How to Find a Mentor

Dear Fellow Toastmasters

I hope you have done your home work since my latest speech on the 27^th April when I asked you to think about having a mentor for you.

Hi

I am georghe Rusky and today I will tell you how to start searching a mentor and what qualification a mentor of your dream should have.

First you have to determine clearly in which area of human expertise you would like to achieve top results and if you can do without help. To be successful we need

By going to people who are ahead of you in the personal or professional arena you can save months (maybe even years) and thousands of dollars to learn what you need to learn all by yourself. To be successful, we have to find people who have already paid the price to help us learn the things, that we need to learn to achieve our goals.

The mentors you choose should be people you respect, admire and want to be like. The advice you seek should be guidance regarding your character and personality and specific ideas on how you can do your job better and faster. Remember, you can’t figure it all out for yourself. You have to have the help of others. You have to find men and women who will guide you and advise you on the road of life, or you will take a long, long time getting anywhere.

There fore the first requirement for the mentor is competence

The mentors you choose should be people you respect, admire, and want to be like. The advice you seek should be guidance regard­ing your character and personality and specific ideas on how you can do your job better and faster. Remember, you can't figure it all out by yourself. You must have the help of others. You must find men and women who will guide you and advise you on the road of life, or you will take a long, long time getting anywhere.

There are two vital qualities to look for in a mentor. The first is character and the second is competence.

Character is by far the most important. Look for a mentor who has the kind of character you admire and respect. Look for a person who has high degrees of intelligence, integrity, judgment and wisdom. The more you associate with men and women who are advanced in the development of their character, the more you will tend to pattern them and to become like them.

The second quality you look for in a mentor is competence. This means that the person is extremely good at what he or she does. A good mentor in your career is one who has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to move ahead far more rapidly than his or her peers.

The impact of a mentor on your life is dependent on two addi­tional factors. The first is your degree of openness to being influenced by another person. Openness is so important because many people, especially young people, are extremely impatient, always looking for shortcuts. When they get advice on something that another person has spent many years learning, they often try to add their own varia­tions and improve on it without ever having mastered the original instruction.

Remember, when you open yourself up to guidance and input from another person, concentrate first on understanding and learning exactly what that person has to teach you. Afterward, you can modify and change that lesson to suit your changing circumstances.

The second factor that determines the influence of a mentor on your life is the willingness of the mentor to help you in every way possible to achieve your goals. We know that the more emotionally involved someone is in our lives, the more susceptible we are to being influenced by that person. When you seek out a mentor, you must look for someone who genuinely cares about you as a person and who really wants you to be successful in your endeavors.

So, for a good mentor-protégé relationship, you must be wide open to the influence and instruction of the other person, and at the same time, the mentor must be genuinely concerned about your well-being and your ultimate success. These are the two essentials.

Your ability to choose your mentors can be a crucial step toward achievement in all areas of your life. So here are 12 steps for building successful mentor-protégé relationships:

1) Set clear goals for yourself in every area of your life. Know exactly what you want to accomplish before you start thinking of the type of person who can help you accomplish it.

2) Determine the things you will have to do in order to achieve your goals, the obstacles you will have to overcome, and the roadblocks you will have to surmount.

3) Identify the areas of knowledge, skill, and expertise you will have to acquire in order to overcome the obstacles existing between you and your goals.

4) Look around for the most successful people in the areas in which you will need the most help.

5) Join the clubs, organizations, and business associations these people belong to.

6) Once you have joined these organizations, become actively involved and volunteer for responsibilities. This will bring you to the attention of the people you want to meet faster than anything else.

7) Work, study, and practice continually to get better and better at what you do. The very best mentors are interested in helping you only if they feel it is going to be worth their time. You will have no problem attracting people to you when you develop a reputation for being up-and-coming in your field.

8) When you find a potential mentor, don't make a nuisance of yourself. Instead, ask for 10 minutes of his or her time, in person, in private. Nothing more. Remember, most potential mentors are busy people, and they may be opposed to some­one's trying to take up a lot of their time. It's not personal.

9) When you meet with a potential mentor, express your eager­ness to be more successful in your field. Tell him or her that you would very much appreciate a little guidance and advice to help you move ahead. Ask for an answer to a specific question, for a specific book or audio program recommendation, or for a specific idea that has been helpful to him or her in the past.

10) After the initial meeting, send a thank-you note expressing your gratitude and appreciation for his or her time and guidance. Mention that you hope to meet again if you have another question.

11) Each month, drop your mentor a short note telling him or her about what you are doing and how you are progressing. Nothing makes a mentor more open to helping you further than your making it clear that the previous help has done you some good.

12) Arrange to meet with your mentor again, perhaps on a monthly basis, or even more often if you work closely together.

Over the course of your life, you will have many mentor-protégé relationships. As you grow and develop, you will seek out different mentors, the people who can give you the kind of advice that is most relevant to your current situation.

Successful people are very open to helping other people who want to be successful. This is especially true if they know you are willing to be a mentor to others who are younger and less experienced than you. The more open you are to helping others up the ladder of success, the more open others will be to helping you.

George Rusky VPPR, CC

Communication. A Draft for the webpage

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen

   Communication is a process of transmitting a message from one person to another or to a group of people.

How do you assess your ability to communicate with the world around you on the scale of one to ten?

Is it 9 or 3 or five?

Hi I am George Rusky and on this page I would like to talk about a process of communication as I see it.

