Toastmasters! It is interesting

What makes you like a particular person? What famous person would you invite to your party? What is Kherson’s best-kept secret?

These and other thought-provoking questions provided the gist of several spirited discussions at the library’s Talk Lab English Club meeting on Sunday, Oct. 2. The idea was for participants to practice making interesting conversation in English on a variety of surprise topics.

The topics were presented on small strips of paper and selected randomly by the participants. Each person then had a few minutes to prepare his or her answer. Then, other members would ask additional questions for more elaboration or share their own ideas to keep the conversation going.

The original questions ranged over a wide variety of topics. They included:

~ What is the best food for a midnight snack?

~ What TV show would you like to make a guest appearance on?

~ What historical figure do you admire?

~ Who would you like to be on a desert island with?

~ If you only had a year left to live, what would you do?

~ What kind of winter will Kherson have this year?

~ Would you rather live in the city or the country?

The surprise assignment of random topics is similar to the Table Topics exercise practiced by members of Toastmasters International, a nonprofit organization that promotes the skills of public speaking all around the world.