Problem
I gave a workshop to a Toastmasters Club in Singapore about how to give an Icebreaker Speech. The first task I set them was to turn the Cinderella story into a rags to riches tale following the pathways play for a speech.
When I formed a pair with a girl from China, I discovered that she was not familiar with the Cinderella story. Cinderella is known in France from the Perrault version, in German from the brothers Grimm version, in the UK from the pantomime, in the USA from Disney, and in Singapore from the polyglots who have either been to England or read about English literature and films.
But apparently the story is not necessarily known in China, where many families' parents and grandparents are illiterate in Chinese (which is very complicated with many signs and symbols), never mind English and fairytales from England.
What is the moral?
1 You cannot assume every member of the audience knows the story.
2 You cannot assume that every member of your audience can recall the details of the story.
3 You cannot assume that speakers of foreign languages can remember the names of authors, the story title or the characters sufficiently well to say them.
4 Your audience might know the story but muddle up two stories.
Don't assume anything. Any name, whether of a book, author, film, or fairy story, needs to have the spelling on a board so people can surreptitiously check it out on their handphones online. If the venue has no connection, it's good to have a handout on any book or story you mention.
We had one table topics session in London where we were asked to tell fairy stories in two minutes. One person was asked to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty but instead told the story of Snow White.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Member of:
Harrovians Speakers' Club, London, England.
HOD Speakers' Club, London, England.
Braddell Heights Advanced Speakers' Club, Singapore.
To watch the video of my opening session of a workshop on Icebreaker Speeches, go to YouTube and in the search box type in the link.
Video of Angela on YouTube. Type
qwY7mKKc1hU into the search box
I gave a workshop to a Toastmasters Club in Singapore about how to give an Icebreaker Speech. The first task I set them was to turn the Cinderella story into a rags to riches tale following the pathways play for a speech.
When I formed a pair with a girl from China, I discovered that she was not familiar with the Cinderella story. Cinderella is known in France from the Perrault version, in German from the brothers Grimm version, in the UK from the pantomime, in the USA from Disney, and in Singapore from the polyglots who have either been to England or read about English literature and films.
But apparently the story is not necessarily known in China, where many families' parents and grandparents are illiterate in Chinese (which is very complicated with many signs and symbols), never mind English and fairytales from England.
What is the moral?
1 You cannot assume every member of the audience knows the story.
2 You cannot assume that every member of your audience can recall the details of the story.
3 You cannot assume that speakers of foreign languages can remember the names of authors, the story title or the characters sufficiently well to say them.
4 Your audience might know the story but muddle up two stories.
Don't assume anything. Any name, whether of a book, author, film, or fairy story, needs to have the spelling on a board so people can surreptitiously check it out on their handphones online. If the venue has no connection, it's good to have a handout on any book or story you mention.
We had one table topics session in London where we were asked to tell fairy stories in two minutes. One person was asked to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty but instead told the story of Snow White.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Member of:
Harrovians Speakers' Club, London, England.
HOD Speakers' Club, London, England.
Braddell Heights Advanced Speakers' Club, Singapore.
To watch the video of my opening session of a workshop on Icebreaker Speeches, go to YouTube and in the search box type in the link.
Video of Angela on YouTube. Type
qwY7mKKc1hU into the search box
