When you make mistakes...

Written by Toh Jern Yoong
Edited by Charis Chen and Ranen Chan.

         Welcome to our Words ALIVE ICC meeting. It was a beautiful afternoon on the 21st of August 2016. Since we were approaching Malaysia's National Day, I invited everyone to their feet to sing our national anthem, 'Negaraku" as a way to ignite the patriotic sentiment toward our country.
              

         The first part of the meeting was led by Ranen, who brought us our spiritual food! We looked at the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:3, where we discovered that 'being poor in spirit' meant humbling ourselves before God, and listening and following His ways. We learned that people who were poor in spirit would be blessed, as God wanted us to be humble and meek. We were also reminded to be Christ's ambassadors in this world.

          After the spiritual nourishment, Ian led us in a fun icebreaker. We were divided into pairs- one speaker with one coach. Each speaker had to share about something he/she liked (e.g. favourite food, pastime, sport, etc.), while the coach had to share about something he/she liked when he/she was the speaker's age. It was a breeze for the speakers but it was slightly challenging for the coaches as they had to recall highlights of their lives from some twenty to thirty years ago. It was indeed a very cultural communication-emphasizing ice-breaker!

                       

               Moving on, we had a word of inspiration from our sponsor, Coach Joseph Tan!

He spoke about how we should be open to learning new things and going all out to seek for knowledge. He also gave some life examples, which really motivated us to not be as afraid as he once was, and that it is alright to make mistakes. He shared that, "If we make mistakes, we must learn to laugh it off and learn from it.”

            Following the session of powerful advice from our Chapter Sponsor, the YSGers and the YCCers broke into their respective groups for YCC and YSG Skills Teaching.

YCC Skills Session Report by Speaker Jern Ling

        After settling the YCCers down, Speaker Charis and I started by asking them ‘Why is it important to learn public speaking?’ We further discussed about enunciation and how they should learn to speak clearly without mumbling. We let them practice enunciation with ‘Loud and Clear Cards’ activities. After a few exciting activities, we moved on to some challenging Tongue Twisters.

YSG Skills Session

               During the YSG teaching session, Eunice and I reviewed the key points for public speaking, such as eye contact, inflection, enunciation, projection, and the three-second rule.

Photo by Ranen Chan

We learnt that we need to always be properly dressed for a platform, and that it is important to be 'on deck' before we speak. This means to be ready on stage just before our turn.

We also learnt how to handle a microphone properly.

The Tupperware microphone

As practice, each speaker had to introduce another speaker while holding a "microphone".

Photo by Ranen Chan

A few speakers then presented their speeches for speech coaching.

                                                   

Photos by Ian Chan

Our chapter meeting ended with a bang! Thank you for reading, and till next time, farewell!

DO THE GOOP!!!

Written by Jern Ling
Edited by Ranen Chan and Charis Chen


Aaaaannnnddd WELCOME to another ICC Chapter meeting in Coaches Choong Ming and Honey's house again!!!!

Charis, our Assistant Chapter Chair, welcomed us in her usual sweet way. She started off with a Bible verse by the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 1:8-12). She explained that as speakers in ICC, we are to be mentored as Christians to lead. By doing so, we have to know what we believe and not being ashamed of our identity as Christians and children of God.

Photo by Ranen Chan

Next, it was time for Ranen’s ice breaker that involved guessing who or what we were, then finding our partner based on our identity. It was epic and fun!

What we learned in the icebreaker was the value of community. It connects people together and to a common mission.

Photos by Ranen Chan

Next up, we had Ian lead us in the devotion. We were hyped up by his enthusiasm to “Do the GOOP!!!,” an interesting and exciting way to learn how to respect God, Others, Ourselves and Property.

We learned how to ask questions to show respect for others:

-Thank You

-I am sorry

-How can I help you?

-I love you 

Photo by Ranen Chan

We also had to form the letters GOOP.

Photos by Ranen Chan

                                                    Now, say with me: Do the GOOP!!!!!

After that energetic devotion, we were whisked away as we watched our favorite ICC P3 + R3 = C3 video clip featuring Archibald. It made us laugh with amusement and left us all anticipating the sequel. You might be wondering, "what is P3+R3=C3?" 
Well, P3 stands for Purpose, Prepare, Present
R3 stands for Rate, Respond, Record
C3 stands for Competence, Character, Community.
The whole video was about how to put all these into practice.

Photo by Ranen Chan

Next was the word from the Host, Coach Choong Ming!