             First I want to thank the Lord my parents forgiving me the gift of producing sounds and words in my native language and in a few other ones, for the miracle of articulating and producing the words in a sentence smoothly with out any verbal problems. In short for the ability to communicate.

            Now, as I have such a wonderful gift, isn’t is wise and logical to give the best use to this gift and learn how to communicate with others and gain an image of a pleasant expected-met-greeted everywhere individual, rather than a portrait of a boring unpleasant fellow whom people have no desire to invite and flock with.

But, you may say, if communication is a gift given to you, can it be earned or learned or trained? Isn’t it is something you either have or don’t have.

         And now we have arrived at the point where I always have problems with anyone I share my philosophy of self-development ad self-improvement.

   According to this philosophy, almost anything can be learned and improved if only a man or a woman badly wants to acquire a new skill. Be it the skill of playing the guitar or painting.

I personally strongly believe: it is possible!

I also believe that those who declare that if you have no talent, say, to be a writer, you will never become one.

I guess they say that because they want to hide their laziness to start doing something that goes beyond their daily routines.

And, what is more, they do not want let others to develop their new skills.

By the way, the strongest argument of the supporters “you will never…” is that they compare the enthusiast of self-development to champions in the field.

This approach is wrong. The only one way to compare is when a person compares herself   of today, to her as she was a week or a month ago and sees that she has made a great progress…

Now if you agree with my approach to learning new skills, we can easily move to learning the skill of communication and to learn it with Toastmasters International where the skill of communication occupies the central position, the core of the whole Toastmasters Educational system.

Why Toastmasters, actually? Aren’t there any other offers on the market?

No!

          Toastmasters is the only one organizational where anybody can start speaking to the audience in a friendly, supportive and positive environment of people who joined a TM club for the same very reason: to become a better communicator and leader. 

Dear friend

 If you really want to create your future success in personal and professional life, strong communication and leadership skills are a must, you aught to come to a meeting of a Toastmasters club and see what it’s like to become a strong and inspired leader.

Why is such a long introduction?

To explain to you my position of self development without borders, which is also true for learning the skill of communication and leadership, the two main educational directions learned and practiced at Toastmasters.

   Learning communication with the Toastmasters. What is so unique about that?

There is a number of serious benefits of the Toastmasters educational program that make it possible in a short time to become a better communicator an a leader.

              Let’s think about your own communication and leadership experience, the real people you met, the movies you have seen the books you have read and the stories you have heard, in short, all that has created I you a picture of people equally good at speaking and leading versus the ones who failed in both these skills.

What is your ideal portrait of a leader and communicator?....

How To Become A Public Speaker. By George Rusky

Introduction
                     As a business, Public Speaking appeared in the middle of the last century and
since that time it has attracted attention of various people who wanted to
join this business.
Hi
I’m George Rusky and I’ve been a Public Speaker for more than two decades
and have spoken before people of different countries, various age groups and
walks of life.
Now, as I think about the business, I come up with some interesting
observations.
          Suppose you want to become a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, an
engineer, etc. you can study this craft at various educational establishments
of all ranks and standards.
With Public Speaking the picture was different.
           There are no establishments where the subject of public speaking
occupies an equal position with other school subjects. The craft and
profession of speaking publicly was started and developed by a small group
of American enthusiasts lead by Mr Bill Gove who considered as the Father of
Professional Speaking, the first president of the National Speakers
Association, one of the most out standing professional speakers of the 20th
century, the founder of so called Workshop for training professional
speakers.(1947)
          It was him who gave this art and business life and determined
development of it for the next decades for those volunteers who wanted to
become public speakers.
          Twenty years later, I stepped on the path of public speaking activity
that was kind of a part-time job I enjoyed doing both for money and free and
had never thought of sharing my experience of speaking on public with
anyone who might be interested in this business.
           So, this short report is my first attempt to write about some of my
observations about this magnificent business of Public Speaking and how you
can possibly join us.
Enjoy!
George Rusky


Chapter One. 
A Public Listener versus Public Speaker.
How to become a public speaker?
First you have to become a public LISTENER.???
Let me explain why I am saying that.
       I will start from the idea that a Public Speaker is not only a person who
speaks in front of audiences on press-conferences but anyone who at least
once has spoken to a group of people trying to achieve one of the following
basic goals:

• Giving information (any kind of meetings);
• Persuading listeners to make a decision (sales presentations);
• Inspiring the audiences ( sermons);
• Motivating people ( joining organizations);
• Entertaining the public (shows);

