Francophone de Singapour - French speaking Toastmasters Club

I was the ah counter at Francophone de Singapour,  a French speaking Toastmasters club.

I was Ah Counter - compteur d'hésitations, counter of hesitations.

I won the ribbon for best impromptu speaker.

My topic:

You are in an accident.

My topic was (I've translated from French): You are in a car accident. You are the driver. A person has been killed. The accident is your fault. The driver of the other car is in tears and thinks it is their fault. Do you admit that it is your fault or keep quiet?

I replied animatedly:
Vous ne direz rien! Jamais. Absolument pas. Ce n'est pas permis! Si vous avez regarder votre papier avec l'assurance vous devez lire des instructions. Vous ne devez pas admettre rien. C'est pour la compagnie qui va payer de decider ce qu'il fault dire.

Vous pouvez appelez pour la police, les pompiers, les gens pour vous aider, aider les blessée, mais vous ne direz rien au sujet de la cause.

C'est pour la police de trouver la faute. On peut voir, par les photographies, les marques des roues des voitures, pour savoir la vitesse des voitures et la direction. Ce n'est pas votre metier. Vous aider les blessée, mais vous ne dites rien. Moi, je crois toujours que les choses sont ma faute. Mais après un accident, c'est obligatoire de garder la silence.

Translation:
You say nothing! Absolutely not. It's not allowed.

If you have seen your car insurance document you must have read the instructions (of what to do in an accident). You must admit nothing. It's for the company which has to pay out to decide what you must say.

You can call the police, the firemen, the ambulance people, yourself help the wounded, but you must admit nothing on the subject of the cause of the accident. It's for the police (investigation) to establish the cause. That will be proved, seen from the photographs, the marks left on the road by the tyres of the vehicles showing their direction and speed. It's not your job. You are not an expert.

You help anybody who is injured to receive medical assistance but - you say nothing.  (You might not remember. Be confused, in shock.) Besides, I always think everything is my fault! But after an accident, your insurance company says - you are obliged to stay silent!

Glossary

ENGLISH - FRENCH

Ah counter - compteur d'hésitations

best evaluator - meilleur evaluateur

best impromptu speaker -  meilleur improvisateur 

best impromptu speech - la meilleure improvisation

best speaker - meilleur orateur

English - Anglais

French - Francis

guest - invite

never - jamais

nothing - rien

president -président/e

Singapore - Singapour

website - site web

FRENCH - ENGLISH

Anglais - English

compteur d'hésitations - Ah Counter

Francais - French

invité - guest

improvisation - impromptu (speech)

jamais - never

Meilleur evaluateur - best evaluator

meilleur improvisateur - best impromptu speaker

meilleur orateur - best speaker

rien - nothing

Singapour - Singapore

site web - website

The Francophone de Singapour club meets the first Friday of the month at 

Cairnhill Community Club (CC)

1 Anthony Road
229944 Singapour
Site web www.francosing.com

Near Newton MRT (Mass transit railway - underground) train station - Le Metro

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ACG, author and speaker.

Cairnhill Community Centre in Singapore

Cairnhill Community Club opened in March 2016 after renovations. Outside are a bell on the street corner plus a sculpture in the front.

The entrance lobby is open sided so rather warm and humid but you can quickly step into the air conditioned office to ask for confirmation where your meeting is held.

Meeting rooms are of various sizes and are well supplied with storage closets so that clubs which meet regularly can leave their club paraphernalia in a large locked wheeled suitcase.

The community clubs supply bottled water in packs for the groups attending. The rule is no food or drink in the meeting rooms but you can set up your food snacks for midway through a meeting on a table in the lobby. No alcohol allowed.

The latest design for toilets is to have the ladies and gents near each other, with three washbasins shared in between the ladies and gents. I suppose this saves space.

The meeting room I saw, used by two different groups on different days of the week, had four controllers on the wall which changed the temperature. We arrived to find the room too hot, but the temperature controls were soon adjusted.

Who Meets At The Club?
You can find an online list of Singapore's community clubs. This club is my favourite because nine Toastmasters clubs meet here (English, Chinese, Malay, French and more) as well as all sort of community activities such as learning to give CPR to revive somebody.

Joining A Club
You can join the club for a modest fee as a child, student, adult or senior citizen at assorted prices for a year or longer and get discounts on courses and get a card which can double as a train card and a discount card in shops. I joined when they were giving a free bag with membership. This happens every so often.

Location, Location!
The other good thing about the club is it is very near Newton MRT Station. From there you are near Orchard Road by MRT, or buses to Orchard Road or all over the island of Singapore. The club's own website has a link to Google maps so you can find it from wherever you are, walking, driving, or by public transport.

Food and Magazines
If you arrive early, there's a snack bar downstairs in air con behind doors, and magazines on racks upstairs if you prefer the open air.

If you live in Singapore or are an expat who is a permanent resident, I suggest you join your local community club or one new where you work. Join a Toastmasters club to make new friends as well as improving your language skills and presentation skills and confidence. You can usually visit a Toastmasters club for free unless it's a special event or special course or special party. Across the road at the Sheraton Towers Hotel, there's a Toastmasters club which charges about twenty Singaporean dollars, which includes a buffet at the start at 6 pm registration, first three Monday of the month except when dates change because of Christmas or other holidays. Phone first.

If you want to show a foreigner, tourist or on business, what life in Singapore is like, you could take them into this club, ideally when a meeting such as Toastmasters takes place.

https://www.facebook.com/CairnhillCommunityClub/
http://www.visitsingapore.com/en/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Art In and Outside Community Centres in Singapore

The Cairnhill Community Centre has a bell outside an a sculpture overlooking front steps to the right of the entrance.The centre is just near Newton MRT on the Downtown line.

Fountains are popular in food courts, in open spaces in front of hotels. 

Jumping fountains in the paving stones cause endless laughter to tiny tots.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.