Speech Contest

Before I blog about Halloween, and display all the lovely array of costumes from the night, I wanted talk about the English speech contest that I was involved in on saturday. Every year there are English speech contests for students at Junior high schools and senior high schools, where the students who are the most enthusiastic about English, or who are simply pushed into it by their school, take part to try and grab some English glory for their school. On saturday there was a contest for the Commerical High school students of Yamaguchi-ken. I had 2 girls in the 'recitation' part of the contest, and 1 in the 'speech' section. The 2 girls who entered the recitation contest, Yuka and Misato, are 3rd year students at Yanai Shogyo, and I know them quite well, as i teach them every week, as well as coaching them for the contest. I was sooooo nervous for them, and soooo wanted one of them to win. This was to be their last contest, as they will graduate in April, and so I really wanted them to do well! We had been practising for weeks, and I felt they were both really good. I was so proud of them on saturday, as they spoke confidently. they didn't forget anything, and their pronounciation was good. I sat with them during the contest, tried to boost their confidence, and even supplied chocolate to calm their nerves.I reckon I felt the way a pushy mother would feel watching her child take part in a talent contest or something!! It was really quite strange how nervous I felt for them! What was even stranger, was listening to Yuka's speech, and hearing her say the word 'water' in the exact same way that I say it. Seriously, it was like hearing my voice come out of this quiet Japanese girl's mouth! Weird! One of the judges (Mr Yamane...who is actually kinda my boss as well!) commented to me in the break that he could hear my British accent in Yuka's speech, and for a minute I was a bit worried in case he was implying that it wasn't a good thing! I was concerned that the judges would favour a more american-sounding accent, and would therefore not give Yuka a good ranking. However, there was no need for my worry, as in the afternoon Yuka was awarded 1st place in the contest! I was positively beaming as she walked on to the stage to collect her trophy for the school. Erina (in the speech contest part) came 2nd, which was also great, and as she is only a 1st year, she has more chances ahead of her to get that trophy! Congratulations and job well done to all three girls, who certainly did themselves and the school proud!