        Apart from these best known human gatherings where one group is
listening, and an individual/group of individuals is speaking, we may think of
all possible kinds of social events where the above mentioned goals will take
place in various imaginable combinations: debates, forums, educational
meetings, celebrations, weddings, funerals and so on and so forth.
      As you can see now, a public speaking is a huge sociable phenomenon of
human society that penetrates all spheres of everyday life and very often a
speaker address to the audience after she had made a few essential
preparations, has done her ‘home work’
In the majority of cases an orator collects information, does the research and
listens to others on the subject of her talk, just not to repeat what has been
said and to say something new.
       In short, before someone acts as a public speaker she has to become a
public listener, she has to know what the public wants to hear from her, what
might be worth listening.
It may also happen, and it does indeed, that the speaker says what she
believes is interesting for her and what she is patient about but the group of
people she talks to, needs something absolutely different.
      James Malinchak advices to ask and listen to what a potential client will
agree to accept as a subject of the talk for her audience, rather than
persuade her to accept the speaker’s topic.
If you want to earn money, do what the client wants: the CLIENT is always
right!I still insist on becoming a Public Listener first!
Not convinced yet?
OK, read on! The following almost true life stories will help you to get to the
point.
Situation One.
At the Doctor’s.
Imagine: you enter the doctor’s office and from the moment he sees you he
starts his speech:
“Mr Smith, isn’t it?
Before you open your mouth to reply, he goes on:
“As I can see, you have a serious problem with your stomach, headaches
every morning, you don’t sleep well and what is even worse, you have…”
You are still hoping to say something, but the Doc is unmerciful…
“No, no no, please, don’t say a word! I can see that you have a high blood
pressure and so on and so forth…”
Situation Two. 
At a shoe store.
You are buying a pair of shoes. No sooner than you are entering the store,
you are literally attacked by a shop assistant who is giving his speech
“Good morning sir/madam and welcome to our store.
My name is John Smith and I am a senior shop assistant.
Let me tell you what you are looking for and help you with all you need.
I guarantee that you will be pleased with our services and will buy minimum
three pairs of magnificent shoes.
First, let me guess your size and favorite color. Then we will go on with the
model that suit you and finally you will try our products on and buy.
While this dazzling sales presentation, you feel that you have no chances but
shut up and wait what is going to happen next because to your complete
amazement while the senior shop assistant is talking, a junior one is carrying
the shining boxes with footwear, leaving you no chances but to sit and try
the shoes-candidates on, or to try to run away.
Situation Three.
A Dating agency.
A usual thing: He is looking for her. She is looking for him.
An agent is looking for money from him and her and that is why he doesn’t
care whether he may like her, or she may like him. The agent knows
everything even before the candidate crosses the door of his office and starts
explaining what kind of the only one he is hoping to find, the agent has predestined the newcomer’s life: he knows exactly who is the real candidate
for the poor soldier of life mis-adventures.
               I can go on showing you the importance of listening before
speaking, but you get the point: the doctor, as well as the shop assistant and
surely the dating agent must first listen to their clients, ask dozens of
questions and only after that give the best options for their clients.
   “No one cares how much you know, unless they know how much
you care”
            Do you think the situation is very much different in the craft of a
public speaker?
Don’t you believe that before one even think of becoming a public speaker
has to become a public listener?
Or, perhaps, listener to the public.
Chapter Two.
How to Become a Good Listener. One.
Before you begin a good listener, you should become a good Reader!
Another paradox? Come on George!
I feel you are getting angry with me and, the way the report is made makes
you nervous.
But, listen to this!
Trust me, I am serious.
In order to listen to a person worth listening, you have to READ as much as
you can about this person!
Agree?
        Listening is also the process of investing your precious time and surely
you must know that you invest your time wisely and effectively. So, go to the
website and read all you can about the one who offers you to listen to him.
       Being a good listener does not mean only having ears and mind open
toward the information, but know exactly that what you are looking for and
forward you will read in testimonials  of other customers.
Actually, I have built my list of who I listen to regularly.
       If you want to know the giants of Public Speaking industry, send me a
message and I will send you my list, it’s not that long.
       By the way, how often do you hear these questions?“How can you listen to this rubbish?”
“I don’t want to hear this BS”
“All I have heard was a complete waste of time…”
          And here goes the resume: Collect information about who you want to
listen to if you really want to be a good listener. A good listener listens to
wise people and valuable information.
NB: don’t listen to your closest who recommends you to listen to someone.
Try to read about the candidate and make your own opinion about this
concrete person.
How to Become a Good Listener. Two.
          Now let’s define concrete steps of getting a better speaker thru
listening to what others wish to hear from you.
Rule number One. Don’t expect anyone to tell you what they want to
hear from you.
I have noticed in some situations people don’t really know what they want!
Help them: ask questions. Be the master of asking questions.
And never say you are asking because you are curious as the majority of my
conversationalists do.
Ask questions because you want to find out what your potential client wishes
to hear.
       Develop your art of asking good, well formed questions that will lead
you in the direction you want and at the same time, help people to express
themselves.
The best questions are the ones I call ‘wh’ questions: what, why, when,
where, who…”
In short the questions that need more than just:’ yes-no’ answers.
So, become a master of asking questions.
Rule number Two. ‘Don’t interrupt’
How often we hear this:” Don’t interrupt, let me finish…”
It’s impolite in everyday, casual talks, it’s a ‘must not’ in business talks.
Do not interrupt a potential client, let her dominate the talk!
Go on with the conversationalist with nodding, showing your interest in any
ways you can think of trying occasionally direct smoothly the talk to the
destination you plan.
Rule number Three. Define the key points of the story you hear.While listening, define what the biggest concern of your conversationalist and
re-ask her what she has said, but say that in your own words. It’s a very
powerful tool of listening that shows better than anything else that you are
interested in what you hear.
Use the following short questions:
1. ” If I understood you correctly, you…?”
2. “Let me check whether I understood well what you have said…?”
3. “Do you mean to say that…?”
4. Or, the favorite question of Brian Tracy:  “How do you mean it?”
When you repeat the information correctly, the other person will be pleased
with her ability to explain and your skill of understanding all in the way that
it had been said.
Rule number Four. Hold on!
Whenever you feel like adding something or trying to encourage your fellow
speakers, resist the temptation to do so. I have noticed that very often
instead of helping them to move on in the direction we want, they ‘jump’ into
another topic or just endlessly try to explain their point differently and fail to
find the right words and examples for it.
Be careful with providing this kind of support.
 Rule number Five. Practice the three above described rules.
Yes, exactly so: “Take action!”
It’s never enough to be familiar with what should be done and how it must
be done. The crucial element of any activity is DOING.
Armed with the best possible knowledge of any existing subject, a man will
never become wealthy if he only enjoys his profound knowledge.
He must sell his knowledge, exchange his knowledge for another product.
So, take action!

