As an Instructor of a Speech Contestant

Yesterday evening, on my way out of school, I saw two posters congratulating Shihjen's good performance in the speech contest and thanking me for helping her prepare for it. Here, with my fingers running on the keyboard, I'd like to recall what I did as an instructor of a speech contestant.

1. Modified the speech text: The most significant modification is add the three suggestions, which she offered in the body, in the first, or introductory, paragraph and the last paragraph as a review of her ideas, which, I believe, could make the text better organized. The final version of the speech text sent out on Oct. 23 was the 8th revision! Other modifications include changing the sentence order, deleting unnecessary examples, rewording, etc. Generally speaking, the 1st draft Shihjen (張世仁) mailed to me on Oct. 18 was quite good. I love her suggestions on what we can do for Taiwan.

2. Arranged time for practice: The speech text has 5 paragraphs. Shihjen recited to me 2 paragraphs a day. In the process, she told me only when she could recite the words from memory was she able to make appropriate gestures. We used the noon time and some class periods. We didn't use time after school. I'd like to thank my student teacher Ali (葛淑瑄老師) for watching Shihjen practice during 3 class periods when I was teaching Shihjen's class English. And gratitude must be given to Ms. Chiang (蔣思理老師) and Ms. Kao (高沛秀老師) for letting Shihjen practice with me instead of insisting on her staying in class. Shihjen missed one Ms. Chiang's nursing class and two Ms. Kao's music classes.

3. Prepared pictures for impromptu speech: I searched for pictures in books, magazines like TIME or Reader's Digest, and on the Net for Shihjen to practice impromptu speech. The day before the contest, I even handed her a file which contained about 7 pictures for her to practice on her own in the English class, with a time keeper to help her control the time.

4. Provided advice and spiritual support: Since Shihjen has developed native-like pronunciation and fluency, we didn't need to work much on these two elements. We spent a little time on where to put stress, where to pause for emphasis purpose, and gestures. Encouraging words were often given, for example, "Good," "Very natural gesture," "I love your story," etc. When she felt tired, I gave her a few gentle pats on the back and let her take a rest.

5. Found audience for the rehearsals: I found 4 classes for Shihjen to rehearse her speech. One, Class 113, last Friday, another, Class 311, on Monday, and the other two, my Classes 214 and 209, on Tuesday, which was the day before the contest. I'm grateful to Melody (陳美麗老師) and Chris (林詠梅老師) for giving us the opportunity and some advice. Practicing speaking to a group of strangers helps one feel more at ease in the contest, I believe.

6. Accompanied the contestant on the day of contest: Since Fu-hsin High School is very far from our school, I decided to drive Shihjen there so that she wouldn't feel too tired before the contest. Luckily, I had only one class in the afternoon that day. Our school arranged for Ushuan (陳育萱老師) to teach that class for me. Thanks, Ushuan. I stayed with Shihjen at Fu-hsin High School until the end of the award presentation ceremony and drove her home. We both were exhausted!

Quite an experience!