While I was preparing a reply to Wahid da’s email below, I came across an email, which made me think differently. At the bottom of the Public speaking article, there is my email address and someone replied to me as below It was a gr8 column u wrote on public speakng in assam tribune....i honestly liked it a lot....i have prblms too regardng speakng in4rnt of audience....i literaly get out of my mind n c nthng...bt i sumhw manage......plz sugst sum tips.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was flabbergasted – I could not fathom that someone would be writing using shortened bits of language like “gr8” and “in4rnt” while the article is all about the use of vivid, powerful language and right words!! Is this technological evolution, or just laziness? Do they use text-speak because they no longer understand the boundaries of formal and informal English? For me, it looks like a simple decline in proper language skills, born out of a digitally literate culture that has grown too comfortable in an age of abbreviations. I have realized that the battle ahead is far difficult – it is an uphill task. At the same time, I am still hopeful and optimist – since I also have received several emails from students genuinely interested in enhancing speaking and writing skills. Thanks Ankur
________________________________ From: Wahid Saleh - Indiawijzer <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected]; 'North East' <[email protected]> Cc: 'assam org' <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 3:41 PM Subject: [FriendsofAssamNE] RE: [SupportAChild-Assam] Toastmasters and public speaking Dear Ankur, It is good that you are once again bringing this subject for discussion. As this subject is dear to my heart, I was keeping track of its development in the NE. As you know it is an old issue, a pet issue of FASS which in the past was discussed on various occasions but did not take off.. 1. In April 2008 the Guwahati chapter had a discussion with one Mr.Deepak Menon where it was planned to have Toastmasters sessions in institutions like Axam Jatiya Vidyalaya, NERIM, Handique Girls College, Guwahati Gymkhana, Sudmerson Hall etc. Former Secretary of FASS Guwahati played also a role. The other persons involved as far as I know were Swapan Jyoti Sarma and Mitali Goswami. See also Project no.6: Toastmasters /Public Speaking Club (NEIIM-2010) e- mail from me to you all dated 21/10/09). 2. In those days in one of his e-mails to Mr. Swapan Jyoti Sarma Partha mentioned the following: Quote: Regarding the Toastmasters, I think if I remember correctly, you were the Best Debator/Oractor in 1984 in Cotton? It will be good to re-start our dialogue that we had earlier. It is important to build the next set of leaders and public speakers - and what better way than to setup the Toastmasters clubs in different parts of the North East - all networking amongst themselves. Being able to speak in confidence is a lot of value addition - for our students and for professionals as well. Some of the NERIM students that I interacted with last time - spoke very eloquently and with confidence. I have some questions about this - what is the general feeling amongst students about being able to stand up and speak impromptu? My personal observation has been - a lot of students dont come forward because of stage "fear", fear of rejection, fear of failure - perhaps even introverts. In Cotton college, I saw that these activities were not encouraged at all during the HS years (I dont know about the later courses). In NIT Jamshedpur, I had a senior (Malayalee from Guwahati) who had outstanding capabilities as an orator. One day in first year, the Literary Debating Society organized a debate "Nationalization of Banks -the impact on Indian Economy". This senior got me signed up for it at the last minute - basically forced me into joining the debate. He got another senior to help me with the materials - 5 minutes before the debate. I flopped badly in that debate - not knowing what to say - but I got through 3 minutes of it somehow.That was a good thing to have happened. Lessons learned? That forced me to realize that this is an important asset and the need to build it. How did this senior develop this kind of skills so early? His parents encouraged him from childhood to speak up, his mom who was a teacher in KV Noonmati got him into the interschool debating groups - once you have the flow, there is no going back. Anthony, that senior, went on to get the most Coveted Job (one of 3) in campus for his batch - TELCO Sales (this before the IT revolution happened). Unquote To me his points are still valid. 3. In July 2009 I touched upon this topic with Dr. Rajiv Doley re introducing Toastmaster session at Tezpur University. 4. In the same period FASS was going to work with Sanjeev Sabhapandit, the national award winning film maker for a book reading club in Guwahati and other parts of North East. So my request to you is before you reinvent the wheel go through the old files and see why FASS failed in its attempt to introduce Toastmasters sessions in the NE and what lessons we can learn from the past. But the choice is yours! Greetings and best wishes, Wahid da From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ankur Bora Sent: Thursday, 14-11-2013 21:24 To: Support a child; [email protected]; North East Cc: assam org Subject: [SupportAChild-Assam] Toastmasters and public speaking Please find the following article about Toastmasters and the art of public speaking , published in Assam Tribune. http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/showpage.asp?id=Horizon,1,750,372,669,1281 I have been trying to open a Toastmaster / or a public speaking club in Assam and North East. For that , we will need interested person, locally. I hope that someone would come forward. Thanks Ankur dallas , Texas __._,_.___ Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe __,_._,___ _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
