New Speechcraft Course - Crash Course in Public Speaking

Hello. I am Angela, President of the club, in the red, waving at you. In the foreground is Faith, pretty in pink. The two others are members of the club. More about them later. Fist let's look at Toastmasters Worldwide.

Singapore - clubs now

USA - clubs now

UK - clubs now
What and Where is Toastmasters International?
You can go to Toastmasters International clubs all over the world or join an online club but if you are in Singapore you can join my club - more about this in a moment.

What is it? The History of Toastmasters International
Toastmasters International started in the USA to help people learn public speaking and gain confidence. The not for profit organization spread to the English speaking UK and then Europe - and finally travelled to Asia, like me. You can find clubs worldwide and once you are a member of one club and have a little experience you are welcome at other clubs worldwide.

Angela Lansbury's Expertise
I know a lot about Toastmasters and giving speeches because I lived in the USA and attended the world championship finals in the USA. Singaporean Darren Tay was the worldwide winner in a previous year.

I am still a member of Harrovians in London; and I am a member of three clubs in Singapore. My Singapore clubs are two advanced clubs and one weekly online club which has members and guest speakers from the USA, UK, Europe, and Asia, notably Hong Kong and Singapore.

If you are interested in public speaking for work or confidence, come and join my club. I am President of Braddell Heights Toastmasters in Singapore and we are running an enlightening and entertaining Speechcraft programme starting December 4th 2019. That's a Wednesday evening, at Braddell Heights Community Club, right near the Serangoon MRT underground railway station, exit F, just a few steps to your right and you are in the right place.

What does it cost?
Let's look at your choices. Braddell Heights is a bargain. You could join the biggest public club in Singapore, at the Sheraton Hotel, the first three Mondays in the month, which normally costs about 500 Singapore dollars for the year, plus small extra sums like another $10 for their Christmas party with turkey. One of the universities has a larger club for students of their college only, at a lower price. At the biggest clubs you might have to wait a month or two before you get to give a speech, and you might not have a chance to introduce yourself for half to one minute nor give a two minute speech on table topics. A smaller club such as Braddell Heights gives you more opportunities to practise speeches.

If money is not object, join the big club as well as mine. Other clubs meet only once a month, so if you miss one month because of work or holidays that's two months without any learning or networking or socialising.

I am a member of two advanced clubs. The first club I joined was Braddell Heights Advanced. I joined for three reasons.

1 I lived centrally, then near Little India, and Braddell Heights was central and next to an MRT station and easy to find. Secondly it was a bargain.

Bargain For You
2 All Toastmasters clubs are a bargain, compared with many weekend courses which give you six hours of teaching and no follow-up.
But Braddell Heights is one of the lowest prices.

The price was lower than the biggest club, only $180 dollars. (Singapore dollars.) I had already paid the additional first year joining fee of $40 dollars which gets you registered onto the Toastmasters International website and gives you the monthly magazine.

3 Braddell Heights met twice a month, unlike the other Advanced clubs which met once a month.

4 I had a warm welcome from veteran Kan Kin Fung, who mentors everybody in the club and happily sits with you at break time or after meetings telling you how to enroll, give a speech or do any other role.

As President of Braddell Heights Advanced I am in charge of organizing the programmes, helped by our VPE, Vice President of Education. She is a lively lady. You must see her. She won first place in all four of our recent club contests. The other speakers were also excellent.

Angela Lansbury, President, in the red Toastmasters tee-shirt, back right. Faith, winner of two contests is front right in pink. Behind Faith, standing, in black, is Arinjay who was first runner up in the contest.  Front left is Sylvia Ang wearing blue. She was the second runner-up in both contests.

What Will Speechcraft Teach You?
Speechcraft at Braddell Heights Advanced is a crash course aimed to ensure newcomers have all the basics and acts as a quick revision for those who joined later in the year and want to keep practising their skills. It covers these:

Dec 4
1 Prepare to speak professionally. Introduce Yourself - The Icebreaker Speech - by Angela Lansbury. Angela - that's me, a bouncy, blonde with a British accent. My Toastmasters titles are:

I go to about six or seven speakers' meetings a week, sometimes two a day, an in-house Toastmasters' group at lunch time and an evening group at a Community Club. I have judged at many speaking contests and have several trophies and dozens of ribbons for best prepared speech, best table topics (impromptu speeches) and best evaluator. I also do language evaluations.