Chapter Three. Becoming a Public Speaker. Dos and Don’ts.
      As soon as you understand what is the interest of your potential client,
time to start preparation for your speech.
There are scores of good advice how to manage the time for the preparation
of your talk, what to do first and so on.
Let’s divide the whole process on several stages.
I. Identifying the main goal of the talk. What am I supposed to bring into my
audience? Remember: the goal/goals of the talk must be based on the
opinion of the one who orders the talk. II. Find out all you can about the audience. It’s a well-known rule: know
your audience. You should become one of your future listeners knowing their
worries, their likes and priorities. All monsters of public business recommend
working with one or two targeted groups of people: you become an expert in
serving these specific audiences.
III. Write the text of the talk in as many details as you can imagine. It is
said not to read the text of the talk and I won’t say any different with just
one remark: you need to know the contents really well to speak on memory.
It doesn’t work at the beginning of the career of a public speaker.
IV. Do not show your manuscript to a native speaker of English. Even if you
lucky and your ‘judge’ or helper is good at speaking and writing she may
completely change your text in accordance with what she things she could
have said in this sentence or paragraph. On this stage is important to start
and be the best you can. The rest will come later.
V. Prepare all supportive materials for the talk. Think of anything that could
make your performance more important for the audience.
VI. Practice as long as you can afford. If you want to become a top speaker,
a Michael Jordan in public speaking, you must practice 2-3-4-5-6-7- and
more hours a day. It’s just tough. You decide where you want to be, it’s on
you.
VII. The last and very important. The English language.
Try to make it perfect. Check my materials in the section English Training.
You will find there all you need to develop your language skills.
Don’t be discouraged: practice makes miracles. Find a coach. Don’t hire just
a teacher of English, native or non-native. You need a trainer, the person
who will be your sparring partner for becoming an excellent speaker, your
Professor Higgins, if you will.
Chapter Four. Where to Start. The First Steps of a Future
Champion.
         Now, as you have learned that much about how to prepare a speech, it
is the right time to think of the listeners, your audience. You cannot just give
speeches to people in the streets.
But even before finding a place, I still strongly recommend you do something
else which might sound a bit unserious or unnecessary, yet has proved to
make wonders for lots of people. I’m now talking of a very simple exercise.
        Look into the mirror and ask you a simple question:
“Do I really want to become a Public Speaker?”          Then listen to your answer and be sure that the one in you who is
answering is not lying.
Without that step, the rest of your efforts make no sense. Wait for a few
days and ask the same question again and again unless you precisely know
that it is what you are thinking about most of your time.
       A word of warning here: don’t ask anyone’s opinion! It’s your personal
business. Others have their own problems and they may have their own
understanding of business of talking on public.
      As soon as you are absolutely sure that it is what you want to start
doing, go to a place where public speaking is taught, learned and practiced.
There is only one place I can think of: a Toastmasters club in your locality.
Start your trip into the business from this organization. Whenever you join a
club, the rest is there: the mentoring, the manuals, the support of fellow
toast masters and your personal growth.
For a symbolic amount of money you will check whether speaking on public is
what you have come into this world for should continue with this or do
something else.
Chapter Five. ‘Tell Them What You Have Told Them.’ Conclusion
        Well, time to revise briefly what we have learned so far. I think it could
have been possible to load you with more materials about the craft but let’s
leave it for the next report or an e-book. One of the best ways to boost your
knowledge of the subject is to
           subscribe to my Newsletter and receive all you may need for
                developing your business right into your e-mail box.
       OK, what has been said and learned about the main point of becoming a
public speaker.

• We have answered several basic questions:
• What is public speaking business?
• Why do I want to start this business myself?
• Where can I find listeners to start my career?
• How can I begin my public speaking business?
• Who can help me with my first steps in the business?

      The only one question out of the six ‘wh’ questions was left.
It’s ‘when’ question.
When do I start this business?
         If I you asked me to answer this question I would have most probably
said: “Now!”
        Public speaking industry is still in its age of infancy, so many ways and
chances for the years to come. The sooner you arrive at the trade, the
better. And, don’t forget: as any serious business, it needs time to get to the
top, unless you want to stay in the bottom.
But, I hope, you want to join the champions of the stage, right?
So, do it now!
The best of luck and success to you,
George Rusky

How To Improve Your English. Fast and Easy Methods. A Report.

Introduction

           After having taught English to hundreds of business executives for almost three decades, I have found out that the best results my students had when their courses were closely related to what they performed at work or in business.

           I have also discovered that the method of learning a foreign language worked well as soon as my students realized that English for them was merely a tool for delivering their goods and services worldwide.

           Reading literature in the area of their expertise, taking part in trade fairs and conferences gave them an opportunity to find new partners, customers and develop their business.

Years of experience finally helped me to create a set of recommendations for business executives and entrepreneurs who wanted to ‘cross the borders’ and develop international business.

           This report is the presentation of the methods and approaches that worked for the many and can work for you too.

George Rusky

Chapter One.

Short Historical Background of Learning English in Central and Eastern Europe.

            English, as a dominant foreign language came into Eastern Europe in the early 1990s.

Due to revolutionary changes in the former socialistic states located in Central and Eastern Europe, thousands of people began actively learning English.

