All-Japan English Speech Contest

Last year, my vice principal approached me. He asked if I would help assist students in competing in an English speech contest. At first, I was at a loss of what to do. I had never helped students with a speech contest before. Also, I had little experience writing speeches myself. I wasn't even sure how speeches should be structured. I looked on the internet for help, and I found this website.

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/preparing-students-for-speech-debate-contests

I think it is so useful. I would have been completely lost without this website as a reference.

After this, I met with my student. It was also his first time doing a speech. We discussed several speech topics, but finally, he decided he wanted to give a speech on the Bataan Death March because he had lived in the Philippines for three years.

First, my student wrote a rough draft. Then, we met, and together, we edited the speech. Then, we reedited it and reedited it and reedited it. It slowly began to emerge into an entirely different speech than it had been in the beginning. It slowly transitioned into a worthwhile speech.

The first competition was in Numazu. This was the Eastern Shizuoka prefecture competition. I had no clue how he would do at this competition. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend because I was in Korea at the time. I was so surprised to learn that he had won. We then reedited the speech again based on the judges' comments and prepared for the next level. The second speech contest was the Shizuoka Prefecture Speech Contest. I was so surprised again to learn that he had won. We continued to edit and practice almost everyday. My student then went to the Tokai Region Speech Contest, where he won again. I couldn't believe he had gone this far. We both lacked so much experience.

The next and final speech contest was the All-Japan Speech Contest. I felt unsure about our success at this level. Students were coming from as far away as Hokkaido and Okinawa. I felt that these students must have amazing oracle skills. 18 students competed at the contest. I listened with nervous anticipation as each student gave their speech. When my student delievered his speech, I felt as if he captivated the entire audiences' attention. I was so impressed by his delivery. During the awards ceremony, winners 2 through 5 were named, but my student wasn't among them. I began to fear that there wasn't even hope of him placing, but then his name was called. He had won first place. I was so excited. All our hard work had paid off. My student was the winner of the All-Japan Speech contest.