2 Impromptu Speaking - by Lim Tong Lee, DTM, which means Distinguished Toastmaster. He has been the Chief Judge at contests.

He is tall dark and handsome. Warm and welcoming. Toastmasters of the evening (Master of Ceremonies) as well as leader of one of the speech training sessions.

3 Pathways - by Kan Kin Fung, another Distinguished Toastmasters, handsome, smiling broadly like a Cheshire cat, a bald Cheshire cat, as he is fond of remarking.

Guess who this is.

Choose your path in Toastmasters International Pathways - and your path for the next year and in life.

Potluck Fun Food
The club provides a small amount of savoury food. We rely on food contributions to augment this with fruit or cakes or seasonal goodies.

Dec 21 Same venue, Braddell Heights Community Club but Saturday afternoon, 1.45-5 pm.
Storytelling and Xmas party.
Storytelling - by Thomas Chen CC and CL. He is President of Kampong Kembangan club and a member of NTU and Pasirisians clubs. He frequently wins ribbons for Best Evaluator of speeches.
Facts tell, stories sell.
Thomas Chen will entertain you with his anecdotes, alliteration and acronyms.

Potluck food. The club provides a small amount of savoury food. We rely on contributions to augment this with fun foods, fruit or cakes, shop bought or home made or seasonal goodies.

Make sure you get on our WhatsApp group because our January 1st 2020 meeting is on a different date at a place.

Our January meetings are held jointly with two other clubs, Cheng San and Tiarel.

We have also lined up an English teacher, Celine Goh, President of another club, to give us a workshop on the English Language.

Later meetings include combined meetings with Cheng San toastmasters and Tiarel.
https://www.meetup.com/Braddell-Heights-Advanced-Singapore-Public-Speaking-Meetup/events/

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, not related to any other people of the same name (13 on LinkedIn!) is the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches and Toasts by Ward Lock/Cassell and is currently writing a book on Improve Your English.

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Remember to bargain in Asia - this is what to do

Remember to bargain in Singapore.

So long as you are polite, you won't cause offense and you might save yourself some money. We used to have a saying in England, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.

Singapore flag.

Lovely Large Lim's
In Singapore, I went to Lim's store, upstairs in Holland Village. The entrance to the upstairs shops is an escalator indoors and set back in a small lobby beside the entrance to the supermarket.

I used to browse and shop a lot in Lim's. This year I saw a rack of dresses by the shop open front with the tempting sign above the dresses for $12.

I asked the store owner if she had anything cheaper, or could reduce the price. She said, "already low price".

I looked all around at her other designs. The least expensive were those caftans beside the doorway. Large armholes, so sure to fit me. I liked several of the colours.

But I really wanted to pay only ten dollars. I decided first to check out the store across the way.

Over at Kim's I saw a caftan with an elephant pattern.  Same price. Twelve dollars. She showed me several other dresses, beyond my budget.

I was short of time, meeting friends shortly, and had already found an item I wanted near the price I wanted to pay.

But I had in mind spending ten dollars, not twelve. So I asked the seller, "What is your best price, how about ten dollars?"

She thought, then said, "eleven".

I sighed, "Ten."

She shook her head. "Eleven."

I thought. Then accepted. At least I had saved a dollar.

I asked, "Cash or credit card?' I knew her answer was going to be cash.

Later I told my Singaporean friends how I had offered ten but ended up paying eleven.. My friend Chia said, "You should have offered eight! Then she would have offered ten."

Useful Addresses & Websites
New Kim Dressmaker
Alice Ong
211 Holland Avenue #02-29
Holland Road Shopping Centre,
Singapore 278967
Tel: (+65) 6467 2056
Hp: (+65) 9834 3220
singaporeair.com

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

Sweet buns with filling in Singapore - a bargain price at Fairprice supermarket

Lovely buns bought by the Sergeant at Arms for a meeting of Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club at Braddell Heights Community Club. The buns were probably bought from nearby Fairprice supermarket, at Nex shopping Mall adjoining Serangoon MRT underground railway station a few steps away

Look at that price. S$2.80, two Singapore dollars and eighty cents for six buns. What a bargain. 

Assorted cakes and buns. S$2.80. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Fairpice sells jars of pandan kaya butter if you want to make your own kaya toast or kaya filled buns..

