At the beginning of the speech, Ms. Che mentioned the importance of critical thinking. Ms. Che invited us to think how much we can empower our students so that they can think. She proposed lots of brilliant ideas. To respect the speaker’s intellectual property rights, here I’ll list only five:

1. Make students know that learning is their own responsibility. That’s their life. Teachers are just there to help them.

2. When assigning a question for students to think, give them time.

3. Ask genuine questions instead of pseudo/rhetorical quetions.

4. Ask open-ended questions. “Why” is a good word to use.

5. In writing, students need to give specifics, which often come from thinking.

Thank you, Prof. Che, for such a well-organized and enlightening speech. I learned a lot from it and enjoyed it very much.

P.S. This entry was written on Dec. 12, 2011, and due to the copyright issue , later modified on Dec. 20, 2011,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPx5r35Aymc&feature=fvsr

Another way to learn English through the speech is by reading the Chinese subtitles while listening to it. Yet, what counts most is the message Severn Suzuki tried to get across.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYZeXIN1cZA&feature=player_embedded)

The following is the transcript of the speech offered by http://ssjothiratnam.com/?p=747.

Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organisation.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
 Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day — vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

• You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
• You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
• You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
• And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.
I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil — borders and governments will never change that.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter — we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?
I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:
• not to fight with others,
• to work things out,
• to respect others,
• to clean up our mess,
• not to hurt other creatures
• to share – not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for — we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everything’s going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and “it’s not the end of the world”.
But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening

By doing “shadowing,” that is, repeating after Dr. King while listening, you can practice giving an eloquent speech in English.

A former student of mine who I taught in 2008-09 told me that while we were going over this lesson, whenever she turned on her computer, the first thing she would do was watch/listen to the speech.

While the students were listening, I pointed out the rhetorical strategies Dr. King employed in giving such a powerful and persuasive speech–contrast, parallelism, and analogy, which I bold-faced, marked red and blue respectively in the transcript as follows.

Click on the the URL and listen to the first five minutes as you read the transpcript.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Be touched by it!

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/11/michelle-obama-anacostia-_n_609356.html

Michelle Obama Tears Up, Urges Students to Pursue Higher Ed in Academies at Anacostia Graduation Speech

June 11, 2010

WASHINGTON — Her voice cracking and eyes filled with tears, first lady Michelle Obama remembered her parents’ sacrifices for their two children and how they pushed for success as she urged high school graduates to claim their destiny.

Mrs. Obama addressed students, parents and faculty of The Academies at Anacostia at the school’s graduation ceremony Friday at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, not far from the White House. She said she would not have been standing at the podium if her parents had not encouraged her and her brother, Craig Robinson, to dream big.

My comments: Parents do have a great impact on their children. Their guidance and insistence make a difference in their children’s life.

“I remember my mom pushing me and my brother to do things she’d never done herself; things she’d been afraid to do herself,” the first lady said. “What I can remember is my father getting up every day and going to work at the water filtration plant, even after he was diagnosed with MS, even after it got hard for him to button his shirt, and to get up and walk. See, I remember my parents sacrificing for us, pouring everything they had into us, being there for us, encouraging us to reach for a life they never knew.”

My comments: As told in “Paging Dr. Carson,” though Ben Carson’s mother was illiterate, she insisted her two sons shut down the TV, read two books every week and write a report, which opened the door to a much greater world for Ben and his brother Curtis.

Michelle Obama’s father, Fraser, is deceased. Her mother, Marian Robinson, lives at the White House with the first family.

She also encouraged the graduates to give themselves a pat on the back.

“You have to understand that there are a lot of people out there who believe in you. I believe in you. The president of the United States believes in you,” said Obama, who spoke for about 25 minutes. “When times are hard for us, you inspire us. You keep us going. We are expecting big things from you in the years to come. Big things.”

My comments: Very encouraging! Pygmalion effect.

The first lady urged students to surround themselves with the right friends, travel abroad and to continue to pursue higher education.

My comments: All these help broaden our horizons.

“You don’t have to be on a college campus to educate yourself,” she said. “There are opportunities all over D.C. to enrich your lives and enrich your minds.”

