Kebun Baru TMC as Language Evaluator, 15th August 2019

On the 15^th August, I visited Kebun Baru Toastmasters Club, as a language evaluator.  This was my 29^th club visit on the 46^th day of the Toastmaster year.

The Toastmaster of the Day was Sundari.  The table topics master was Suresh A., who was also the timer.  The ah counter was Hamsapriya Selvam.  The sergeant-at-arms was Anand Ariyarathinam.

The president, Alvin Ho’s opening address was also his project speech.  He spoke at length on how we judge people based on the way they dress.  He cited a story by Mulla Naswr ad-Din, from Persian Sufi literature, and the story of the dress.  He also showed picture of luminaries of the IT industry, and how they dressed at technology conventions.  This was an interesting insight on how different corporate culture can be from geek culture.

The second speech was by Vivian Wong Li An.  She played on the theme of “neighbours” to speak about her neighbours during the Chinese Seventh Month.  It was a fascinating look into Chinese mythology and beliefs, still prevalent nowadays, of spirits and ghosts.

Lisa Wong Pui Wan spoke about her time growing up, and how, coming from a traditional Chinese background, she hated studying English, and did poorly at school.  This changed when she had an English boyfriend.  She then told of how her father, in his forties then, worked very hard to learn English to connect with his children and grandchildren.  The story went full circle, from fearing to lose their Chinese heritage by learning English, to learning Chinese to reconnect with their culture, two generations down,

Brahmakumar Balakrishnan spoke about his time mentoring someone much older, a retired Lieutenant-Colonel, seeking to be a better public speaker, even in his latter years, and how that inspired him as well.  This shows us how continuous learning has no age limit.

Naveen Giri did a difficult project, managing a difficult audience.  We played the role of that difficult audience.  Naveen Giri spoke of his friend, “Mike” and their misadventures trying to get a date from their school years to their NS years to young adulthood.  It was hilarious;

The evaluators were Riddhi Kukreja, Sophia Ngo Thi Van, Hamsapriya Selvam, Willie Loh Chung Wei, and Li Shan Shan.

Best Speaker: Brahmakumar Balakrishnan;

Best Evaluator: Hamsapriya Selvam; and

Best Table Topics Speaker: Julie Ong P. S.