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Speech 1A class. I felt excited actually. I normally feel excited about classes, new
classes in general, this one in particular. I had some sort of expectations as well because
its a core class that everyone takes, and I was being a part of it. And I wanted to
test myself in the language matter. So I was going to be able to stand in front of people
from what I heard and deliver a speech. So I was very, very excited. More than normal.
The thing about accent, I in general, I always felt that in language there is just this thing
about the norm and the different accent from the norm. So I didn't feel that much different
in terms of I wasn't speaking right. I knew there was a different sound coming out of
my mouth. But Iknew that it was understood, every word I said. So I didn't feel that bad.
I was just going forward. I just wanted to demonstrate to myself that even though the
sounds were coming different out of my mouth, I was going to be understood. And I was going
to be able to deliver the message that I wanted to deliver. That is my personality, that I
just want to make things clear. When I have a discussion with people, I just want to make
things clear. So accent was not part of the formula. It was not part of the addition.
It was out, actually.
In grammar, I'm a grammar geek even in my own language. Some people tell me that I'm
obnoxious; you know, I'm very, very picky. So if I was going to use another language,
I was going to make sure I was doing it the right way all the time. So I would put some
extra time to rephrase the sentences or reread the grammar rules. And To make sure I was
on the right path. So grammar wasn't an issue in terms of I was afraid to make a mistake.
As a matter of fact, I wanted to make mistakes so that people would correct me. And I have
some sort of good memory so from my mistakes I learn. The philosophy was the more mistakes
I made while I spoke I would be able to remember for the future.
If I was nervous before the class, I would say that scale from 1-10 if one is less, I
could say I was a 2, no more than 2 because I like the challenges. I always developed
that sense of, as I said before, I wanted to communicate my ideas. I wanted to be sure
I was dominating the aspect of being in front of people. So nervous about the class itself?
No, it was more a mixture of excited and anxiety more than nervousness.
Techniques to improve my accent? That I cannot answer specifically. I would say the only
technique I used was practice, a lot of practice. Because I still feel that I have a different
sound from the norm because I will always want to be sure having an accent does mean
"Hey, you have an accent." It means you have a different accent from the norm. So it's
going to come out different, but the practice I had was based on the muscles. Muscle memory.
I tried to make more muscle memory. All the time. And I recorded myself and I heard myself
to see how close it came to the accent that I heard on the outside. So it was just a lot
of practice, a lot of self-criticism, and a lot of objective observation of what was
coming out of my mouth. Because may be the sounds were a little close to what I was hearing
but still the different languages, not just English and my native, they have a different
pitch. So Iwas noticing that whenever I said a word, where the sound was really close to
the accent still had a different pitch because I was used to the pitch of my own language.
So I started to work more on that. And even now I feel it's a little different still.
I still have to keep trying and trying. Not because there is a rule that I have to follow.
It's just my personality. I want to get it where it is close to perfect, not perfect,
but close to perfect.
Sure. I recorded myself using just a recording machine and video when it was time to deliver
the speech. Practice with the accent was first letters, words, phrases, then sentences just
to get the phrasing and how the intonation goes in every sentence. And comparing to how
people said it. Because I had to learn how the words come down in English compared to
my own language. I recorded with just a recording machine or a video, and I said words different
ways, three or four different ways, to compare which was the closest to what I heard. We
all know that we don't recognize our own voices when we hear ourselves. So I recorded myself
in different ways. Once I heard the one that was close to what I hear from different people
on the outside. Then I try to remember. Everything started with the practice.
The biggest challenge was how to control your body reactions. Because I was not afraid.
I did not have the fear of speaking in public. I was excited actually. I was eager. But I
did not realize what was happening. About my body reactions was that I sweat too much,
too much, to be precise. Too much for my likes. And I didn't know why it was happening. But
then I found out after going through the class after learning the theory about how to deliver
a speech and all the techniques that you are taught. I discovered that it was more about
my body warming up because of the energy I used when I thought and I tried to remember
what to say. So I learned how to control it by preparing myself better. So the less I
thought about it the less I sweated. And I just learned and learned and learned how to
control it. That was the biggest challenge for me.
Well, Speech 1A gave me the tools to be able to deal with different kind of speech later.
I was able to have the theory in my hand to apply it later. That was the big benefit.
It was a catapult. For me to confirm something, I wanted to test this. I wanted to do it.
I want to do it this way. With that class, I had the theory. It's like having a manual,
a book. And then you go and test that theory everywhere you go. It's just the biggest benefit.
I know from that class that I can apply it not just to speech I can apply that same theory
to even writing. So that phrase, for instance, "you have to write as you speak," it does
apply to me. When I write, I try to write as close as I do when I speak because that
class gave me the tools, the conviction to be confident that you speak well. If you speak
well, then you will be able to write well if you write as you speak. So the tools to
be confident.
First, the Speech 1A class opened doors for me; in the lower level it gave me the jump
to go onto the speech and debate team. I first participated in the intramurals in the class.
That gave me the jump into the speech and debate team. And with the team I competed
nationally. And, what do you know, I was able to pull off a championship. I was so happy
then. But after that what made me realize once you get to that point. I remember that
I had the question from one of my teachers on the team:
" So, Hey you won. Congratulations." "Yea, thank you, thank you. It is awesome."
"So what's next. How do you feel?" "Yea, what's next?"
You feel like you've done it. Right? You have something else now. Achieving certain goals.
You reach roofs to one point and the other. At that point, based on the question "what
doors that championship opened for me," I just say it gave me more eagerness to achieve
something similar but in real life. In real life.
Sure, I would like to say something to those non-native speakers that want to avoid speech
1A class maybe. Actually, they cannot avoid it. It's a core class. It's something they
have to take. The difference with me is that it was something that I wanted to take. So
my advice is actually that you have to go through...... I mean you are here. You are
going to take that class and you are going to go through it. You've got to have fun learning
it. How are you going to have fun learning it? Two ways: One you are going to learn tools
that you need for the future in society. Everywhere you go you have to communicate. Everything
you do you are going to have to speak to communicate, to transfer you your message clearly. So,
Non-Native Speakers, you have to learn those tools. The second way you can have fun is
by pretending its' a game, a game where you actually learn to perform. It's not your native
lang? Forget about the sounds, forget about the lang, just have fun mimicking; have fun
trying to pretend that you are somebody else. In the process, you are going to learn that
actually you are good at it. In the process, you are going to learn that you can do it.
Even, who knows, you might find you want to do it at a higher level.