|
TENTH ANNUAL |
The Judge Had Such a Difficult
Time
@On Octover 23rd the 10th annual Sendai Ikuei Gakuen speech contest
was held. Seven girl students from the forign language course, four second
year students and three first year students took part this year. The girls
worked hard and practiced this speech for two months and so the contest
was at a very high level and all the speech were excellent.
@The judge
had such a difficult time choosing the winner that they decided to award
first prize to two girls, Makiko Shoji and Sayaka Ono, both second year
students at Miyagino campus, second prize was awarded to Yuka Murakami a
first year student at Tagajo campus.
@At the end of the speech contest,
James Green, an ORAL COMMUNICATION TEACHER at Sendai Ikuei, gave a
farewell message as follows.
|
1st
prize |
2-f
1 |
@MAKIKO SHYOJI
|
@ All over the world,
wherever you look, there is war. There was the terrorist attack in New
York which happened in September last year, the strike to fight back
against Afghanistan after that,as well as other wars in India, Israel,
Pakistan and Palestine. Wars succeed one another and never seem to
stop.@I have never experienced war or its true fear. However, I feel angry when I watch the scenes of war on television. Recently, I have wanted to be part of some kind of work which would help the helpless, innocent people affected by war, especially women and children. Various problems, related to historical relationships, race and religion are the reasons for war. I recently read that one of the biggest factors influencing war is the power of the media. Television and newspapers can have an affect on victory or defeat, determine the fate of one country, and have the power to disturb the social disorder.
@ As an example, in the 1990's Bosnia Herzegovina was under a Serbian military attack. Then, the Bosnian and herzegovina government made a contract with a PR company in the United States. As a result, the cruel nature of Serbia was reported all over the world, time after time. Japan was also targeted by negative PR, receiving a report which blamed the Serbian side. We must understand that this was a successful media strategy. I became very sad when I realized how public opinion could be so affected by the media. War is sold just like other products and people's lives are treated like goods.
@ However, there is another big problem. Until now in distant countries this kind of media coverage, unfortunately has been one sided. Therefore we should take more responsibility to assess for ourselves the things that we see or read are fair. I saw things which only showed how bad the Serbians were. Was it true, as reported by the media, that Bosnia Herzegovina was just a victim, or did they do bad things as well? It was the purpose of the media strategy to make us believe it was so.
@ The news coverage of the strikes against Afghanistan (all from U.S. stations) tries to convince us that there is no justification for any war. What should we do? Although it is very difficult there are a couple of things we can do. The first is that, we must think about it by ourselves. The other is that we should not just accept media coverage blindly and believe everything we see. We know that the media targets us and we should be careful and aware of this. The possibility of peace and truth becomes greater if we do these two things. It's my strong dream to realize peace.
|
1st
prize |
2-f
2 |
@SAYAKA
ONO |
@ Have you ever heard about a "Peace Village" in
Germany? This is an institution managed only by donations. The members of
this village travel all over the world and pick up children who can not
get treatment for sickness or injuries and when they recover they take
them back to their own country. It was several years ago that I first
heard about this institution. After hearing about that place I started to
become really angry about wars. Before that time it seemed that wars were
not real to me because I live in a peaceful country like Japan. But the
reality of war was so close for those children in the village. I was very
shocked. I thought I couldn't do anything by myself, and from that time I
sealed the memory of wars and those children in my mind. @ Several years later, I watched a program about the "Peace Village" on television. The situation had became even worse than before. The program focused on many issues but, mainly the war between the United Sates and Afghanistan. There were many Afghan children in the peace village and when I saw a 12 year old girl among them I became more angry and sad than ever before.
@ Usually in the peace village children who recover from their sickness have an opportunity to return to their home country. But Afghan children were not given the opportunity because of the Afghan war. All the other children went back to their countries one after another.Afghan children were crying looking at them going back to their home countries. The12 year old girl encouraged other children without crying. When She went back to her room, she cried silently. And she said to the reporters, "Why can't we go back home like other children? Because we didn't do anything bad" "Can' we see our parents?" What would you answer if you were the reporter? It is natural what she said. They did nothing wrong. But they have to live so terribly every day. In war, even those children who are not directly concerned will suffer. It is not only this war but every war. Nobody can solve this problem by themselves but we should think about it.
