Johanna Fong:
"No, Mom, I really don't wanna go present! Can I just do it next time?" I whined in annoyance. My mom had enrolled me in a speech club, thinking it would help me be able to voice out my opinion more. This time, everyone had to prepare a dramatic interpretation. Although I was generally noisy and boisterous, I hated presenting in front of a group and having so many adult eyes peering at me over round metallic glasses, judging my every move. Having already postponed this interpretation for two meetings, my mother turned around to face the small 7 year old me, frustration etched across her face.
"Hanna! You do NOT have a choice in this. You better do it today, by hook or crook, or else you'll find yourself in deep, deep trouble!" Sulking, I stalked to the corner of the room and plopped down on the floor, rereading my script again with angry tears glittering in my eyes.
"This is so stupid. What's the point of learning how to speak anyway? It's not like I have to do speeches to earn money when I grow up!" I muttered to myself, brushing my hand over my face roughly to wipe away the beads of tears trickling down. Five years later, we dropped out of that speech club, and after around a year, we decided to join a newly-forming ICC chapter, never knowing how many skills this new decision would give me and the rest of my siblings.
The new chapter was called Christians In Action, ultimately switching to Communicators In Action. Although well-acquainted with some of the families, there were still new people to meet and greet. Unfortunately, this meant new people to present embarrassing speeches to. However, my mother persevered in bringing my four siblings and I to this chapter. Over the years, two of my older siblings dropped out due to busy schedules and universities, leaving me as the only one of my family in YSG. Disappointed to be left in ICC by my two sisters, I complained about the work load and my already tight schedule to my mother, begging her to allow me to quit ICC as well. My mother refused to allow me to stop and continued to force me to go every two weeks.
Fast forward one year. I would never have believed how much ICC helped me if I had not gone through the changing myself. As the only YSGer from our family, and also because many of the older YSGers left with the age limit and business, I finally learned to step out of my comfort zone. ICC truly honed my speaking skills, and I can even speak in public without awkwardly feeling like I want the earth to swallow me up. Sure, I still have "paiseh" moments when I forget my lines or do something horribly bizzare, but I have begun to even love public speaking. I realised that what I said when I was 7 was completely untrue, because ICC has granted me the skills and experience helping me to do well in debate and MUN (some CCAs I have gone to and am still doing! :)
Additionally, as one of the older one, I had to take responsibility and leadership qualities were ingrained into me.
Last year, I managed to finish YSG 1 in a month or two with the help of my older sister. YSG 1 was already challenging enough, but once YSG 2 started end of last year, I looked through the syllabus and gulped in apprehension. However, complacency got the better of me, and I only started YSG 2 this year. Thus, it has been difficult to rush through the 7 platforms and prepare all the speeches, but I'm immensly looking forward to finishing it before the conference in March. Throughout this journey, I have also developed a close relationship with the othe YSG 2s who are working together towards the same goal.
Also, special shoutout to my dearest duo interp partner! Having chosen to do the duo was one of the best choices, because my partner was so engaging! Together, we managed to finish all three interp platforms with boosts from the other YSG 2s and are working to finish the rest of our speeches.
In addition, I would like to voice out the fact that my first speech club DID allow me to be more open to learning and participating in public speaking. I really am thankful for my mother, who persistently made me go for all these clubs. So, to all those kids out there who think their moms are torturing them, think again HAHA.
ICC has changed my life thoroughly, and so now, I would like to change others with this skill it has given me. I thank God for this great gift of public speaking He has allowed me to learn, and I hope that you, too, have benefited as much from reading this as I have from writing this! Thank you!
"No, Mom, I really don't wanna go present! Can I just do it next time?" I whined in annoyance. My mom had enrolled me in a speech club, thinking it would help me be able to voice out my opinion more. This time, everyone had to prepare a dramatic interpretation. Although I was generally noisy and boisterous, I hated presenting in front of a group and having so many adult eyes peering at me over round metallic glasses, judging my every move. Having already postponed this interpretation for two meetings, my mother turned around to face the small 7 year old me, frustration etched across her face.
"Hanna! You do NOT have a choice in this. You better do it today, by hook or crook, or else you'll find yourself in deep, deep trouble!" Sulking, I stalked to the corner of the room and plopped down on the floor, rereading my script again with angry tears glittering in my eyes.
"This is so stupid. What's the point of learning how to speak anyway? It's not like I have to do speeches to earn money when I grow up!" I muttered to myself, brushing my hand over my face roughly to wipe away the beads of tears trickling down. Five years later, we dropped out of that speech club, and after around a year, we decided to join a newly-forming ICC chapter, never knowing how many skills this new decision would give me and the rest of my siblings.
The new chapter was called Christians In Action, ultimately switching to Communicators In Action. Although well-acquainted with some of the families, there were still new people to meet and greet. Unfortunately, this meant new people to present embarrassing speeches to. However, my mother persevered in bringing my four siblings and I to this chapter. Over the years, two of my older siblings dropped out due to busy schedules and universities, leaving me as the only one of my family in YSG. Disappointed to be left in ICC by my two sisters, I complained about the work load and my already tight schedule to my mother, begging her to allow me to quit ICC as well. My mother refused to allow me to stop and continued to force me to go every two weeks.
Fast forward one year. I would never have believed how much ICC helped me if I had not gone through the changing myself. As the only YSGer from our family, and also because many of the older YSGers left with the age limit and business, I finally learned to step out of my comfort zone. ICC truly honed my speaking skills, and I can even speak in public without awkwardly feeling like I want the earth to swallow me up. Sure, I still have "paiseh" moments when I forget my lines or do something horribly bizzare, but I have begun to even love public speaking. I realised that what I said when I was 7 was completely untrue, because ICC has granted me the skills and experience helping me to do well in debate and MUN (some CCAs I have gone to and am still doing! :)
Additionally, as one of the older one, I had to take responsibility and leadership qualities were ingrained into me.
Last year, I managed to finish YSG 1 in a month or two with the help of my older sister. YSG 1 was already challenging enough, but once YSG 2 started end of last year, I looked through the syllabus and gulped in apprehension. However, complacency got the better of me, and I only started YSG 2 this year. Thus, it has been difficult to rush through the 7 platforms and prepare all the speeches, but I'm immensly looking forward to finishing it before the conference in March. Throughout this journey, I have also developed a close relationship with the othe YSG 2s who are working together towards the same goal.
Also, special shoutout to my dearest duo interp partner! Having chosen to do the duo was one of the best choices, because my partner was so engaging! Together, we managed to finish all three interp platforms with boosts from the other YSG 2s and are working to finish the rest of our speeches.
In addition, I would like to voice out the fact that my first speech club DID allow me to be more open to learning and participating in public speaking. I really am thankful for my mother, who persistently made me go for all these clubs. So, to all those kids out there who think their moms are torturing them, think again HAHA.
ICC has changed my life thoroughly, and so now, I would like to change others with this skill it has given me. I thank God for this great gift of public speaking He has allowed me to learn, and I hope that you, too, have benefited as much from reading this as I have from writing this! Thank you!