Transcribed by : Mallika Biswas
Gauri – Hello everybody! Welcome to Foundations TV. Our
guest today is Abhi Jain, who is a very enthusiastic member of the Toastmasters
Club from Shrewsbury which has been running for over a year now. This is run at
the ATFS Learning Center. So, welcome to Foundations TV , Abhi.
Abhi – Thank you for having me.
Gauri – You’re very welcome.
Why don’t we start talking about the club . Let’s tell our audiences what
your experiences has been and how long you’ve been part of this club and how
does it work.
Abhi – OK Sure. So I have started this club in Shrewsbury
one year ago and my experiences have been great. I have learnt a lot about
public speaking and I have been able to make a lot of friends and it has been a
great experience. So, the club is basically a group of 6 graders to 12 graders
.We meet every week and we practice public speaking in a variety of different
ways from games , debates, table topics and of course speeches. So, the club is
basically run with the set up as one speech per week with added games and
debates every week also and occasionally we also do some table topics.
Gauri – Wonderful! Did you think that being part of this
club actually built your confidence in public speaking?
Abhi – Oh definitely. Before I was always nervous and
embarrassed about what I was going to say, but after joining the club, I learnt
techniques to avoid that embarrassment and definitely built up my confidence.
So, I was able to deliver the speeches with more confidence and definitely
more………
Gauri – Just feel good about yourself and well prepared, is
that what it is?
Abhi – Yeah.
Gauri – OK, good, that is very nice. So how large of an
audience have you addressed?
Abhi – So, last year at the end of the Gavel Club, we were
giving speeches to an audience of about 100 people. So actually I took a lighter
side for my speech and did a Barack Obama impersonation.
Gauri – Oh, wow! That would be something to watch for sure
and may be even repeat sometime for us.
Abhi – Definitely.
Gauri – OK, Great . I also hear that this club is ready to
kick off once again this year and there is something special this year .So what
is that something special that we are doing this year.
Abhi – So, this year instead of just the Young Voices Gavel
Club from 6th graders to 12th
graders , we are also adding a Young Voices
Junior Club which is for 1st
graders to 5th graders. So, we are trying to get these kids into our
club and build their foundation for public speaking so that once they enter
middle school , high school and through their adult life, they can have the
skills to deliver when they have to speak in front of an audience.
Gauri – That’s super exciting. I think the philosophy is excellent
to get them prepared way ahead of time and it works in sync with the ATFS
learning philosophy as well. So, I think that’s a great initiative. So, are you
going to be involved with the Young Voices Junior Club as well?
Abhi – Yes, I will be teaching the Young Voices Junior Club
and it will definitely be a learning experience for me also because I have
never taught such young students before but I am looking forward to it and I am
really excited.
Gauri – That’s really nice. So do you have a minimum number
of students that you need absolutely to start this club?
Abhi - Yes, we are going to need five students to start this
club and as the club gets started and as we continue we are always looking to
add more people and definitely spread the word of this club.
Gauri – From what I
remember, that’s what happened last year too – you started with a smaller group
and as it progressed through the year , it expanded a lot because a lot of
other people got interested and they wanted to join it and it came out to be a
nice decent sized group at the end of the year.
Abhi – Definitely, last year we had leadership, so we had a
President, a Vice President and other
leaders and we were able to expand our club through newspaper articles ,
spreading the word- through word of mouth and it was great because we were able
to have 5 or 6 more people at the end of the year.
Gauri – Excellent! That’s all really good information and we
invite all our viewers to definitely come to an Open House which is happening
on Sunday the 29th September from 10 am to 11 am. So do definitely
come in. Abhi are you going to be available to talk to perspective members of
the club?
Abhi – Sure.
Gauri – OK, great!
He will be there and he will be able to answer any questions that you
have and the open house once again is on Sunday the 29th from 10 am
to 11 am. Thank you so much Abhi for sharing such good information with us
today.
Abhi – Thank you.
Gauri – Our next guest today is a young one who is part of
the Young Voices Junior Club and has been part of that for 2 years now. We have
Abha Chaudhury who is from Sharon, and she is going to share with us today some
good experiences of hers with this Young Voices Junior Club. So, tell us
something about the club. What’s fun and what do you like about it?
Abha – Ah, I mostly like the debates because you get to take
“somebody down”. You get to show them you are the boss! So I guess there is one experience where there are 2
famous books – I think you know, the first one is called “Harry Potter” and the
second one is called “ Percy Jackson” and so there is a show down and in the final round – it was me versus another guy and I was Percy Jackson
and he was Harry Potter.
Gauri – So, was it a debate?
Abha – Yes.
Gauri – OK.
Abha – We had to tell why our book was better than the other
one and so I guess the debate takes about 2 minutes and Percy Jackson won.
Gauri – Great! So was it a team or was it individually done.
Abha –Well, First it starts out as teams, then it becomes 2 individuals
.
Gauri – OK. How many kids are there in the club?
Abha – I think there’s about five.
Gauri – OK. Did you make some special friends in the group
as well?
Abha – Yes, there was one girl, her name is Navya.
Gauri – Great! At the end of the year, do you have some
presentation or something in front of a larger audience?
Abha – Yes, at the end of the year, we have something called
a picnic and it would be picked at some park I think. Last year we had it in
our house as it was raining. So, year before that it was a very good
experience. It was at Borderland Park. It’s very beautiful there.
Gauri – Did you get to speak for Public Speaking? Did you
get to talk in front of an audience as part of the group as well?
Abha – Yes, you had to prepare a speech and I think the one
there was “what’s your interest”.
Gauri – OK. So do you like talking in front of the audience?
Abha – Yes.
Gauri – Or, do you get nervous?
Abha – Well at first I was nervous, but you know the club
helps, so….
Gauri – That’s good to know and I think that opinion of
yours will be really helpful for our audiences who are watching today and who
are probably thinking of joining the Shrewsbury Young Voices Junior Club which
is scheduled to start pretty soon. So, that will be great and I definitely
invite you for the open house next week as well for Sunday the 29th
of September, in case we have young people come in and they have questions. So,
definitely come over and help them out with understanding how the club works.
Abha – Yes, definitely.
Gauri – Sounds good. Thank you so much Abha for joining us and the Foundations
TV today.
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