Mansoor is a public speaker and poet, currently teaching in the Shinas Vocational College. Graduating from the Rustaq College of Applied Sciences in English Language, Mansoor completed the Train the Trainer Programme in Leadership and Work Ethics from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK.
His love for public speaking began with his first speech before the class when his teacher asked him to do a presentation.
“I was confused in the beginning, but then I was asked to do it daily and I grew comfortable. I began to speak in front of my brother and slowly was able to speak before a big group.”
His stint as a guest speaker at a regional Toast Master Club sparked his interest further and he realised it was something he’d love to do. During his classes, Mansoor gives practice sessions to his students through various teaching methods such as introducing the group and individual rounds of discussion, debates and elocutions. He admits that at the start, the students are nervous but they slowly gain confidence.
“It is all about focussing on how to develop students from one level to the next. It brings a lot of change to their personality. It improves their self-confidence a lot and I’m happy about it. I teach them how to use their body language, how to pronounce, and include lots of activities.”
Mansoor works hard to improve their general vocabulary by showing them ways to pick up new words. “A varied diction could enable them to express ideas while they speak,” he says, “It is ok to make mistakes to learn, I tell them. It is important to take failures as stepping stones to success.”
Mansoor teaches his students to tell stories in a different way than the traditional approach. He illustrates them with a new way to describe or begin the incident in a chronological sequence.
“I love my work; if you love it, you will enjoy every single day. I’m happy when students interact and tell stories. People remember stories; they are very important in public speaking.”
Besides being a teacher, he is also a poet at heart. He has penned poems both in English and Arabic, and His recent poem on late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said had garnered appreciation from many.
Reading has been part of his leisure time and he loves Robin Sharma’s The 5 am Club. He utilised the pandemic period to ‘own his day’. “I started to wake up early morning and went for walking amid the nature, in wadis and mountains. It was really refreshing.”
Besides aspiring to be a writer, Mansoor is also an avid traveller with an urge to know new things. He loves to know about other cultures and respects all kinds of people irrespective of their place, religion or colour.
“If you treat me well, I will treat you the same,” he says, “I’ve invited lots of people to Oman, lots of my friends from the UK have come here. It helps me to know more about their culture, history, besides learning a lot of practical things.”
Mansoor is also a member of the British Council in Oman and loves to attend events and workshops wherever he can because he “loves to seek knowledge wherever it is”.
He is grateful to his role model Professor Hamed Al Adawi for teaching him valuable lessons such as punctuality and how it is important to understand that time is expensive.
Mansoor’s success mantra is “you cannot inspire anyone unless you are inspired. You should be inspired from within and speak from the bottom of your heart.”
Being too nice is a sign of weakness
I used to say, yes it’s ok, don’t worry, no problem, I am so sorry…
It’s my heart, it’s a fire in the ice
Is that nice ??
Explain it with mathematics and science…
It doesn’t work, but try that twice !!
Why am I nice?
Silently, listen to my story…
I never said to someone No
I follow them wherever they go
In the rainy weather even in the-snow
Why always yes, why not No ??
Being too nice is a door to hurt your soul
allowing anyone to enter and attack you Without control.
This is my advice, don’t be too nice
Because you’ll pay the price,
And it won’t suffice
This is my advice…
Be nice, but don’t be too nice …
It’s about a very personal experience…