- iCeCastle - Freezing Space

7:45am, 2 Malay examiners came to the room, they were very friendly. She greeted and took the attendance, segregated us into 8 groups, 4 person in a group. I was lucky that I was second group. We have to wait the first team to complete their session for 30minutes.. while waiting, my team started talking, we introduced each other, we talks about our job, our course, study subjects, etc.. I had Rohaiza, Shirley, and Yong Ling in the group. As always, I was the broom in a bunch of roses.. I believe the chit chat actually helped us broke the ice, we felt like friends. Rohaiza is a part-time Sarawakian student, she is a pretty & bubbly home business owner aka housewife. Shirley is a local Chinese who is talkative and friendly. Yong Ling is a young full-time student who has boyish appearance but quiet and almost zero interaction with 3 of us..

After awhile, we been called to go next door for the exam. We sitting opposite position, 2 examiners sitting at the sides. I’m the candidate D. The examiner explained that there are 2 tasks in this speaking session, Task A required to speak and perform for 2 minutes, and Task B is to perform group discussion and conclude final outcome as a team. The topic is “How to keep traditional values alive in this young modern society”. There were 4 options given: Keep traditional values alive using (a)Songs & Dances, (b)Arts & Crafts, (c)Games & Sports and (d)Customs & Values. We have given a pen & paper to take down the points while others presenting.

After 2 minutes digestion, Candidate A, Yong Ling was asked to present immediately. My impression on Yong Ling was quiet & shy, WHO KNOWS!! Silence wolf is always the most shuddery, the moment she opened her mouth, she spoke loud enough to shocked us all, and she also presented her ideas to the examiners sharply. She picked option b which is using games and sports to keep traditional values alive by giving good examples like Congkak and Sepak Takraw. Not sure about the examiners, but her presentation certainly make an impression for me. Presentation continued with Candidate B who is Shirley, she presented confidently with using option a, songs and dances. No example given, or maybe I couldn’t remember. Although I was looking & hearing her presentation, but I was faking it most of the times. I was focusing on my speech in my mind. Rohaiza continued the presentation by agreeing songs & dances, plus she is from Sarawak, she gave instances like Sarawak long house, dances and local songs. She such a lucky girl that she is from Sarawak, I conceived. Finally it’s my turn, I greeted, I told everyone that I believe to keep traditional values alive must emphasize on values and purposes. This would help the young generation understand the reason behind the traditional activities. They must know the purposes then only can keep the values on-going. Hence, the values have to come first. I continued with my examples of keeping the value alive by doing flyers, external broadcasting, internet blogs etc. At my final line of my presentation, I was looking at the examiner’s hand, she wanted to press the ring for time-up. I had this sudden pressure in my head, I stammered. I have used the word “You know” 4 times at least. I felt so trashed..

The discussion phase continued without further delay, I led the discussion by doing the opening speech. I asked Rohaiza for opinion and the topic flowed around the table. There was a point, I raise an objection towards Shirley, the atmosphere suddenly get heated. She threw me back a big question mark(?), and asked for a sample case. Luckily, mama raised me up with intelligence. I gave the example of Lion Dance, it requires teamwork and it is for the purpose of sweeping bad lucks and bring prosperity. Shirley and I stared at each other quietly, she was dazed and upset that her plan was mucked up! The session silent for 3 seconds. After that, the invigilator asked for conclusion, I did not want to be the “Attention Whore” who takes all the spotlights. Hence, I was quiet and I looked at the others, but the weird thing was the other 3 were staring at me. I asked for volunteer for conclusion, but there was no bounce back. No choice, I concluded the whole thing is not the matter of channel; there was no right or wrong about the way of the presenters’ ideas but it’s just a matter of the implementation. The rest were agreed with me.

Overall, I think I did quite well except the part I stammered. Real crap! Later only found out that speaking only hold 15% of the total point. I was overstressed about it..