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Learning English through PUBLIC SPEAKING

Have you ever been worried about giving a speech in public? Well, you wouldn’t be the
first. Public speaking is an art, and often difficult to perform. Don’t worry though, Toastmasters
is the perfect programme to help you build confidence and improve your speaking skills. Just
have a look at what some members had to say about their experience this year!

Kaman Cheung
Would you like to improve your public speaking skills and gain confidence?
If so, I would suggest joining Toastmasters, which is a platform and a proven
educational program that allows members to improve their public speaking skills, helps them
to understand the importance of listening, and gives them a chance to gain confidence
in speaking. Apart from that, the flexibility of taking turns in different positions such as
timers, ah-counters and prepared speech speakers equips members with a variety of skills.

Toastmasters is fully worth participating in!
I joined Toastmasters when I was in Secondary Three. The reason was simply because
Why did I join Toastmasters?
I did not have any other platform to improve my spoken English, and I found it intriguing.
Tragically, due to the pandemic leading to a serious lockdown, we could only use Zoom to
execute the lessons. Using Zoom for me was kind of cringe, since it was hard to use body
gestures. Also, technical problems were a big issue. I felt very awkward when my connection
was lagging or when I forgot to unmute myself when I needed to speak. On the other
hand, there were also some benefits to conducting our session online, such as googling
Cherrie Kwan
information about the topics and reducing face-to-face interactions as it was during the
I am honored to be one of the chairladies for Toastmasters. I have
Being a Form Four student this year, and also being one of the chairladies, it was
joined the Toastmasters since I was in Form 3, but over these few years,
pandemic. We did manage to have some face-to-face classes, and the biggest
quite challenging, something I did not expect. We needed to decide the topic for each
COVID-19 has spread all over the world, meaning our Toastmaster experience
meeting and prepare the questions for the Table Topic Session. I became anxious several
was online for our own protection. While I was having Zoom meetings, I didn’t
times when I ran out of ideas and when in some cases the questions were too complex
feel nervous because I only faced the camera. Besides, I could look up the
for our members to process and answer. Being a chairlady, responsibility and confidence
dictionary immediately when I encountered new vocabulary. Of course there
were the two pillars for me to hold up the entire group, as duties like setting agendas
were drawbacks, and one was being distracted by my family during the online
meetings, especially when they were walking into my line of sight.
and being well prepared for the meeting are crucial. I believe that being a role model
by speaking out loudly and confidently can positively influence our members. Most
importantly, I have learnt to become more like a leader to take care of my team
difference between them and Zoom meetings is that the atmosphere in the
members. I am grateful that I have joined Toastmasters as I have really grown a lot.
classroom is much better than on Zoom. We can talk to each other and pay
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. — John
more attention to each other. The worst thing is that we need to be more
confident when face-to-face because we need to face more people. It is much
Maxwell harder to immediately think of ideas while standing in front of others.
The reason I joined Toastmasters is I wanted to practise public
speaking as I am an introverted person. I think Toastmasters really helped
Diva Leung me a lot because I learnt many skills about how to present, and I can
If you have stage fright or are generally scared of public speaking, I really recommend activity that fewer students will join, it is worthwhile. I hope to see you
receive the opinion of others, especially teachers. In these two years,
my speaking skills have improved a lot. Knowing that Toastmasters is an
next year in Toastmasters!
It's actually my first time joining the Toastmasters programme. There's a total of 5
lessons and a teacher would come in everytime to evaluate and give a brief explanation on
joining Toastmasters. 15
Toastmasters and the purpose of its establishment. The two main parts include the table
topic and the prepared speech session. The first one is honestly much more challenging as
we're being put on the spot to give a speech on certain topics. The latter being students
giving a prepared speech, lasting for a maximum of 3 minutes.
Without ever having to give a table topic speech, I'd say what a relief, but it also
means that I haven't truly been able to challenge myself in giving a non-prepared speech.
With several years of solo-verse speaking experience, I would have thought that I'd have
gotten used to the stage by now. Yet, during Toastmasters, I found that I still come off shy
and unconfident when giving a speech. Through this programme, I was able to boost my
self-esteem and understand the importance of hand gestures and eye-contact with the
audience. Intonation is also key in keeping the audience attentive and focused. Being given
'the word of the day', students get to have inspiration in what they can engage in and at the
same time, widen their vocabulary. Having peers to evaluate is also a chance for students to
Without a doubt, it was an easy and intellectual programme. With the kindest teachers
learn from each other, and slowly make improvements.
who are encouraging and accepting of making mistakes, a fun and non-stressful atmosphere
is created for students to spread their wings and come up with creative ideas. I truly
recommend Toastmasters to students who have stage fright, difficulties in public speaking,
and also those who are just generally fond of the language. When the opportunity of joining
Toastmasters knocks , fear will not hold me back from opening the door and embracing it.