中壢英語國際演講會 Chungli Toastmasters Club

Ladies & Gentlemen:  

Last week, I have sorted my document by grade. (from kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, university, to graduate school) Looking at these documents, lots of memories showed in my mind. One of the most impressive parts is my transcript. My dear friends, remember your teachers’ praises or comments for you? I’d like to share mine with you.

I am an introvert by nature. My mom told me that she has thought I got autism in my childhood since I seldom speak with others. There are three important turning points of changing my personality. I really appreciate my family’s support and encouragement, so that I’ve become the independent person. Firstly, my parents let me join several extra-curricular activities such as playing the piano, painting, skating, and learning Chinese calligraphy in order to build up my character and confidence. These activities made me benefit more and meet lots of friends. For example, I have played the piano for thirteen years since I was four. I was always selected to be an accompanist for classes’ choirs. It made me get the courage and the opportunity to show on the stage. I enjoyed playing the piano on the stage because I can show myself without doing eye-contact with my audiences. The funny part is that I used to play the piano, but I am out of tune. So never try to make me sing a song.

The second point is to choose English as my major at Soo-chow University. In my university life, the most horrible program for me is “English speech”. We are always asked to create the new topic and do the brainstorming with others in order to do the speech. In fact, that really made me nervous and crazy, but through discussing and cooperating with friends, I got the different interesting learning experiences. These curriculums all enriched my social life and broadened my horizon. After graduating from university, I’ve worked as the children’s English teacher in the cram school for one year. In my teaching process, I’ve found that teaching is the long-term journey, so I have to learn more to enrich myself.

Thus, the final point is to study my MA program in Chung Yuan Christian

University. The multiple teaching curriculums inspire me a lot. The practical subjects made me apply what I have learned into real teaching.  Furthermore, I get more confidence and improve my social ability from these valuable activities and lessons.

However, in my graduate school life, I’ve found that I have met a big dilemma about English day by day. The one is that being the children’s English teacher, I have to use the basic English to teach them, so I used to say, “Listen to me!” “Be quiet!” “Please come here or raise your hand!” My teaching life is full of English classroom management. The other one is that we have to present the academic paper or opinions in class, so our speech is always full of serious style. English becomes the boring tool and makes me feel that I’m not able to communicate with others in English by nature. So, I’m happy to find Toastmasters and come here to develop my English communication again and recover my passion for English. I believe this will be my fourth turning point in my life.