Cultural awareness far from foreign at club

LOS ANGELES－Toastmasters International, a US-headquartered organization that promotes public speaking skills and leadership, has opened a branch in California that pushes the members' language skills a step further.

The members refer to themselves as "lao wai", the word for foreigners in Chinese.

The Lao Wai Jiang Zhongwen Toastmasters, or Chinese-speaking foreigners Toastmasters, is a Mandarin-language club for advanced learners who want to practice their Chinese and public speaking. They meet in El Monte, a community near Los Angeles.