Photos by Ranen Chan

Coach Choong Ming shared with us about a man who had backslided in his faith, asking us if the man had backslided because of the his shallow faith and belief. He then encouraged us to be firmly rooted in our faith, because for this would help us through tough times. One way to do that is to record down what God has done in our lives. If we do that, we will definitely be rooted in God.

After that heart-felt message, we broke to our YSG and YCC teaching.

Speakers Charis and Ian led the YSG teaching session, which was on basic speaking skills and feedback sandwiches.

Photos by Coach Choong Ming

Meanwhile, it was my first time teaching the YCC group (thanks for helping me out Ranen...). The YCCers learnt about eye contact and how it helps us in our poise.

Photos by Coach Choong Ming

After the learning, we went for our favorite part of the meeting... tea break!!!

Once we had eaten sufficiently, we adjourned to the living room and had a good laugh as we watched part 2 of the P3+R3=C3 video.

The YSGers then broke into their individual speech coaching groups to practice their speeches, while the YCCers had their own speech coaching session.

Photos by Ranen Chan

After listening to the feedback from our portfolio coaches, some of us were prepared to present our speeches to the chapter. First off, we had speaker Ranen Chan.

Great testimony, Ranen! He spoke with such conviction that everyone was spellbound.

Next it was my turn!

I spoke about finding my life purpose in Christ. After my speech, it was time for Charis to share her testimony. 

Photos by Ian Chan

She spoke about the storms in life and having faith in God.

And of course, we had feedback from coaches and speakers. As Coach Joseph often quotes, "Feedback is the breakfast of champions." ~Ken Blanchard

Photo by Ranen Chan

Photo by Ian Chan

Although tired, we were still excited to continue the last part of the P3+R3=C3 video.

Photo by Ian Chan

And that's a wrap! Thanks so much for dropping in and we'll see you next time!

P3+R3=C3

Written by Ian Chan
Edited by Charis Chen and Ranen Chan

Greetings and welcome to our last meeting of July! Wow, time really flies! Today's meeting was started by our Chapter Chair, Jern Yoong, who shared the verse of the day which was taken from Psalms 121.

Photo by Ranen Chan

Next, Jern Ling led the icebreaker. Everyone gathers in a circle and the first person picks a card that has a word written on it. He then has to say a word that is associated with that word before 5 seconds are up. The person next to him does likewise. This continues around the circle. Those who didn't manage to think of a word in that period of time had to do the chicken dance.

 

Photos by Ranen Chan 

Victims of the icebreaker doing the chicken dance!

Charis led the Devotion and we read the Nicene Creed in unison. After we read the Nicene Creed, she explained the meaning of certain confusing words that we may not understand.

Photo by Ranen Chan

Next up was Coach Choong Ming who shared with us that when he was at the UCSI University for a recital, he decided to sit in to listen to a lecture for a few minutes, but during those few minutes, he could not understand the lecturer's message. Coach Choong Ming shared with us about the three basic but essential traits in public speaking. First was repetition; we can emphasize a certain phrase by repeating it a few times, so if the audience forgets the speech, they remember the phrase. Second was clarity of structure; when a speaker speaks clearly, the audience is able to catch what he intends to say. Last but not least, simplicity of speech; we should use simple words and not big, bombastic words. 

Photo by Ranen Chan

After the sharing, the YCC and YSG speakers had their teaching session.

In the YSG Teaching Session, Jern Ling and Ranen taught the YSG the 6-step formula for public speaking, P3+R3=C3, with the aid of 3 "superheroes" (coaches). The students learnt what was involved in each step and the importance of them. After the lesson, Ranen broke the students into 3 groups, and each group had to come up with a poster and a slogan for one of the superheroes.

    The three supermen!

               

Hey! Look at this!

Purpose......

Photos by Coach Daniel

In  the YCC session which was taught by Jern Yoong and I. The YCCers learned about inflection and voice projection. They did some tongue twisters and incorporated what they learnt in an introduction of themselves. They were quite responsive and did well for their introductions. Great job YCC speakers!

She slits the sheets...

Yeah!!!

                                                       

Photos by Coach Daniel

 Good Job!

Then we had tea-break, which I'm sure was enjoyed by coaches and speakers alike!

After tea-break, we settled down for our speech coaching in our respective groups.

Deep in thought...

                                     

Photos by Ranen Chan

                                     

**************************Additional shots from the day*****************************

Peace out

Hmmm....

Eagerly listening

Lonely cup

Gotta check my homework

Family