He graduated from Churchill High School in Vancouver, grew up in Kerrisdale community in West Vancouver, and graduated from Stanford University, an American Ivy League school. I have long heard that his accent correction and speech courses are very famous and popular. I worked as an accent correction teacher for Jackie Chan and Li Bingbing.

I'll believe that when I see it.

Teacher Andy is thin, with gray hair and bright eyes. When you speak, look directly into each other's eyes and show sincere light. Speak at a moderate and slow speed, pronounce words very clearly, and have a low tone, which is very gentlemanly.

1962, he was an excellent student in Churchill Middle School, although his grades were not excellent. But he is active on campus, both as the president of the student union and the backbone of the drama club.

He asked Justin, do you know why I can go to Stanford University? My high school grades are mainly B and B+, and the only A is drama. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to be admitted to Stanford University. I clearly remember that as the president of the student union and an activist of the drama club, I got an interview with the admissions officer. The interview will be held in Seattle. After the interview, the examiner said to me, Andy, your speech is great, and I especially like listening to you. Your ability convinced me. I hope to admit you, and I hope you can come to Stanford University, continue to participate in campus activities in the university, and continue to give full play to your expertise in speech.

More than 50 years later, Andy still clearly remembers the scene of that day, and his super speech and speaking skills have benefited Andy a lot in this life. He hopes that by sharing this story, my son Justin will understand how important it is to be able to talk well, to make others notice you, to convey his views clearly and forcefully, and to influence others.

Andy also shared other stories with Justin.

For example, when he was at Stanford University, he heard that President Kennedy had a special project to send teachers and students to backward areas around the world to help local children learn and progress. Justin, you know, the person in charge of this project is a relative of President Kennedy. He is a man of great ability, especially good at talking. That day in the auditorium, in front of more than 30 thousand people, he quickly said, "You should participate in this project to help people in need in the world." On the contrary, he paused after coming up, slowly, word by word, and every word was clear.

"There is such a project, which was set up by President Kennedy to help many people in the world who need your help. They are in Africa, in Asia, in South America and anywhere. You can help them. Do you want to be needed? Do you know what your help means? . . . . "

When Andy repeated this passage, he said it word by word, rhythmically and forcefully, as if going back in time, returning to the summer of 1963, and his thoughts and eyes returned to Stanford campus.

In just five minutes, Andy was persuaded. He did not hesitate to sign up for a project in Ethiopia, Africa, where he taught students. Although he lives a very poor life, he is full of passion.

Justin, you know what? It only took me five minutes to make a decision. I didn't even call Vancouver to discuss it with my parents. I went to Africa without hesitation, and I felt in my bones that it was what I should do. To tell you this example, I mainly want to talk about the charm and magic of the speech. If you are good, you can control the voice, intonation, pause, beat and communication with the audience, thus persuading the audience to follow you.

With training, Justin, you can do it too. And do you know why I want to offer a course to correct local accent? I didn't know that Canadians and Americans spoke English so differently. Until many years ago, I got a call from an American director. I was working in a film and television company downtown. The director wants to shoot in Vancouver and needs extras with lines. But he said, I don't want to talk to Canadians, because Canadians talk differently from Americans, and their tone always likes to go up, while Americans like to go down and get deeper and deeper. Andy, you are different. Although you are Canadian, you don't have a Canadian accent. You have a real American accent.

The director's words made Andy curious. It turned out that he didn't realize that his English was different from other Canadians. This reminded him to pay attention to and discover the differences between the two sides, and began to provide accent correction counseling courses for actors. After decades of training, he has summed up a set of mature courses to tutor adults and children.

After listening to Andy's lecture, I, who was trained as a public speaker since I was a child and thought my speech was not a problem, also found many defects and insufficient accents in English speech. I am very interested in asking Andy for guidance.

Speech skill is a very important skill. Whether you can talk well or not is an important aspect of a person's emotional intelligence. Cultivate children's self-confidence and expressiveness, or start from an early age.

Andy's legendary stories are many, and listen to the next break.