Useful Websites

Fairprice.com.sg

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Bargains in beautiful Bali: budget homestay with breakfast on the balcony

Problem
How do I enjoy Bali without paying for expensive flights, car hire and a five star hotel?

Answer
My family has stayed in one of the top hotels in Bali (when we were younger and employed and well paid and saved all our money for top holidays). Now we are looking for more trips and cheaper trips.

The latest holiday by one member of the family was a short side trip to Bali. Yes, first you have to pay for a flight to Bali. We are members of Star Alliance loyalty scheme which includes Singapore Airlines. For long haul flights, when you want to sleep in comfort, we like Singapore Airlines. However, if you are based in Asia, or want to add on a trip to your existing trip, to Bali or Java, in Indonesia, here are some alternative and cheaper options using the cut price airlines.

Cheap Airlines
Using Skyscanner you can come up with dozens of options, the equivalent of the UK's and Europe's Ryanair using local small airlines such as Air Asia, Garuda, Jetstar, SilkAir, Lion Air and Tiger Air. Instead of paying about £600 return on a regular large airline route, by doing short hops you can do two outward bound and two back home hops for about £40 each section. For example, for return from Singapore to Bali, a return flight in June cost 4223 Singapore dollars for a two hour flight each way. We also booked a family member on a trip to Java.

Light Luggage
Taking just a backpack for a long weekend, you not paying extra for checked in luggage. That means quicker check in, plus you are out of the airport first and fast. You have extra time, time enough to take slower and cheaper transport to your destination.

Travel By Scooter
On Bali you can hire a scooter. Petrol for the scooter was cheap. The engine is small and you need to keep filling up. A long weekend cost £5 for the petrol.

Home Stay
You don't have to use airing to get a home stay. Using booking.com, produced a home stay for about £16 in a back street in the main tourist areas in the south near the airport and the centre. It was even cheaper, only about £9 up north where you find the black volcanic ash beach.

Showering Under The Sky
What do you get in your home stay? My family member had a single room, a big room with double bed and a shower room - with part open air (no roof), but partly roofed over the toilet so you are covered when it rains.

Kupu Kupu Barong
The topless shower rooms are common in Bali. We  had one years ago on our first visit to Bali in the upmarket hotel called Kupu Kupu Barong, meaning butterflies.

The wet room shower room gets all the floor wet, but has the advantage that you get the floor cleaned every time you have a shower.

Breakfast on the balcony
At both of the home stays cooked Western style breakfast was included. The evening before, the host or hostess asked, "What time do you want breakfast? How would you like your eggs cooked?"Next morning at the appointed time, up came coffee or tea as requested, on a tray, with eggs, sausage and toast. To eat breakfast on the bedroom's balcony.

A  l o s m e n  is a very basic hotel, with wooden chairs, a trestle table, no heating, no air con, and probably only cold water. If you are used to camping, sleeping bags and trekking, you'll probably be happy. If you are used to 5 star hotels you might not be so happy.

To Like and Not Like
Apart from good prices, what else is there to like or not like?

Days in the tropics are hot, hot, hot. Up on the black sand beach, hot as hell. The days are short. Day lengths are the same all year, twelve hours of sun, only twelve hours. In Singapore daylight is about 7.15 am to 7.15 pm. Bali is further east so it's about 6.30 am to 6.30 pm.

No long light evening (which you would enjoy in summer in London, England). On the other hand, if you were thinking ahead, of planning a Christmas or winter trip, Bali won't get dark at 4 pm in winter the way it does in Scotland.

Language
In the tourist hotspots such as Ubud the shopkeepers speak English. However, going north on Bali, or off to Sumatra you might find locals speak only Indonesian. Your vital words are:

English - Indonesian
basic - accommodation - l o s m e n
makan - food
room - r u m a h
restaurant - r e s t o r a n
hotel - hotel
r u m a  m a k a n - bistrot, cafe, small restaurant (room food, or food room, adjective after the noun)
hostel - a s r a m a
guest house - r u m a h   t a m u
accommodation - l o s m e n (memory aid - like lodging for men)
shower - mandi

Use google translate. List a few words you are likely to need.
Use duo lingo.com which is free on the internet to learn Indonesian. Indonesian is the same as Malay - with just a slight additional vocabulary - like American English and British English.

Indonesia consists of lots of island

Extra Costs
Bali is like a top heavy figure of eight, or an eyeball with a hanging tear drop, with the airport at the neck.