Language schools grew in big numbers, travelers from English speaking countries rushed to help        Europeans speak English, while thousands of Czech, Polish, Hungarian and other former socialist countries’ residents moved to western states.

              Now, after 20 years of teaching-learning English on all levels, the number of schools, directions, methods and concepts of learning is so huge that to find the right school, courses and teachers is not simple. And what is more, acquiring a set of English communicative skills is a long process of hard and regular work, the only way to achieve good results.

Who Are My Students.

               There are two categories of business executives on the market.

One is the group of people who deliver goods and services locally and the other group of businessmen and executives who want to develop international contacts and cooperate with business partners from other countries.

The people of the second group become my clients.

How I start working with them?

                On our first meeting I listen to them talk about what they are responsible for, how they carry out their duties and what range of business activities they are in charge for.

                 On the first stage, therefore, I get acquainted with the language they use at work, the vocabulary, the grammar aspects, the topics of communication they cover each day, this sort of things.

                 I figure out the spectrum of daily activities of a concrete person and when I have a clear picture of what my potential candidate does at work, I make an individual program for this client.

                 As a rule, this is a year program of regular two 90min sessions a week with breaks for business trips, holidays and other personal arrangements.

Is this Book the Right Choice for You?

Let me repeat this again. There is an enormous amount of concepts, trends and approaches in studying English and I have no intention to persuade you to pick up mine and state that this one is better than the ones you may have used.

The choice is yours.

Here’s a brief description of a typical client I teach and if you fit in this picture, you are my student and I will lead you to a good level of English in one year. 

You are a person who…

• spends 8-10-12 hours at work

• has very busy daily agenda

• travels a lot

• cannot leave work/business for longer than 10 days

• wants to communicate with foreign partners and use English on trips

• thinks that she is too old to start or develop her language skills

• thinks is not gifted for learning a foreign language

• believes she is too lazy to learn

• is tired of trying again and again without any good results…

If to all or most of the points you answered :”Yes”, you’ve made the right choice of buying this book. 

Try the methods described in it and if you have any questions, I am ready to help you.

Chapter Two.

Models of Communication Lessons.

Model One. One Person Communication.

On a one person communication (not at all something bizarre, trust me) a student practices the following language skills:

• listening

• repeating

• memorizing

• writing 

• telling/retelling

• preparing notes or a short essay for using them on the group session

Thus, the goal of one-man training is to get ready for communication in a group 

on a specific topic.

This can be done by a student without a teacher/ coach, instructor.  

Model Two. 

Two Persons Communication: a Student and a Tutor/Instructor.

(When the student is ready, a teacher will appear) :-)

The same language skills as in model One are practiced, but the instructor checks whether the student is ready for taking part in a group session/s.

Going to a group session without a proper preparation is unproductive. 

Model Three. 

A Group of Three and More Participants.

It’s sort of a test of the skills practiced on the previous individual English communication sessions.

After completing two initial models, students are invited for a group session.

A tutor, instructor, well-trained leader is necessary. The activities are:

• Listening to information on the topic the students practiced on the models one and two.

• Making short notes on the info heard.

• Preparing a short message/speech based on the material received.

• Delivering a 3-5min speech based on this material.

• Topic discussion, exchange of opinions, thoughts, ideas, etc. 

Resume.

What happens to a student on all the above mentioned models.

Model One. 

The student works on a model of self-education. A very wide-spread worry:

“How can I work on my own if no one hears and corrects me?”

This is not true and I will give you all the explanations when we go to a description of method one. Let’s forget about it for now.

Model Two.

A tutor, instructor ( I don’t classify myself a ‘teacher’, rather a consultant, a language coach, a leading authority in communication, not a teacher.) checks whether the client has been able to work on his own and had prepared made any progress in her studies.

At this stage, a coach may help a student to practice exercises and if necessary agree on a number of extra training sessions.

Model Three.

A Student is involved into communication with the group of her fellow-students on a particular subject.

This is an ideal environment for the student to develop her public speaking skills.

Chapter Three. 

Description of Model One. 

Step One: Listening.

Materials should include a textbook of units, a CD/DVD with the texts and exercises recorded a set of exercises for practicing listening.

Listening. Element One.

A student listens to the whole text and tries to understand it without looking into the text.

In case she understands the text completely, she has to go to the element of the training on this stage.

If the student doesn’t understand the recording, she can read the text and find out the meaning of the unknown words and then to listen to the text again.

The main task of this element is to hear and understand all the words in the text.

I believe is important to hear all the words in the text, not only to catch the idea of the recording and answer true-false questions.

Why is it necessary to understand every word said?

The way native speakers in various countries pronounce the words in the same sentence may sound differently from the way our instructors pronounce them or we do.

That’s the reason we don’t understand native speakers of English when we hear how they speak. With movies it is even worse.

Yet, when we read the text of the conversation we have just heard, we understand everything.

That’s why we need to compare the written text to what speakers ‘make out’ of it when they speak, especially when we have no chances to ask a speaker to articulate, repeat the phrase or say the same phrase slowly.

I believe listening itself serves us less effectively than when we listen and repeat and check whether we understand correctly what has been said.

How to do so.

• Listen to the passage and try to understand what is said.

• Listen again, this time sentence by sentence.

• Repeat what the speaker says and try to understand the phrase completely. 

• Check your understanding with the written text.

If you understand the phrases of the text in the way they are written and pronounced, well done!

If not, try again until you reach the point of complete understanding. 

I know it seems like a lot of work and, not too creative and much fun…

                  But if you want to be a champion, that’s one of the ways to the top!

