So many men, so many English(es)!!

Good evening, my fellow members.

Every year the Christmas season reminds me of one of my personal experiences in the first university. Christmas season memory as it was, it was anything but being romantic! Or I should say, it is very “practical” memory. You’ll see what I said “practical” at the end of my speech.

I entered my first university in the year of 1974. My major was English and American literature. I studied very hard but towards the end of the freshman year, there was a big “awareness”. That is, in the university curriculum, the number of practical English class is very limited, almost nothing, I should say.

In those days, English conversation school was not so popular, so I had to find a chance for practicing daily use of English inside the campus. One of my friends belonged to ESS and she referred me to the president of the club. I got in touch with President and got an appointment next week.

On the day of the appointment of interview, I went to the club house and visited the room of the ESS. I knocked the door, hearing “Come in!” opened the door and went in. After my introduction he said, “OK, Mr Toyama, we welcome you. Here is the rule for being accepted as a full member of the ESS. First you are supposed to visit and observe the activities of four sections, that is, subgroups of the whole ESS. Those are “pronunciation” section, “discussion section”, “dram” section, and “debate section”. After observing each section’s activity, you are required to decide to which section you are going to belong. And next week you are to come back to this room with the name of the section you decide to be a member of. That is what the admission is all about.”

“Easy.”

I thought.

So on the next day my journey began.

The first day, I went to the “pronunciation section”. I knocked the door of the section, hearing the voice of “come in!” from within, opened the door, entered the room, and introduced myself to some of the senior students in there. The section chief, I think he must be, said, “We welcome you, Mr Toyama, but to my regret, your ‘r’ sound has some difficulty. Also your ‘f’ and ‘v’ sounds have a bit of strange accent. So by the next time you come to observe our activity, you are required to practice ‘rabbit’ for ‘r’ and ‘five’ for ‘f’ and ‘v’ at least five hundred times!”

I said,” thank you” and left the room, thinking I would never be back again to the room.

The next day, I visited “discussion section”.

I knocked the door of the section, hearing the voice of “come in!” from within, opened the door, entered the room, and introduced myself to some of the senior students in there. The section chief, I think he must be, said, “We welcome you, Mr.Toyama, and what you said will be accepted as the first opinion. Is there anyone who would give the second opinion? “  The students sitting next to the chief said, “I will give the second opinion. Mr. Toyama said his major is English and American literature, so I wonder whether being a member of “discussion section” of ESS would be of importance to his study.” Section chief said again, “OK, Mr. Toyama, could you develop your opinion further as the third opinion, please?”

I said ,”thank you for your kindness. Give me some more time” and left the room, thinking I would never be back again to the room.

The next day I visited “dram section”.

I knocked the door of the section, hearing the voice of “come in!” from within, opened the door, entered the room, and introduced myself to some of the senior students in there. The section chief, I think he must be, said, “WELCOME!!!! WE REALLY REALLY appreciate your interest in our section. COME OVER HERE! And have a cup of COFFEE!!  HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE, black or white. OH! You want it BLACK! THAT’s great!”

I said ,”thank you for your kindness. Give me some more time” and left the room, thinking I would never be back again to the room.

On the fourth day I was almost tired of visiting such strange group of people. The students of the previous sections seemed to me as those who came to the earth from another planet.

But anyhow the promise is the promise. I visited “debate section”. To tell you the truth, the word “debate” was new to me, so I had a little bit more of interest.

As always I knocked the door of the section, hearing the voice of “come in!” from within, opened the door, entered the room, and introduced myself to some of the senior students in there. The section chief, I think he must be, said, “We welcome you, Mr. Toyama. Just have a seat and I will let you know what debate is and what you are supposed to do if you belong to our section. If you have any question, please feel free to ask any time you want.”

At last, I could see a man of common sense!

I enjoyed chatting and talking with him and other members in the room. I felt very relaxed and just then when I noticed it began raining outside. I just said, “Oh, it is raining outside!”

Just then, the section chief saw me with a sharp look, and said,

“Mr. Toyama, you said it’s raining outside, didn’t you.

I answered taken aback by his sudden interrogation.

“Ye…Yes, I did…”

“You said it is raining outside, but let me cross-examine you. Have you ever seen raining inside?”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the “practical” memory of Christmas season of me. This experience taught me a lot about English learning. I realized English is just the language and it should be different according to the message we put in it. We don’t have to afraid of being different as long as we have a clear message worth communicating and sharing with others.

Lastly, my fellow toastmasters, which section, do you think, I chose. DEBATE. That was the very beginning of my almost ten years’ journey with dabete.

Thank you.

(1049words)