Project 5 - Your Body Speaks

Objectives:
-Use Stance, movement, gestures, facial expressions and eye contact to express your message and acheive your speech's purpose.
-Make your body language smooth and natural

Time: Five to seven minutes

Close Encounters by Choon Liang Yeo

Good evening fellow toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen

How many of you here like kids?

How many of you here are afraid of kids?

For me, it’s a love hate relationship.

Children, they bring us love, laughter, life and but they can also cause us to be traumatised, terrorised, and terrified. I do not have any children but my experiences with children over the past few months reconfirm the fact that kids can bring us both joy and fear.

This evening, I shall share with you my 3 encounters.

My first encounter was with a 2 year old boy named Louie.

That afternoon, I was invited to my colleague’s house for lunch. He needed some company as his wife is out of town and I was supposed to share the burden of babysitting.

Throughout lunch, Louie was running around, screaming and yelling. The irritable sounds disrupted the tranquillity of my meal. “What a nuisance” I thought. How I wish I could stuff a piece of rag in his mouth.

Somehow, my colleague seemed to sense my irritation. He suggested that he needed to wash his car and asked whether Louie would love to help. Louis nodded his head, and ran off to the bath room.

I sat there with my colleague for the next 15 minutes and I did not hear a word from Louie. I wondered what the boy was doing in the bath room. Out of curiosity, I walked to the bath room and Louie was there with his little toy car. Oh, that’s his interpretation of washing a car. Washing his “toy” car. All the frustration vanquished at that moment.

My next encounter is with an intelligent 5 year old boy Jayden.

I hitched a ride from my friend and her son Jayden was with her that night. Jayden began naming the capital of every country. This little boy started naming the countries that begin with, A, B, C, D and so on.

He went Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Chile. Woah! what a smart kid!

Later, he challenged me to name capitals of country. I asked him what is the capital of Britian, and he said London. Good! Now, it’s his turn to ask me. What is the capital of China? Beijing. How about the capital of Czech republic. Prague.

Next, he asked me what is the capital of Spain is. I froze for a second. Is the capital Madrid or Barcelona?

Both states are well known for their fearsome rivalry in football, is the capital Barcelona? I pondered for a quick 3 seconds, and somewhere at the back of my mind, the answer is Madrid. Madrid, I blurted out. Jayden gave me a smile.

Phew, I got it correct. I would need to do some revision on capitals of various countries before I meet him again.

Before I alighted, I teased Jayden. I told him that I will be visiting later in the evening and would be spending a night at his place. Around 10 pm that night, I received a text message from my friend. Jayden was asking where was I? I felt guilty teasing him!

Recently, I was invited to the Lantern Day celebration of my girlfriend’s friend. She is happily married with 2 kids, Aniq and Annisha, who are 7and 4 years old respectively. This is 3rd encounter with kids.

Once I stepped into the house, I was greeted, Uncle Choon! Uncle Choon! What? Don’t call me uncle, call me GorGor(way of addressing elder brother). Before I could take a seat, Aniq came to me with a net and a little plastic fish tank.

He wanted me to teach him to catch a bird? I tried to explain to him that it’s impossible to catch a bird with his small net, and further, he wanted to place a bird in his little plastic fish tank? My words fell on deaf ears, and he took my hand and headed towards the lift.

We spent the next 15 minutes searching high and low for a bird, but there wasn’t a single bird in sight. Was that a blessing or misfortune? No birds in sight saved me from attempting to catch a bird in public, but not seeing any birds meant we must spend more time looking till we found one!

Luckily, my ever trusty girlfriend came down shortly and dragged the “boys” up for dinner. I was saved for a moment.

After dinner, it was Annisha’s turn to torment me. She played, dolling up Uncle Choon. She placed a tiara on my head and burst out laughing. Aniq came and taunted me, calling me “Girly, girly.” I took the tiara off, and she would place it on my head again.

She even wanted to apply lipstick on me. I was brave enough to stop her this time.

As a kid, I would celebrate the Lantern festival by lighting rows of candles and placing them into lanterns. Once my parents are out of sight, these lanterns would mysteriously catch fire. This lantern festival was slightly different, as I ended up babysitting and being terrified.

Children. They are such a joy to watch, living in their own world, happy and carefree. I am glad that I am playing a part in their growing up journey. 10 years down the road, Uncle Choon will be around to reminisce the good old times.

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