Hello Everybody,

What are Seven Most Important Numbers for ESLers in the U.S.? 

I love data. I love knowing about my brothers and my sisters.

1. In the engineering, sciences, and technology labor force, one in three employees is foreign-born.
2. Nearly 35% of U.S. physicians are foreign-born.
3. 20% of the priests in active service in the U.S. were born in other countries
4. Half of U.S. graduate students are foreign-born.
5. Two thirds of international graduate students work in the U.S. after graduation for at least five years.
6. In the US, 16% of the labor force is foreign born.
7. Foreign born entrepreneurs helped start one-fourth of all new U.S. engineering and technology businesses established between 1995 and 2005, including Google and eBay.

Such is our culture.
Go forth and embrace your future.
Strength and courage come in companionship. Your brothers and your sisters are reaching upwards– to mastering communication and English speaking skills. As a person who had SUCH trouble in my earlier life, I find particular joy in mastering these skills one by one. What a relief for me not to be terrified by doing a presentation or workshop.

Hello Everybody,

Besides our weekly speech tip video above, here’s a question.  How do you as a speaker impact an audience?

• How you look includes your clothes, your facial expression, your stance, your body movement, your hands, how you move your eyes.

• Suppose you are trying to motivate a group, and you tell them something is “a wonderful opportunity,” but you don’t look or sound it.  Vision is the king of the senses; hearing is queen. They believe their eyes and ears, not your words.

• Hands in pockets tries to create a casual impression.  But this can make you look anxious or disinterested.  Besides, it adds no plus value to your speech.  Who said casual was a good way to look in front of an audience?  You are much better off looking committed to what you are saying.

In my life, like all lives, I have lived with fear. For my youth and young adulthood, I had a huge fear of speaking, because I stuttered. I stammered badly like King George in the movie “The King’s Speech.”

When given a list of common fears, 90% of people, including CEOs (Chief Executive Officers), list fear of public speaking in their top fears.

If English is your second language, the challenges of thinking and talking make it likely that you also have fear of speaking. Pronunciation and your accent get in the way of your communication in English.

Hospice people (people who provide comfort care at the end of life in the United States) say that fear of death is our biggest fear for ourselves and others.

Be not afraid, the words of Jesus and message of religions and philosophies is what my brother Joe reminded me on Monday of this week. On Tuesday, my husband since I was 25, the father of our two children, my partner in all, passed. He passed from life on this earth into a dwelling in the universe, a dwelling with the divine, a dwelling in my heart, and in the hearts of all who knew him.

For me, and for you, is the blessed path: Be not afraid. Go forth and embrace life, change. Beginnings, endings. Embrace who you are and all you can be. Embrace connection, relationship and love. Embrace help. My husband Grant’s top value was to pursue and develop our unique talents and use them to help each other. That is my wish for you. That is the universe’s wish for you.

Please comment and give us your thoughts.