My comments: With a heart to learn, the sky is the limit.

It was Mrs. Obama’s second address to Anacostia students. She visited the school during the last academic year to mentor female students. The school is in one of the poorest sections of Washington and has struggled in the past, leading to its transfer to a charter school operator.

According to the graduation program, 164 students received diplomas during the ceremony. More than 90 percent of the graduates have received college acceptance letters. Mrs. Obama said school attendance and college acceptances had risen significantly.

Graduate Jordan Smiley, the Class of 2010 valedictorian who will attend Hampton University this fall, told the first lady that the student body looks to her family as examples of what it can achieve.

“Today we are proof that change, whether good or bad, can be beneficial,” Smiley said in his speech. “We are writing history and we have the choice to determine what the future says about us.”

The following is more inspiring excerpts from Mrs. Obama’s speech:

“You’re proving that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you or what you can achieve. The only thing that matters, rather, is what you think about yourself and what you’re willing to do to achieve your goals. That’s all that matters. (Applause) How hard are you willing to work, how big are you willing to dream?”

“Don’t ever scale back your dreams. And don’t ever set limits on what you can achieve. And don’t think for one single moment that your destiny is out of your hands, because no one’s in control of your destiny but you. And it is never too late. You can do anything you put your minds to — and I mean absolutely anything.”

“No one achieves success overnight. You know life doesn’t work that way. Anything worth having takes time and perseverance. You’re going to have to push yourselves beyond your limits. You’re going to have to step outside of those comfort zones. You’re going to have to ask for help when you need it.”

“…part of being a mature and functioning adult in this society is realizing that life is a series of tradeoffs. If you want a career that pays a good salary, then you have to work hard. You’ve got to be on time; you’ve got to finish what you start; you have to always keep your word. If you want a life free from drama, then you can’t hang out with people who thrive on drama. (Applause.) You have to pick your friends wisely, pick your friends — surround yourself with people who share your values and your goals.”

“A belief in the importance of education. Perseverance. Character. These are the qualities that …you’ll need — and more — when you leave here and begin the next chapter of your lives.”

“To those of you who are college bound in the fall, I just hope that you make the most of that experience. Take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. Make new friends; get to know your classmates. Take classes that’ll challenge the way you think about the world. Build relationships with professors that inspire you. Don’t sit in your room, get involved in activities that spark your passions and service organizations that touch your hearts. And the thing that I’ve been telling graduates all over this country is study abroad if you can. Find a way to travel the world. Above all, never stop finding new ways to push yourselves. Never stop finding new ways to learn and to grow.”

“And the same goes for those of you who aren’t headed to college, because you don’t have to be on a college campus to educate yourself…Be persistent. Start with your immediate network of people — folks like the folks up here. Reach out to people you admire in your community — teachers, pastors, business owners. Talk to them about how they got started in their careers. Ask them for advice and guidance. And most of all, stay positive. Believe in yourselves and in what you have to offer.”

“…no matter what you’re doing next year, you have to be aggressive. You have to seize every opportunity that’s available to you. You can’t wait. You can’t just sit around. Don’t expect anybody to come and hand you anything; it doesn’t work that way. (Applause.) If you want your own destinies and you want to control those destinies tomorrow, you’ve got to start practicing who you want to be today, because if you’re afraid to step beyond your comfort zone today and reach for the things you want today, you’ll always be afraid. If you’re afraid to speak up and ask for what you need today, you will always be afraid.

Don’t (inaudible) fear, but if you begin to take control of your destiny today, graduates, if you push yourself today, if you practice taking risks today, that’s what you’ll continue to do for the rest of your lives.”

“once you grab hold of your future and pull yourselves up — there’s just one more thing you have to do, and that is reach back and pull someone else up after you — (applause) — because the truth is none of us can succeed on our own. We all need help along the way.”

“And that support will come from teachers like the ones you have at Anacostia. It’ll come from friends, but real friends who have your best interests at heart, friends who bring out the best in you, friends who have your back and keep you focused on your dreams. (Applause.)

And it’s all going to come from your families. And again, we got to take a moment again to recognize the family members and to remember that many of you are here because of what they have done.”

“…family members, know this: You don’t have to have lived the kind of life you want your kids to live to help them excel. Your kids don’t need you to be a doctor or a lawyer. Your kids don’t need you to be rich and famous. What they need from you is your wisdom. What they need from you is your support. What they need from you is love, that unconditional love — (applause) — the kind of love that lets them know that you will be there for them, no matter what. That’s all your kids need.”

“We are living proof for you that with the right support, it doesn’t matter what circumstances you were born into, or how much money you have, or what color your skin is, if you’re committed — if you are committed to doing what it takes, anything is possible. It’s up to you. (Applause.)”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/excerpts-president-barack-obamas-commencement-address-kalamazoo-central-high-school

Excerpts from President Barack Obama’s Commencement Address at Kalamazoo Central High School

June 07, 2010

“… I’m here tonight because after three rounds of competition, with more than 1,000 schools, and more than 170,000 votes cast, I know – and America now knows – what you’ve done at Kalamazoo Central.

Together as a community, you’ve embraced the motto of this school district: “Every child, every opportunity, every time,” because you believe, like I do, that every child – regardless of what they look like, where they come from, or how much money their parents have – every child who walks through your schoolhouse doors deserves a quality education.

And I’m here tonight because I think that America has a lot to learn from Kalamazoo Central about what makes for a successful school in this new century: Educators raising standards and inspiring their students to meet them. Community members stepping up as tutors and mentors and coaches. Parents taking an active interest in their kids’ education – attending those teacher conferences, turning off that TV, and making sure that homework gets done.

My comments: When I came to the words “turning off that TV,” I smiled, because I gave my students the article “Paging Dr. Carson” to read at home last week and either write a reflection or a letter from Dr. Carson to his mom. In that article, Dr. Carson related how his mother turned off the TV and saved him and his brother from ignorance.

Our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is here tonight because these are the values – these are the changes – that he’s working to encourage in every school in this nation. This is the key to our future.

But the most important ingredient is you: students who raised their sights; who aimed high and invested yourselves in your own success. It’s no accident that so many of you received college admission letters, Class of 2010. Because you worked for it. You earned it.”

My comments: I wish every student knew that they are investing themsevles in their own future.

***

“…understand that your success in life won’t be determined just by what’s given to you, or what happens to you, but by what you do with all of that – by how hard you try; how far you push yourself; how high you’re willing to reach. Because true excellence comes only through perseverance.”

My comments: This was quoted in the UDN two days ago.

***

“…meaningful achievement, lasting success – that doesn’t happen in an instant. It’s not just about the twist of fate, or the lucky break, or the sudden stroke of genius. Rather, it’s about the daily efforts, the choices large and small that add up over time. It’s about the skills you build, the knowledge you accumulate, the energy you invest in every task, no matter how trivial or menial it may seem at the time.”

My comments: This was also quoted in the UDN two days ago. This Wednesday, our principal Mr. Wu (吳正東校長) mentioned in the morning assembly that some students just went between home and school every day without an aim. If they could see how they would sigh over their wasted life one day, they might start to accumulate their ability now.

***

“… don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes, but for your failures as well.

My comments: How I love the three words “don’t make excuses”! Making excuses leads us nowhere. Only by reflecting on ourselves and being honest with ourselves can we find a better way to live.

The truth is, no matter how hard you work, you won’t necessarily ace every class or succeed in every job. There will be times when you screw up, when you hurt the people you love, when you stray from your most deeply held values.

And when that happens, it’s the easiest thing in the world to start looking around for someone to blame. Your professor was too hard; your boss was a jerk; the coach was playing favorites; your friend just didn’t understand. We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV.

My comments: When we focus on the wrong thing, our life is out of focus.

This community could have easily gone down that road. You could have made excuses – our kids have fewer advantages, our schools have fewer resources, so how can we compete? You could have spent years pointing fingers – blaming parents, blaming teachers, blaming the principal or the superintendent or the government.

But instead, you came together. You were honest with yourselves about where you were falling short. And you resolved to do better – to push your kids harder, to open their minds wider, to expose them to all kinds of ideas and people and experiences.”

My comments: In a word, we have to focus on what we should do to get things better done.

