Communication Skills Class 9 Notes

Session 1: Introduction to communication

What is Communication?
The word ‘Communication’ comes from the Latin word commūnicāre, meaning ‘to
share’. communication is the exchange of information through signs, signals,
speech, writing, or other forms of media.

Importance of communication

Communication is an ability to communicate clearly and share thoughts, feelings

and ideas to others, some of communication skills are needed –

 Inform: You may be required to give facts or information to someone.

 Influence: You may be required to influence or change someone in an
indirect but usually important way.
 Express feelings: Talking about your feelings is a healthy way to express
them.
What are the different elements of
communication?
Communication is a two-way exchange of information, i.e., giving and receiving.
Speaking and writing to someone are examples of giving information.

 Sender – The communication process starts with a sender.

 Message – A sender sends a message (giving or asking for information).
 Channel – A Channel (for path), such as phone/ face-to-face (talk/writing)
is used to transfer the message
 Receiver – The message is received by the receiver.
Perspectives in communication
Perspectives are ideas, views, or fixed ways of thinking. These sometimes affect
our communication. For example, if your teacher or father is strict, even when
they are being friendly, you may think they are scolding you even though they are
polite.

Factors affecting perspectives in communication

  Language – In case of use of incorrect words, unfamiliar language and
lack of detail, language can act as a barrier.
 Visual Perception – Visual perception is the brain’s ability to make sense
of what we see through our eyes. For example, partially drawn pictures.
 Past Experience – Letting our earlier experience stop us from
understanding or communicating clearly. For example, “This shopkeeper
cheated me last time.
 Prejudice – Fixed ideas, such as thinking “No one in my class likes me”
may stop a student from communicating openly in the class.
 Feelings – Our feelings and emotions, such as lack of interest or not
trusting the other person affect communication. For example, “I am not
feeling well”.
 Environment – Noise or disturbance in the surroundings may make
communication difficult.
 Personal factors – Personal factors include your own feelings, habits and
ways of thinking.
 Culture – Signs’ which have a different meaning in different cultures, such
as showing a thumb may mean ‘good job’ done for some people but may
be insulting to others.
What are the principles of effective
communication?
Effective communication can happen if we follow the basic principles of
professional communication skills, It is also known as 7c communication.

 Clear – Be clear about what you want to say.

 Concise – Use simple words and say only what is needed.
 Concrete – Use exact words and phrases.
 Correct – Use correct spellings, language and grammar.
 Coherent – Your words should make sense and should be related to the
main topic.
 Complete – Your message should have all the needed information.
 Courteous – Be respectful friendly and honest.
Session 2: Verbal Communication
What is verbal communication?
Verbal communication is the sharing of information by using words. It is what
most people use as a method of communication and most important because if
you do not use the right words, you will cause confusion and you will not be able
to communicate what you want.
There are two different types of verbal communication –

 Oral or Spoken Communication – exchange the information and ideas

using spoken words.
 Face-to-face conversation
 Talking on a phone
 Classroom teaching
 Business discussion and public speeches
 Written Communication – convey the information through written words
like emails, letters, notes etc.
 Writing letters, notes, email, etc.
 SMS (Short Message Service)
 Using email to share news, thoughts, documents and files (including
photos, videos, music, etc.)
 Books and newspapers
Advantages of verbal communication

Verbal communication is easy and quick. It is an easier form of communication

when you have to exchange ideas. You keep changing your communication as
per the other person’s reply.

Disadvantages of verbal communication

The most common disadvantage of verbal communication is the cultural

differences between the sender and receiver of the information. Verbal
communication depends on words, sometimes the meanings become confusing
and difficult to understand if the right words are not used.

What do you mean by public speaking?

Speaking in front of a large group is known as public speaking; the most difficult
part in public speaking is fear and nervousness behind the large people. You can
use the 3Ps (Prepare, Practice, Perform) method to get over your fears and
become a confident and effective speaker.

