Quality - Question and Answers

Quality

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932. 

Reading One:

Q1. How had the narrator been introduced to Gessler? What was unique about his shoes?

A. Gessler was the bootmaker to the narrator’s father. The boots made by Gessler are of good quality. They were mysterious and wonderful.

Q2. The process of getting Gessler to make shoes was as meticulous as his creation. Do you agree with his statement? Give reasons for your answer.

A. I agree that the process of getting Gessler to make shoes was meticulous. Here are some reasons for my answer. 1. He would not make shoes without order. 2. His shop had a kind of respect. 3. He selected only beautiful pieces of gold-brown leather.  4. He made boots with great care and devotion.

Q3. How did Gessler react when he learned that the boots had creaked? What does it tell you about him?

A. Gessler reacted as if he was hurt and he was sorrowful when he learned that the boots had creaked. It tells me about the devotion and care he had towards his profession.

Q4. What did Gessler feel about the big firms?

A. Gessler felt that the big firms had no self-respect. The big firms attracted customers not by the quality of work but by advertisement.

Q5. Why did the narrator not visit the shop for a long time?

A. The narrator did not visit the shop for a long time because he had ordered many pairs of boots and they lasted longer.

Q6. Why did the author order so many pairs of boots? Did he really need them?

A. The author ordered several pairs of boots to encourage and support Gessler. He really didn’t need so many pairs of boots.

……..

Reading Two:

Q1. How do you understand that Gessler was passionate about his job?

A. I understand that Gessler was passionate about his job because he treated his job as an art. His boots had some essence of boot stitched to them. He did his job with devotion and care. He treated leather pieces as beautiful pieces. He treated his profession with respect. He didn’t allow anybody to touch the boots he was making.

Q2. What had Gessler dies of? What does it reflect about industrialization?

A. Gessler dies of starvation. He couldn’t find work and had no money to buy food. Industrialization robbed artisans like Gessler of their profession and self-respect. It reflected the bad things that happened because of industrialization.

Q3. Is the title ‘Quality’ appropriate? Why? If you were to give this story another title what would it be?

A. I think the title ‘Quality’ appropriate. It is a sad story of a bootmaker who made good quality boots with devotion and care. He respected his profession. Industrialization robbed artisans like Gessler of their profession and self-respect. If I were to give this story another title, it would be ‘the other side of industrialization’.

Q4. Rewrite the story giving it a happy ending.

A. There was a bootmaker’s shop in London. It was run by two brothers. The name of the shop was Gessler Brothers. They made shoes with devotion and care. They respected their profession. They always made quality boots. People liked their boots for their quality. Their shoes fitted well and lasted longer. People waited for their boots to be made on order. The shop prospered in spite of the competition from big companies. Gessler Brothers became a famous shop.

Q5. Do you think Gessler should have changed with the times? Why?

No. I do not think that Gessler should have changed with times. Quality is the most important thing. Everyone should try to make quality products. People should have given more orders for Gessler’s boots because of quality and durability.

 If you want to watch an animated photostory with images and subtitles for the lesson 'Quality'.CLICK HERE,

The Language of African Literature - Ngugi Wa Thiong’O

Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Pic:businesstoday.co.ke) 

The Language of African Literature 

Ngugi Wa Thiong’O says that he was born into a large family of a farmer. The community was like an extended family. He spoke his native language Gikuyu. Children listened to stories and retold the same to others. People who could make their stories alive and dramatic by using words and images were good storytellers. They used inflexions and tones effectively. He says that children appreciated the magic of words beyond real meanings. They enriched language with the help of puzzles, riddles and proverbs. Homes and farms were their primary schools.

After the Kenyan emergency in 1952, English became the language of education. Students who spoke the native language were humiliated. English was given the most important place n the apartheid pyramid structure of education. Students who couldn’t get better marks in English were made to fail even though they got distinction in all the other subjects. Proficiency in English ensured prominence in the colonial rule. Orature in native languages was stopped and English literature was encouraged. Language and literature took native Africans away from their nativity.

Kenyan languages were equated with backwardness and underdevelopment. Nguigi wanted to fight the colonial intention of detaching native people with nativity. Kenyan children should not grow up hating the tools of communication developed by their own communities and their history. He switched to writing in his mother-tongue of Gikuyu after seventeen years writing in the Afro-European tradition. He believed that writing in native African languages is a part of the anti-imperialistic struggles. He says that colonial alienation takes natives away from reality by distancing the language of daily use. The system separates mind from body and produces a society of headless bodies and bodyless heads.

