Jun 24, 2007

Alan's Ice-breaking

C1 Speech, By Alan Lin, 2004/8/4

Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen, good evening!

I have good news to share with you. This afternoon, the President summoned my students for their outstanding performance in national science fair held in Kaohsiung County last week. My students won the first place Grand Award in Earth Science. They studied on the breaking wave. And I'm their teacher-sponsor.

So, you know, I'm a teacher. I like teaching science outdoors, but I'm not an Earth Science Teacher, I'm a Physics teacher. "Oh! Physics. Physics is a difficult subject." This is a common response from most of the people while they hear my introduction of myself. "I always fail in Physics." This is a second response to my occupation. Well, I have taught a subject named failure for twenty-eight years.

When I think of this, I feel discouraged. I have hummed so many lullabies in my Physics classes for twenty-eight years. I decided to change the situation. I made a decision to go back to the university three years ago, not only for learning how to teach Physics, but also for being the empty nest. Four years ago, my second son left us for university as well as his brother. And my wife went to learn Japanese for the better understanding of the TV shows on NHK. They all go to school but me. The Chinese proverb says that you will have a hateful appearance if you have no reading for three days. I have no reading for twenty-eight years. I looked at the mirror and found that I have a hateful face, then I went back to the school.

Three years is a long time for an old student like me. Sometimes I nodded my head as well as my students did in my class. Moreover, I found that I have difficulties in moving the information from the short-term memories to the long-term memories. Don't blame me! It's not my fault. With the increase of the age, I have to study hard to conquer the decrease of the synapses, which play the important roles of memory.

The month before Last month, I passed through the examination of qualification and became the candidate for Doctor degree. If you ask me what I have learned during the past three years, I could show you. Please pay attention to the ribbon. Do you believe in your eyes? Indeed, the ribbon is moving upward along the rubber string. Why? I major in magic education, oh no, I major in science education. If you are curious about it, please come to my Physics class. I'm sure you will love it.

Mr. Toastmaster.

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