Seeing such progress
IT IS particularly satisfying for the Loughborough Speakers
Club to see the progress of our newer members, especially when English is not their first language.
From faltering steps when taking part in three minute topics, Serpil Akkaya has now completed five speech assignments from the training manual and is seen here collecting her Interim award. Her language skills have improved beyond measure and her speech at this meeting was to demonstrate “Using the voice effectively”.
Serpil told us a story about hard work, patience and not giving up when things go wrong in life. She illustrated this by explaining how long it takes for a bamboo tree in China to germinate and grow.
Not in the first year or the second but in the fifth year the bamboo flourishes at an amazing speed and grows to 27 metres height in just 6 weeks. All through that time the seed is nourished and cared for and Serpil asked us if we thought it would have grown without the care and attention lavished on it.
So if things go wrong, don’t be too hasty, the road to success is not always immediate but achieved with hard work and patience.
Serpil moved with her husband Suleyman and family from their home near Izmir in the west side of Turkey just over three years ago as Suleyman wanted to complete his Phd here at the University.
Both were working as teachers back in Turkey and it is Serpil’s ambition to get back into teaching again here. In the meantime you will find them selling delicious jacket potatoes in Churchgate, Loughborough. The rest of the programme included a fascinating journey to the Underworld from the fourth speech in our training manual covering gestures and body language. Christine Callaway used her imagination to the full describing this journey through woodlands, tunnels and caves full of bats and spiders webs to a distant lake where a vision of your ancestors could be seen to offer you a gift of the future. This was intended as a preparation for relaxation before embarking on an important project or presentation.
Kay Light gave a speech to the sixth assignment which covers vocabulary and word pictures. Kay chose to describe the incredible BBC TV series “Spy in the Wild” with all the animatronic animals that were used to get closer to many of the wild creatures nature has to offer. The incredible love, empathy and respect some of the wild animals show their dead companions is awe inspiring and Kay thought that series alone was well worth her TV licence. Following the interval Patricia Baker chaired the Topics session on the theme of Randomness. Choosing some obscure and testing topics like “Upsetting the Applecart”, “Personality Types”, “Lucky Mistakes” or “The Next 100 Years”.
Guest Bill Taylor was chosen as the best topics taker with his topic “News Sensationalism” by the Topics Evaluator James Gibson.
Vince Jupp and Nick Ajinkya both entertained with encouraging presentations on how to succeed as a speaker and how the evening went as a whole.
There is always an opportunity to learn something whether taking part or observing. There are printed readings for the newer people so they gain confidence in standing in front of an audience which can be quite daunting without practice. Everyone who attended the club had an opportunity to speak in some form whether it was as a Chair person, a Topics taker or an evaluator.
To find out how you can become a more confident speaker search loughboroughspeakers.org.uk or come along to one of the meetings held at John Storer House on the second and fourth Tuesday at 7.30pm.