Flying back to continental Europe where weather is cooler, you might want to wear a lightweight cowboy or cowgirl shirt. Take with with a vest to put on underneath when you are on the air condoned flight home, or to don at the airport before coolly venturing out into the relative cool.

TIPS
Flights
To compare flight prices, eg from New York to Singapore, including non stop and others such as Singapore Airlines; Emirates:
FareCompare.com
google.co.uk/flights
skyscanner.com

Hotels
booking.com
TripAdvisor

Tourism, Sights, Attractions
bali tourist board

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Translating a sales email from German and how to teach German with rainbow cake

Problem
I am learning German and can recognise such useful phrases 'as the horse is in the field' or 'the plate is on the table' or 'the boy is eating chicken'. However that doesn't help me when I am emailed a German sales pitch. I was going through my inbox and about to delete it when I thought, let's translate this so that next time it's easy to see what the sender is on about. Here are the results

I tired Google translate, word by word, watching whether I could gain by learning both the words in a phrase and the whole phrase if it made a new concept, just as kinder is child and garten is garden but kindergarten is a pre-school class.

I managed to keep two screens open, one for my blog and the other for the translator, the third for the original German text. Using the F3 key on the top line of my keyboard I could open all these windows, but they only separate on the screen in thumb nail size.

(Aside: The very first computer  had, years ago. allowed a split or slit screen for when you were correcting a text so that you could compare the new and old versions. I am surprised nobody has yet devised an automatic setting to do this for comparing two or four screen.  I shall do an online search and hunt for it.)

b l e i came up as lead but b l e i b came up as follow. The entire phrase was different .

German - English
bleib auf den laufenden - keep up to date
folge uns auf - follow us on
laufenden - current
mitfeiern - celebrate
r e g e n s b o g e n t o r t e - rainbow cake

English - German
arc - bogen
celebrate - mitfeiern
current - laufenden
follow us on - f o l g e  u n s auf
keep up to date - b l e i b auf den laufenden
rain - r e g e n
rainbow - regenbogen

I was thinking about translating from English into German. The John Lewis slogan 'never knowingly undersold' is related to but not identical to other phrases such as: We won't be beaten on price. Bargain. Good value.

Another group of English phrases in sales advertisements and letters is:
Free for every customer.
For the first 100 customers only.
Competition. Free to enter. No purchase necessary.

Translation is very tricky. You have to get it just right. You don't want to mislead customers. You have to consider goodwill, plus legal requirements. One new business offered a free cupcake on a voucher site. A small item. But they were more successful than they dreamed, could not cope with the speed of the demand. They had thousands of requests which they had to honour and went bankrupt. That's why you see wording such as first fifty customers only. They are not trying to cheat you by saying they've sold out. They really do need to be prepared for too much of a good thing - success. So, translating as a ghost writer one has to consider the consequences to the writer or seller and the reader.

I have a friend in Singapore who teaches French and German to a mostly English and Chinese speaking group of students. Other friends of mine teach French in schools such as the International schools. Others teach English as a foreign language to teens and adults.

If I were to teach German to a group of student in a class, I would split them into groups and give each group of two or three or four or five an email or advertisement. I would have translated the text myself in advance. They would have ten to twenty minutes to translated it and instruct their representative on what to read back to report to the whole class. Then we would go round the group. For homework, they would have all four texts and be asked to translate all four and list the words dictionary style, English to German and German to English. if we had time, I would then ask then to make up their own advertisement or sales letter. They might do a short, succinct version of one or more of the letters. Or they could create a new subject, using the same phrases.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. Please share links to posts and have a look at my books.

St George's Day Sunday 23rd April 2017

Problem
How do you spell George and how do I remember. What to do? Where to go?

Answers
Spelling George
I keep mis-typing George and the word is highlighted by typo checkers. Easy to remember, the e is attached to the g to make a soft sound like a J.

Flying Flags
St George's Day is the day to find and dust off a St George's Day or England flag, which is a red cross on a white background, beloved by football team supporters. The flag forms part of the Union Jack. If you've spent money on a flag previously, now is the time to get more value for your money by using it again.

Where to get one? Kiosks all over London will be selling flags.

Buying Flags and Bargains
Supermarkets also stock flags, small ones for your hand, larger flags to attach to cars, big banners, and face paints. A day or two later the leftover flags will be sold off by supermarkets, at first a ten per cent reduction, then maybe more.

You can also buy flags and face make up from party shops. Party shops online have a huge selection.

