Myself Rey, I was studying in higher secondary. One day my English teacher told us to prepare a speech and we have to speak individualy in front of all our classmates.
That day after finishing my school I went to home and told my mom that I have to give a speech tomorrow infront of all my classmates. My mom told me to select a topic and prepare well.
I don’t know what topic to choose and I was thinking about it. I finally decided to choose a topic from sports and I collected few information. I was writing all the information in a paper and after I finished I showed it to my mom. My mom doesn’t know English well and most of the time she will ask me to tell what’s the meaning of this! Then I formed my sentences with the relevant information and I finally prepared a speech in a paper. Then I fully memorized it and I would go to my mom to tell the speech. I will start like this “Good morning everyone. Today I am going to give a speech on sports “, and I will continue to speak , In the middle I will get stuck and I will start from the beginning. I would have repeated that speech for about 15 to 20 times. My mom will keep on listening, she would tell me to speak boldly and don’t be nervous. That whole night I didn’t even sleep I was thinking how I am going to speak in my class.
The truth is that I was afraid to speak in English in front of people. Thinking how would they react, my pronunciation and what if I forgotten my speech in the middle what would they think and will they make fun of me etc. This was running in my mind the whole night.
Next day I went to the class. My English teacher came and she told us to give the speech one by one, then she went and sat at the last bench. She told she will give marks out of 5. Then one by one started to give their speech. I was looking at them but not listening, my mind was thinking about my speech. I got little nervous and it seemed I forgot all my speech. I took the papers and I was reading in my mind. Then my friend went to give his speech and it was me next. I got so frightened, I was sweating and I closed my eyes, my heart was beating heavily and I prayed for a minute.
The time had come it was me to give the next speech. I Went and stood in front of the classroom and I looked at everyone a second. Then took a long breath and just looked straight to the wall and started to give my speech. I didn’t even look down my audience. Once I finished, the whole class gave me claps and I went back to my seat that’s when I felt relaxed and normal. Then the teacher told me “It was great speech and I will give you full 5 marks”. It was like I achieved something really big in my life.
I know the speech was not good and I know why my teacher gave me full 5 marks. It was my confidence to speak in front of all.
From then I have improved and I realized Be afraid what you speak to others. Think before you speak because some words can hurt others. Don’t be afraid to speak in front of others. Be confident 🙂
By
Rey.
REY 