build
• buy
• calculate
• cancel
• change
• charge
• check
• choose
• complain
• complete
• confirm
• consider
• convince
• count

• decide
• decrease
• deliver
• develop
• discount
• dismiss
• dispatch
• distribute
• divide

• employ
• encourage
• establish
• estimate
• exchange
• extend
• fix
• fund
• improve
• increase
• inform
• install
• invest
• invoice
• join

• lend
• lengthen
• lower
• maintain
• manage
• measure
• mention
• obtain
• order
• organize
• owe
• own

• pack
• participate
• pay
• plan
• present
• prevent
• process
• produce
• promise
• promote
• provide
• purchase

• raise
• reach
• receive
• recruit
• reduce
• refuse
• reject
• remind
• remove
• reply
• resign
• respond
• return
• rise
• sell
• send
• separate
• shorten
• split
• structure
• succeed
• suggest

JOB  APPLICATION  VOCABULARY

• address
• age
• apply
• area code
• birthday
• certification
• children
• citizenship
• city
• college
• country
• date
• date of birth
• dependents
• diploma
• divorced

• education
• educational background
• elementary school
• employee
• employer
• experience
• family name
• female
• fired
• first name
• gender
• graduate school
• handicap
• hearing
• height
• high school

• husband's name
• junior college
• junior high school
• last name
• male
• marital status
• married
• middle name
• name
• next of kin
• notify
• occupation
• phone number
• physical examination
• position
• present address
• previous experience

• quit
• reason for leaving
• relatives
• salary
• separated
• single
• skills
• social security number
• state
• street
• telephone number
• vision
• weight
• wife's name
• zip code

WAYS TO ENRICH YOUR VOCABULARY

·         Love words if you want to learn new vocabulary.

·         Look up words you don't know whenever you encounter them.

 

·         Use a Thesaurus.

·         Many computer programs and websites have ways of giving a short "Word of the Day" list with new words every day.

·         Get a personalized Google homepage and click on "Add Content".

 

·         Read all genres of books.

·         Play word games with friends.

 

·         Use the words you learn while talking to people or writing letters or e-mail.

·         Learn roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

·         Learning languages like French, Spanish, Italian, Latin or Ancient Greek also helps immensely with improving your vocabulary because so many complicated English words are derived from these languages.

·         Find a friend who speaks English.

 

·         Listen to the radio, watch television, or find a podcast that you like in English, and practice understanding the language when spoken too.