How to fly flags
Most hand held flags are fixed correctly. If you are flying flags you have to fly them correctly. Make sure you hoist it all the way up. A flag at half mast is a sign of mourning, generally for the death of royalty or national tragedy. At sea an upside down (Union Jack) flag is a signal requesting help, indicating a disaster.

How do you know which was is up for a Union Jack? Ask a boy scout.

Beef Lunches
I am being emailed by restaurants offering beef lunches. Cobb Farm has sent me information.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Bargain in Birmingham - hotel £50 the bed(s), use of indoor swimming poo, sauna and spa bath, £5.95 for breakfast

Bargains in Birmingham? Yes. A hotel in Birmingham for £50 a night for a room for two, plus a £1 booking fee, sounded a bargain and when we saw it had a swimming pool as well that was the clincher.

Beds were pretty and comfortable.  Many rooms have twin beds "for two friends". We asked for a quiet back room. I added, with a smile, "a nice room" and we were given a room an upgraded room with a double bed and a single bed at the back. 

Our room had a shower. Three good size towels. (For a room big enough for three. Well done. In the past at other hotels we have often been given a room for two, but only enough towels for one and nobody thinks to tell housekeeping to add an extra towel. I once was given a double bed for two but only one chocolate. I phoned down to housekeeping and demanded, "Can you please send up a second chocolate within five minutes. If it takes any longer, one of us will eat the chocolate and the other will phone you to ask for the police because of an attempted murder." I got the second chocolate.)

We had a shower, which I like. Gels and mini soaps. 

pool area has a spa bath with firm jets, a steam room, and sauna. 

Ladies changing room with showers has great lotion, rose perfume.

The room was furnished, American style, with a hardback book on the local area. 

Plenty of parking at both the front and back. It's better than it looks. Three star, patchy.

Inside they are trying hard. Bedroom had new en suite shower room with lovely fresh white grout.

What's not to like? The area around the swimming pool is slippery. 

Coming back, went up in the lift. Then I got lost in one of two identical corridors parallel corridors. Keys don't fit. No numbers on keys.  Felt foolish. 

Luckily a member of staff was passing. She didn't mind detouring to let me in. I asked if I was the only person who'd ever made that mistake. She cheerfully told me, one guest a day gets lost.

I suggest that when they re-paint, they could colour-code the corridors. Dark chocolate and white chocolate, with photos, means they only need one corridor changed, or just a set of three pictures of chocolate - different bars so it's easy to remember. Cadbury's might even donate a poster. 

The breakfast egg is a typical hotel egg. I don't know what it's made from. Looks like a yellow brick with holes. Nothing like scrambled egg at home. Yogurt is in a pot, low fat. Gloopy. Fresh apples, but not as tasty as Cox's. On the other hand, Alpen and other cereal packets. Croissant good. Thick brown toast. Good thick English bacon with not much fat.   (I'll avoid the sausage next time. My back tooth went crack. I extracted a bit of bone, not mine, in the sausage, big as a fingernail. My back tooth now has a tiny chip which scratches my tongue.) Filling breakfast. Plenty of choice.

Big natural 'garden' at back has large grassy area and large trees. Oasis you should take a moment to enjoy.

A good three star hotel. Price? The sign outside said rooms from £35. When I previously tried to get special offers they were only one day a week and you had to book more than two weeks in advance. If you are going to a show that ight be possible. We were very pleased with the price we paid, £50 plus a £1 booking fee, breakfast extra.  

Birmingham city centre has the upmarket hotels such as Hyatt, Marriott and Crowne Plaza. The Hagley Road area has several hotels and restaurants grouped together.

The Cobden Hotel, Birmingham.

See my post on visiting Cadbury World, Birmingham. 

Singapore - an Expensive City? Rent yes. Food no.

Singapore is expensive if you want to buy or rent an apartment. However, the bargains are abundant. For example, you can buy lunch in the hawker centre, at one of many food stalls, in the basement or upper floor or an shopping centre and most large public buildings and blocks of flats, especially in the market areas around stations along the railway line.
   Right in the centre, you've a choice of high end restaurants on the top floors with great views, or the bargain basement. Plus of course food halls and supermarkets.
   Cheapest departments stores include the Mustafa complex in Little India. If you want local knowledge, just ask the taxi driver or a shop assistant to suggest a couple of the nearest cheap and good value places to eat.