  As for the textbook and recordings, feel free to choose the one on your level of the language expertise.

Try to avoid too much of a challenge, as instead of even slow progress, you may get the feeling that you don’t go forward at all. 

At this moment I would like to warn you of asking a language expert for help.

You may find the one who doesn’t accept my method and will try to offer her methods of teaching. In short, do it yourself, follow your intuition.

And remember. I do not promise ‘a rose garden’ to my followers as the most of teachers of English, especially native speakers of English do.

             The way how they learned to speak English does not suit us, for whom English is a second language.

Native speakers of English can educate only children who will learn the language in a similar way as they learned their mother tongue.

             For adults these methods may work only when they are in a community where only English is spoken, which is a rare case. At least for my adult students who always learn English thru their native language and always compare an English sentence to the same sentence in their language.

             Only non-native speakers, teachers of English know how to teach English, especially the ones who have not lived for years in English speaking countries.

Why?

Because the teacher usually say, that it is impossible to speak English without living abroad.

So, try to do all on your own. Following my instructions you will easily find what and how works for you better and you will start speaking good English even without living abroad.

            Another thing that may also happen as soon as you share your plan of studying with other teachers, they may accept your idea painfully: every teacher is fond of her ways of teaching.

Let me repeat that: I have met a good number of serious educators in various countries and of many nationalities. 

Most of them had their individual concepts of teaching their students.

But, it’s not about how intelligent the teacher is, it is about how well you are able to speak after being taught by your teacher, right?

My mentor Brian Tracy often says: 

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”

In other words it is not enough to know the subject you teach, it is necessary to lead your student to the results she wants”

That’s the essence of the studying process as I understand it.  

Chapter Four. 

Description of Model Two. 

            As we’ve already agreed, on this stage a tutor turns up.

We also understand that at this moment it is clear whether a student is able to work on her own or the tutor has work with her from the very beginning.

Let’s consider that the student has learned her tasks and has performed her home preparation.

The tutor, thru a series of exercises, checks if the student is ready to move to the next level and if there’s anything in her preparation that might be corrected, improved or simply prepared better.

             This phase of studying may vary from one session to a number of consecutive meetings of the student and the tutor.

As soon as the tutor and the student agree that the latter has achieved the result that allows her to move forward, she goes to phase or model three.

Chapter  Five. 

Model Three.

               Model three is the final stage of the series of sessions to make a serious improvement of the English language skills and is focused on a fluent exchange of knowledge, information, opinions on a specific subject.

The structure of the meeting.

               As the members of the discussion group had received the topic for a group discussions they come to the session prepared to speak on a topic and a problem/aspect of the topic they had been asked to prepare.

               A tutor starts the session and invites the first participant to deliver her short ( 7-10min) report for further discussion.

               The speaker gives her presentation and the listeners make notes and think over the ideas of the report-presentation.

               As soon as the speaker ends up her presentation, all are invited to take part in a discussion on this particular aspect of the matter.

                I will repeat again this basic rule of this debate: the students have to be prepared for talking on the subject, which means they have to learn the vocabulary they will use for this particular topic.

                The tutor monitors the discussion and guides the participants to the next speaker...

When the agenda of the meeting is at the end, the tutor makes the conclusion, invites the students to express their opinions about the meting and gives the tasks for the next session.

Resume of the author.

I strongly believe that the method of individual work followed by a series of group sessions, will not only improve their individual knowledge of the students, but will also help to boost their public speaking skills.

George Rusky VPPR, CC

What is your true Calling?

“Every calling is great when greatly pursued.” Brian Tracy
“There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well. Walter Reuther:
“Each person has their own calling on this Earth.” Billy Ray Cyrus ( Am singer, author, country music)
       Dear ladies and Gentlemen
 The worst thing in life you can do as Brian Tracy believes, is to stay at a job for months and years for which you are completely unsuited.
     A lot of people spend their whole lives doing something during the week they don’t like and dream of doing after work and at the week-end something they really love.
Why does it happen?
        Hi, I am GR and today I will tell you how you can find satisfaction and joy in whatever you do every day of your life.
Here’s the Plan of my 7 minutes
First, we define a problem and the consequences of having this problem
Then, we will find the way to get out of the problem
And finally you will receive the plan of actions to have a better life.
       Dear Friends
I wonder if you ever thought why so many people are unhappy and unsuccessful. What is the true reason for that?
      Brian Tracy thinks and I completely agree with him, that the reason is only one: these people don’t discover their gifts and talents that were given to them By the Lord, as I believe, or the universe or the parents or whatever you may believe in.
In other words, they do not want to discover their true calling. What they are here for! What is their mission!
       They are not quite pleased with what others prepared for them and always complain about their bosses or their jobs. They repeat the same activities every day and hope that one day things will get better.
        One day, however, people who are not following their true callings begin to feel helpless. They feel that there is nothing they can do to change things.
         But your aim in life is to become everything you can become and enjoy full expression of your gifts and talents.
---------
 If you do, let’s move to another point of our topic:  how to get rid of the problem and entirely change the situation.
           First, discover your true calling.
Answer the question:” what is it that I love doing, spending time with, enjoy going to, most of all?”
Success comes from being excellent at what you do.
And you are excellent at what you do only if and when you love it!
Remember: The market only pays excellent rewards for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance and below-average rewards for below-average performance.
       All really successful and happy people know in their hearts that they are very good at what they do. If you are doing what you really love and enjoy doing, you will always try to become better at it, you will always want to develop your skills and finally become a superstar in your area of expertise.
        You will go to courses, buy books, go to see top performers in your business.
        You will have a constant desire to learn more about it.
want to join the top 10 percent of people in your field.
be willing to start a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later.
        Very often people ask me how they can get better at what they are doing, more successful.
And I always ask them: do you do what you really love doing?
Most of my responders say: “I have to do something, to get money and, you know…I hope things will get better one day.”
No, they won’t.
Because average performance leads to average results.
         Dear fellow toastmasters, what is the solution?
                                                           Find your true calling! 
       Some say: ”I’m not sure, I don’t know’
Then I recommend, ask someone you trust, they can help you to define what you are good at.
Remember, we you here to do something wonderful with your life.
       You have talents and abilities so many that you could never use them all even if you lived a thousand years. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if you find your true calling, and start doing it with you hear passion and will.
      And here’s the last point of my talk:  What you should do to become successful and happy:
1. On a sheet of paper write down the answer to this question: ”What is my true calling?”
2. Define what you have to do to start doing it
3. Go to it!
        Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for listening,
And I hope after hearing these recommendations, you will try to find your true calling, define the plan for changing your life and go to it!
I’m GR, I’ll talk to you next time
www.georgerusky.net