3Ps of Public Speaking

 Prepare –
 Think about your topic
 Think about what your listeners need to know about the topic
 Think about the best way to make your listeners understand your topic
  Write what you plan to say
 Practice –
 Practice by yourself first,
 Talk in front of a mirror
 Talk in front of your family and friends and ask them what they think
 Speak clearly, loudly and at the right speed (not very fast nor very slow)
 Perform –
 Take a few deep breaths if you are feeling nervous
 Think about what you have prepared and start speaking confidently
Session 3: Non-Verbal Communication
What is Non-Verbal Communication?
Non-verbal communication is the message we send to others without using any
words. In nonverbal communication, we communicate through signals,
expressions, gestures, and body postures or using a body language.

Importance of non-verbal communication

In our day-to-day communication, it is observed that most of the communication

is done using body movements (face, arms, movements, etc.) and voice control
(voice, tone, pauses, etc.). The maximum communication is done using
nonverbal communication. Please check the figure below.

Different types of Non-Verbal Communication?

Non-verbal communication makes our message stronger. Using the right

gestures while speaking makes our message more effective. The different types
of Non-Verbal communication are –

 Facial Expression – A facial expression shows the feelings of a person.

 Posture – Postures are positions of the body. They show our confidence
and feelings.
 Gestures or Body Language – Gestures describe movements of parts of
the body, especially hands or head, to express an idea or meaning.
 Tourch – We communicate a great deal through our touch, such as
shaking hands patting on the back.
 Space – Maintain proper space between two persons depending on the
closeness with the person with whom you are talking.
  Eye Contact – Maintaining an eye contact with the person you are talking
indicates interest, whereas, looking away can make the other person feel
ignored.
 Paralanguage – Paralanguage is the tone of our voice, speed and volume
that makes a difference in the meaning of the communication.
What is Visual communication?
Visual communication involves sending and understanding messages only
through images or pictures. The main advantage of this type of communication is
–

 Easy to understand.
 It can convey the message to large audience.

Session 4: Writing Skills: Parts of Speech

What is sentence and phrase?
 Sentence – A sentence is a group of words that communicates a complete
thought (Example: Raju goes to school).
 Phrase – A group of words, which does not make complete sense, is
known as a phrase (Example: Raju goes).
A sentence always begins with a capital letter, and it always ends with a question
mark, full stop or exclamation mark.

Using capitals
We know that all sentences begin with capital letters. These capitalization rules
can easily be understood using ‘MINTS’: ‘MINTS’ is a set of simple rules that
help you capitalize words correctly.

Punctuation
It is a set of marks, such as the full stop and the comma, which help us separate
parts of a sentence and explain its meaning. Some common punctuation marks
are –
 Punctuation name Sign Use

Full stop (.) Shows the end of a sentence.

Comma (,) Sometimes, we use a comma to indicate a pause in the sentence.

Question
(?) We use a question mark at the end of a question.
mark

Exclamation
(!) We use an exclamation mark at the end of a word or a sentence to indicate a str
mark

Apostrophe (‘) We use an apostrophe followed by an ‘s’ to show that something belongs to som

Basic parts of speech

There are eight basic parts of speech in the English language. These are noun,
pronoun, verb, adjective,
adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Parts of
What they do Example sen
Speech

Nouns are words that refer to a person, place, thing or idea. – ‘Reema wrote a letter.’
Noun
These are ‘naming words.’ – Both Reema and letter are n

– “Reema wrote a letter. She

Pronoun A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. – ‘She’ is used in place of the
pronoun.

Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe other words – “Reema wrote a long letter.
– Long is an adjective that de
 Parts of
What they do Example sen
Speech

‘letter’.

– “Reema wrote a letter.”

Verbs Verbs are words that show action
– Wrote is the verb. It tells w

– “Reema quickly wrote a let

Adverbs are words that add meaning to verbs, adjectives, or
Adverbs – Quickly is an adverb. It tell
other adverbs.
the action (writing).

Supporting parts of speech types

Along with the main ‘Parts of Speech’, there are some more words we need for
making a sentence.

Supporting
Parts Use E
of Speech

The car stopp

a cat ran in fr
The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are known as articles. Articles are generally – A book
Articles
used before nouns. – An apple
– An umbrell
– The sun

Conjunctions are words that join two nouns, phrases or sentences. Some
Conjunctions Do you want
common conjunctions are ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’.

