Unit I Session -1

Interactive Communication Skills 1- (Activity based session)

Session Objective - The objective is to further polish the speaking skills of

students. This skill is

important for career success, at the same time it can enhance ones personal life,
thereby bringing

about the well-rounded growth we should all seek.

What is to be done

1. Conduct the activities The um police! and Take over topic. (Refer to
Faculty Guidance )

2. De- brief (use the information given in Faculty Guidance)

Faculty guidance for conducting the activities The um police! and Take over
topic.

Activity 1 - The Um Police

Overview

This is a combination of two classic public speaking games, in this game students
learn to speak clearly

while improvising, without having to worrying about content.

Number of students required:

Ideally groups of three but any size group can work

Resources:

100+ paper chits on which a word is written (take clues from the word or make your
own)

Box, bag or hat for students to draw words out of

Clock, stopwatch or phone to time players

Method:

Put the word cards into box, bag or hat

Students decide who is going to be the player, the timer and the um police.

The player picks two chits and then must tell a one minute story ( not a sentence)
connecting both

words together convincingly. The story needn't be long, complicated or true.

Students are not allowed

to say um, ah, like or you know. If the student chooses two words which are
very closely

connected, try limiting the meaning of one word to one particular area. For
example, If a student has

picked mouse and key-board, ask the student to interpret mouse as a creature and
not as a computer

accessory.

The timer times how long the player has been talking for, indicating the half-way
point and how much

time is left. ( if the story is interesting, innovative and relevant , allow the student to
continue beyond

the stipulated time.)

The um police records how many times the player says um, ah, like or you
know.

Students rotate the roles until everyone has had a go at speaking. The winner is the
student who said

um and ah the least amount of times, although there is some competition

involved, the atmosphere

of the activity should be relaxed and friendly.

Once your class is comfortable with connecting two words, add to your word
collection and increase the

number of cards selected to three or even four or increase the time limit to 2
minutes.

WORD LIST

Elbow, watch , eyelash , skin ,toe ,frown , foot , lettuce ,paper , floor , tractor
,elephant

Shoe, shoulder, pyjamas, toenail, child, nose, custard, slime, beard, caravan,
nail, garden

Bridge, bottle, kidney, street, bow , boot, sock, television, book, mirror, bag,
monkey

Grandma, train, chocolate, brain, pond , river, jam, pillow, knee, shadow,
flowers, soil

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Daisy, radio, rock star, tablecloth, curtain, pizza, package , cupcake, fridge,
screen, mouse, leg

Stomach, dancer, nurse, engine, bookcase, cave, plane, t rocket, star, wallet,
children, popcorn,

dress , lipstick , bus, sandwich, rectangle , waterfall, sand, palm tree, rubber
band, spectacles, mouse,

wallpaper, drawing room, policeman, waterfall, balloon , racehorse, beauty queen,

comb, chair, bank,

tooth paste, nail cutter, shark, carry-bag, body-builder, dog-food, chaos, caviar,
petroleum, key-board,

tailor, brain, temple, university, hovercraft, butterfly, guitar, anchor, mob.

Activity 2- Take Over Topic

Overview

This game is similar to the Um Police game but is played by the whole class. This is
a great game for

preparing students for speaking extempore.

Number of students required: Whole class

Resources:

Topics written on small pieces of paper (prepared beforehand, make the topics
simple and easy ones)

Clock, stopwatch or phone to time players

Method:

Divide the class into teams and give them a speaking order ie, speaker 1, speaker 2
and so on.

Nominate a team to start, speaker 1 takes a topic. The stop watch is started and
they begin.

The other teams listen hard for opportunities to take-over the speech. They are
when the speaker

deviates, hesitates or repeats themselves. To take-over, they must call the

challenge. Example: The

speaker's topic is tennis but he is talking about soccer. The called challenge is
deviation. The facilitator

stops the watch. The challenger explains the call. The facilitator judges whether or
not it is fair. If it is,

the challenger takes over, the stop watch is set again for the remaining. If the
challenge is unsuccessful,

the original speaker continues. The process continues in this fashion.

The goal for the speaker is to survive the minute. If they do so, they get ten points.
If they don't,

whichever team is speaking last gets 5 points. A full game is when you have gone
through all the

speakers from all the groups

DEBRIEFING.

Once the activities are over ask the class what skills they have gathered /
practiced. Drive home the

point that speaking coherently, logically and effectively is an asset and how it
should be cultivated. The

goal of language is communication and the aim of speaking in a language context is

to promote

communicative efficiency; teachers want students to actually be able to use the

language as correctly as

possible and with a purpose. Students often value speaking more than the other
skills of reading, writing

and listening so motivation is not always as big of an issue, but what often happens
is students feel more

anxiety related to their oral production. As speaking is interrelated with the other
skills, its development

results in the development of the others. One of the primary benefits of increased
communicative

competency is the resulting job, education and travel opportunities; it is always an

asset to be able to

communicate with other people.

The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way to reflect thoughts,

opinions, and feelings

provides the speaker with these important advantages:

Ability to inform,persuade and direct. Business managers, educators, military

leaders, lawyers, and

politicians, among others, seek to develop their speaking skills to such a level that
they are transformed

into master communicators. Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the attention
of an audience,

providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message known. Wise
is the speaker who

gains and then holds the attention of an audience, with well-chosen words in a welldelivered

presentation, forming a message that is effective, informative, and understood.

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Ability to stand out from the rest. When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to
think of it as a

common skill. Think again. The ability to stand before others and speak effectively
is not an ordinary

ability. Many people are deathly afraid of public speaking; others have little ability to
form thoughts into

sentences and then deliver those words in a believable way. The bad news is that at
any given moment

the world has precious few with the speaking talents of, say, Winston Churchill or
John F. Kennedy. The

good news is that a speaker whose skills are honed and developed with constant
application and hard

work can stand out.

Ability to benefit derivatively. Well-developed verbal skills can increase ones

negotiation skills. Self-

confidence is improved. A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front of

larger and larger

audiences. A reputation for excellence in speaking can accrue over time, thereby
imparting a certain

credibility to the speaker.

Career enhancement. Employers have always valued the ability to speak well. It
is, and always will be,

an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing.