Aug 24, 2010

Welcome to Toastmasters!

演講會如何幫助您

要改變人生,先改變口才!
要學會溝通,就從加入演講會開始!

1、加入演講會的好處?

一、了解說話的藝術,培養說話的技巧。
二、拓展人脈,建立良好人際關係。
三、學習領導能力與溝通的技巧。
四、聚會中不談論政治、宗教、性,讓會員們能以更開闊的心胸一起學習成長。

2、演講會如何訓練會友?

一、訓練溝通能力:

A、計票員:每次例會都要選出表現最佳的會友,從擔任任務中認識會議的進行方式。
B、計時員:記錄每位上台會友的時間,掌握整場會議的時間進度。
C、贅語記錄員:點出會友說話時的贅語,避免下次再犯,以增加語言之美。
D、開懷時間:從上台講笑話開始,建立自己上台講話的信心。
E、即席問答:主持人拋出一個問題,請會友立刻上台回答,訓練會友的急智反應。
F、指定演講:每位會友根據總會頒佈的手冊,循序漸進的依據不同主題上台演講。
G、節目主持:從擔任「開懷時間主持人」開始,逐步訓練主持節目的能力。
H、個別講評:仔細聆聽會友的指定演講,並提出可以做得更好的建議。
I、語言講評:提出整個例會中所使用的優美詞句,豐富大家的語言詞彙。
J、總講評:回顧整個例會中值得讚許之處,並提出可以做得更好的建議。

二、訓練領導能力:

A、擔任各分會幹部,學習協調能力。
B、擔任會長、區總監、部總監、總會幹部,學習領導能力。
C、承辦各項活動,訓練策劃、協調、聯絡、執行能力。

Aug 11, 2010

The Perseid Meteor Shower

What’s Up for August?

The Perseid[1] meteor shower.[2]



Transcript:

Hello and welcome. I’m Jane Houston Jones at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Padadena, California.

If you’ve never seen a meteor shower, this month’s Perseids are a perfect introduction.

Plan a summer getaway on Thursday night August 12. You’ll begin to see meteors by about 11 p.m. But the rates increase closer to dawn'

The Perseid meteor shower is named after the constellation Perseus[3]. And the meteors appear to originate near this constellation in the northeast sky.

This year’s meteor shower happens on a moonless night, so you’ll be able to see more of the fast, bright meteors.

Meteor showers are the debris of a passing comet, or sometimes the debris from a fragmented asteroid. Comets originally formed in the cold outer solar system, while most of rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

When a comet nears the sun, its icy surface heats up. This causes clouds of gas, dirt and dust to be released, forming a tail of debris that can stretch for millions of miles. As Earth passes near this dusty tail, some of the particles hit our atmosphere. They burn up and we see the result as meteors.

NASA generates meteor shower forecasts to prevent potential hazards to spacecraft that are launching and orbiting Earth.

You’ll see some Perseids all month long, before and after midnight. But the best fireworks display will be in the wee hours of Friday morning August 13.

The European Space Agency’s comet mission Rosetta flew by asteroid Lutetia last month and returned beautiful images of this battered world.

Now Rosetta’s on its way to send a lander to a comet.

NASA’s Deep Impact EPOXI spacecraft is on an extended mission to study and search for planets orbiting distant stars. But first, in early November this year, it will fly by Comet Hartley 2.
NASA’s Stardust NExT mission will fly by Comet Tempel 1 in 2011. And the Dawn mission arrives at asteroid Vesta in 2011, and the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015.

Despite that recurring email hoax about Mars being big and bright this month, it appears as a faint, reddish object near brighter Venus and Saturn just at sunset.

Jupiter shines as a brilliant beacon nearly overhead before midnight.

Through a telescope you might be able to see nearby Uranus.

You can learn more about NASA missions at www.nasa.gov
That’s all for this month. I’m Jane Houston Jones.

Notes:
----------------------------------------------
[1] Perseid/ˋpɝsɪɪd/ 英仙座流星群之流星
[2] The Perseid meteor shower 英仙座流星雨
For more information about the Perseids, please visit


[3] Perseus/ˋpɝsɪəs/ 英仙座

Aug 9, 2010

Ice Breaking (C1)

Ying Chu

August 4, 2010

The purpose of the C1 speech is for “ice breaking”, so I would like to share my story about “ice breaking”.

When I graduated from college, my first job was in Taipei. So I had to travel between Taipei and Kaohsiung by bus frequently. It took roughly 5-6 hours one way. During this long trip, sometimes I was bored and felt like chatting with somebody. But striking up a conversation with a total stranger always made me feel awkward, so I never tried. Just read or took a nap all the way.

One day I read an article about two strangers who encountered each other on the train and developed a moving friendship. I always loved such warm stories and I wanted that to happen to me as well.

Few months later, it was time to go home again. When I got on the bus, I came up with an idea: I’ve got to do it today! No matter who sat beside me, I made up my mind to talk to him/her. A gentleman sat next to me before the bus started. Since the journey just began, why not relax first so that I could make a perfect plan? After a while, as I was trying to chat with him, he began eating. I thought it was impolite to disturb him so I kept waiting. Then, he seemed tired. Apparently, it was not the right time. I hesitated again and again, but I knew I must take a chance. After a while, he took out a book. Yes, books are always good topics. So I took a deep breath, opened my mouth and~ I shut up my mouth, looked outside the window, and pretended nothing happened. The title of his book was Leave Me Alone!

Is this the end of my story? Fortunately not. In 2007 I traveled alone from 上海 to 周庄. The passenger next to me was a Western lady. When we arrived at the destination, the bus driver announced some important information only in Chinese. The lady looked confused and worried. I knew how she felt because I had the same experience when I traveled in Europe so I translated for her. And naturally, we started a conversation. She told me that she was a zoologist from Italy and shared her unforgettable experiences in China. Such as how she was shocked when she faced various kinds of animals for dinner in Mongolia, and in Beijing, almost every taxi driver asked her if she would like to go to the Temple of Heaven, because that seemed to be the only English they could speak. We both enjoyed the chatting very much. Eventually, I accomplished my mission.

Aug 7, 2010

Two Education Problems in Taiwan’s Secondary Schools (C4)

Charles Lu
August 4, 2010

When I taught at a junior high school, one day I asked my students, “Why do you study hard?” I got some funny but weird answers. One student said,” If I don’t study hard, my parents would get angry with me.” One student said,” If I get bad grades, my neighbors would look down on me.” Another student said, “If I don’t study hard, some day in the future I may roam in the streets like a stray dog.” Almost all of the answers were negative. Only one student answered in a positive way. He said,” I want to make a lot of money.”

When I think about this scenario, I realize that students having this sort of thinking are common. There must be something wrong with our education. Why do students study hard just because of outside influences instead of having the desire to learn? Why do students study hard just to make money instead of helping others? I think about these two issues for a long time and finally reach to the following conclusions. The problems are the curriculum and moral discipline. Here is the reason why.

1. Students get bored with their studies because the curriculum is rigid.

Here in Taiwan, all textbooks in secondary schools are edited by the Board of Education. They hire experts to compile the textbooks. These specialists focus on the system of knowledge, ignoring the students’ interests and abilities to learn. Students spend all their time on these textbooks. They memorize the contents to get good grades. If they can get good grades, they can go to better universities. If they can graduate from better universities, they can get better jobs with higher salary. That’s the goal of their whole lives.

2. Students lack moral and ethical disciplines.

Most of our secondary schools in Taiwan neglect moral and ethical teaching. When students enter the workforce, they care only for themselves. In many workplaces, you can see people who just work for a paycheck instead of a purpose. They have no vision, no dream, and no ambition. They float along in life with a lot of complaint. This phenomenon is a failure of our education system. In our educational philosophy, there is no big-picture thinking, no inspirational and philanthropic spirits. Our education has created a lot of selfish, arrogant, short-sighted, and narrow-minded monsters. That’s the reason why our society is full of apathy and disorder.

The education system operates like a running train. Though there’s something wrong, it’s impossible to stop its momentum immediately. Yet if we acknowledge the problems now, when the train comes to a junction, we can change its course. It’s time to reform our education system.

My Autobiography (C1)

VPE's note: Tom's speech was delivered without a script, in accordance with what was suggested in the Competent Communication manual, in true Toastmasters fashion.



My Autobiography (C1)
Tom Liu
August 4, 2010