Welcome to our club HP
Hi, the new comers and those considering to join us.

Regular meeting #492 was held on September 22, 2018 with 13 members and 2 guests.

Word of the day:
＊ It is one of the grammarian’s roles to choose one English word/phrase and all attendees are encouraged to use it during the meeting.

TM M. I. introduced “seasoned”, which has mainly two meanings. (Seasoned someone is a person who has a lot of experiences. Seasoned food has salt, pepper etc. added to it.) This model sentence is a joke. You see why?
                                                              <JOKE SESSION>
＊Joke Master delivers a few funny stories.

Today’s joke master TM N. N. delivered some.
For example, a former prime minister Yoshida(吉田茂)
said “GHQ means Go Home Quickly.” (GHQ is The General Headquarters of Allied occupation army in Japan after WW II)

<PREPARED SPEECH SESSION>
＊All the prepared speakers deliver their speeches, of which the objectives are based on the manual of Toastmasters International.

Toastmaster of the day (TMOD) had asked a question in advance. Today’s was “Why did you select the theme?”

1^st speaker TM K. K. Title; ” A Tour to Three North-European Countries” (5-7 minutes)
His answer to TMOD was “I am just in the mood to introduce the region I like the most.”
He explained the difference between three Scandinavian countries and Finland. We learned the uniqueness of Finland, having Asian elements a lot. 

2^nd speaker TM L.C. Title; “My English Learning Experience” (4-6 minutes)
His answer was “Since this is an English club, I think our fellow members may be interested in this topic.”
He talked about his personal history of learning English. Even having learned English so many years at school, it was not satisfactory, which we all sympathized with. Joining STMC was not effective to raise his TOEIC score, but very effective to have a great confidence in speaking English.  (Applause)
                                    
3^rd speaker TM H. S. Title; “My Wonderful Time” (5-7 minutes)
Her answer was” I think that happy things must be shared with everyone.”
When we have new neighbors, we are often given a greeting gift. She wanted to give something back to them and figured out her way of return. She returned something of her own making. Look at her wonderful beadwork! 

<TABLE TOPICS SESSION>
＊Table Topics Master gives questions to a few attendees he/she calls on.

Today seasoned TM A. T. prepared unexpected questions. For example, “If God appears in your dream and says, “You can live until 200 years old”, how do you answer to God?” “If you have a chance to become somebody one month only, who do you want to be?”
                                          
<EVALUATION SESSION>
＊Evaluators are supposed to give some constructive evaluations to the prepared speakers, respectively.
TM T. K. conducted the session.     
TM K. T. appreciated TM K. K.’s dedication as a speaker taking over the role on short notice in place of someone who cancelled it. While TM K. T. praised the speech for giving precise knowledge on North European countries in terms of topography, people living there and their language using visual aids effectively, he pointed out that it lacked some personal touch that would have made the audience feel the topic more familiar.

TM A. M. praised that TM S. H. captured the attention of the audience successfully, showing her wonderful beadwork. He also mentioned her wonderful way of developing the story, and congratulated her on broadening her horizon, as an instructor of beadwork.

<Model Speech and Discussion>
           
We usually have four prepared speakers, but as the fourth speaker could not join the meeting, we watched the video “2018 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking” instead.
The facilitator, TM K. K., asked the floor for the impressions of her speech. The contents were not really profound, but her persuasive speaking with confidence was to be appreciated. There were pros and cons over her dynamic stance, movements and gestures.

<AWARD PRESENTATION>
TMOD award       TM K. K. for his playing two roles; a prepared speaker and 
                                                                     the discussion facilitator on short notice.
Best Table Topics Speaker     TM N. N.
Best Evaluator                         TM H. T.
Best Prepared Speaker           TM L. C.
                                         

The guests seemed to have enjoyed this meeting as well.

We had a discussion session before the regular meeting. Today we talked about fast-food, like MacDonald’s or KFC. It is nice to speak English in totally casual and friendly atmosphere.
                                         

                                                                      By Y. W. and M. I.   Photo by M. I.

Welcome to our club HP

Regular Meeting #491 was held on September 8, 2018 with 16 members.
We had a guest, Area 55 Director TM John Plets.
                

Word of the day: “one’s cup of tea & a piece of cake” (One’s cup of tea means the activity the person is good at. A piece of cake means a very easy thing to do.)
During the meeting, the speakers used those two phrases so many times.

<JOKE SESSION>
Joke master TM K. I. told funny stories.
Two women talked about requirements of a perfect son. No drinking habit, no problems of girlfriends and so on. One said her son cleared every requirement.
But her son turned out to be just six months old. No wnder!   
                                                                
<PREPARED SPEECH SESSION>
1^st speaker   TM Y. W.   Title;” Introduce The Speaker”
According to his speech objectives, he introduced the other speakers on behalf of TMOD. He introduced them quite naturally and smoothly.

2^nd speaker     TM T. K.    Title; “The mirror gives me survival power”  (5 – 7 minutes) He has suffered from serious disease. It is tough to fight against it. 
In his entrance hall, there is a huge mirror, which has reflected his family life.
He said “Looking at the mirror gives me survival power.”, because every time he looks at it, he finds himself in the mirror. He can sense existence of life, which encourages him to do his best to keep the best quality of life.
                                         
3^rd speaker       TM E. M.     Title;” Tapestry”    (5 – 7minutes)
It was about his son in his 40s. He had been worried about his son being still single. But recently he found his bride! He congratulated them and delivered message, quoting a song “Ito” by Miyuki Nakajima. Marriage is like weaving a tapestry with husband’s vertical thread and wife’s horizontal thread.
                        
4^th speaker       TM Y. U.   Title;” The contribution in informal activities”   (3 – 4 minutes)His speech objectives are to present an award with dignity and grace. He thanked TM T. O. for his long-term contribution to the informal activities of STMC. He gave an award to him. All members applauded enthusiastically.   

<TABLE TOPICS SESSION>
TM Y, H. asked questions related to this season, such as protection from heat attack, typhoon, autumn incentives for reading and trip.
TM J.P. talked about typhoon. As he is from Arizona, where it rarely rains, even typhoon was a new experience for him. He felt that companies might be too paranoid about giving employees typhoon leave.  
                                                    
<EVALUATION SESSION>
Four evaluators gave 3-minute warm evaluations, respectively.
Today’s meeting was especially heart-warming. It was like the speech title of TM E. M. We can share the feelings of life events and every member is either horizontal thread or vertical thread, weaving a tapestry of our own.

＜AWARD　PRESENTATION>
TMOD award                         TM A. M.    for his having a role on short notice
Best Table Topics Speaker   TM J. P.
Best Evaluator                       TM T. O.               
Best Prepared Speaker         TM T. K.   

<DECLATATION AND INDUCTION CEREMONY>
Mr. T. O. declared his will to join us and was unanimously accepted.
                 He made the induction speech. 
                  Congratulations.

                                        By H. S. and M. I.      Photos by T. I. and M. I.