Then I found this website at which you can listen to and read the speech at the same time. My suggestion is that you first listen to the speech without looking at the script, trying to jot down some important points. Then for the second time, you read the script as you listen.

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

Rowling’s speech is inspiring. Her main points are the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. She also suggested cherishing the friends with whom the graduates sat on graduation day. As we know, Rowling once was a “failure,” jobless and a lone parent. However, with the exploding popularity of the Harry Potter series, she became a celebrity. In the speech, she mentioned how she struck the balance between her own dream and her parents’ expectation and how failure made her grow stronger.

Rowling’s sense of humor drew a lot of laughter from the audience at the very beginning of the speech. A really intriguing speech!

I would like to embed the video into this blog in case it is removed from the Harvard Magazine website. Moreover, the 7-A4-page speech script is available here as well.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure.doc

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

More fantastic speeches on various topics can be found at TED.

http://www.ted.com/themes

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=230367

朱學恒談堅持 建中人鼓掌2分鐘    2010/01/8

【聯合報╱記者邱瓊玉／台北報導】

「人之所以成為英雄，是因為選擇，不是能力… 」「宅神」朱學恒昨天到建中演講「創意與熱情」，幽默的談吐，搭配大量的勵志影片，學生反應熱烈，結束時掌聲整整持續兩分多鐘，連校長蔡炳坤都忍不住表示「有點被感動到了」。

My comments: Making the right choice is important; however, competence also counts to some extent.

為鼓勵年輕學子找到未來人生方向，奇幻文化藝術基金會執行長朱學恒到建中面對1100位高一生演講，400吋的螢幕、投影機，以及八個超大喇叭，讓人印象深刻。

為了表達何謂「沒有達不到的夢想，只有不願意付出的代價」，朱學恒利用大量的勵志影片，包括環遊世界跳怪舞的Matt Harding、四肢癱瘓的Team Hoyt、出生就沒有四肢的Nick Vijcic等，就是希望學生能夠去思考「何謂堅持」。

My comments: I love the sentence though I don’t quite agree with the first part.   There is  unattainable dream.  For example, it’s an impossible dream for a 150-cm-tall adult to grow to 170 cm anymore.  However, once the dream is reasonable, it is achievable.

朱學恒表示，一個人會認為自己做不到，那是因為你先告訴自己做不到，有很多冒險趁著年輕時去做，將會更精彩、更刺激。

My comments: Good!

他也建議學生，若是以後遇到困難，不妨告訴自己「我可以」，即便是成功機率只有十萬分之一，都比什麼都不做的零要來的大。

My comments: Getting one more point is always better.

朱學恒特別舉了兩年前殉職的苗栗警員吳道源為例，他說，認真負責的吳道源殉職本是一則看過即忘的新聞，卻因他發起的一人一信送暖活動，近700封的感謝慰問信件也讓吳的家屬受到安慰，感人故事更讓現場不少師生感動落淚。朱學恒強調，只要你願意跨出第一步，世界就有可能因此改變。

My comments: Every one of us can do something to make the world better.  This morning, I went to the post office.  Filling out the form, I looked up and saw an elderly lady sitting near staring at me.  I smiled at her, and she smiled back.  It’s a kind of warm feeling.

朱學恒上次踏進建中演講是5年前，他表示，當時是對高二學生演講，沒想到一個星期後，居然有高一學生因課業壓力自殺，讓他一直覺得，若是他當時是對高一演講，是否就不會發生遺憾。

Unable to find the article on the Net, I would like to put some main points of his speech here.

Mr. Lian encouraged those hooked to the computer to rise to their feet and exert themseleves instead of wasting life in front of the computer. According to him, what one sees on the screen, be it the computer, the television, or the movie, is a record of the moments someone else created. Squandering hours in others’ moments, one doesn’t have much time left to “make moments” in one’s life.

The topic of the speech was “Reach Out to Cheer the World Up (伸手為世界打氣).”

Though I didn’t concentrate, I still heard a lot of inspiring sentences.  For example, here’s one in John Wooden’s “True Success,” http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html

     “…believe things will work out as they should providing we do what we should.”