Friday, July 3, 2015

Recent polls have shown 1/5th of Americans can not locate America on a map. Why do you think this is?

It wasn't rush yet, but it would be soon, and the drive-thru was already getting a line.  Inside, one guy ordered while a girl entered and stood between the herding bars.  She looked around, detached, bemused; nobody noticed that she didn't look at the menu.

Two bowls of chili, small tong full of cheese product on each, one bag crackers for each.  Regular drink cup.  Double cheeseburger, regular.  Regular fries.  Paper on the tray, food on the paper.  Check order receipt fast, place under chili.  Transaction complete.

"What would you like today?"  The cashier's finger hovered over the picture board on the register, her gaze already wanting to look down.

"I'm not ordering.  I have a strange question."

A tremor went through the cashier's hovering hand as her mind already took a tentative step towards her manager.


BLOG NOTE: This is the pageant question Miss Teen South Carolina answered so horribly.  I use the video of her answering this question when teaching my students about impromptu speaking.  They always assume she did nothing right, but she did quite a bit that was good!  They also suspect it's an unanswerable question, which is also untrue.  Many students even believe that she didn't answer well because she's stupid--wrong again!  I feel bad that, in a way, I force this Miss Teen to relive her crash and burn moment, but, to me, it's wonderful.  It's the perfect way to learn the basic dos and don'ts of impromptu speaking, it's a great way to prove that a strong theme will help a LOT, and it's the best way to knock the cockiness out of those students who don't yet know how hard it is once you're the one in the spotlight.  If you'd like to know more about impromptu speaking, or about this question (or Miss Teen South Carolina) in particular, let me know!


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