Transcript of a speech I just delivered to 1200 kids who don't speak English

Good morning. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many of you during my first week at LKPFS. I’ve talked to students about a lot of different things, but one thing that people keep saying to me is, “I want to improve my English.” I thought I’d use my time today to make some suggestions.

Firstly, please speak English as much as possible. Many of you come up and talk to me, but others only say “hello.” When I try to start a conversation, they giggle and run away. Why are you scared to talk to me? I don’t bite. In fact, I’ve only bitten three students before, but it was at a different school and they really deserved it.

But seriously, folks, you don’t have to worry about talking to me! I won’t laugh or judge you if you say something incorrectly. If everyone in this school spoke perfect English, then I wouldn’t be here. Speaking correct English is very difficult. It requires a lot of practice, even for me. For example, I practice English for about 17 hours every day. Since you are not as good at English as I am, you may need to practice more; at least double that amount. So please start practicing English for 34 hours every day. If this is impossible, then allow me to suggest an alternative.

Every Thursday in the ELC, starting today, I will hold a discussion group during lunchtime. Today’s topic will be “music.” I will share some songs that I like, and then we can talk about them. I’d also love to hear about songs that you like. The songs don’t have to be in English, but our discussion will be. So if you want to practice speaking, please come to the ELC during lunchtime today at 1 PM.

You should also try to find me, Lois, or any of the English teachers at least once a day and speak to us in English. Try taking 5 minutes while you eat lunch or after school and speak to your friends in English. The more you talk, the easier it will get and the better you will get.

Another way you can get better at English is to read in English. I’m not talking about only your exercise books. My friend Noa is from Israel and she was also trying to learn English. Do you know what she did? She bought an English copy of Twilight. Before she read Twilight, Noa and I almost never talked about vampires, mainly because she didn’t have the necessary vocabulary. Thanks to Twilight, now almost every conversation we have is about vampires. Actually, maybe I would have liked it more if she read a different book. Still, she knows many more words now, including “immortal,” “eternal,” and “Robert Pattison.” This is because reading is the best way to improve your vocabulary.

To help promote English reading, I’m going to have a reading group every Tuesday at lunch during the ELC. I’ll be finding fun stories and articles in English for us to read and talk about. If you love to read, please come to the ELC during lunch on Tuesdays. If you’d like me to suggest something for you to read outside of school, please come by the ELC and we’ll find a book that you’ll really like!

Now I have some good news—I won’t yell at you for watching TV—as long as it’s in English. I think that watching TV is a very helpful when it comes to learning English. It will improve your listening ability, expose you to new vocabulary, not to mention, it’s a lot of fun! Some people say that TV is mindless, but I believe that we are in a golden age of television. “Golden Age” means that I think that TV is better right now than it has ever been.

That is why every Monday during lunchtime, I’ll be showing a TV show in the ELC. We’re going to start with my favorite show, Seinfeld. It’s very funny and the stories are interesting. It’s about the lives of four friends who live in New York City.

As you know, not every day is exciting. Think about what you did yesterday. Was it exciting? Would it make a good movie? Probably not. What Seinfeld does so well is that it takes the little things in life that we might not notice and makes them very funny. For instance, one episode is about waiting to get a table at a restaurant. In another episode, one of the characters has to watch a dog for his friend and the dog won’t stop barking.

Some of you may know that I studied television production when I was at university. For those of you who didn’t know this, I studied television production when I was at university. This means that I am a TV expert. I have the best taste, so just trust me when I tell you that Seinfeld is a great show. Remember to come to the ELC on Monday during lunch to watch.

There are many other ways to improve your English, such as listening to English radio, that I didn’t even mention. Just remember: Since “English” is such a broad topic, there is always a way to make it fun and interesting. That means if you are not excited about anything I’ve talked about today, tell us what you’re interested in! How can we make English fun for you? If you enjoy speaking and practicing English, you will learn it much faster.

One last note: If you didn’t understand my speech, please ask someone to explain it to you, because it's important to you in particular. I hope to see many of you in the ELC both during lunch today for discussion, and also throughout the year. Thank you.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee