"This I Believe" Speech Video & Music Video

My speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd2xuH9Pva0

Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBxAL33l54

reflection on writing final project essay

At this point I am pretty much done with my final project essay. I used all the materials that I have on my mind so far. However, considering from another angle, I have not yet started to practice delivering my speech, which can be another time consuming task in that I am never good at reciting. As a result, I think I am keeping a good pace.

There were a few difficult moments that I stumbled when I was trying to get done my final essay.  At first I overthought, thinking that I have to cover all my beliefs and the rules I abide by. After realizing that this was probably not going to work, I altered my goal to focus on only one of my points of view instead. In this way, it is way easier to illustrate and deliver my point to the audience. Also, when I changed my goal, I changed my strategies accordingly. Unlike before I tried to tell several little stories, I concentrated on one events that means the most to me, which is my experience of recording my own song. It occurred to me that this was the right decision because this only happened less than have a year ago, when I started to write, ideas and details of this event just came to me naturally. Compared to the confusions I had earlier, it did not take me too long to finish the first draft in that I already had everything I wanted to say on my mind. 

Now that most of my problems are fixed, I will only focus on delivering. After reading my essay word for word, I corrected a few mistakes and changed a few sentences that did not sound right. It turns out that to proofread is a good way to enhance the quality of essays. In the future, I will practice more because it helps with my delivery too. 

First Draft for "This I believe"

Hello, everyone. If it is not this speech, I bet that most of my fellow students had not yet pondered this philosophical question of “what I believe.” And yes, I am one of you guys who find it hard to answer this question. As a result, instead of getting into the point of what my faith is, I will talk about my passion instead.

Music is my life passion. However, I never knew my greatest passion would lead to one of my toughest challenges. Last summer, I started an internship at a music company. Seeing my potentials, the company decided to let me produce a song about the compelling history of my city. 

As both the singer and the lyricist, I was only given five days to write and record the song. I was simultaneously excited and concerned about the heavy task in that most of my city's history is buried underground due to the bombing during WWII.

After three days of visiting the oldest neighborhoods in the city, I discovered a story that triggered my sparks: a pilot was to leave for war the day before his wedding. Before he left on his jet, he circled the airport three times and dropped a letter to his fiancée, promising to marry her if he came back safely. 

I was deeply moved by this tale, but I wanted to get more in depth background knowledge before I started writing. Therefore, I spent three days in Chongqing Municipal Library to find more evidence. I even found a writer who had interviewed the pilot's wife. He told me more about the couple's love. After the research, I spent a whole day in my room, picking my lyrics word for word.

When I played the demo for the director, he was incredibly impressed, and he even let me use the finest studio in the city to record my song. After this, I went over the standard process of a new musician to produce the music video. When I held the first copy of the CD in my hand, I could not control my excitement. I repeated in my mind over and over "I am an musician now." I realized that this could be the beginning of my music career.

After I moved away from my family three years ago, it was not uncommon for me to face challenges in my life, but I always remembered one thing: it is in times of great pressure that wonderful works can be produced. And this I believe.

Proposal for Final Project

My final project "This I believe" speech will be talking about the alternation of the insight of myself, or in another way, how I changed to be the person I am over the years after I came to Cheshire Academy.

I am sure that no matter how mature you are right now, when you were my age, everyone had suffered from being lost in this beautiful world, even losing their identity. Not even my favorite writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, it is the progress we make, the every step we take at this age makes it the best years of our lives. And this is the reason why this is my senior speech is going to be about this.

I will carry my topic with a few stories in order to involve the audience and not to be boring.

First I will talk about the story of how I became a Post Graduate student in Cheshire as well as my feeling of being one. This is a very unique identity as both an international student and also a PG. To explain the reason for the fact, I will then take a step forward and talk about how I changed from a student who loved math and physics to be more into history and social science.

The second change I will talk about is the change of being abroad. Being away with family was not easy for a fifteen-year-old. When I packed my stuff and went to the airport, I literally felt my world was only a bag by my side. I have faced challenges that I had no idea I could overcome again and again. Every time, there are a hundred thoughts in my mind, but what I have never thought of is to give up. I feel like this would be a good topic because it reflects the most authentic feeling deep in my heart.

Outline for speech "This I believe"

Thesis: my speech will focus on changes. (1) the change I faced after coming to a America (2)change on my personal pursuit

point i
i will emphasize on my separation with family. I have to live by myself at the age of 15, facing every challenge with my bare arms.

point ii
As I gained more knowledge, I started to ponder what my life should be like. I changed from a boy who take a vow to achieve greatness to a man who tries to experience the true taste of life.

