SU Toast: March 10 1st Week Thematic Meeting Speech

Topic: Try on an ESL learner’s shoes!

StructureA. Intro: English is a CRAZY yet FUN language! I will talk about the fun part first, then move onto the

crazy part later on. Now, I raise this question to you, fellow Toastmasters: “Are you abusing English?”

From an ESL leaner’s view, I cautiously would like to claim that you are! And you will see why the claim is TRUE. All you have to do right now is put yourself into an ESL

learner’s shoes for a while.

B. Body: Let me talk about the fun part first!

I. Root Beer[an alcoholic beer] ? NO![a sparkling non-alcoholic drink flavored with roots of various plants & herbs]!

II. Sweetbreads vs. Sweetmeats:[sweet-taste breads] ? against [meats that are marinated with sweet seasoning] ?; NO![meats that obtained from the pancreas of a calf or a lamb] vs. [a sweet delicacy]!

III. Eggplant:[a plant that fruits eggs] ? | [a factory that produces eggs] ? Chicken lays eggs!

Now, let me move onto the CRAZY part! Quiz: “What are the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? “

(Hint: Use Two-letter word!) A two-letter word that has more meanings than any other two-letter word; ‘U-P.’

Form [ Verb + UP] Phrasal Verb; a part of English colloquialism; adverb usage of UP Now, see if how I interpret the phrasal verb!A. bring UP

e.g., You were brought UP in Syracuse;You [You grew up in Syracuse!] Me [You were taken away from somewhere to Syracuse!]

B. draw UP e.g., You draw UP the first draft; You [You prepare the first draft. | You write it out.] Me [You take it out. | You pull it up.]

C. open UP & close UPe.g., You open UP a store in the morning but close it UP at night;You [Open the door in the morning but close the door at night.] Me [Dilemma! Why? “close UP” supposed to be put like “close DOWN,” not UP!]

SU Toast: March 10 1st Week Thematic Meeting Speech

So far, they lost me! What do you think I need? Yes, the definitions of UP!UP ::= [into view / existence] | [into consideration] | [used as on intensifier of the action verb] | [so as to approach / near] | [to a stop]

Now, let me try to match up which definition fits in the context of the examples of phrasal verbs that I illustrated previously!

A. You were brought UP in Syracuse. Def: [used as an intensifier of an action verb] ? | [into existence / view] ? | [into consideration] ? Bottom line: Not Clear Picture of usage of adverb, UP as in phrasal verb!

B. You draw UP the first draft. Def: [into existence / view] ? | [so as to approach / near] ? | [literal meaning of UP;

showing upper direction] ? Bottom line: Not Clear Picture of usage of adverb, UP as in phrasal verb!

C. You open UP the store in the morning but close it UP at night. Def: [completely] ? | [used as an intensifier of an action verb] ? | [into consideration] ? Bottom line: Not Clear Picture of usage of adverb, UP as in phrasal verb!

My Interpretation as an ESL learner: Even with those definitions of UP, still, there are things that need to be clarified for

those mysterious matchups! If you canNOT identify them, I am begging to differ by reconsidering your position as

English lovers; If you CAN, how? Don’t just say, “I just know! It’s in my blood!”

My Answer to the Quiz? “I open UP my eyes in the morning, and close UP my eyes at night.”

C. Conclusion: (Tell the audience the motivation of my speech Whether or not should I focus on the basic meaning of the verb only? Once I solely focus on it, the combined form of it with two-letter word, UP, won’t make sense to me at all!) I will let you decide my suspicion! I will wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so… it is time to shut UP!

Source: Dictionary (based on The American Heritage College Dictionary, 4th edition), Queen Central News

SU Toast: March 10 1st Week Thematic Meeting Speech

1. Summary for Today’s Meeting (Week 1)1) Proactive advertisement for SU Toast was really successful; we had total around 30 people with us.2) Glad that we had a special guest who works for Execellus Corporate; Sherry Hunt is Vice President

of Education in Execellus Toastmasters club, and she evaluated my speech for the upcoming International Contest.

3) Mrs. Chawa made another visit to SU Toast.4) Bruce, Dave, Kathlyeen, and Monti (School Publicity staff) visited SU Toast.5) Joe & I delivered our speeches; although, we did NOT have any career-related thematic meeting,

but instead of doing that, we learned a lot from other, especially new faces as long as from Sherry.6) Some feedbacks from lots of people for my speech: Bruce’s comment:

Careful with pronunciation (e.g. “Not craze, but CRAZY & MYTERIOUS; remember the judge’s category, GRAMMAR or WORD CHOICE); PACING is distracting people’s engagement in my speech; Practice a lot to avoid frequent pauses (this will show how much confident I have…); need to strengthen up my concluding remarks; DON’T SAY “Concluding CLUES”; i.e., “Wrapping up!” or “In conclusion,” etc; CLEAR explanation needed when I bring up examples; i.e., phrasal verbs; WRITE DOWN letters about the flat cards of definitions of phrasal verbs, so that I won’t have to look them when I show them to the audience as a CHEET SHEET; While showing the definitions, STANDSTILL, NEVER MOVE SIDE-to-SIDE; Just ONE-TIME SWEEP would be enough; STAY THE CARDS BELOW MY HEAD; Practice using devices; tape-recorder; camera, etc.

Sherry’s comment: NEVER PACING; MOVE SIDE TO SIDE Ankit’s comment: PRONUNCIATION; NEVER MOVE BACK & FORTH MOTIONS; Build up an

MORE INTERESTING Phrasal verbs such as eggplants, not a cliché examples Dave’s comment: (I passed over time limit; took almost 8 minutes); Make my introductory

statement a little more bit formal; USE WISELY INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS (REVISE IT OVER & OVER AGAIN!)