Second Award!

Oh yeah, I got it! Last Monday, I did my first "prepared" speech at the Toastmasters meeting. And then, I was chosen as the best speaker at the meeting!!
The theme was "Ice breaker." and required time was 4-6 minutes. I had to talk about myself. I think my content was the combination of "My dream" and "Third anniversary" on my blog.

When I prepare for a presentation, I always write a script. And I ask Sally (my tutor) to check the grammar, and I memorize everything. I don't know if "memorizing a script" is the best way or not to make a presentation generally, but I believe it is the best way for me. After I memorize it, I feel secure and am relaxed, it makes me able to keep good eye contact with my audience. Usually, I don't become so nervous when I give a presentation. So if I memorize the basic version, sometimes I can change some parts depending on the audience's reaction. if I do an impromptu speech in English, I tend to make some grammatical mistakes. So, memorizing the corrected form is also good learning for me!

After I correct my mistakes which Sally mentions, I check some unsure pronunciation. Because I want to have nice rhythm and dynamics on my presentation, I always draw colorful lines on my script. According to the manual of the Toastmasters, we should think about these aspects of voice.

Volume: Being ale to control the loudness or softness of your voice helps to keep the audience's attention. But this time, I just thought about speaking clearly and slowly. I showed my loudness and softness by changing my pitch.
Pitch: A high pitch conveys excitement and enthusiasm, while a low pitch indicates sadness or thoughfulness. Take a look at the photo. Pink marker lines show where I use high pitch, and blue marker lines mean " low pitch."
Rate;If you speak a little bit fast, the audience pays attention to you. When you speak slowly, they can digest what you are saying. Green marker lines represent where I speak fast. Yellow lines mean "slow down to emphanize this part!"
Besides, slim green lines mean " quotations or someone else's words. Change my voice!" Red lines are the parts I tend to forget.

What? Memorizing all of them sounds hard? Don't worry! If YOU write your script and figure out sequences, it is not so hard to memorize.
The maximam length of the English presentations I have had is 20 minutes.
At the end of November, I will make a one-hour presentation. Can I memorize everything? I don't know, maybe I need some notes.

Anyway, evaluaters told me "You have a strong Japanese accent, but you speak clearly enough that we can understand. You have already developed some great public speaking skills! Excellent!"
The same day, I got my disappointing TOEIC result, and I felt I was stupid.
But the Toastmasters gave me confidence! Thank you!
Language has four main parts. Listenig, speaking, reading, and writing.
Learning a foreign language is difficult...but everybody has his/her strong parts!
Make the strong parts stronger, and overcome the weak parts!

Learn from the defeat

Sorry guys, it's been a long time since the last time I wrote on the blog! After the TOEIC day, I had had hectic, intense, busy & crazy days, and now I have a cold. I realized it was not good to have many activities which were beyond my capacity! And the weather turned cold, so I recommend you to take care!

I already got my TOEIC results. As you can expect from the title...I couldn't get my IDEAL score. It is a nightmare! My score is even worse than last year's!!
I don't want to say it, but my score is 815. It's not a bad score generally, but last year, mine was 835. What have I been doing for a year!? Studying English in the U.S.A! I should have progressed! or I have even had a set-back!? I FEEL SO DUMB!!

I can make some excuses. I had prepared for "the new TOEIC version" which had already started in Japan and Korea. I believed they had also started the new one in America. However, a week before the TOEIC day, I suddenly started to wonder why I couldn't find the reference books for the new TOEIC in the U.S. I thought it was because the TOEIC was not so popular here. But, what if they still had the old TOEIC version?
I called the TOEIC administration (ETS,) and...bingo! They said they would start the new TOEIC version SOMEDAY IN 2007! I wanted to scream when I heard that!
I needed to adjust to the OLD test in a week. It includes the grammatical error recognition part which I hated!

However, I tried to be positive. I was stupid that I didn't confirm it earlier. But, I still had one week! After that, I studied hard for the OLD TOEIC. Even when I took a bath, went to a restroom, ate lunch or dinner, I was always with TOEIC reference books. But maybe I was exhausted on the test day...
Just after the test was over, I didn't feel satisfied. I thought something was different. I felt like I needed to take it again. But I didn't expect my score would go down from last year's!

I know, I need to face the reality. One of my friends who is really fluent in English, took the TOEIC once when she was in her country...Korea. She hadn't prepared at all for the TOEIC, but her score was 950. If my English were very good, I wouldn't be affected by insignificant conditions. I have to admit this score probably shows exactly my level. But I want to reach "her level" someday!