Reflection on the old "This I believe speeches"

I first read the one by the German student. She added a lot of sense humors, for example, saying what she always expected was a letter from Hogwarts. Other dictions like her families furniture "floating on the Atlantic" was also very vivid. Her words gave her speech a graphic sense of reality as an internationals student who moved to America with her family. It is a really good speech and I don't think there is anything bad about it.

The second speech I read had me confused in the beginning. I did not understand how "a life like TV show" is "where we are either always in the right, or are always forgiven." After finishing the first page I still did not see what her points are. In my speech I will probably give out my points straightforward.

What I learned from this two speeches is that: first, I need more sense of humor. When I read the first speech, my interest was immediately grasped. I want the same effect on my audience. Second, I need to be more straightforward about my opinion, in other words, what is the thing that I believe, which the second speech did not do se well. I will mind that.

Teach a skill video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jxr-y-tc2E

At one point of our lives, I am sure all of us sitting here had developed an impulse to start writing. Whether it's your own novel, or journals. You want to pick up your pens to create your own world. Today, I am going to tell you how to start writing.

First, you don't have to know what you are going to write before you start writing. It is not that material does not matter: To be clear, I am not here to tell you about your contents; instead, I am here to tell you how to make writing your unalienable habit. Being physically ready is not a key factor for being a successful writer -- many writers, like one of my favorite Dostoyevsky suffered from his poverty and always write in a poor condition. Simply pick up your pen and sit in front of your desk, and I can tell you, you are ready.

Second, you need to grow a pattern. My favorite writer Haruki Murakami gets up at 5am every morning, runs for two hours and write until noon. As students, we don't have to follow such pattern, but certainly we need to develop our own. A pattern helps you to produce works steadily, which is an important premise for quality.

Third, and this is a good advise for beginners: if it is really hard for you to think about something to write about, you can practice on a different genre of writing, or even write about characters, scenes and dialogues, which are less time and energy consuming.

Literature is one of the most direct way for us to reflect the thoughts on our mind. Through writing, we will not only get the chance to introspect, we can also develop our ability to express our ideas, which is an essential social skill in modern day society.

notes

First, decide what you actually want to write. Getting down the bare minimums for your piece will help you construct a bare draft for whatever it is you’re planning to end with. Either jot it off on a sticky note and put it next to your notebook, or write it on the top of your Word document.

How long is whatever you’re trying to write? What are you writing about? Are there any other requirements you have to worry about? While you might know exactly what you need before you start to write, putting it down is a good way to focus your mind on exactly what you need to accomplish.

Make sure you’re interested in what you’re writing. If you aren’t fascinated with the subject you’re writing about, it will almost certainly show in your writing. If you don’t have a choice as to what to write about, try to find some element in your subject that interests you, and focus on it. If you’re just writing to finish whatever it is you’re supposed to write, getting yourself to write it will take much longer than if you take just a little time to get yourself interested.

Outline the basics of what you’re trying to get done. The most monotonous example of this, of course, is the five-paragraph essay most high schoolers are forced to learn about. While an overly-forced rubric can lead to an unoriginal paper, some structure can only help with your quickly jotting out a draft, which is the most important part of writing. If you have five pages to fill on a paper, decide how long you will write about each different point you have to make.

Outlining also helps with creative writing: even though creativity can’t be forced, it helps immensely to have a general idea of what’s going on in your story. Just look at Harry Potter, which concluded last month: the final book had strong ties with the six before it, even though it was written a full decade after the original book. Without some sense of direction, J. K. Rowling would never have been able to create such a powerful conclusion.

Stop everything else and concentrate on writing. The draft of any piece is almost always the hardest thing to write, since you have nothing to base your writing on. While you’re writing your draft, try to concentrate on it as much as possible. Turn off your instant messenger, if you have one on. Don’t take a break to check your email. Any interruption might destroy your focus on your piece, and it is far harder to return to writing a draft than it is to write it all in one go.

If your piece is a long one, this might not be entirely possible. Still, try to set aside at least an hour at a time when you’re trying to write, so you can get into the flow of your writing.

Lower your standards. Writer’s block really originates from high standards: often, you will sit down to write but not like what you’re producing. The trick to eliminating this? Stop worrying so much over whether or not every little bit you write is a good as it can be. Either way, you are probably going to have to return to your draft several times an revise it: don’t attempt to revise every line as you write it.

If you have a section you think is of a particularly low quality, make a note of it, but keep writing. Revision is when you’ll go back and fix all the errors you’ve written. The draft is just your chance to write quickly and get the foundations of your piece over with.

Take your time before revising. You won’t be able to assess your piece immediately after you’ve written it: give yourself time before looking over your work. Read a book, talk to friends, perhaps exercise… just make sure that when you go back to read over your draft, you’re in a different mindset than you were when you were first writing. If you spend too much time looking at your work, you won’t be able to revise objectively. There’s no rush to finishing your work after you’ve begun: just take your time and you’ll be far more able to produce a quality piece of work.

Short Version Presidential Speech

Ladies and gentlemen, today, I am running for the president of the United States as an independent candidate. 

After we all see, both the Democrats and Republican candidates have reveal their weaknesses: Donald Trump is not only accused for being unprofessional as a politician, and a being sexist and racist as well; on the other hand, Hillary Clinton, who has been called a “liar”, is surrounded by conspiracies and the email incident. Considering from every angle, both of the candidates representing the major parties are not good enough as the president of the United States. So I ask you to consider an option: vote for me, an independent candidate, to be your president.

Immigration is one of the key factors that keeps our country alive. It was the generations and generations of immigrants to the New World that made America a great country, and I promise you it still will be. Unlike the other candidates who restrict the immigrants shutting our financial and intellectual resources, I will encourage immigration. I will encourage our people to apply the "new manifest destiny," to explore the undiscovered land in our economy. To do this, we need the help from immigrants.

America is a great country, a country that everyone looks up upon. It is also undoubted that we have serious problems. But, no matter how difficult it is, I will help us get through it. Please, vote for me, so everyone will always be looking upon us. Thank you.

Independent Candidate Speach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jxr-y-tc2E&feature=youtu.be

Speech as Independent Presidential Candidate

Ladies and gentlemen, today, I am running for the president of the United States as an independent candidate. 

After the viewing the three presidential debates, both the Democrats and Republican candidates have reveal their weaknesses: Donald Trump is not only accused for being unprofessional as a politician, and a being sexist and racist as well; on the other hand, Hillary Clinton, who has been called a “liar”, is surrounded by conspiracies and the email incident. Considering from every angle, both of the candidates representing the major parties are not good enough as the president of the United States. As a result, I ask you to consider an option that has not ever being considered in the history of United States — I ask you to vote for me, an independent candidate, to be your president.

I believe you already know that, in order to attract votes, it is a common strategies for go to extremes on political opinions. However, that is not the option. I, unlike them, choose to adopt the pragmatic means.

The bad economic situation has already brought enough pressure to our middle class families, and overtaxation only made it worse. I am gonna change that. However, instead of dropping the taxation by an outrageous proportion, I will change the structure of taxation. I will take the burden from the poor, and put the tax on the business tycoons. I will encourage small businesses by subsiding them, which will boost our economy and keep it active.

America has the one of the strongest military power in the world thank to the massive amount of military funds. I will keep it this way. However, the great military power did not give us positive feedback in the hands of former government. ISIS is still thriving, and the Middle East is still uneasy. This does not deserve the effort we put in and the countless American soldiers lives. I will go in and destroy terrorist to ashes. Upon that, I will help the people build a government they want.

America is a great country, a country that everyone looks up upon. It is also undoubted that we have serious problems. But, no matter how difficult it is, I will help us get through it. Please, vote for me, so everyone will always be looking upon us. Thank you.

Comments on the third presidential debate

- Trump called Clinton "a nasty woman," which is unbearable because this is simply not respectful.
- Trump refused to accept the election's outcome, which is one way to admit that he is loosing.
- Trump said unwise things like "Putin would rather dealing with me," and Clinton attacked immediately "because he want a puppet as the president of USA."
- Trump almost lost his temper. This is a disaster in a debate.

Early in their careers, whilst Bob Dylan’s roots were deeply folk, John Lennon and The Beatles were ingrained in pop/rock n roll.
While Dylan’s expertise was lyrics (as it always has been) Lennon and McCartney were very much focused on catchy tunes.
As they moved into the 1970’s, in some respects a lot changed. John Lennon had a completely new way of life away from The Beatles, with such albums as Plastic Ono Band and Imagine he seemed to prove his superiority over his ex-song writing pal Paul McCartney. Lennon had progressed past his youth; his songs were more meaningful with more significant lyrics.
After Lennon was shot, Dylan entered the 1980’s not being able to maintain lyrics and melody and proved to be a 10 year long writer’s block, certainly the opinion of most. Infact it is only now, after minimal work in the 1990’s, he seems to be back on top.
more prolific and consistent than Bob Dylan

quantity does not mean anything.
nobel peace prize
weird? 

