Winning Table Topic Answer About Teaching One Subject, The English Language at Harrovians Club Revised

 At Harrovians Toastmasters International speakers' club on 21 Sept 2026 I was asked, 

'If you were in charge of a school which could teach only one subject, which subject would it be and why?'

I don't have a recording, but it was only last night and my answer went like this. 

(I am making this note for my own benefit, so that I can improve on it in case I get a similar question and can use the material again. But I am happy to share it with anybody who searches for or stumbles across my blog posts. My answer was:)

The most important subject to teach is English because it is useful in communicating and getting jobs all over the world and English is a commonly spoken language. 

Not only that, the English language could be taught so that it encompasses many other subjects. For example, the language already contains words from many languages, French alone, my husband and I compiled a list of French words used in the English language, such as cuisine, and chauffeur and bouquet, and we found more than 300 French words, without containing any of the words connection with food, such as croissant and cafe. 

English also includes words from psychology and philosophy. And my husband knows lots of Greek letters of the alphabet from mathematics. Latin is used in plant names. English is used all over the world, and I am including American words, which is a branch of English, and new words are being added every day for new ideas. Over in Korea they are teaching science in the English language. The answer has to be English.

Table topics is an impromptu speech of over the minimum amount of time and not more than the maximum. A two minute speech. What other facts could I add to embellish this idea for the most common club speech length, which is five to seven minutes?

I received a letter from my local hospital telling me I had an appointment for a blood test. But when I reached the hospital, I could not see any signs for blood tests. The department I needed was signposted Haematoloty, from ancient Greek Haima, meaning blood, and ology meaning study of. Doctors all over the world, and doctors in this country from all over the world, can read your test results in this common language. Another common word is gastritis.

My father complained that his patient came to him with a sore eye. She was not satisfied his treatment because she went elsewhere, to a second optician, and was told she had conjunctivitis. She told somebody else thought that the other optician had analysed her problem, which my father was unable to do. 

But my father said the other optician had simply used the Greek word for her problem, which was a sore eye. In retrospect I see that many doctors would take the time to tell a patient what the words on the report mean. I looked it up. The common name is pink eye or red eye. It means the eye and'or inside of the eyelid have turned red. itis means inflammation.

I used AI to search for terms used in medical terminology. 

Pronunciation of AIN

 You pronounce the a, not the I. 

The rain in spain falls mainly on the plain.

See the film (Americans say movie) My Fair Lady.

Austalians have the accent I instead of AI pronounced AY.

However, the rest of the English speaking world pronounces AI as AY.

Don't complain. Or I shall say it again.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - what's in it for you and me?

 I think we would all agree that we are living in a diverse world. We all love it. This has been going on for the past couple of centuries. Whether visitors were invaders, colonialists, or economic migrants  or tourists, they brought new foods. The Jews brought fish and chips. The people from Poland brought bagels. The Italians brought ice cream. The Pakistanis introduced Indian restaurants and kebabs. The Chinese gave us Peking duck.

And the locals complain, until the visitors go, then the locals want them back. I remember after the Americans stopped visiting the UK, the hotels discovered that the two suites at the top of the building were making the different to the sustainability. A five per cent difference was the difference between profit and loss.

Now after Covid-19 worldwide, we have to adapt to the new normal. Without tourists, the airlines and restaurants have to re-think how to employ the staff and the buildings.

You have only to look at food. The Normans gave Britain the word boeuf which evolved into beefsteak. England gave back the Sandwich. In come the French croissant, the Italian cappuccino. 

The world changed. America was united into the United States considered a good thing. Britain joined the EU, considered a good thing. The Italian states were united to form Italy.

Then along come people who think it better to separate into different language groups, nationalities and religions. Singapore separates from Malaya which becomes Malaysia. Pakistan  and Bangladesh are split. Ireland is divided, until the EU comes along and wants to build a border, and the two halves of Ireland want to be united. 

I travelled to Singapore and discovered . We are making marmalade from a miniature trees which are displayed and 

The Americans exported McDonald's and in Singapore my favourite seasonal drink was durian flavour.

In England the favourite foods are no longer chicken and roast beef at weekends. Now the most popular take away foods pizza and kebab. Along comes delivery.

Covid-19 has sent us all online from our workplaces and socially. This has two advantages. We can hold meetings with people in other countries. We can practise our languages.

We can also work from home, run businesses from home, and we can hide our faces so we do not suffer discrimination  from somebody who doesn't like our face.

So Diversity is working well. What about equity? Equity is not the same as equality.  I have heard it said that quality is giving every one a shoes. but equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.

We have all heard this before. Karl Marx had bright idea of to every person according to his need, Communism. It worked well on a small scale, such as an Israeli kibbutz, but on a large scale, you ended up with the capital of the country getting the roads and the trains, the provinces being ignored.

On the other hand, when my husband heard that a remote island wants a brand new school, his reaction, was, why lives in the middle of nowhere and expect millions of dollars in subsidies. Come to the city.

You also hear that Britain and America are not sufficiently inclusive. But other people say, if things are so bad, why are people from all over the world flocking here, instead of building up their own countries. Many people have seen the story of the man in the remote mountaintop village who built. What I like about Singapore is that it always had a long term plan. the railway of the future, the city of the future. Education for all, full employment,  taking into account how far a person in a wheelchair has to go to cross a road. The mistakes of the past are quickly put right. At one time it was forbidden to collect rainwater or grow plants on your roof. Now we are looking at sustainable hotels, challenged people running food businesses. The internet means that we can all work together for a win-win situation. Diversity, equity, inclusion,the first step is to be bilingual, and to have a smart pone and computer. Next everybody multilingual, like the children in Nepal and Russia who can speak 7 languages. When  we cannot agree, we can agree to differ. 

But I have more friends, in more countries now, than I had as a teenager. I never thought I would see the President of the United states sit chatting to the head of North Korea in Singapore. I never thought I would see a couple of Middle Eastern countries discuss recognizing Israel and then doing so. The same for the Israelis allowing a bit of their country, their third of the old Palestine, to become a new Palestinian state. I never thought I would see Google translate and Esperanto as an international language online.   In all cases there are for and against on both sides, within the same families.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, we have started talking, and that's the first step. 

Language Evaluations - Alliteration, Questions, Past tense and Pronounciation

May 15 2020 Singapore International Online Toastmasters Club Speeches

What I heard

A few free tips:

Grammar
Verbs
Commands
The verb is first in commands.
For example: Look what you are doing!
However, you should not say, 'now we will look what we did'. The correct phrase is, now we will look at what we did. Look at.

Questions
The question phrase, 'Isn't it', only follows 'is'. Otherwise you need an entire phrase such as 'isn't that the case', or 'isn't it so?' or 'isn't that right?' or 'don't you agree,' or do you agree?.

Not: 'Love conquers everything, isn't it?' - should be 'doesn't it?'
Verbs in questions match: We do, don't we. We will, won't we. It is, isn't it.

'Why there is ...?' should be 'Why is there ...?". Invert (meaning reverse) your sentence struture to create a question.

Past Tense
Quit
He quitted his job - we useually say quit, in the past tense. Why? Maybe we got lazy. That's the way it is said nowadays.

Debt
If you owe money you are in debt
If you are indebted, this is metaphorical. 'You are so kind. I shall forever be indebted to you.'

Adjectives and Adverbs
what he did good - Americanism. In British English the correct phrase would be 'what he did well'.

Pronunciation
mistakes - miss-takes not mystics
Success . I heard 'sussess' - should be 'suck-sess'. The letter c is there twice for a reason. Pronounce it as K the first time and S the second time.
Pitch is pronounced pitch to rhyme with ditch, rich, glitch,hitch. Not peach.

What I Liked
Alliteration
bite the bullet
call me a coward
friendly, fearless, fantastic
trials and tribulations

Phrases
which the blind can see and the deaf can hear

Tips I picked up on writing speeches:
Add conversation.

Highlight Language Colours
I highlight language in yellow.

I highlight any project evaluator's suggestions for additions to improve speeches in contrasting blue. For example, 'add conversation to your speech' will be highlighted in blue.

Language evaluation by Angela Lansbury, member of Singapore Online Toastmasters.  The meeting ended after midnight and the language evaluator was not able to attend. The next day I looked at my notes where I had highlighted in yellow my comments on language and decided to type it up for the benefit of myself and others.

Antidotes to Anticlimax

On LinkedIn another speaker asked for suggestions as to how to recover from post-speech blues. Other speakers seemed to think that the blues were the result of feeling you could have done better. The solution to this is to be a member of two clubs and give the speech again. Go home and write up the new or old version of the speech and rehearse it again.

I'm usually busy editing photos from the event and adding captions and names of people I have met and filing address cards. But you can feel empty if you come home to an empty house.

Or the family are all busy telling you about their events. They don't want to hear how you failed.

I tried to put a reply onto the LinkedIn site but the system was down so here are my immediate suggestions:

1 Blues because nobody said, 'What a great speech!' Concentrate on congratulating others who did well, the good speakers, the new and nervous, the officials who made it run smoothly, the people who did the great catering.