@ When the girl was crying I felt I just had to do something. I was so emotional I told my friend about it the next day. My friend understood my feelings well. We discussed about what we could do. I noticed that I had only a simple idea. What we discussed was not how we could stop war but what we could do for the hurt. We hope to be able to raise money for the people someday. We would like to contribute to the people in The Village so they can have a comfortable life. Right now I only think about the "Peace Village", but I'd like to broaden my view and ask more people to support such an important problem. I really hope people can live happily in a peaceful world!
|
2nd
prize |
1-f
1 |
@YUKA
MURAKAMI |
MY SECOND FAMILY
@"Hi! My name is Yuka Murakami. Nice to meet
you!" @ This is what I said when I,met my second family. Many people@in the world don't even have one whole family because of diseases or war. But, I'm lucky. I have two families. I have my real family here in Japan, but I also have an American family. How did I get the American Family? I went with sixteen students from my hometown, Naraha-machi, to our sister city, Euclid Ohio! And so each student stayed with a host family.
@ There are six people in my American family: a very large man Dad, a warm hearted woman Mom, a beautiful girl Katie, a funny girl Jessie, a tall and dear girl Mandy and a lovely boy Timmy. They were very kind to my partner Yu and me. Yu and I had a lot of happy times and now we have many memories of them. My best memory is the "Music Party" on the second night. The original idea came during dinner when we talked about what instruments we can play. Yu plays the French horn, I play the clarinet and we both play the piano and sing. So when we told this to them, they said, " We have a piano and drums at my house! Please play for us!" We like playing the piano and singing, so of course we said okay. Yu and I were in the chorus club at school, so we sang "Haru Ni" and "Gloria" together. They were very glad. When Shad finished, they said, "Thank you very much! You are my amazing daughters!" I was delighted to hear that.
@ The final night we had a beach party. It
is also one of my favorite memories. Everyone bonded by playing games like
volleyball and keep-away. But, it was a more wonderful time for me than
others, because I met some special people! They were Ms Tara,s sister,
lather and mother! Ms. Tara was my English teacher and now my best friend,
and meeting her family had been my wish before. So I had my wish granted!
It was a rainy night, but I'll never forget it!
@Parting is always
sad, and so was this time. The final day, we had the "Sayonara Party" to
thank the people in Euclid. We Japanese students planned this party. In
the party we danced Kasa-odori, and Bon-odori from Naraha, and I gave a
speech. In my speech I told the host families, "Thank you everybody for
everything! " But t,he party became sad. We had to part with our host
families and people in Euclid.
@ "You can stay here...no... You
have to stay here forever!" My second family sometimes said. I replied,
"Yes, of course! I'll stay here forever!" But at last, I couldn't say
that, I had to leave Euclid. We cried so much. I held them again and
again, and I said good-bye to them.
@ My American family taught me
a lot of things about English, family, and American culture. We talked a
lot,but( my English was not enough. They talked with gestures so I could
understand This helped me to make up my mind to be a translator in the
future. I want to communicate through English with people in many
countries/ and learn a lot of things from them. I also want to help people
understand each other better/because I know how important it is to
communicate clearly.
|
1-f
1 |
@MIYUKI
OHYANAGI | |
@I'd like to
talk about to you today about bullying. Bullying has become a serious
problem in Japan but, also in other countries as well. In America, for
example, a study in 1999 showed that 1 in 3 elementary and junior high
school students had been bullied, but more than one third did not report
it. I also have been bullied and I'd like to share my story with you.
@ When I was a junior high school student I was bullied so much that I didn't go to school very often. I felt like I had no friends in my class and I was afraid to go out alone,'so I tended to just stay at home. It was difficult time for me, I couldn't accept what was going on and I just ran away and hid from all my problems. I think nobody wanted to help me because if they did maybe they would be bullied too. And so I felt incredibly alone.
@ After a while the bullying stopped and for a short time I had some friends again. It seemed strange to me how they could change their attitude so quickly and so often. Then I started to think that maybe I was the cause of the problem. I think that quiet and shy student, like I was at that time, are easy targets for bullying because we think we have done something wrong and blame ourselves.
@ In fact is not true. People who bully others do such things because they feel strong and powerful. When the victim doesn't stand up for themselves, the bullying of course continues. This is something very important to think about. I think parents must keep a close watch on their children and know their character so they can communicate about bullying and encourage them to defend themselves. In my case my homeroom teacher helped me a lot and I started to get confidence to stand up to bullies. It took a long time and I had many times when I really felt like dying but eventually I became strong enough inside .
@ It's difficult to understand why people do bad things and try to hurt other people, but unfortunately this happens a lot. Did you know that in Japan there are 10 bullying related deaths a year? I think every one at some time has had a situation where they have been bullied and nobody liked it. So I think it's up to us to try to stop bullying when we see it, and communicate to each other about how terrible a thing it is.
@ In Japan there is a lot of social pressure and so it is easy to bully people. I feel much stronger because I went through such a bad situation and I feel sorry for people who are being bullied. Let's do our best to be aware of this problem and try to reduce it as much as possible. Everybody wants a happy life.
|
1-f
2 |
@MANAMI
KOMURO | |
@Have you ever heard the phrase
"From for to with"? When I heard this phrase, I couldn't understand the
meaning at first. ,It shows us ho w handicapped and non handicapped people
can live together. For means only to help them. With means to live
together. @ One day, when I got up, my field of vision was bad. I felt heavy around my eyes. I felt all kinds of lights were glaring. The condition of my eyes gradually got worse and worse. At around noon I couldn't open my eyes. So I couldn't walk at all without my mother's help. Later I went to the hospital. The doctor said to me, "This is acute conjunctivitis. You rubbed your eyes with your dirty hands, didn't you?" Then I was worried that I wouldn't be able to see anything from now on. I was frightened. And I wondered how blind people live in such bad conditions. After that I came back home with my mother_ The doctor said that I wasn't allowed to touch anything so that I didn't spread the conjunctivitis. But on the way home my mother held my hands tightly anyway so as to decrease my fears. She also cleaned inside the entire house for me, so I could walk and go to the rest room easily by myself at home. She made the best environment for me to do anything. Then I realized that I had a valuable experience, because I felt it was important to make conditions better for sick people. I thanked her.
@ I've ridden a wheelchair once before. My grandfather had been in hospital for an operation. He had a traffic accident when he was young, so he had to have an operation on his leg. I visited him in the hospital with my family. He used a wheelchair in order to move by himself. When I saw him, I was eager to ride it. So I asked him, "Can I use this?" He said yes and I tried to ride it. Then I noticed that there were no barriers in the hospital. The floor was flat and the rest rooms were wide for people who used wheelchairs to move by themselves. Moreover there was a slope to cover a short step. I needed a little power to move the wheelchair and climb the slope. If the slope had been the step, I couldn't have climbed it. Then I realized that most of the roads in the city seem to have been made without thinking about handicapped people. Japan especially has a lot of steps. If the road planners made plans for all the people on the earth, we could make a barrier free society where we had few steps.
@ What do you think of this idea? I think we should make a better environment for handicapped people so they can live more independently.
@ My ideal society of"From for to with " is a world that people who use wheelchairs can move in by themselves and that people who can't see anything can walk by themselves safely, without any help. Now that is difficult. There are a lot of barriers on the earth. But now there are a lot of things we can do. I think we should not leave our bicycles in the path of blind people walking. And we should not throw cans or bottles away on the path so as to prevent blind people from falling down. Then I reached the conclusion that it is important and necessary for us to take action We must make the world better and easier for all kinds of people to live in. Let's make a good environment so that people on the earth can live together happily.
|
2-f
1 |
@ MISAKO OHTOMO | |
@ Nowadays, even though it
is the 21st century, there are wars taking place all over the world.
