Aomori JHS English Speech Contest 2013

Every year, a select number of students around Japan thoroughly prepare, anxiously await, and then nervously take part in English speech contests. Here, the biggest such contest is aptly called the All Aomori City Junior High School English Speech Contest, and takes place at the Aomori Prefectural Social Education Center (青森県総合社会教育センター) in the beginning of every September.

The preparation typically starts as summer vacation gets underway. In previous years, my school's English teachers chose the speeches for students and scheduled all of the practices for them. Then, I would simply come and practice with students during the pre-arranged times. But I felt like this wasn't very effective, so this year I took the initiative to be much more involved with the whole process. I selected most of the students to participate, worked with them to find readings they liked, and both scheduled and managed all of the practices myself. It was more work but I really enjoyed it!

The speech contest has four sections; three recitation (暗唱, anshou) sections divided by grade (7th, 8th, 9th), and an original speech (スピーチ) section in which one student from any grade may participate. Thus, each school in the city can choose up for four students to participate in the contest. At my school, the students presented the following:

• 7th grade recitation: Zorba's Promise (story of friendship between a cat and seagull)
• 8th grade recitation: The Diary of Anne Frank (excerpts from the famous diary)
• 9th grade recitation: A Mother's Lullaby (story during the Hiroshima atomic bombing)
• Original speech: Sensible Social Networking (about social networks and their affects on human communication)

One of the challenges with this contest is following the requirement that readings for the recitation sections may only be chosen from the students' English textbooks. No outside sources can be used. I would think that the organizers would realize by now that this system isn't very practical. Yet year after year, the same thing happens--since so few readings are suitable for the contest, many students end up using the same ones for their recitations. So on the day of the contest, everyone has to listen to the same readings over and over. I don't think this is very fair for all students. For example, if the judges have already heard a particular reading five times in the past hour, and have to hear it once more, will they really be as attentive and unbiased as they were for the first time hearing it? Based on my observations, it seems like the judges are nearly falling asleep when this happens. But I digress, rant over.

So how do I prepare my students for the contest? For recitation-section students, I first make sure they fully understand the content of their readings (by providing Japanese translations of the scripts and discussing the meaning of the readings). Speech-section students must write their original speech by themselves, but often in Japanese initially. Then a Japanese teacher of English and I work to translate it into English, before meeting with the student again. After the basic translation is done, we check the speech line-by-line to ensure the intended meaning and nuance has been translated properly.

Once the all of the Japanese-English language aspects have been covered, I spend a practice session reading each script with the students to help them get become more comfortable and familiar with it. We then focus on pronunciation; first individual words and then word pairs or groups. As their pronunciation gets better we start to work on rhythm and fluency. By this time, I also encourage them to start memorizing the script (which is required in the contest). This isn't too hard for recitation but for students participating in the speech section, it can be quite challenging. Time passes more quickly and as the speech contest approaches, I make sure everything is sounding good together; pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, and stress. In the last couple weeks, I try to get an audience for them to practice in front of (teachers, classmates, etc.), and make sure they are confident with a loud, clear voice. In the last week, my job is easy as I basically just meet with them and listen to them practice over and over.

This year, we left early for the Education Center where the contest was being held. We practiced a little outside, and them shortly after the contest started. It lasted from about 9 A.M. until almost 4 P.M. My students did great; they walked up to the podium with their back straight, and did they best they could with a nice, loud voice. Unfortunately, none of my students placed in the contest. Each section had about 20 students and awards were given for the first three places. Without trying to sound bitter here, I understand why my 7th and 8th grade students didn't place. But I was a little surprised that my 9th grade student didn't make the cut, and quite honestly very disappointed my student in the speech section wasn't given recognition for the amazing speech she delivered. To be candid, I really believe this was largely due to her placement, which was second-to-last in the entire day of the contest. Also the winners' speeches tended to emit themes of personal tragedy and hardships, which may have subconsciously influenced the judges' decisions as well. Anyway, there were lots of other students who did just as well but didn't place either. Ultimately, I think the hope is that students walk away with a great feeling of accomplishment regardless of the final results. I certainly respect them for all the hard work they put into it.