How to Write Your Speech

As in any kind of communication when you have to address to your listeners, writing a speech should meet a series of general rules of communications.

First, when you get in touch with someone, you have to name this person to attract her attention, e.g: Good Morning, Sir/Mr Smith, etc

Let’s compare to a start of a spec:

You say: ”Dear Ladies and Gentlemen”

               “Dear Friends…”

What you do after you address someone?

You give the reason why you are talking to the person.

In the speech you say:

In my speech I would like to tell you about …”

You may also introduce yourself and inform the listeners what and how well you know about the subject.

After this introduction you can explain to your listeners why you have decided to talk about this subject what you would like them to know and remember, use and do after they have heard your speech.

 (Some experts in public speaking believe that unless a speaker has something worth-saying and listening to say, he should have refrained from speaking.)

After these introductory notes, continue with the development of the speech.

When you believe that you have achieved the goal of the speech, get to the conclusion where you remind the title of the speech, the main points of it and what you think the listeners should have done in order to put into action the ideas they have hear din your speech.

I prefer writing all ideas that come in to my head a soon as I start thinking about the contents of the speech: they all can get useful for the contents of the speech.

I also believe that writing the text id vital and necessary to organize your ideas before you come to the final variant of the presentation in general so that later to start practicing the speech.  

The Speech on the Boat. 26 June 2011

              Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
When Jarda Sladek announced a tall tale speech contest on the boat I was not sure if I would like to participate. I said to myself:  ”You are sixty, a serious man, a newly elected VPPR and exaggerating and fantasizing, making up stories, no.”
 And then I heard: ”Successful people do what unsuccessful won’t do…” So I decided:”I must speak!”

           Hi I’m George Rusky and here’s my true story.
Last Wednesday evening I was on my way to Deivicka by metro to take part in our regular toastmasters meeting.
I changed the line on Mustek and waited for the train when I saw an unusually strange group of men and women wearing one stile t-shirts and all carrying identical bags. On both shirts and bags I read: “Toastmasters International.”
They were eating toastmasters sandwiches of Commendation, recommendation and encouragement and practicing toasts having glasses in their hands
“Oh, oh,…”
        The train arrived and not wanting to stay off-board I went with the flow. In 10 minutes I heard this announcement: “Dear Ladies and gentlemen, you have arrived at the final station Deivicka. Please exit the train. Attention for the contestants of Prague speakers TM club. You ‘ll be met at the upper platform by DTM Mr Ruzicka”
“What the heck is going n?” I kept on asking myself. A young man with a smile of the size I have never seen before or after was dancing next to me. I immediately recognized him as my compatriot.
“What’s going on here?,” I asked.
“You don’t know brother, read ziz” He gave me yesterday’s Lidove Noviny where I read:
”One Membership seat at Prague Toastmasters. Run!”
“You see, brother, I want to win this membershit”
        I was just about to correct his mistake, when he went on: ”I hired one of the best Prague speakers DTM jarda Sladec who mentored me for one month. They have no chances because I have ziz powerful ice breaking visual aids: Russian vodka, Kalashnikov and Balalaika! Wiz zis I will break any ice!”  
        I felt like perhaps Alice felt in the Wonderland.
But most exciting was the podium,the stage prepared for the contest on the square next to the station: a huge table on which were sitting DTM Sarma Gintere, the author of the project, DTM Hana Masoupostova, an Ah-oh Expert and the veteran of the club DTM Piter Pelchip.
All was ready for the contest.
----------------------
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
very often we take all modern wonders of human progress around us for granted, forgetting that once they all were born in somebody’s mind and imagination.It’s our time to imagine, that one day people will queue and fight for the membership of our TM clubs more fiercely than for the appointments with local dentists.”
Imagine also that we live in the society where all grow in supportive and positive living environment”
Now, let me ask you a question: “Do you want it to happen?”???  Do you really believe it?”
Napoleon Hill once wrote: “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”
 “Achieving the greatness together, fulfilling your dreams!” is the motto of District 59.

Dear fellow toastmasters,
Let’s turn tall tales into real stories!

A School of a New Toastmasters Club Member

            Dear Friend

Are you interested in developing your communication and leadership skills?

Well-done!

Toastmasters International is the right place for you.

      What and how should you act now?