Unfortunately in any war children will always fall victim and so we should
ask ourselves some important questions. For example, why do wars really
happen? And what is the value of human life if in war people die So
easily? But war is not just death! There is a lot of mental pain
intentionally indicted on people and so we can say that human beings can
be incredibly cruel to each other. @ One recent example of how terrible war can be, is in South Africa and Mozambique. What happens to children there is almost unimaginable. For a moment, please stop and imagine you live in those circumstances. Suddenly one day, while you are playing or just walking in the street you will be attacked by soldiers for no reason. They will make you stand in a line by the wall and then they will point a gun at you.Then perhaps they will say, "I will kill you now, your life is finished" What would you do if that happened to you?
@ In the civil war of Mozambique thousands of children and adults had situations like that. Many children's parents were killed or they saw unbelievably horrible things. Another terrible part of that war is the sexual abuse and violence by soldiers on children. But sometimes children have no choice. If their parents or family die they must get money to survive and so they have sex for money, so they can eat. Please imagine if you have no family, no help, no money, and there is war around you. You have to survive by yourself and you will do anything to keep living.
@ In Japan we are lucky. If we are 8 or 9 years old a schoolchild can still have the love and support of a family. If we have a nightmare or a terrible dream our family will always help and try to protect us. The poor children of Mozambique often wonder what it's like to have a real family, with loving parents and a safe environment to live in. They think about the peaceful times before war started when they could play with their brothers and sisters. If we think of our owns lives, aren't we lucky to live in a country like Japan? It's unfair, don't you think, that just because they are born in a different place they have a small chance of Surviving.
@ Children need to be protected and have rights and adults should accept the duty to protect them. However, adults often forget this duty and abuse children for their own desires. This must stop! Now children need a helping hand from us, a helping hand to protect them from danger. There is not one simple answer to these problems. However, it is up to you to think about it and decide what is the right thing to do. Please never think about other people's affairs as something that is past or something that is not important. Since such children as those in Mozambique are living now, today, we must to remember them. Finally, I hope you will take time to think about it.
|
2-f
2 |
@ NATSUMI ABE | |
THE WORLD CUP
AND
INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
@ Hello, my name is
Natsumi Abe!! I want to talk to you about my impressions of the world cup.
Wasn't it great!! It was so exciting.
@Of course this was the first world cup in Asia, and wasn't Sendai lucky to have some I games! How did you feel seeing so many foreign tourists walking downtown at that time? I was really surprised how many came to our City. But I felt a little strange because I had never seen so many foreigners in Sendai before. Yet at the same time I realized, hey, this is the World cup, the most popular sporting event in the world, so of course a lot of foreigners are here to cheer their favorite teams!!
@
@ Please think for a moment about how you felt during the world cup? I'm sure you saw a lot of foreigners then too, so now if you see some walking around, do you feel any different? I don't think so. One Sunday during the world cup, when I was walking with my foreign friend, we noticed a lot of people stared at us or looked back to see us when they walked by. After a while, my friend said, jokingly,g I don't want them to stare at me, I'm not a Hollywood star and not even an alienh. However, at that time, I became aware that if I happened to see a foreigner in the street,I also stared or looked back at him or her unconsciously. I was with my friend for a long time, and we felt we were looked at by everybody and finally we felt bad. I realized exactly why my friend had saidg I'm not a Hollywood star and not even an alienhbecause, honestly, we did feel like that all day long.
@ I think one of the reasons we Japanese have such unusual feelings for foreigners is that we have a traditional island identity and a national character which doesn't accept new things easily. Also our mentality becomes a little uneasy if we do different things from others. That is why many young Japanese Wear the same clothes as others and act like each other as well. I recently heard in a radio program that the number of tourists from overseas in Japan is less than that of other countries. And then I thought to myself, why is that? Is it because everything is expensive in Japan? Or is it perhaps that we make an uncomfortable atmosphere for foreigners in our country?
@ I'd like to state strongly that even though Japan is an island country, with it's traditional way of thinking, and most of us can't speak English well, we should be aware that the biggest problem keeping us from. International understanding is each person's own mind's invisible barrier. We can't forget that histories among nations are still a huge wall keeping us from international understanding but each individual in any place can make up his or her own mind.
