Japanese Speech Contest
So the dreaded speech contest day finally arrived. Iwata san and Roxy came for moral support, which was very much appreciated. There were also 3 other teachers from my school who came to support...what a surprise it was to see them! It was nice that they took time out of their very busy schedules to come, but it made me feel that much more pressure..!
All the correspondence for this speech contest has been in Japanese, but I was able to pick out the most important information (ie place and time). The speech contestants arrived about 2 hours before the speech began in order to receive instructions on how the day would proceed. Once I heard the other contestants speaking to the Japanese staff, I felt very out of place. They are mostly exchange students, fully fluent and able to take classes conducted completely in Japanese..I usually get my point across with key Japanese words used in tarzan-like speech while using over-exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. I felt way out of my league amongst the other contestants. All instructions for the day were in Japanese, and I found it a little overwhelming. I figured I would just follow what everyone else was doing.. I was the last of the 12 contestants to speak.
Other than having a blank right before beginning my speech (the number of people in the audience seemed to have suddenly doubled..), the speech went as well as I could have hoped for. I felt good enough at the end of the speech to think that maybe I might be given a prize like ‘best effort’, if such an award was being given.
Once all the speeches were done, a taiko group entertained us while the judges convened to decide the winner. The taiko group invited the speech contestants on stage to bang on some of the drums, which I’m sure was very amusing for the audience….
Finally, the awards were handed out. I didn’t receive a prize, but it felt like having participated in this event was an accomplishment all on its own! I wish I could have understood what the other contestants were talking about to get ideas for next year, if I’m still around to participate.
I’m glad it’s done!!
(5 days later)
Included in a letter from the Japanese speech contest committee which I received this evening was a very beautiful envelope containing a 5,000 yen consolation prize. They had probably mentioned during the instruction time that everyone would get a gift for participating, but I didn’t understand half of what was being said. So it came as a nice surprise!
All the correspondence for this speech contest has been in Japanese, but I was able to pick out the most important information (ie place and time). The speech contestants arrived about 2 hours before the speech began in order to receive instructions on how the day would proceed. Once I heard the other contestants speaking to the Japanese staff, I felt very out of place. They are mostly exchange students, fully fluent and able to take classes conducted completely in Japanese..I usually get my point across with key Japanese words used in tarzan-like speech while using over-exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. I felt way out of my league amongst the other contestants. All instructions for the day were in Japanese, and I found it a little overwhelming. I figured I would just follow what everyone else was doing.. I was the last of the 12 contestants to speak.
Other than having a blank right before beginning my speech (the number of people in the audience seemed to have suddenly doubled..), the speech went as well as I could have hoped for. I felt good enough at the end of the speech to think that maybe I might be given a prize like ‘best effort’, if such an award was being given.
Once all the speeches were done, a taiko group entertained us while the judges convened to decide the winner. The taiko group invited the speech contestants on stage to bang on some of the drums, which I’m sure was very amusing for the audience….
Finally, the awards were handed out. I didn’t receive a prize, but it felt like having participated in this event was an accomplishment all on its own! I wish I could have understood what the other contestants were talking about to get ideas for next year, if I’m still around to participate.
I’m glad it’s done!!(5 days later)
Included in a letter from the Japanese speech contest committee which I received this evening was a very beautiful envelope containing a 5,000 yen consolation prize. They had probably mentioned during the instruction time that everyone would get a gift for participating, but I didn’t understand half of what was being said. So it came as a nice surprise!
posted by Meeshe at 6:37 PM
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