I love watching sports. Whenever I watch these games, especially big games, I always wonder "what makes them a winner and a loser?" Each athlete is supposed to be one of the TOP athletes, and they are supposed to practice well. But I think there are always some reasons why the one lost the game.
This results really disappointed me, but I believe I can be a "winner" someday unless I give up. When a top athlete ( I am not a top athlete, but I always learn important things from enthusiastic athletes) loses a big game, he is depressed. But he would analyze the reasons why he lost, make some new strategies, and practice & train harder to win the next game! Some of them prove the big defeat can be the trigger for making a very successful next result. I have to do the same thing.
Life is not always easy, and probably, now "I" am being tested to be patient. I know I sound crazy, but I still believe I can get a full TOEIC score someday.

When I talked about this with my mom in Japan, she said to me " It is not so complicated as you think. You are just getting older!" Oh please, don't say that...

TOEIC Preparation

Did you make your resolutions on New Year's Day? I did... Mine was as follows:
1. Reading an English newspaper everyday. I do, but not everyday...
2. Studying French! I FINALLY started to do it in September...
However, my biggest and the most important resolution was "Getting over a 900 score on the TOEIC!!"

I have taken the TOEIC once a year, in October, since I came here. Why does it have to be in October? Because I came here in October, 2003. I want to know how much I have improved English in every year. Three years ago, I took it in Japan. My score was 450. Nobody would have thought my major was "English" literature...because it was not a good score at all. Two years ago, it was 700. I suddenly started to study English everyday, so my score jumped up. However, I still hadn't read all questions because my reading speed in English was not so fast. Last year, I got a 835 score.
I could read all questions and answer with confidence. Then, this year... I really really want to get over a 900 score!!!

I took a photo of all reference books of the TOEIC that I have. I bought four books above in Japan. I got the three books below here. Have I covered all of those? OF COURSE NOT!! But I have been trying to do so. According to the results of model tests, I am ON THE LINE for my ideal score. From these model tests, we just know the "range" of my score. My ranges are like from 880-920...I may get over 900, or under 900.
I have taken four different model tests of the new TOEICversion. (It has been changed since May, 2005, but it's not a BIG change.) When the model test was more difficult than the "real" test, and my condition was not so good( It's an excuse.) My range was much worse.

Therefore, I don't know if I can get over a 900 score. Furthermore, the test date is October, 14th. I have just 10 days!!! I don't have so much time to prepare!!! Ahhhh!!!
However, I will never give up until the last minute when the test end. If I get my ideal score? My life won't be changed anything. But I want to step up as I aimed!
I have tried to publish four different writings per week since I started to keep my blog, but I will not do this until the TOEIC day. I believe writing a blog is very helpful to improve my English, but now, I want to concentrate on the TOEIC preparation.
So, see you ten days(or two weeks?) later!! Have a nice week!
If you are REALLY KIND, please keep your fingers crossed that my resolution comes true!!

Third anniversary

What anniversary? Wedding? No. Today, October 3, 2006 is the third anniversary of "my" moving to the U.S!! My hubby came here in July, 2003, three months before I came here.
Before that, I had been to Hawaii, but I had never been to the U.S. mainland. I remember the first English I was told on the mainland (Oh, except for during my flight!) When I transferred at Detroit, I went to a restroom. I wanted to wash my hands, but...a faucet didn't work. Then, a lady who was next to me said, "You must be in a secret tour, hah?" That was FIRST ENGLISH I was told... However, what did it mean? I thought she meant "You must understand the secret of the faucet, right?" But she didn't tell me what was that... Later, when I told the story to my hubby, he said, "She may have thought you were a mistress, and you were traveling with your lover! "A sectet tour" might have meant "having an affair on a tour," yeah! I bet so! " Really? I don't think so... Anyway, it has still been a mystery.

After I arrived at the Indianapolis airport, my hubby was there to welcome me.
When he was picking up my luggage, one American(maybe) lady asked me, "Excuse me, where is the baggage claim office?" Wait a minute! There were a lot of people, lots of CAUCASIANS in the airport. But she asked ME, who was apparently an ASIAN... I don't think I would ask directions from "a foreigner" in Japan! At that time, I realized America had such an ethnic diversity.

Before I moved here, I enjoyed my life in Tokyo VERY MUCH. My life was almost perfect! Besides my loving husband, I loved my job, friends, my apartment... Especially, I loved being in a big city!! When I heard we had to move to a small city in the U.S, actually I was disappointed. I asked my hubby if I could stay in Tokyo longer because I had appointments with my clients, and a speech class to teach. Therefore, I came to the U.S. three months later than my husband. After I came here, I thought I would get homesick for Japan. But, I didn't because I was so busy meeting new people, getting accustomed to driving, and learning new customs, etc... Two weeks after I came here, I started to go to ESOL(English school,) which made me busier. I thought I would never get homesick because I believed just after I moved to a new place was the hardest time.

