On August4^th, Ms. Mao Nini from BHWM gave a lecture on the important topic of speech skills.

 

Ms. Mao began by asking the crowd the question, “What features do you think speakers share?” The answers she received were varied. She next explained what components lead to a successful speech: plan and preparation, structure and arrangement, design and visual aid, and proper demonstration.The speaker must also be passionate so that he/she can influence others; the speech must be special so that it can draw the eye.

 

Lastly, Ms. Mao warned us of a few things to be avoided when giving a speech: apologizing often, saying that time is limited, using clichés, and mistaking or incorrectly pronouncing peoples’ names. Those mentioned behaviors were likely to occur in the daily talk, so we had to be especially aware.

 

I learned a lot from that lecture. I was never very good at giving speeches, however after the lesson; I knew which aspects I needed to work at. No one is a born speaker, practice makes perfect. God helps those that help themselves.

 

There is an old Chinese saying, “One minute on the stage requires ten years of hard work.” It is an exaggerated truth to show the importance of preparation and practice. A good university needs a decade of study; a decent job needs decades of experience. No success is a one-time result.

 

A good example is the way in which one learns a foreign language. It is well known that vocabulary is a very crucial part to learning any language. In my experience of learning English, my class learned a hundred new words in one day and then we never touched the vocabulary book for the rest of the month. We were anxious to be fluent, but reluctant to repeat even the vocabulary. This is not the correct method in order to learn a language. In order to remember learned material, one should learn new words and then review those on a consistent basis. In brief, practice makes perfect.

 

 

Written by Shu Lu

University of International Business and Economy