Toastmaster Meeting 18th October 23
Starting at 21:00 Asia/Tokyo
14 attendees including guests from Osaka, Malaysia, and Indonesia
Word of the Day: absolutely
Yoichi-san, we're sorry for you! You suddenly disappeared due to internet trouble. ↑Aki-san introduced a quote by Christy Evans at Thought of the Day.
In addition to our honorable guests, our club founder and dedicated member Yukimasa-san is back! He has been successful in his business, and amid his hectic work schedule, he has also helped our club to be successful behind the scenes. Oh, let me introduce his wonderful piece of work here: "Noto Gin" Whether you love drinking or not, you should try it. I sent it as a gift to my coworker for his farewell party. He loves it! Since I don't drink, I got a set of fruit-flavor drinks instead. It refreshed me so much! Anyway, honorable readers, if you are interested in it, go to https://www.notogin.com/en ;) Let me mention an avid guest Leony-san! Thank you so much for coming to our club AGAIN! She even offered to take any role available at our meeting. You are a big help!
For starters, most members and guests talked about something related to the autumn season like getting some exercise, tasting gourmet seasonal food, and attending a harvest festival. Other members talked about her repainted house, that amazing technology Chat-GPT, and excellent experiences as a member of TMC. It was an enjoyable session as usual.
Next, Thought of the Day conducted by Aki-san. She shared her plight of the loss of her best friend in an accident. It was devastating news. Aki-san, we can't imagine what you are going through. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Let me move on to the next session: Debate!
The proposition is "E-sports should be included in the Olympics". The affirmative debater is Kazuko-san! The negative debater is me. Oh, well... Embarrassingly enough as an English teacher, this is my first time challenging myself to debate. I once tried to understand what debate is like by reading a book, but it was too difficult for me and I gave up. Haha...
A few days before the meeting, I was asked to be a negative debater by Kazuko-san, whom I respect and admire a lot as a role model in my life. I had no reason to decline her offer. That being said, frankly speaking, I didn't want to do because I didn't have the experience even in Japanese!
OK, anyway, I've decided to study it in my free time. (not that I have much "free time"!) But luckily enough, I have an ALT(Assistant Language Teacher) from the U.K. at work to depend on. He must absolutely assist me as well as our students. Haha....He spared his valuable time for our discussion. Without his help, I wouldn't have got prepared for the day. Thanks a lot, Jacob-sensei!
The day has come! ;) I was nervous, but thanks to the friendly atmosphere of our club, I smiled a lot and even laughed sometimes while I tried to make arguments. We didn't decide the winner, but I am pretty sure Kazuko-san absolutely won the debate. She smoothly started saying her opinion with concrete examples and explanations. It was a gobsmacking speech, indeed! Then, no matter how I tried to make a counterargument, she succeeded in making me almost silent because of her excellent speech. Haha....So, I will speak out, "Kudos goes to you, Kazuko-san!" It was really a fruitful debate session!
Oh, I've almost forgot to mention this: Mikiko-san and Takako-san, thank you so much for sharing the explanation sheet and the flow chart on debate. They are really useful!
The final session is Table Topic Session. Honorable readers, look at the slide above. Don't you think it's neat? ;) Kimiko-san made it with those intriguing questions. Since we ran out of time, we didn't have a chance to know the rest of the questions. Do you want to know them? Why don't you attend the next meeting? Your answer should be "Absolutely" ;)
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