A Speech Contest

Tuesday, March 31. Feeling much better! No headache, thanks be to God. Find out this morning that there is no English Corner this afternoon because the Senior 1 students are having a speech contest. The topic is Science and Technology. So I want to go to that.

Zhang Yong calls in the afternoon and says "Congratulations!" I say "what for?" and he says that I have won one of the prizes in the Foreign Expert Writing Competition! Amazing! (They don't tell us which prize; we have to show up to find that out!) So the award ceremony is on Friday, April 10, and I will go with Zhang Yong and one of the school principals. Very exciting. I'm happy for the school - and it's fun for me too! I'm sure it will be an experience to remember.

So at 4:10, Tiffany and I walk down to go to the speech contest and run into Zhang Yong and David. The contest is held in a huge lecture hall on the 3rd floor of the white building. We sit up at the top in the back with Tyler and May. There are 10 students making speeches, each one about 5 minutes long. Of course, the speeches are all in Chinese but Zhang Yong, Tyler and May translate some things for us.

Zhang Yong makes some interesting comments about the speeches. He says that most of what they are saying has probably come directly from the internet, no original ideas or creative thinking. And a lot of empty exhortations and hollow rhetoric. (One girls ends her speech with "Long Live China!") This is the Chinese way, he says. Not the Western way of making speeches, with stories or examples that relate the material to the audience. But one student does make a joke during his speech (about how technology has helped our lives by giving us computer games!), which is very refreshing.

At the end of the speeches, there is a long break for the judges to decide on the winners. Mr. Li (head of senior school) comes up to talk to Zhang Yong, who then tells me that Mr. Li wants me to talk to the students about how to make a speech in English (that contest is next month). Yikes! So I quickly scramble for a paper and pen, organize a few thoughts, make a few notes (all of this while Mr. Li is speaking to the students) and then I'm on. Here's the substance of my little talk:

How to Make a Speech in English
Intro: Making a speech in English is about the same as making a speech in Chinese. Someone once told me that people can only remember 3 things at a time, so today I'm going to tell you three things:
1. Organize Your Speech: Introduction, Beginning, Middle and End or Conclusion.
2. Engage Your Audience: by telling jokes and by giving examples or telling stories that illustrate your points and make the topic relevant to your listeners.
3. Use the Arts of Communication: facial expressions, gestures, body language, using your voice (making it louder and softer - like Mr. Li does), and speaking clearly.
Conclusion: summarize the three points.
Not bad for having only 5 minutes to prepare! Whew! I should know better than to show up for these things! :)

Tyler and I go to dinner in the cafeteria. They have pumpkin, one of my favorites. Two of the other senior 1 teachers sit with us: one is a chemistry teacher and the other physics. The chemistry teacher actually understands English well and can speak it too. It's always surprising to find these things out. After seeing someone for so long and having no indication from them that they speak English, then you discover that, in fact, they do.

Tyler asks me if I want to go for a walk after dinner. I know he wants to get his hair cut on the market street so I tell him I will tag along. We go up to my apt so i can get some money and I knock on D&T's door to see whether I can pick up anything for them. They are in the middle of cooking dinner but Tiffany decides to come so she can get her hair cut too! So the three of us troop off through the village and down to the market street. I leave them at the hair salon, go to the market and buy some veggies, then on the way back I pick up some more brown rice. Walk home alone. A very nice evening. I'm so happy to be back among the living after being sick for three days. What a waste of time!