3 funny topics

- Bob Dylan v. John Lennon
- Woody Allen v. Quentin Tarantino
- Cats v. Chicago

Analysis of Second Presidential Debate

The second presidential debate from last Sunday was far more intense than the first one. This time, both of the Candidates were allowed to walk on the stage, which added more factors to the debate including body language, changing position on stage, and interaction with the audience. 

Both of the candidates was far more aggressive than the last time. They utilized a lot of ad hominem fallacy, attacking each other about their personal life instead of discussing the policies they are about to apply if they were elected president. Hillary Clinton once again said that Donald Trump "lives in an alternative reality", while Donald Trumps attacks her for deleting her emails. The application of ad hominem fallacy is a sword of Damocles -- by using it, the candidates put both of their own opinions in potential danger. While they attacked each others personalities and moralities, they were not really pointing out the flaws in their opponents'  ideologies. As a result, the audience would not be capable of understanding what is they advantages of their own methods. Moreover, making the audience believe that their opponents were bad is not going to cause much effective difference: the candidates probably did not realize that one do not to be morally flawless to be a good president. According to the Prince by Machiavelli, a good ruler sometimes have to neglect the disciplines of morality in order to rule the country in a better way. Ad hominem is a very bad strategies, which utilized a lot by both candidates.

Another fallacy which was employed by both candidates was avoiding the questions. For more than once both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tried to dodge the questions, coming up with somethings which sound similarly nature or make sense in someway, but are not logically correct. For example, when they were asked to give an opinion on what is good on the other candidate, Hillary Clinton went directly to talk about her appreciation to Donald Trump’s daughter — which is completely irrelevant to what a person Trump is. (Or may be it has a little bit to do with this because this indicates that Trump is a good father, but once again being a good father has nothing to do with being a good president.) Consequently, Clinton “wittily” dodged the question without pointing out any of Donald Trumps strength. However, what is not so witty is that she did not realize is that she dodged the question so obvious that it only took credibility down of her. Because she essentially refused to regard her opponent’s advantages seriously, the voters probably will not trust her judgement and capability as a president any more. On the other hand, Donald Trump, when he was asked the same question of what his opponent’s advantage was, he said that Hillary Clinton never gave up and fight for the things that she believe in. This might not be the perfect answer, but at least is over surpassed what was done by Hillary Clinton.

A good thing, if I have to admit, did by both candidates is that they were both concentrated and both responded adeptly and confidently. On stage, they appear like leaders. Even if they fail to be elected president, they will still be leaders in their own field with the quality of confidence and assertiveness they possess. 

Notes on Second Debate

- This debate, comparing to the first one, is more free-style because both candidates are allowed to walk around.

- They are both dodging a lot of questions. What's worse is that they are so obvious. For example, Hillary Clinton talked about Trumps kids when she was asked to talk about Trumps advantages.

- Both of them are very aggressive. Trump is more outrageous by saying Hillary Clinton should be "in jail." It is really a bad strategy for them to attack on each other(e.g. Hillary's email). Audience expect to listen to their policies instead of what kind of person they are. One do not have be a flawless person to run a country.

- I am a little bit disappointed. I remember the debate by Obama from last presidential campaign. In terms of debating skills, he is way more professional.

Rest of the world no strict rules.
Family rather than government.
Kids won't be so curious because they have access to it.
Decrease unsafe drinking activity. Starting at a young age, young adult will not be provoked to drink and drive when they get the license.

Lower the risk of breaking the law to get a drink.
The teenagers will drink no matter what the law is.
Drinking is an enjoyable activity. Eliminating the age to drink will decrease the alcohol induced injuries.
Eliminating the drinking age reflects unique demographic
Good for economy.

5 most famous debate topics

1. Homework is a waste of time

2. Assisting suicide should be legalized

3. Legalization the sale of human organs

4. Advertising is harmful and thus should be banned

5. Parents should be able to choose the sex of their children

- Appeal to Force: uses force to threat the other which is irrelevant to logic
- Red Herring: bring up irrelevant things to disturb audience from the original issue
- Slippery Slope: lead to a bigger topic(exaggeration) with every step that taken.
- Appeal to popularity(bandwagon): say what people like.(everybody support it, so it is true)
- False Cause: reason does not explain the fact.

LOGIC FALLACIES

Circular reasoning
- AKA paradoxical thinking, circular argument, circular cause and consequence, circular definition
- Description: A type of reasoning in which the proposition is supported by the premises, which is supported by the proposition, creating a circle in reasoning where no useful information is being shared.  This fallacy is often quite humorous.
- Logical Form:

X is true because of Y.

Y is true because of X.

- Example #2:

The Bible is the Word of God because God tells us it is... in the Bible.

Explanation: This is a very serious circular argument on which many people base their entire lives.  This is like getting an e-mail from a Nigerian prince, offering to give you his billion dollar fortune -- but only after you wire him a “good will” offering of $50,000.  Of course, you are skeptical until you read the final line in the e-mail that reads “I, prince Nubadola, assure you that this is my message, and it is legitimate.  You can trust this e-mail and any others that come from me.”  Now you know it is legitimate... because it says so in the e-mail.

Exception: Some philosophies state that we can never escape circular reasoning because the arguments always come back to axioms or first principles, but in those cases, the circles are very large and do manage to share useful information in determining the truth of the proposition.

Tip: Do your best to avoid circular arguments, as it will help you reason better because better reasoning is often a result of avoiding circular arguments.

https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/66/Circular-Reasoning


This is a interesting logic trick when someone uses a reason which is based on its own fact to explain the very fact. It is often very hard to detect because they might sound logical. This is called circular reasoning.

3 ELEMENTS OF ARGUMENT: how to make your argument persuasive
- Logos(logic)
Facts, statistics, evidence
value: hard to argue against (truth)/authrity
danger of overuse: less personal connection/ boring


- Pathos(appeal to emotion)
value: personal connection; strong response
danger of overuse: lose credibility/ less professional/ too much - turn people off


- Ethos(authority; credibility; character)(fair; honesty; trustworthy)
value: believe you/ unbiased
danger: lose focus of your argument

BALANCE

Last night’s presidential debate was the first debate between the presidential candidates that I paid attention to watch and took notes. It was very impressive how aggressive it got. It was also very interesting how my peers reactions were.

Since I am not a US citizen, I don’t have abundant information to decide who is a better choice to be president. As a result, I think I am pretty objective in terms of their debating skills judging only from last night’s performance.

Hilary Clinton is a very experienced public speaker. Being a politician for 30 years, she knows how to seize audience’s attention by heart. She started by focusing on the programs that she wants to emphasize on, which made it easier to build a point. During the course of the debate, she kept a smiling face, which made her same more affinity. She looked confident, but not aggressive, which is an attribute I like. She used personal anecdotes - the story of her father providing for her family as a middl-class. This improves people’s touch.

The disadvantages that she has is that she kept talking about her 30 years experience and attacks Trump for lack of experience. She said "when I was the secretary of state" at least three times. Authority and experience is good, but for debates bragging to much about it seems annoying. She also questioned Trump’s tax report and donation, which seems rather irrelevant for running for president.

On the other hand, I think Trump did a worse job. He was not very respectful because he interrupted Hillary many times which is not very polite. He kept emphasizing that America is in “deep deep trouble.” He pointed out Hillary’s problems directly, accusing her for not doing what she should have done in the last 30 years. However, he did not elaborate what his plan is going to be except for mention that he is going to cut the tax rate from 35% to 15%. Lack of detailed information makes his position seems unreliable.

REVIEW OF SPEECH

REVIEW OF SPEECH

This is my first speech that has been filmed and it was meaningful. There are a few things I learned:

- Although I am used to talk to a group of people, I am not comfortable talking to a camera.
- By watching my classmates, I learned that people don't usually talk the way they normally talk when they are on stage. I guess I am the same.
- After watching the video, I realized that I should probably look up more and have more eye contact to the audience.

Speech Video

https://youtu.be/fIaJW-ERUp8

I AM SPEECH

Leonardo da Vinci once said "Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen." We don't live at the times of Renaissance, and there is one advantage that we can take as modern human beings - technology. With technology, we can make miracles out of impossibles. This leads to my topic today - photography.

I believe that our interests have already been designed hand hidden deep down in our body. We use our life-long journey to discover the jade hidden inside the stones. My journey is not that much different. I knew it all the way that I loved visual art - actually one of the things that I enjoy most of coming to America is that there are so many fantastic museums - I can stare at Vincent van Gogh's "The Night Cafe" for 20 minutes. As you can see, I am a big fan of impressionism. Also as you know, one of the most essential point of impressionism is to capture the right moment - for example Claude Monet's "The Sunrise", he has to capture the exact moment of the sun bursting from the horizon. Impressionist painters' magic is to recreate the power of the moment.

But compare to painting, photographing has its own elegant attribute. I first picked up camera when I was in middle school. After receiving a few compliments, I started to take it seriously. I got my first digital single-lens camera and started to learn how to play with this new toy.

After I came to Cheshire Academy, I talked with the marketing & communication department. Now I am one of their interns, and I take pictures of lives in school, and they will use my work on school website. Also, I was invited by the American Diabetes Association to take photograph for an event in New York next month.

The point I want to make here is that it is not difficult or never too late to start as long as it's a thing that you truly like. My interest in photographing, you can call it a compromise for not able to paint or draw. But I worked on it continuously, so it is now a hobbit that I am proud of.

Bad TED Talk Classnotes

Henry's
- made joke at the beginning.
- not facing the audience

Tommy's
- speech does not match powerpoint
- monotone
- can't catch her breath

Jay's
- high-pitched voice

Ryan's
- yelling

Bad TED talk: the Master Yo-yo Player
http://www.ted.com/talks/black_my_journey_to_yo_yo_mastery
Altogether this is a fair TED talk. However, I would not give this one a score over 70 for a few reasons.
1. He has accent. English is probably not his first language, and it is obvious that he wants to keeps his sentences simple. However sometimes his words are still hard to understand with out subtitles.
2. His performance makes too much proportion of the TED talk. Since it is essentially a "talk", in order to spread his idea, he probably needs to focus more on the speech.

Morning Meeting Announcement:

This Friday, all the performers for the Mid-autumn festival please come to the rehearsal after school at the music classroom. If you and your partners have not submitted name of your song, please send an email to us so we can finish making the roaster by the end of this week.

Ted Talk 1
- came out with a question.
-  a lot of gestures
- clear structure: question, answer, solution
- humorous element
- good pace

2
- back to the audience
- em...

3
- can't see his eyes
- cool hand gestures
- humor

TED Talk: Female Superheroes

https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_bell_bring_on_the_female_superheroes#t-339659

Why I Choose Public Speaking

Oscar Tao

Mrs. Guarino

Public Speaking

Sept. 5th

                                              Why Am I Taking Public Speaking

As a student who only came to the state of Connecticut for the first time last week, there are a million of things that I don’t understand: new class schedule, new rules in a dorm — it is my first time boarding too. However, there was one thing that was crystal-clear to me: I need to improve my public speaking skills. As a matter of fact, Public Speaking is the only course that I chose to sign up instead of being arranged into. There is a major difference between the two ways: I feel like I am a cheetah haunting down a deer, with the desire in my eyes saying “I am coming after you.”

To explain the reasons why I winded up signing up for this half year course after two days into class, first it is necessary for me to talk about my understanding of the English language. I remember in his book Why The West Rules for Now, Ian Morris made the claim that English is and still will be a common language for the world for now and the days to come. No matter where you are from, it is an advantage to know how to speak English for the sake of both your personal convenience and others’ accurate understanding. Especially for a student born in a non-English-speaking country, I value this theory as one of my maxim: English is power. It is the bridge to communicate to the world. 

After realizing the importance of English, I started to take classes as well as self-study. Although it was not extremely helpful — I was only two chapters ahead of the rest of my class, this certainly gained me some confidence, and I was always the first one who raised hand in my English class. More importantly, this little confidence that I had was the resource of my impetus to put more effort in learning. Besides the advantage in English made me more confident, it gave me an opportunity to look into a different world with has been ignored by other kids. Through this crystal ball, I saw a New World which was discovered by the great Columbus in 1492.

However, the era of leading in English class ended when I moved to America. Even though I put more effort than my peers in China, I cannot compare with my classmates who are born to be English speakers, especially in oral English. Although I gradually got better by keep practicing daily speaking, the opportunities for me to speak in front of public is seldom. 

And this is the ultimate reason why I signed up for this course. Public speaking is a skill that everyone should possess and master in the twenty-first century. The ability to render an idea to the public is essential. Without it, teachers will not be able to teach classes, and CEO’s cannot tell their teams about the agenda. I hope I can improve my public speaking skills with the effort I put in during this Public Speaking class.

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