Ngugi wants to bring back harmony between all the aspects of language and reunite the Kenyan student to the native environment. He wishes to see Kenyan languages carry their literature, culture and social nature. He says the Kenyan student can learn other languages without having any inferior complexes about their own language only after experiencing the richness of native language.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

The Road Not Taken

In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker arrives at a place where his path diverges in a yellow wood. He is unable to see what lies ahead. He examines both roads. He thinks one of the roads to be less used. He realizes that perhaps both roads are equally travelled and regrets that he will probably never return to take the other path.

The contradictions continue. He decides to save the first, probably, more travelled route for another day. Then he confesses that he does not think it probable that he will return. This suggests that this seemingly casual and inconsequential choice is really likely to be crucial. It may be one of the choices of life that involves commitment. It may lead away from the traveller forever from the original stopping place. In the end, he picks the one that has seen the least use, concluding that this has made a significant difference in his life.

The speaker thinks of how he will tell about this incident in the future with a sigh. He chooses the road he thinks to be less worn and says “that has made all the difference.”

It looks like a personal poem about a decision of vast importance, but there is evidence to the contrary both inside and outside the poem. (216 words)

Body Language

Image: teachtolearn2202.wordpress.com

Body Language

Role of body language in communications:

Body language plays an important role in communication. Body language is the unspoken element of communication that we use to reveal our true feelings and emotions. The element contains our gestures, facial expressions and posture.

Various functions of body language:

With the help of body language, we can understand what others are saying even before they start speaking. Dress code denotes professionalism, seriousness and status. Peoples’ posture shows their confidence and preparedness. Gestures give away information on feelings and thoughts. Gestures reveal a range of emotions from contempt to hostility to approval and affection. The right kind of eye-contact shows confidence levels. Bodily contact communicates power, empathy, modesty and understanding. Elements of Para-language like tope, pitch, tone and volume of speech including pauses and hesitations add additional information.

Students and body language:

Good body language is essential to students as it helps them in creating a positive picture, in establishing trust while dealing with others. It provides smooth communication and avoids misunderstandings. Body language also helps in understanding others effectively and ensures proper behaviour.

The philosophy of body language:

Body language plays a key role in making the first impression. It takes only one-tenth of a second to make a first impression. Though words may carry lies or pass on misinformation, the body never lies. Our actions reveal a lot about ourselves. The way we say something is more important than what we say.

Improving good body language:

In order to improve body language, we need to develop a positive mental attitude and change our value systems. We have to read and follow books on body language. We should be conscious of our body and learn to use our voice effectively, to maintain right eye-contact and to use right kind of gestures.(298 words)

Positive Mental Attitude

Positive Mental Attitude

What is meant by positive mental attitude? What are the advantages of it?

Positive mental attitude is looking at the bright side of the things. It is looking at the remedy side of any problem. It is about changing our ideas, perceptions and interpretations about things surrounding us. If we change our way of thinking, we can be in control of our lives. We can make the best use of our capabilities and downplay the effects of our shortcomings. Positive mental attitude is the ability to focus our attention on what is right and pleasant. It is willfully ignoring what is wrong and unpleasant. It encourages us to concentrate on what good can happen with our strong determination and confidence.

Positive mental attitude allows us to identify our own flaws and faults. It helps us in minimizing the impact of our weaknesses by understanding ourselves properly. It is not mere daydreaming. It is a calculated psychological weapon which encourages us to face reality and take up challenges in life. It opposes negativity, defeatism and hopelessness. Optimism and hope are vital to the development of positive mental attitude.

We can build a positive mental attitude by believing in ourselves, our skills and our abilities. We have to practice positive visualization and move with positive people. We have to be optimistic as well as realistic and set positive goals. We have to break away from negative thinking and negative habits. We must possess a strong desire to achieve and be successful. We need to believe that we can win.

The advantages of Positive Mental Attitude:

1. It helps us in getting satisfaction from what we do and what we have
2. It helps us in attaining success and achieving mental peace.
3. It makes goal reaching easy and enjoyable.
4. It helps us to adapt to different situations in life.
5. It gives us the courage to face problems.
6. It helps us in motivating ourselves.
7. It will bring in abundance of good things to our life. 
8. Positive thinking and an optimistic attitude will turn all our problems into opportunities.

