Communication Across the Pond

by Eugene Kowalski, ACG, Area 44 Gov

Eugene Kowalski, Area 44 Governor

Would you spend $10,000.00 for a six day program to communicate more effectively?

The Spaniards in the Vaughan Systems program did. Vaughan Systems of Spain offers an English speaking program to Spaniards to improve English speaking and comprehension. This conversational English speaking program is offered to Spaniards who have already become somewhat proficient in speaking the English language. Fifteen Spaniards attended the English program!

Cindy, John and I spent most of the month of May in Spain, traveling as we observed the sights. We participated in two “Toastmasters like” English speaking program on steroids hosted and organized by Vaughan Systems. Prior to Toastmasters training, I would not have been as comfortable with this rigorous level of communication.

A challenge we encountered was that the Spaniards seemed skeptical that a group of Anglos would be willing to travel across the pond at their own expense to help them speak better English. The concept of why the Anglos would fly across the pond to help them was a foreign concept. More than once I explained it was fun and an honor to get to know my newly found new friends as well as understanding the Spanish culture from their perspective. We learned a lot of interesting facts about Spain from our Spanish friends. For example, most of the international tourist spent a lot of their vacations in the south of Spain; however the locals prefer the north of Spain for their holiday.

We participated in two different locations. One was El Rancho near Segovia, located about an hour north of Madrid. The other was the little town of Valdelavilla, located in a lush green valley about four hours north of Madrid.

We participated in the program from 9 am to 10 pm with a 1 1/2 hour break. The program consisted of one-on-one speaking with a Spaniard for 50 minutes, dinner table conversations consisting of two Anglos and two Spaniards and telephone conversations. There were also many varied creative fun speaking group exercises. The most challenging was helping Spaniards prepare for a ten minute speech presentation to be spoken in English.

The time passed faster than I would have imagined, primarily because of the very effective use of humor. My sense of enjoyment was heightened as I felt much more confident with my new found Toastmaster communication skills.

“A smile is the shortest distance between people” says comedian Mr. Victor Borge. Mr. Karl E. Righter, DTM, does a brilliant job explaining how humor can be used to foster better communication in his book “How To Win Your Audience with Bombproof Humor.” Our Master of Ceremonies Mr. Pete Brown, a theater major from Bretton Hall, College of the University of Leeds, helped us to implement humor in our working with the Spaniards. Humor is a great way to bond people. When humor is used effectively to have fun learning, people tend drop their defenses and are more receptive to learning new concepts and comprehend more information.

I watched Spaniards who were reluctant to speak English at our first meeting become better communicators, conversing more freely and effectively in six days largely due to the effective use of humor.

As a result of my Toastmaster training, I realized additional benefits making it easier and more enjoyable to meet and socialize with our new Spanish friends. I came to understand from the Spaniards how closely our cultures and people are linked! We could ask virtually any question to keep the conversations moving! Toastmasters had showed me the effective use of table topics. The topics were only limited to my imagination. Without Toastmaster training, I would not have been as comfortable asking questions in a way to keep a healthy conversation moving. One can learn many things by asking the right question!

I learned that many Spaniards were concerned about the same issues we Americans are such as the economy and unemployment. Unemployment among the Spanish college graduates is fifty percent. They were curious to discover their health care system would have to change to be somewhere between what the Spaniards have and what we have in the USA. The Spaniards were also curious about ideas we had that could make their economy work more efficiently.

We did not receive any compensation for our participation other than wonderful accommodations and an abundance of great food, compliments of our Spanish hosts. It was a satisfying experience as a Toastmaster to be able to help some Spaniards achieve more effective conversational English communications proficiency! More importantly I learned that, by crossing the pond, communication misunderstandings cannot be avoided and that Toastmasters effective communication skills are priceless.