Smiling through English.

While studying at an English Tesol school I was given, as my certificate test, the task of helping a smiling young Japanese man to clarify his English speech. It seams he was to go to an interview that afternoon for a chance to advance his studies there. His ambition was to go into the ministry. The fastest step to gain ground in only an hour or so was to listen closely to him speak and decide how to change the way he used his speech muscles. I asked him what his job had been since he left school and he said he had worked in the produce market. Aha! To sell well he needed to hold a semi permanent smile on his face which, when speaking English distorted the sound. He laughed when I made the comparison and explained that basically, English men did not speak with smile muscles but opened their mouths wider. We spent a painful time relearning the use of facial muscles in speech. Later that afternoon he rushed out to catch me before my taxi left to thank me that although he had a sore jaw he had passed the test.

 Now he can smile!.