On the Christmas holidays of that year, we visited Japan. Then..an unexpected thing happened. I recollected everything of Japan, which made me homesick! After I came back here, I realized how different this town was from Tokyo. Fortunately, there were many people who were really kind to me, but there were no (just a few)fancy places, fancy shops like I saw in Tokyo. Especially, the language was different. I love to be active, but if I couldn't communicate enough, I couldn't be active! Everything that I was interested in was related to speaking and communicating. I wanted to be involved in wedding business, but it was required to communicate with. But, I couldn't express even my feeling well! I thought "Oh, I am inferior to a child!" I got seriously (for me) homesick.

However.Basically, I don't like to be a "drama queen." What does such a sentimental feeling bring to me? NOTHING! It is just a waste of time! Life is short, and time flies. Make up for lost time!!! Every person has virtues and vices. Therefore, every city is supposed to have advantages and disadvantages of living there! I found this town is one of the best places to study English, so I tried to concentrate on this.

After that, sometimes I got slightly homesick. Whenever I felt it, I treated homesickness like a common cold. When I was not very energetic, I might have gotten get one. However, if I got rest and took care of myself, it would pass away soon. It's been three years since I came here, and I have found many advantages of living here. Lately, I haven't felt homesick at all. Now, I love the scenery of my town like the photo. Look at those cute squirrels♪

Probably, I will move to different cities again and again with my hubby. However, I don't want to take into account "where I am" first. To me, "what I want to do" is the most important. I just want to keep on focusing my carrer. (It has to be flexible one because of my husband's transfer.) At the same time, I can take advantage of living in that town, and get over the disadvantages.

However.Ifif I had studied English hard when I was a student, it would have been much easier to live in th.. MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME, NOW!!!

Humorous Contest

At last Monday's toastmasters' meeting was the area contest of "the humorous speech contest." Two weeks before, we had this contest in our club. We evaluate not only special speeches, but also EVERY prepared speeches at each meeting. However, this time was the "contest," so two of the winners proceeded to the area contest. In Greater Lafayette, we have 7 toastmasters clubs, and we are divided into two areas. Therefore, we had 14 contestants competing for 4 trophies. The winners who got trophies could go to the "local humorous contest" in Kokomo on the following Saturday.

I was one of the judges. We had many criteria for the evaluation: speech development, effectiveness, speech value, physical( appearance, body language etc,) voice, manner(directness, assurance, and enthusiasm,) appropriateness, and correctness( grammar, pronunciation, and word selection)...
The highest possible score was 100. Carefully evaluating each section, we graded every contestant.

Contestants should talk about their original stories, not from a joke book. So, some of them recollected their funny episodes from their childhood or schooldays.
On the other hand, a middle-aged guy talked about how he didn't understand slang that young people use now. Hhmm, if even some Americans think they are funny, I can make a speech about how I didn't understand English! Some misunderstandings are VERY FUNNY!! Most of the time I was too desperate to speak English itself to be aware of the misunderstanding, which made it FUNNIER!! I should try to participate in this contest next time♪

Everybody did a great job! I loved one woman's speech the most. She told us about how she was uncomfortable to wear fancy lingerie like those at the Victoria's Secret. However, now she is getting comfortable and loves them! Actually, she showed us her fancy & favorite & special lingerie! I love the Victoria's Secret lingerie too, and I also understand some of their underwear is not so comfortable to wear. So I laughed a lot, and I admire her openmindness!!
However, I guess some judges graded low in her "appropriateness" section. Therefore, as a result, she took the third place(which was also very good, though.) She didn't get a trophy.

Maybe it was a coincidence...that all of the winners were men. I was wondering about that, and I guessed. Probably, when people made "humorous" speeches, the voice volume & dynamics & exaggerated gestures VERY MUCH influcenced the judges. Generally, men are better at doing these than women. Therefore, most winners were men, I thought.

Additionally, I found an interesting thing that day! Sometimes I didn't understand why it was funny because of my poor English listening and understanding. What? Do you think I shouldn't have been a judge? Yeah, anyway, but I knew when I SHOULD LAUGH. Don't you think it's interesting? I knew where I should laugh because speakers showed us different kinds of signs. Just before they told their "punch lines," they made effective pauses, started to speak it slowly and clearly first, and gradually spoke FAST with a loud voice and a funny gesture like they are climbing and dashing to the end! Hhmmm, I should try to use this technique! Sometimes my audience doesn't listen to me because they want to enjoy their private talking in wedding parties. Then, if I use this technique, can I make them laugh? It's exciting!!

Whenever I go to the toastmasters' meetings, I can learn something important for me!
Now, I am proud of myself being a member☆