You certainly have some thoughts, expectations about Toastmasters and surely have a lot of questions to ask.

To help you with getting a good orientation in this business I have prepared  a set of questions you should answer before making a final decision of joining a club.

As son as you know the right answers to all the questions, making a decision will be‘a piece of cake’ for you.

       From understanding this simple truth, you will be able to make your choice and decision.

       After that, prepare a list of questions you would like to make clear before making the next step. E-mail VPM (vive-president membership of the club) and ask for explanations or invite her for a cup of coffee and ask to give you all necessary explanations.

      You can also come to another meeting and try to find someone in the club to answer your questions.

By the way, try to visit all the toastmasters clubs in the city and find the club you like more.
How to choose a club. A few basic ideas.

These are the questions you have to answer before joining the club. It is a serious step and you should prepare for this step seriously.

      I. Before the meeting.

1.      What is the website of the club like?

2.      How to contact an officer of the club and ask if you can visit a club meeting?

3.      The location: how far from the city centre the club meets?

4.      What is the building like?

5.      What is the meeting room like?

6.      How often do the club members meet?

            II. At the meeting.

1.      Where you introduced as a first time visitor?

2.      How many club members are there in the club?

3.      How many speakers are assigned for each session?

4.      Did you receive a chance to talk on your first visit?

5.      How did you find the atmosphere of the meeting?

6.      Were you invited to share your first impressions of the meeting at the end?

      III. After the meeting

1.      Did Vice-President Membership talked to you after the meeting?

2.      Were the members friendly and eager to answer your questions?

3.      Did any members want to talk to you? Did they show interest?

4.      Did anyone invite you to join them for their usual pub gatherings after the club meeting? To spend some time over a coffee or a beer?

Here are the main questions you should answer before you decide to join a Toastmasters club. Please, don’t hurry to make a decision based on seeing only one meeting of one club. 

And the last:

Do you want to know my answers to all these questions?

Please, go to my website and send a message

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

George Rusky VPPR, CC

www.georgerusky.net

How You Can Become A Good Storyteller

Dear Friends

In one of the units in the textbook New Progress to First Certificate there is a topic with the title:”Are you a good storyteller?”

Believe me or not, most of my clients always answered this question negatively”

Why is that so?

I think there are several main reasons for not being a good storyteller.

First. In many cultures speaking is a feature of something not serious and ability of speaking is often compared to the ability of doing. The first is a waste of time the second-the only one correct way of living.

“Yeh… You are speaking all right…How about doing?”

“Everyone can blah-blah-blah… To do it is always more difficult…”

Second. Starting from the earliest educational institutions, children are neither taught nor encouraged to express their opinions publicly.

And when they try to do so, their peers ridicule the brave unmercifully.

Third.  Public speaking as a school subject is a rare phenomenon in the majority of high schools and universities. The same or very similar situation is with communication.

And the last. Most young people do not see the importance of learning and developing communicative and public speaking skills for their future employment and personal career. They believe that speaking on public should be in the form of entertainment and nice, jolly show, something to make us feel good and relaxed after a hard working day.

-----

But what if someone decides to study communication and public speaking seriously and use these skills for her future personal and business growth?

Are there any possibilities to become a good communicator and public speaker?

Of course, there are a lot!

There are numerous courses, seminars, webinars, workshops on and off-line where these skills are taught. A number of books, reports, tutorials, CDs, DVD, is being produced and introduced on the market in good numbers.

Everybody is free to choose what she likes more.

I personally vote for the Toastmasters International.

You haven’t heard about this world-wide organization yet?

That’s not a problem, you are not the one. In fact, you can go now straight to the website toastmasters.org and get to know as much as you can there, or listen to me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s my story.

In November 2010 I joined the local toastmasters club Prague speakers and began my journey with the toastmasters organization. Naturally enough, I had a lot of questions of what to do and how and I wasn’t sure whether the club was really the right place for me.

The first meetings of the club made me think that I was not going to get as much as I had expected from the club, but suddenly I realized that the club was the only one place in my situation where I could and had the right to speak about what I loved and wanted to, and what is more, I could receive warm and friendly feedback and comments on my short speeches. I prepared my first 7minutes and discovered a lot of aspects that I could have performed better: the speakers receive feedback, short notes with comments on speeches. In addition to that one fellow toastmaster is assigned to evaluate a speech for two minutes in front of the club members and I must say, all these opinions are really helpful and supportive.

Another aspect of Toastmasters International is that anyone who wants to develop her career within the organization has a chance to grow from a position of regular member to a Competent Communicator and further awards that are given to a member who successfully delivered a certain number of speeches. A well-designed plan with a lot of supportive materials, such as manuals, magazines, newsletters, articles, educative sessions and so on and so forth is prepared for our growth and personal improvement.

In short, as soon as a member of the club decides to grow and develop her communicative skills and qualification, she has everything for that.

The second basic direction of Toastmasters International is becoming a competent Leader, learning leadership skills.

And again, the system of materials and learning criteria is designed for everyone who desires to be not only a good communicator, but an excellent leader as well.

As a result of hard work on both communicative and leadership skills, after several years a fellow toastmaster becomes an excellent leader with great communicative and public speaking skills.

Dear Friends,

In a short introduction it is not easy to tell you all about this amazing organization of enthusiasts of communicating, leadership and public speaking, and I could have told you much more…But,

Why don’t you come and see yourself?

Or, if you have any questions, send me a message?

Thank you for reading and I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Wishing you the best of success

George Rusky, VPPR, CC
www.­georgerusky.­net