Who we are?
The Europeans is a bilingual french and english Toastmasters club. Therefore, it’s objective is to practice public speaking in front of a group of people either in French or in English. We do not use “franglish” so we do not mix the two languages in a single spoken sentence.
Toastmasters “The Europeans” is a non-profit educational organisation that was created in 1996. The Club is a member of Toastmasters International (Toastmasters International -Home) which is an international organisation comprising of almost 17,000 clubs in 145 countries.
A single speaker can speak both french and english in our meetings. But languages are not mixed.
Are we native english and french speakers?
Some of us are native french or english speakers. Some of are just fluent in either of the two. So, you do not need to be a native speaker but you should be fluent in both languages to be part of our club.
How does it work?
Effective speaking
Speaking effectively in public cannot be learned in a day. It takes practice. At Toastmasters, members improve by speaking to a group, receiving feedback and learning from others. You will learn to relax, plan, and present a terrific speech, whether you have 10 days to prepare, or just 10 seconds. One can learn and practice in a friendly, supportive and positive learning environment. Our goal is the same – To become better communicators.
Effective leadership
You will also learn to become a leader. At Toastmasters, you can develop and practice leadership skills by participating in the regular activities of the club. You will learn how to listen, think critically, plan, organise meetings and events, manage time, facilitate, motivate, mentor and build a team.
The Toastmasters Method
In a Toastmasters club, there are no ” Teachers ” as such. Club members improve by putting into practice the techniques set out in the Toastmasters’ methods. Members also improve from positive evaluations of his or her speeches.
In a Toastmasters meeting, each member is an active participant and there are many opportunities to speak and acquire confidence.
You can
- participate in improvisational sessions or impromptu speeches that we call table topics
- give your own prepared speech
- benefit from the many evaluations given.
All speeches are evaluated by another member that guarantees progress and improvement. The uniqueness of our meetings is that the evaluators are also evaluated on his or her evaluation.
1) Improvisation or impromptu speeches (Table Topics)
We are often asked to speak without being prepared: in meetings, seminars, job interviews, exams or simple conversations.
This requires we get our thoughts together in just a matter of seconds in order to speak in a logical and coherent manner. During each of our meetings, there is an improvisational session or impromptu speeches. Any member can be called up to speak on a given subject for one to two minutes, on the spot. This helps you learn to think on your feet, and not succumb to panic but to structure your ideas while you speak. This exercise, called “Table Topics”, gives us the tools to face up to all questions, and feel more prepared.
2) Prepared Speeches
Toastmasters offers the Pathway learning experience, an online education program tailored to each member, that relies on learning paths, projects and different levels of skill-building.
Paths
Learning paths form the foundation of the Pathways structure. Members work in the path best suited to helping them achieve personal and professional goals.
Toastmasters Pathways learning experience is an exciting, flexible and interactive way to develop your skills and help others in your club develop theirs. Pathways helps you learn communication and leadership skills that you need to succeed. It gives you:
- The opportunity to build up to 300 unique competencies
- 11 specialized learning paths to choose from
- Online content, so that you can learn anytime, anywhere
- Real-world, transferable skills
- Content available in Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese, with select paths available in Korean and Tamil
Eleven specialised paths are available. These include
The paths give the opportunity to build competencies and learn communication and leadership skills that you need to succeed.
Click here to compare the differences between the different paths in a single-page matrix.
Projects
In every path, these is a minimum of 14 projects to achieve. Each one of the projects includes at least one prepared speech (5 to 7 min speech on the topic of your choice). Projects feature various topics, from understanding your own communication style to learning leadership tips and discovering how best to connect with others.
In order to complete a path, it is necessary to finish 10 required projects and 4 electives.
Levels
Each path has 5 levels in which you complete projects and build on what you learned in the previous level.
Level 1: Mastering Fundamentals
Level 2: Learning your Style
Level 3: Increasing knowledge
Level 4: Building Skills
Level 5: Demonstrating Expertise
At each level, members complete 2 to 3 projects. At the end of Level 5, a path is completed, and a “Proficient” designation is earned. This highlights the expertise in the particular chosen area.
3) Evaluations
As constructive evaluations are important, each prepared speech is evaluated by one member of the club. Evaluations are always done in a positive manner: the evaluator identifies the strong points of the speech and gives suggestions as to what could make the speech better.