2 Blues because nobody at home to hear you recap what you did well. Write a blog or post about it. Send photos of yourself to club website. Send to local papers. Or send emails congratulating others.

3 Give yourself a Toastmasters International style evaluation. It is a sandwich of praise, suggestions for improvement, ending on praise.

Quotations For Speakers

PREPARING A SPEECH
It takes three weeks to write a good impromptu speech.
Mark Twain

RESEARCH

• George Orwell, (Jun 25, 1903-Jan 2, 1950) author of 1984.
• The best books tell you things you know already.

GET STARTED

• A work which is well begun is already half done. (Roman poet Horace)

CLARITY
Be clear.

• George Orwell, (Jun 25, 1903-Jan 2, 1950) author of 1984.
• Never use a long word when a short one will dol

The best writing is rewriting.

E B White, author of Charlotte's Web; and a book on style.

ORIGINALITY
Always be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland

DELIVERY
Stand and delivery.

FEAR OF SPEAKING
You worry too much.
Rumi

Keep calm and carry on.
Pre-war government poster. UK 1939.

SMILING
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
William Arthur Ward

SELF-CENSORSHIP
Too much information.

Loose lips sink ships.
USA. WWII.

WELCOME

SPEAKING
Speech is given to us to clothe our thoughts.
Talleyrand

LISTENING
None so deaf as those that will not hear.

BREVITY
Stand up, speak up, shut up.

Apologies for the long letter. I did not have time to write a short one.

CALL TO ACTION
Do what I say, not what I do.

PERSISTENCE
Never, never, never give up.
Winston Churchill

I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley.

OBITUARY
Tussser, they tell me, when you were alive
You taught thrift, but you yourself could never thrive
So like the whetstone, many men are won't
To sharpen others, when they themselves stay blunt.

THANKS
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
William Arthur Ward

APPLAUSE & PRAISE
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
Mark Twain

CRITICISM


DYING ON STAGE
There are three speeches: The one you wrote. The one you gave. And the one you wish you had given.
US President

DYING OFF STAGE
Death is often referred to as a good career move.
Buddy Holly. (The Day The Music Died.)

Reports of my death have been grossly exaggerated.
Mark Twain

I told you I was ill.
Spike Milligan's gravestone.

Angela Lansbury is the author of Quick Quotations for Successful Speeches.
Lulu.com

Funeral Speeches For your parent or yourself

The most important funeral speech you'll ever have to give is for a parent. Sometimes this is what makes people join Toastmasters International which trains speakers, the thought that they will have to give a speech at a wedding or funeral. When you hear that your parent is terminally ill, or one of them dies and you want to give a speech for another.

If you give a brief summary of your parent's life on every birthday dinner, they have a chance whilst they are still alive and healthy to update you and correct you about details of their life. 

I gave my late father a grandfather's book to fill in. This remains an enduring record of his life for me to consult when making a speech or writing my family history.
   

Add humour, to any speech. On sad occasions, humour helps to lighten the mood. I just reversed that sentence to end it on the positive note. Your first draft of a speech may start with happy memories and end with sad regrets. You can go through it and say the same things, but ending positively. 

Start writing at regular intervals. Your wedding speech should summarise your life so far.
Then a ruby wedding speech to update.
Leave, with your will, an account of your life.    

If you are concerned that close relatives might find you are being irreverent and inappropriate, you might like to quote one of two famous poems, by Christina Rossetti and (attributed to) Elizabeth Frye. 

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Stand_at_My_Grave_and_Weep

A couple of wonderful uplifting poems from Christina Rossetti

Up Hill

Does the road wind up hill all the way?
       Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
       From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?
       A roof for when the slow dark hours begin?
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
       You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
       Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
       They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
       Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
       Yea, beds for all who come.

— By Christina Georgina Rossetti^[16]

Song
When I am dead, my dearest,
 Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
 Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
 With showers and dewdrops wet:
And if thou wilt, remember,
 And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
 I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
 Sing on as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
 That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
 And haply may forget.

I have updated the language to make it easier for myself to read without stumbling over the words:

When I am dead, my darlings,
 Sing no sad songs for me;
No need to plant roses at my head,
 Nor spend on a shady tree:
Just let the green grass above me
 With showers and dewdrops get wet:
When it makes you happy, remember,
While it makes you sad, just forget.

Because I shan't see your shadows,
 I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the any good or bad
 Celebrate, commiserate minor pain:
When you are dreaming through the twilight
 The sun will still rise nor set,
May you remember our happy times,
 As for the sad ones, (just) forget.

-ends-

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