I just came back from visiting another local club's meeting. The members at this club includes a fifth grade girl and a lday from Taiwan, whose spoken English remains disappointing after living in the states for 30 years!
The girl is today's Madam Table topic. She picks a topic and asks whomever in the room to give a 1-2 minutes talk about the topic. Apparently today's topics are quite challenging:"What's the capital of Alaska? state flower of Alaska? capital of Washington? state bird? capital of South Carolina? state song?..."
Nobody answered both questions correctly. But everyone has something to say about the state. Chuck talked about a big U turn crossing the state line between Rhode Island and Massachusette on his car Ralley. His exaggerating gesture and body language made us laugh.
Another lady talked about her closest interaction with south Carolina- yelling at a guy who tried to reach her pocket on the grey hound bus in south Carolina.
I'm only a guest today but was given the opportunity to speak. The topic for me is -capital of Hawaii and when it joined the union? I suppose the capital is Holonunu. Hawaii joined the union after the 2nd world war. I talked about the population composition and culture in Hawaii. Sun, Zhongshan raised funding for the Chinese rovolution in Honolulu. I ended with an anecadote I heard from Anthony Robins's CD. Do you know which state has the highest rate of heart attack? Hawaii! It's not about local residents. Some people keep saying ：“Some day I'll visit. Wait till my kids get out of college! Wait till I pay off my mortgage! Finally that day comes. They go to Hawaii and have heart attack!” Everyone one was intrigued and chuckled. And I received award of today's best table topic.
I was kind of annoyed by the Taiwan lady's speech. She was supposed to select a topic herself and prepare for it. Unfortunately she didn't do her homework at all. "Taiwan and Chinese culture", such a fasinating topic turned out dry and bland. She could have described the fast development of Taiwan in a positive and exciting tone. She could have listed facts why Taiwan retained more traditional Chinese culture. She could have vividly introduced festivals with stories and activities. She could have aroused the audience's appetite by talking about Chnese food. She talked over time limit and stagger for lacking words! It's such a pity!
I will never let such a shame happen on myself! Act and improve English!
I saw two people I met at yesterday's meeting. They joined two local clubs. This one will have open house next week to celebrate its 30th anniversiry! I'll definitely go back for that!
The lady should have prepared well at least to show some respect for others' time. However, you don't need to be annoyed or even feel ashamed by her. She has her own problem, which you might never know. Besides, nobody will connect her to all chinese.
I just came back from visiting another local club's meeting. The members at this club includes a fifth grade girl and a lday from Taiwan, whose spoken English remains disappointing after living in the states for 30 years!
The girl is today's Madam Table topic. She picks a topic and asks whomever in the room to give a 1-2 minutes talk about the topic. Apparently today's topics are quite challenging:"What's the capital of Alaska? state flower of Alaska? capital of Washington? state bird? capital of South Carolina? state song?..."
Nobody answered both questions correctly. But everyone has something to say about the state. Chuck talked about a big U turn crossing the state line between Rhode Island and Massachusette on his car Ralley. His exaggerating gesture and body language made us laugh.
Another lady talked about her closest interaction with south Carolina- yelling at a guy who tried to reach her pocket on the grey hound bus in south Carolina.
I'm only a guest today but was given the opportunity to speak. The topic for me is -capital of Hawaii and when it joined the union? I suppose the capital is Holonunu. Hawaii joined the union after the 2nd world war. I talked about the population composition and culture in Hawaii. Sun, Zhongshan raised funding for the Chinese rovolution in Honolulu. I ended with an anecadote I heard from Anthony Robins's CD. Do you know which state has the highest rate of heart attack? Hawaii! It's not about local residents. Some people keep saying ：“Some day I'll visit. Wait till my kids get out of college! Wait till I pay off my mortgage! Finally that day comes. They go to Hawaii and have heart attack!” Everyone one was intrigued and chuckled. And I received award of today's best table topic.
I was kind of annoyed by the Taiwan lady's speech. She was supposed to select a topic herself and prepare for it. Unfortunately she didn't do her homework at all. "Taiwan and Chinese culture", such a fasinating topic turned out dry and bland. She could have described the fast development of Taiwan in a positive and exciting tone. She could have listed facts why Taiwan retained more traditional Chinese culture. She could have vividly introduced festivals with stories and activities. She could have aroused the audience's appetite by talking about Chnese food. She talked over time limit and stagger for lacking words! It's such a pity!
I will never let such a shame happen on myself! Act and improve English!
I saw two people I met at yesterday's meeting. They joined two local clubs. This one will have open house next week to celebrate its 30th anniversiry! I'll definitely go back for that!
上周去的toastmaster club 今天30th anniversery meeting, 是open house. 我抱了一大碗西瓜去凑热闹。
到场人数明显增加。可惜招待的三明治都有肉！
坐我旁边的老先生是38年的老会员了。我问他最深的感受是什么。他说make life long friends coz u make
speech and tell about yourself; there are not many such opportunities.
今天发言的都是身经百战的老资历了，或幽默诙谐，或声情并茂，绘声绘色描述了30年的历史渊源，搬迁路线，难忘人物，民间逸事。
会后聊聊发现那对资深couple过去三年2度访华，乘轮渡漫游长江和三峡大坝，第二次到了西藏！
另一位访客在中国呆了四年，足迹从长沙到兰州！
上周的Madam table topic 小姑娘，出生3天就随家长参加toastmaster meeting 了！
不虚此行！