The Talking Traveller

Wow! I do believe that I have a new record! 7 comments on one blog entry! Thank you Pa, Erna(namens die Troskies), Allan, Stephan, Jacques,Shiela and Donne! You've all been a great inspiration and motivation for me throughout this year, I deeply appreciate it.

During this past week I have added my profile on Facebook (www.facebook.com). This is a handy website which you can use to find lost connections(school, varsity etc) and keep in touch with all your friends. It's very easy to set up and I have found friends that I haven't been in contact with for years. If anyone out there (whom I know and/or knows me) is one Facebook, come on, be my friend and poke me! 

To transfer my scooter onto my own name I had to get a Chinese name. What usually happens is that you, or somebody, preferably a Chinese person, chooses words that sound like your name. In my case we constructed the name Hai - en (Hi - un) which is a name, but if the words are translated individually is means "Sea of special kindness"

:)    Aaaaaahhhhhhh......so true...so true.

Ps. to be honest the photo here is wrong. It says En - Hai,not Hai-en, hehe, so I will just ask the stamp making person to do the 'ol switcharoo!!!

I wonder......yes it is! Exactly ONE amazing year ago a boy started on his mission to travel the world aiming to grow and focusing on his speaking abilities.
One year ago this boy was on a plane making his way to New Zealand, and he didn't even know where's Taiwan.

In one year this boy has been to these countries:
New Zealand
Australia
Scotland
England
Ireland
Netherlands
Belgium
South-Africa
Taiwan

This boy attended 7 McGuire Courses in those countries

This boy did the following jobs:
Pier-man assistant
Furniture mover
Household assistant (fancy name for cleaner)
Cook
Gardener
Animal Caretaker
Bouncer ( only for 5 hours.....)
Waiter
Exhibition Contractor
Barman
Master of Ceremonies
Teacher

In this time he attended 7 speaking club meetings, and appeared in 5 media articles.
His website receives a minimum average of 10 views per day, his YouTube video has been viewed over 615 times. 
His website had been linked to numerous McGuire websites and other stuttering resource pages.
During this time, this boy has spoken into approximately 7000 new faces.....or as he calls them, contacts.

This boy is not blowing his own horn......but thought this would be a good summary of what he has been doing in the last year so that people visiting his website for the first time could see.
This boy is wondering why he is referring to himself in the third person ?????
All this has cost him the price of a 2004 model Ford Fiesta 1.6i Trend

This boy is not a fluent speaker, but a recovering stammerer who is growing in becoming an eloquent speaker......

This boy is feeling happy about what he has accomplished in one year :) .....and is wondering if anyone out there who would dare leave a comment about their perspective on their own year, the boy's year, or if they have any questions to the boy.............he said.

Green, green, green. That is what I see while I drive, with my scooter, to work everyday, I drive past several rice fields and have been secretly monitoring their growth in the last two months that I have been here. And there has been growth.

While keeping my eyes on the road my thoughts are drifting somewhere else. I ponder about the concept of classroom control. I also feel satisfied that I finally was able to solve the mystifying Rubik's cube! Six of my most eager and energetic learners will be my full responsibility within the next few minutes. It has been quite a learning process since I've started teaching. I've learned that the foundations of any kind of control are rules and procedures. If you lay down and strengthen the basic methods, and they are trained and frequently rehearsed, then control can be achieved to a big extend. This, of course, is hard work. And, like many things, "hard work" is not always coupled to "fun", or the concept of "pleasure". And I have a suspicion that the magic transformer to this dilemma is "attitude". If I walk into class with the attitude of "Today I am going to be strict to get those damn kids to listen, shut up, sit still and learn!" then the result may be that I do get a behaved class, and I do teach maybe a few of them something, but only the minimum amount of persons will have had any "fun" or "pleasure". And if I created that result because I wanted to avoid the "pain" of an out-of-control class, I would consider that selfish. If, on the other hand, I walk in with the attitude of "Today I am going to convince these lovely little people that learning can be fun. I want each and every student to feel good about themselves and that they have achieved something, even something small, before they leave my class. I want to nurture their confidence, self-image, values of life, and intellect!"  As soon as the class begins I need to reinforce this "attitude" into myself. Then I take some time to affirm with the students, using repetition, what I consider "good" and "bad" behavior. I clarify that good behavior will be rewarded with extreme joy from my side, and that "bad" behavior will be punished, and not be tolerated.

As soon as the first brave individual tries to test these boundaries of "bad" behavior I should follow through on my foundations I laid down. If I do not do this immediately and intensely enough, I will lose control of the class. And if would be a lesson full of interruptions causing me frustration and not being able to focus on making learning fun. If I do however "discipline" the child using whatever method and causing him(usually a boy) short-term "pain", I would be sure to overshadow that with enormous pleasure when he next gives a correct answer or shows "good" behavior.

OK, la dee da. So let's look at classroom control and stammering.... Good behavior is when every word is pronounced with an assertive attitude, and every unsatisfactory stumble is cancelled. Bad behavior is when tricks and word avoidances are used and when I push through blocks. As soon as bad behavior is noticed it should be dealt with accordingly, otherwise this will lead to fear building up, and this will lead to out-of-control stammering. Before any speaking situation I need to reinforce my attitude towards speaking, and I need to quickly rehearse my foundations and speech procedures that will lead to the most possible eloquent speech.  There will probably always be this naughty stammer trying to challenge your foundations and boundaries and needs to be dealt with immediately and intensely.

So let's talk about the Rubik's cube. Easy, the Rubik's cube is a mathematical challenge manifested into a physical form. Most people (myself included) thinking about trying to solve it would think, "this is impossible!". You first look at it and see only a mess. Then you are brave and try to solve in on your own, and you may succeed to a certain extend, but it will still be half a mess. Then you put in some effort and learn there a certain steps or procedures involved to solve it. You first begin with a basic form, learn a formula, and then solve the first phase, use the next formula and solve the next phase etc. At times it seems that the formulas don't work, and you have no progress. The trick is to believe those formulas. Somebody before you used those exact same formulas to solve the exact same problem. It is only a question of repetition, concentration and everlasting time and hope. Like my sensei told me after we've done a hundred of the exact same blocking movement, and preparing to do fifty more "Trust in sensei, there is method to this madness!" After a while you can do the cubic shuffles with you eyes closed. Then you begin to unconsciously see patterns, you get a tingling feeling, apply a formula, and "whoopsi!" solved. To keep these formulas in your head and in you hands they would have to be frequently practiced and applied.

So.......if anyone is still reading, and wondering what (I think) physical and physiological effort I need to have fun speaking, compare it to controlling a energetic bunch of children and learn to solve the Rubik's cube. Everyday. It will make you feel good .