Some commo
Prepositions connect one word with another to show the relation between
Prepositions ‘on’, ‘at’, ‘un
them. They usually answer the questions ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’.
– The cat is o
 Supporting
Parts Use E
of Speech

Wow!
Oh!
These words express strong emotions, such as happiness, surprise, anger or
Interjections Oh no!
pain. They have an exclamation mark at the end.
Thanks!
Help!

Session 5: Writing Skills: Sentences

What is subject, verb and object?
All English sentences have a subject and a verb. Some also have an object.

 Subject – A subject is the person or thing that does an action.

 Verb – A verb describes the action.
 Object – Object is the person or thing that receives the action.
For example, “Divya reads a book”.

 Subject – Divya
 Verb – Reads
 Object – a book
Different types of objects?
The object in a sentence can be either direct or indirect. Direct objects are the
ones directly ‘acted on’ by the action word (verb). An indirect object answers
questions, such as ‘to whom’ and ‘for whom’.

For example, what did Abdul give? The gift. To whom did Abdul give the gift? To
his mother. Here, ‘gift’ is the direct object and ‘his mother’ is the indirect object.

Different types of sentences?

A sentence is a group of words that communicates a complete thought. There
are two different types of sentences Active voice and Passive voice.
  Active voice – Sentences where the subject does an action are known to
be in the Active voice.
 Passive voice – Sentences in which the subject receives an action are
known to be in the Passive voice.
Types of sentences according to their purpose

This is the most common type of sentence. It provides information or state

Statement or Declarative Sentence
ends with a ‘full-stop’ (‘.’).

Question or Interrogative Sentence This type of sentence asks a question. It always ends with a question mark

Emotion/Reaction or Exclamatory An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong emotion, such as joy, sadness
Sentence always ends with an exclamation mark (‘!’).

These sentences show an order, command, request, or advice. It can end w

Order or Imperative Sentence
exclamation mark (‘.’ or ‘!’).

What do you mean by paragraphs?

A group of sentences forms a paragraph, or paragraph is a group of sentences
focused on single topic. While writing a paragraph, make sure the sentences
have a common idea.

Session 6: Pronunciation Basics

What is pronunciation?
Pronunciation is the way you say a word; correct pronunciation will help you
express yourself in a clear and confident manner. It will also help others to
understand your words easily.

What is phonetics?
Phonetics is the study of the sounds that we make when we speak, we use more
than 26 sounds when we speak English. For example, the word dog is made of
three sounds put together: d-o-g.
All English words are made of three basic types of sounds as shown in
below table –

Diphthongs (combination sound of

Vowels
two vowels)

The English alphabet has five vowels (a, e, i, o and u) but

We make a diphthong sound when we A cons
12 vowel sounds. This means most vowels can be
combine two vowels. Diphthongs start sound t
pronounced in different ways. We make a vowel sound
as one vowel sound and go to another. nor a d
when we read a vowel in a word.

Session 7: Greetings and Introductions

What is greeting?
There are many ways to greet a person, greeting is a polite method to
acknowledge someone when you meet them.

Different types of greetings?

There are two types of greetings formals greetings and Informal greetings.

 Formal greetings – Formal greetings are used if you do not know the
person. for example, like greetings to teachers or customers. This is used
more often in schools, colleges and offices.
 Informal greetings – Informal greetings are used when you talk to friends,
family or a known person.
Session 9 & 10: Asking Questions I & II
What is asking questions?
A question is a sentence, phrase, or word that either asks for information or is
used to test someone’s
knowledge. We always use a question mark (?) at the end of a question.

Different types of questions?

There are two different types of questions, Open ended questions and Close
ended questions.
 Open ended questions – When we ask a question, we expect an answer
with more details is known as open ended questions. For example, if the
answer is “I like to watch movies on TV.” here the answer is not limited or
closed.
 Close ended questions – Questions that can be answered with a “yes” or
a “no” are called close-ended question. For example, when we ask “Do
you have a TV at home?”, the answer could be either “Yes” or “No”.