The Knowledge Society

Abdul Kalam - Former President of India

The Knowledge Society

A Brief Summary

Bharat Ratna, Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam is the former president of India.”The Knowledge Society” is taken from his book “Ignited Minds”. Kalam says that poverty can be wiped out only by mixing our past heritage and present-day knowledge.

According to Kalam, India is a land of knowledge and it must rediscover itself its past legacy. The foreign invasions and the colonial rule weakened India considerably. Knowledge has many forms and it is available at several places. It is in academic institutions, at workplaces, in learning skills from people such as artists, craftsmen, hakims, philosophers and saints. It is available from our heritage, history and epics.

Kalam says that Knowledge is important for prosperity and power. In India, we had the tradition of passing knowledge from guru to shishya. Foreign travelers wrote about our Ancient Indian Universities like Nalanda. Agriculture society changed as an Industrial society during the last century. Technology played a key role in the development of the society. In the 21st century, knowledge has become the primary production resource instead of capital and labour. Education, health-care and agriculture are taken ahead in the knowledge society. It promotes high productivity and prosperity creating new sources of employment.

Multiple technologies and suitable management methods must work together to create a knowledge society. India has left its impression in Information Technology and it will be much more developed in future. As a second component, young and dynamic leaders are required for establishing knowledge society. The most important mission for the knowledge society is India should become a superpower by 2010.

If societal transformation and wealth generation are the two important factors to make India as a knowledge society, a third dimension is to transform India into a superpower. Our communication network and information centers must be protected from electronic attacks. It is a great responsibility. Our cultural heritage should also help us in making India a superpower. (315 Words)

Communication Skills

Communication Skills

Questions and Answers

Q. What is communication?

A. Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way.

Q. In what ways do humans communicate?

A. Humans use verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. They use spoken and written forms of communication.

Q. What is a two-way communication? Give a few examples from your experience.

A. In two-way communication, the sender and the receiver interact mutually. Day to day conversations and interviews are examples of two-way communication. When we talk with our friends and speak with our lecturers, that is two-way communication.

Q. How do cultural factors affect communication?

A. Cultural factors affect communication as body language differs from culture to culture. Non-verbal communication cues such as eye contact, posture, gesture and others vary from culture to culture affecting communication.

Q. What is the role of feedback in communication?

Feedback is important to complete communication. This process allows the receiver to inform the reactions to the message received. Unless the sender knows that the message is properly received, communication cycle is not complete. So, it is very important.

Q. Give one example each of formal and informal communication.

A. These are the examples of formal and informal communication.

Formal: I solicit your esteemed presence on the occasion of my sister’s marriage.

Informal: Please attend my sister’s marriage.

B. Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.

1. Define communication.

Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way. There are seven components in communication. They are a. sender, b. receiver, c. message, d. context, e. channel, f. culture and social/business space, and g. feedback. Communication is a two-way process. It involves at least two people, the sender and the receiver. It is purposeful and involves thoughts, feelings and emotions. It is goal oriented and it should have a shared code between the sender and the receiver. The receiver provides feedback about the message received. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations may occur during the process of communication.

2. Describe the process of communication.

There are five important steps in the process of communication. They are Ideation, Encoding, Channel, Decoding and Feedback. Ideation is the first step. In this step, the sender forms an idea of what to communicate. The second step is converting the idea into a transmittable message. This is called as Encoding. The third step, Channel is the selection of media such as spoken, written, electrical and digital or any other. Decoding is the fourth step, which is the understanding of the message by the receiver. The fifth step, Feedback also involves the receiver, where a response is given. With these five steps, the cycle of communication is complete.

3. How is non-verbal communication different from verbal communication?

Non-verbal communication does not use words like verbal communication. This kind of communication has five important components. They are Kinesics, Proxemics, Chronemics, Paralanguage and appearance. Kinesics involves gestures, postures, facial expressions, body language etc. Feelings such as anger, agreement can be expressed by Kinesics. Proxemics is the distance we keep from others during communication. It shows the relationship between the sender and receiver. Chronemics deals with time. It clarifies the interest of the sender and the receiver of the message communicated. Paralanguage is about the vocal qualities such as volume, pitch, rate, pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns. A successful communicator uses these qualities effectively. Appearance is very important to denote the personality of the communicator. Appearance plays a vital role in giving an impression.

4. How can barriers impede communication?

The following factors can impede communication.

Poor use of language can cause a breakdown in communication as the receiver may not understand the message clearly. Distraction leading to inadequate attention can cause a failure in communication. Improper feedback can lead to misunderstanding as the sender may not know whether the message is understood or not. Physical barriers as such noise, distance and others and mechanical barriers such as typographical errors can disturb communication. Medical problems like loss of hearing and communication apprehension are also communication barriers. Lack of interest or clash of interest can cause communication problems.

5. In what situations would you use formal communication? What factors have to be kept in mind in formal communication?

We have to use different kinds of language depending upon the context of our communication. There are two kinds of communication. One is formal communication and the other is informal communication. When we communicate with our seniors, elderly persons, officers and other respectable persons we use formal communication. We should keep in mind that we have to indicate our respect as well as our personal, social or cultural distance from our listeners by using formal language. We should remember to choose an appropriate style of language when communicating with others. We should avoid being too formal or too informal in our communication.

C. Answer the following questions in about 200 words.

1. Discuss the various types of communication, including verbal and non-verbal communication.

Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way. There are different kinds of communication such as verbal, non-verbal, formal, informal, and one-way and two-way communication.

Verbal Communication: There are two types of communication in verbal communication. They are 1. Formal and Informal Communication, and2. One-way and two-way communication.

Formal and Informal Communication:  

We use formal language when we need to show respect towards the person we are speaking to. We use informal language when we speak with our friends, classmates and colleagues.

These are the examples of formal and informal communication.

Formal: I solicit your esteemed presence on the occasion of my sister’s marriage.

Informal: Please attend my sister’s marriage.

2. One-way and two-way communication:

One-way communication is a way of communication in which communication proceeds in one-way only. Reading a book and listening to radio are examples of this type of communication.

Two-way communication is a way of communication in which communication proceeds in two-way. Day-to-day conversations are best examples of this kind of communication.

Non-verbal Communication:

Non-verbal communication does not use words like verbal communication. This kind of communication has five important components. They are Kinesics, Proxemics, Chronemics, Paralanguage and appearance. Kinesics involves gestures, postures, facial expressions, body language etc. Feelings such as anger, agreement can be expressed by Kinesics. Proxemics is the distance we keep from others during communication. It shows the relationship between the sender and receiver. Chronemics deals with time. It clarifies the interest of the sender and the receiver on the message communicated. Paralanguage is about the vocal qualities such as volume, pitch, rate, pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns. A successful communicator uses these qualities effectively. Appearance is very important to denote the personality of the communicator. Appearance plays vital role in giving impression. 

2. Write a note on the barriers of communication. Describe any four in detail, adding examples from your experience.

There are several factors that can impede communication.

1. Poor use of language: Unless we use correct and understandable language, we cannot communicate properly. Poor standard in language leads to misunderstanding of the message being communicated.

Example: A speaker wrongly says that, “We should preserve petrol”. He actually means to say, “We should conserve petrol.”

2. Distraction: When we are communicating, we have to make sure that there are no distractions. Distractions such as loud music lead to poor apprehension of the communication.

Example: When a marriage procession passes by the college with loud film music, students are unable to listen to their lecturers.

3. Communication apprehension:

This is about fear and anxiety associated with communication. Students often fail to communicate with peers and seniors because of fear and anxiety.

Example: Students feel this kind of barrier when they are asked to speak at a meeting or seminar.

4. Lack of interest:

Lack of interest is a major hurdle of communication. Unless there is interest in the topic we are communicating, we cannot be forceful in our communication. 

Example: People only do lip-service when they do not have interest in what they are saying.

Improper feedback and clarification, Physical barriers, Mechanical barriers, and Medical Problems are other important barriers in communication.

D. Read the following sentences and say whether each of them is an example of formal or informal communication.

1. We hope that the new décor will appeal to our esteemed customers. [Formal]

2. You may not agree with her views, but all said and done, she is the expert. [Formal]

3. It goes without saying that a good name is more valuable than riches. [Formal]

4. You must adhere to the rules of the college. [Formal]

5. As a matter of fact, we shall be in Delhi on a business assignment next week. [Formal]

6. She is fed up with their excuses. [Informal]

7. We trust that this new product meets with your approval. [Formal]

8. We hope you like this new product. [Informal]