blog 8

During this week and last week, we have been working on our speeches. We had to write and deliver a speech and the topic was “What I believe”. We basically had to talk about something that we believed strongly about. I talked and wrote about how parents are taken for granted. I talked and used my personal life experience to sort of enhance the speech like how I moved from Africa to America and how I don’t get to see my parents at all that much. The speech was pretty easy for me to put together because I could include my personal experience and story to better the speech. I thought that my presentation was not too bad. Most of the students in the class said that I sounded depressed and sad when I presenting and that I need to work on that. I wanted it to be a little bit sad so that the audience could feel my story and understand why I feel the way I feel about my topic. I thought Alexis did a terrific job at presenting her speech. She was very articulate and had lots of facts included in her speech. One of the problems with it though, is that it was pretty long. Most people’s attention might be lost by then. She needs to shorten her speech and it will be perfect. Omarion’s speech was good as well. He talked about how he felt that guns could relieve stress if used the right way and he showed his passion for shooting guns. His topic is a very touchy subject because a lot of people are not very fond of guns and the use of guns in a minor’s hands. But I think overall it was great. One thing I learned from listening to Alexis’s speech is that you have to slow down when you’re presenting and be very articulate. The projector helped a lot because it forced you to slow down and pace yourself. Taking pauses when you’re presenting a speech is a very good public speaking skill. For me personally, it was a challenge reading the speech off my blog. I am a better public speaker when I just start talking on the spot and don’t read it off anything. That is one of my big strengths. One of my big weakness is volume and articulation. Sometimes my audience won’t be able to hear me that well or some words I say when I deliver my speech isn’t so clear to them when I present it. Those are the two main things that I need to work on. This was a pretty difficult activity. But it helped me identify and focus on what I need to work on my public speaking

My Life

Nowadays, kids are beginning to take for granted the luxury of having parents. They are so used to the pre-notion that every kid should have parents that they forget that some of them actually don’t have them. I have heard and seen kids get mad at their parents for not letting them do something, or not giving them something they want. They say things like “I wish you were dead” or “I hate you”. I heard one of my close friend say that recently. His mom didn’t let him go to a party because she thought it was going to be dangerous and he flat out told her in her face “I wish you were dead, I hate you.”

When he told me what happened I actually got a little upset and ill explain why. Back in California, I did not live with my mom or dad. Both of my parents live in Nigeria so I had to live with my grandparents. My parents normally visit once a year for about a month and then head back home. But recently, I have not been able to see my father for a while now. For three years to be exact. The Nigerian Embassy rejected his visa because they fear that when people leave they won’t want to come back, so there was no way for him to come to America. My mother just recently got her visa rejected as well.

. People take for granted what they have without even realizing it. I have always had a pretty bad relationship with my grandparents. I never really liked the way they treated my brother and I. So I have always dreaded living with them. I always wanted to leave the house and never be home. It was really lonely for my brother and I for a while. We only had each other so because of that we were able to build a strong bond. I would always rather be with my friends that be at home and my grandparents would never understand why.

 They would always get mad at me because I would come home late because I was with my friends all day. They never understood it was because I didn’t like to be home and I didn’t like to be around them. This made it hard for us because my parents rarely visit because of the visa problem. At a certain point I started to realize that i was doing the same thing that I always dreaded other kids do, and that is taking advantage of your parents regardless if they are your grandparents. When I realized that I started to appreciate them more and life  became more bearable with them. 

They started to treat my brother and I better. My mother always knew how I felt about my grandparents. She always told me to just bear through it that I would soon be going off to college and I wouldn’t have to deal with them again. That was honestly what helped me. Even though my relationship with my grandparents isn’t that great, I still treat them with respect and let them know that they are appreciated. That is how every child should be. Regardless if they like their parents or not. You do not need to like someone to respect and appreciate them, and that is the key. The whole point of this speech is to get people to know that having parents is a luxury. Its a luxury that we should appreciate and It’s a luxury that we should not take for granted because, God forbid, you may never see your parents again.