Words A.L.I.V.E. (ICC Chapter Malaysia)

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Respecting Sources, Debates, and Practices :)

Written by Jonique Chan

Edited by Charis Chen

31 January 2016

Hello there! Welcome to our third ICC meeting of the year!

Speaker Nathanael broke the ice with a game which tested our ability to work as a team. We were split into two groups. Each group was to choose a leader, who would then decide on a sequence of seven movements and teach them to the team. The challenge was to find the team that learnt the movements in the correct order in a shorter amount of time. What fun it was!

After the icebreaker, Coach Joseph shared with us in his opening speech that what distinguishes a man from an animal is the ability to "Reflect". We watched a slideshow of our activities in 2015, put together by Charis and Nathanael. Lots of laughter and memories were brought back as we watched it oh-so-intently. It was fascinating to look back what at we learnt and did together as a chapter in 2015.

In the subsequent devotion, Speaker Charis shared with us about respect for sources. She showed us a humorous video about a boy named Jimmy who quoted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To be or not to be? That is the question,” but he did not respect his sources. Immediately the "ICC police"came and arrested him. PEE-POR PEE-POR. Moral of the story: It is a serious crime if we do not acknowledge the sources that we use.

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Next, we had a short sharing from our Chapter Sponsor. Coach Joseph emphasized that we have to persevere and practice hard in order to succeed. He shared with us that in the book entitled Outliers, the author Malcom Gladwell (Yes, respect for sources!) stated that in order to have great achievement in a specific field, one has to practice at least 10,000 hours. WOW! Isn't that a lot? But that is exactly what we ought to do in order to excel.

Photo by Nathanael Chong

During our coaching session, Coach Alfred taught us how to debate. The resolution was "Online education is preferable to traditional brick-and-mortar education for undergraduate studies." We were divided into the Pro and Con teams. Each team was to discuss various points to support their arguments. Next, a speaker from each team stated their points, and another speaker to rebutted them. Each was allocated two minutes to speak.

Photo by Nathanael Chong

The Con team putting on their thinking caps

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The Pro team discussing their points

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Ranen: Hey, you missed that !

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The Pro team Speaker 1 presenting the Pros of online education.

Now, it was time for the rebuttal... The representative of the Con team pointed out the flaws of the argument of the other team.

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The Con team Speaker 1

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Pro team Speaker 2

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A flustered Con team Speaker 2 0.0

Meanwhile, the YCCers were also at work. This time, Speaker Eliza taught! Hooray!

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Next, we had Jern Yoong's much loved event........Tea break

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Yum, yum this food is delicious

Photo by Nathanael Chong

DING~DING DING~DING!!!!

The ringing bell caught everyone's attention as we rushed in to listen to the speeches from three of the speakers. First was Nathanael, presenting his the interesting informative topic, "Differences in male and female communications".

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Photo credit: Nathanael Chong

...Men have the unique capability to think about NOTHING!

Well done, Nathanael!

Then, Jaeriel presented his informative speech on... guess what? LEGO!!!! He used a specially designed "LEGO Book," together with some colorful Lego blocks, as visual aids to deliver his speech.

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Good Job, Jaeriel!

Last, but not least, was Jemima presenting a Persuasive speech, "Should We Obey Our Parents All the Time?" She delivered her speech with such confidence and conviction that the audience found no reason to disobey our parents.

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Miss Very Persuasive Jemima!

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Attentive audiences.

Till we meet again! Ciao!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

A Not-So-New-Anymore Year to You: Fears, Communication, and Witty Twists to Speeches

Written by Toh Jern Yoong

Edited by Charis Chen

17 January 2016
Welcome to the Second ICC Meeting in this beautiful year, 2016.

We started off with an icebreaker led by Eliza! Each person would write down their greatest fear on a sheet of paper, then place it into a box. The box was then passed around and everyone would draw a piece of "fear" from the box and read out the fear. After that, the group would brainstorm ways to overcome the fear. It was a very interesting and enlightening icebreaker! :D

What do I take??

Waiting...

Aya how to explain ah?

Aunty Sandy: Hai, how to solve this fear?

After the awesome icebreaker on how to face our fears.... Speaker Jaeriel led the devotions!

So this is how you do it..........XP

He shared on how we, as ICC speakers, must respect our platforms as a response to our devotion to God. He shared with us the verse Titus 2:7. We also discussed ways to respect our platforms, both within the chapter, and in the community. We can and should arrive at our venue on time, stay within our time limits, and dress appropriately for the setting.

Moving on, we have our Chapter sponsor, Coach Joseph from the FBI- uh, I mean, from the ICC Malaysia HQ.... *sheepish grin*

Photo by Nathanael Chong

Wow...

Coach Joseph showed us a really motivational speech on Drinks. It was an expository speech presented by Lincoln Carper, who won third place in the 2012 Stoa Nationals.

It gave us a lot of ideas for our informative speeches. It was a motivating and encouraging to see a young man presenting such an awesome speech.

We learned that a speech must have a twist to the topic that we are talking about. Also, we must learn to think on how to approach and deliver a speech in a way that people don't expect. The key to this skill is a different approach- to see the speech from the other people's viewpoint.

We then had our first Informative speech practice by Nathanael, who spoke on "Differences in Male and Female Communication".

At last, we ended the whole day with fun noises and chatter as the speakers caught up, the moms chatted, and the fathers talked it out over "tea". :b

It's Jern Yoong signing out:)

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR, NOT???

Written by Charis Chen
Edited by Nathanael Chong

3 January 2016

Welcome to the very first WORDS A.L.I.V.E. ICC meeting of 2016!

We began the meeting with a little icebreaker. We were to wish each other a happy new year!
Oh, wait. I forgot. The RULES!
1. You are not allowed to use the word "happy" or "blessed".
2. You must wish everyone your version of "Happy New Year!"
3. You must be happy!

Photo by Charis Chen

Some very interesting greetings were heard! There was "Gong Xi New Year", "Merry New Year", "Fruitful New Year", and "Selamat New Year", amongst many others.

Next, we had a thought-provoking teaching session by our chapter sponsor, Coach Joseph. He began by asking us to form small groups to brainstorm ways to get him to LIKE durian. :D
(He does NOT like durian!)

Photo by Charis Chen

There was a lot of laughter! Some suggested diffusing durian essential oils. Others proposed feeding him nothing but durian for a month. Still others cheekily put forth the idea of not allowing him to see his wife until he enjoyed eating durian! Oh dear!!!

Photo by Charis Chen

Coach Joseph then spoke to us on setting goals, and how our goals are affected by our hunger, our hunger by our appetite, and the conditioning of our appetites. How focused or distracted we are also influences how we condition our appetites.

This led to a discussion about the Holy Spirit's convicting us. After listening to several opinions and Scripture verses, we concluded that the Holy Spirit convicts us, but it is up to us to condition our appetites. The convictions of the Holy Spirit are like seeds, and our hearts are like different types of soil. The type of soil depends on how attuned we are to God's Word, and how sensitive and obedient we are to His promptings.

Some of the Bible verses quoted were as follows:

-Jeremiah 29:13
"You will seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all you heart."

- Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

- James 3:8
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."