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!