English through Films: Kalam on leadership

In this post, we take our spoken English lessons from an interview of ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Here, Dr Kalam talks about an incident from 1979-80 regarding the launch of SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle).

Watch the video here:

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Some of the interesting words and phrases from this clip are discussed as follows:

Assembled = Gathered (All the students assembled in the morning for prayers before the classes started OR The villagers assembled near the banyan tree to listen to the wise sage)

Orbit = Circular or elliptical path of a satellite or a planet (The earth, the sun and the moon revolve around in their own orbits)

Countdown = Reverse counting denoting that something big is just about to be started (The countdown to the world cup has begun OR Maintain your focus, the countdown to CAT has begun)

Bypass = ignore, travel around it (The local officer cannot bypass the chief minister’s orders OR You cannot bypass your seniors advise on such a crucial matter)

Culprit = Someone who has done something wrong (It is important to catch the culprits and punish them to control the growing cases of roadside robbery in Noida OR Instead of blaming the victims of molestation, we should catch the culprits and bring them to the book)

Assured = Gave them confidence (The doctor assured the patient that he would be ok soon OR The coach assured everybody that the team will perform well in the next match)

Took the whole blame himself = Accepted the criticism himself (Lal Bahadur Shastri, when he was the Railways minister, resigned after an accident as he took the blame himself)

Conduct the press conference = Lead the press conference, answer the questions of the media (In the absence of the captain, the vice captain was asked to conduct the press conference)

Now, answer the following quiz:

[ssquiz id=”15″]