Taking Up a Challenge

A big challenge becomes a valuable experience

Extracurricular activities also contributed to my exchange experience. Besides the basketball and football teams, there was a speech team at school. As a foreigner I was afraid that I wouldn't be good enough to compete. But after several discussions with my host family, I decided to take up the challenge. I wanted to improve both my English and my public speaking skills. The hardest part was conquering my fear of speaking in front of people. At first, I would just go blank because I was so nervous. But gradually, I became less fearful when I looked at the audience.

After two months of daily training, the speech meets began. Surprisingly, I started winning awards! As the season progressed, I felt more confident and enjoyed speaking in front of people. At the season's end, I even got into a subsection in the Minnesota high school league competition!

I really grew a lot during this time. I conquered my fear of speaking in public. Also, I learned how to communicate with an audience. It was a very valuable experience.


Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Stage Fright 上台恐懼症
沒有人是天生的演說家,
無論是政治人物, 歌手,
所以都是要經過練習,
平常也許在朋友的婚禮需要give a toast,
public speaking 是要經過練習


Grammar Gym
At first, I would just go blank because I was so nervous.
to go blank: to become empty
- The screen went blank.
- After working hard all day, Fred's mind goes blank.
- It's easy to go blank when you have had to deal with so much stress.


Language Lab
extracurricular adj.
/ˌɛkstrəkəˈrɪkjəlɚ/
extracurricular activities are not part of the course that a student is doing at a school or college
- Millie's parents encouraged her to participate in some extracurricular activities.
- Timothy's involvement in extracurricular activities is a big plus for his college application.

conquer v.
to gain control over something that is difficult, using a lot of effort
- It took a lot of effort for Mike to conquer his stage fright, but he did.
to get control of a country by fighting:
- Alexander the Great conquered many countries when he was alive.

subsection n.
a part of a section, especially in a legal document
- Our overseas subsection is located in Singapore.
- Eric's basketball team won the subsection title last night.

communicate v.
to exchange information or conversation with other people, using words, signs, writing etc:
communicate with
- Preschool teachers have their ways of communicating with young kids.
communication n.
- Janet's communication skills need to be polished.