I am a Toastmaster!

Finally, our English Enhancement Program (EEP) was officially ended. I must thanked Mr. Chin for giving us(Eta and me) an opportunity to join the program even though the program is actually for new lecturers. I have attended similar course in Politeknik as well and we called it EEC (Effective English Communication) organised by JPA. Through the program I was able to get to know new Politeknik staff especially the Director’s daughter. Mmm...this saying is really true, “Don’t judge the book by its cover”. Previously, we assumed that the Director’s daughter was a snobbish person, but actually she doesn’t. She is really friendly and generous with her smile.

Mm..the flow of the program was quite boring on the 1^st and 2^nd day. But on the 3^rd day, I began to feel the excitement because we had a public speaking session. And to make it more interesting, there will be an award waiting for the best speaker. All participants were given 3 minutes to deliver their speech. I really like this part because I can show to them the skills that Toastmaster had taught me all this while. This is one of the reason why we(Eta and me) volunteered ourselves to join this course at a very first place. I do not mean to look down on the other participants; I knew that most of them were very good in English especially the Director’s daughter and one of her friend. Both of them have been studied in overseas once and it was undeniable that both of them speak very fluently in English. But, after all, we took this as a challenge because we will never have this opportunity to speak in front of non-toastmaster member.

I choose PPSMTI as my topic. I choose this topic simply because of it relates to all lecturers who attended the course. My speech goes like this:

“I was reading a book last few weeks and really attracted to this quote, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”. There was a deep meaning behind it. This is how I am going to relate it with my daily life especially in my profession as a lecturer. I realized that, by hook or by crook by now we’re supposed to conduct our lecture in English.

To be plain, for me it is a very challenging task. I often seek for excuses why I can’t really implement this method and those excuses were most likely blaming the management for simply commanding us to change the way we’re teaching now drastically, or blaming the students because they don’t understand English rather than try to make small effort to improve myself first. There are questions that keep buzzing in my ears? How to start? Where to start? Do I have the boldness? What if the students laugh at me? And etc..

However, there are 3 things that made me change my view. Firstly, Politeknik students need help. If you as a lecturer couldn’t help them then who else in the outside world could help them? We need to transform ourselves first before we can transform our student. In future, I’m sure we would be proud of them for being able to compete with the University students.

Secondly, the reference books are mostly written in English. Why do we need to double our task? We can convey the knowledge directly to the student without translating it. If we conduct the lesson in Malay than we have to translate the whole books in order to make the lecture more effective. Why do we need to do so if we have an option to choose? Ask yourself?

Thirdly, it’s my personal gain. I’ve set in mind that by conducting the lecture in English, it will benefit me as well as the students themselves. I can enhance and improve my communication skill where as the students could experience the new environment of their lecture class. Love your profession. Let your passion drive your profession. So it is a win win situation.

What I’m going to emphasize here is that I’m urging my fellow intelligent friends to light a candle by improving ourselves and enlighten others especially our students. A man was picking up starfish on the beach and threw them into the sea. Another man approached him and asked, “There are thousand of starfish here, and how are you going to return them all to their place?” The other man smiled and answered, “At least, I’ve made a difference to this one…” and continued throwing the starfish into the sea. So, why are we here, it is just simply because we are the chosen one…For me, I can. Therefore, I will…how about you. Thank you…”

Surprisingly, I received an awesome response from the audiences. Marcus, one of the facilitator then told me that he does not have comment at all. He said that I just prove to them that I am a Toastmaster indeed. Thanks God, I did well. In the evening, he asked for my name and my IC number. Eta said, “Daily, I am sure that you will be the best speaker”. Well, let me shorten how the story goes...During the closing on Thursday evening, Eta announced (she was the emcee of the day) the best speaker. “The best speaker award goes to.....jeng jeng jeng...( My heart was unsettled and I heard my name was uttered by some of the audience)...Nor Haniza Bte Mustafar Kamar”. Mmm...at that moment, it was really hard for me to control my face expression because of my high expectation. I could see how proud the Director while giving the certificate to his own daughter. It was a lesson for me. I acted that I was not disturbed by the result and I went to meet Nor Haniza and congratulated her. I told her, she deserved to receive the award than me. She smiled and said to me that she was not trained in Toastmaster and admitted that there was a slight different between a Toastmaster member and non-Toastmaster member.

During the evening tea after the closing....Eta says “They took into account these 4 days to determine who is the best speaker” She told me that simply because she realized what was going on. I nodded. It was over then. We then went to the Seminar Room to take our bags and modules. Inside the room, we met with Marcus. Our final conversation with Marcus was really uplifted my spirit again and clarified everything. “Daily, I have something to tell you...Actually you’re the one who won the best speaker award but since you joined this course is counted as your KUDAPAN course only so you’re disqualified. The best speaker award is given to the 2^nd best speaker” So in the end, we achieved our mission, to prove that we are the Toastmasters...END..