@ But, interestingly, right now it is a fact that such a wall is disappearing among young people. Let's remember the world cup!!!. Wasn't it great that so many foreigners cheered tile Japanese team and were wearing the Japanese uniform? And we too cheered other soccer teams like Brazil and Cameroon? I felt as if Japan, which is one race, became a country of multiple races, a country without a frontier.
@ I think the world cup was great success because it changed a lot of Japanese minds. Many people felt that they could communicate with people from. Other countries beyond the problems of language, nationality and culture. Some who have traditionally resisted international understanding realize that through this world cup anything is possible!! If we open our minds, we can understand each other better.
@ I think the world cup has helped us to be more open minded. We can't throw away our traditions but maybe we can communicate more now! I'm trying to live everyday like it was world cup. I don't want to feel like an alien again!!!
INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
@ Hello, my name is
Natsumi Abe!! I want to talk to you about my impressions of the world cup.
Wasn't it great!! It was so exciting. @Of course this was the first world cup in Asia, and wasn't Sendai lucky to have some I games! How did you feel seeing so many foreign tourists walking downtown at that time? I was really surprised how many came to our City. But I felt a little strange because I had never seen so many foreigners in Sendai before. Yet at the same time I realized, hey, this is the World cup, the most popular sporting event in the world, so of course a lot of foreigners are here to cheer their favorite teams!!
@
@ Please think for a moment about how you felt during the world cup? I'm sure you saw a lot of foreigners then too, so now if you see some walking around, do you feel any different? I don't think so. One Sunday during the world cup, when I was walking with my foreign friend, we noticed a lot of people stared at us or looked back to see us when they walked by. After a while, my friend said, jokingly,g I don't want them to stare at me, I'm not a Hollywood star and not even an alienh. However, at that time, I became aware that if I happened to see a foreigner in the street,I also stared or looked back at him or her unconsciously. I was with my friend for a long time, and we felt we were looked at by everybody and finally we felt bad. I realized exactly why my friend had saidg I'm not a Hollywood star and not even an alienhbecause, honestly, we did feel like that all day long.
@ I think one of the reasons we Japanese have such unusual feelings for foreigners is that we have a traditional island identity and a national character which doesn't accept new things easily. Also our mentality becomes a little uneasy if we do different things from others. That is why many young Japanese Wear the same clothes as others and act like each other as well. I recently heard in a radio program that the number of tourists from overseas in Japan is less than that of other countries. And then I thought to myself, why is that? Is it because everything is expensive in Japan? Or is it perhaps that we make an uncomfortable atmosphere for foreigners in our country?
@ I'd like to state strongly that even though Japan is an island country, with it's traditional way of thinking, and most of us can't speak English well, we should be aware that the biggest problem keeping us from. International understanding is each person's own mind's invisible barrier. We can't forget that histories among nations are still a huge wall keeping us from international understanding but each individual in any place can make up his or her own mind.
@ But, interestingly, right now it is a fact that such a wall is disappearing among young people. Let's remember the world cup!!!. Wasn't it great that so many foreigners cheered tile Japanese team and were wearing the Japanese uniform? And we too cheered other soccer teams like Brazil and Cameroon? I felt as if Japan, which is one race, became a country of multiple races, a country without a frontier.
@ I think the world cup was great success because it changed a lot of Japanese minds. Many people felt that they could communicate with people from. Other countries beyond the problems of language, nationality and culture. Some who have traditionally resisted international understanding realize that through this world cup anything is possible!! If we open our minds, we can understand each other better.
@ I think the world cup has helped us to be more open minded. We can't throw away our traditions but maybe we can communicate more now! I'm trying to live everyday like it was world cup. I don't want to feel like an alien again!!!
by JAMES GREEN (Oral Communication Teacher)
@ Well, in my speech I would like to Say many "THANK YOU'S!!" First of all to the participants; girls, your speeches were FANTASTIC! After every speech, they were so good I became so emotional and was so impressed, honestly, I CRIED A LITTLE AFTER EVERY SPEECH! You have worked very hard for two months, writing your speeches, memorizing them and practicing intonation, rhythm and gestures, AND THE RESULT WAS A REALLY GREAT SPEECH CONTEST TODAY! You all did your best performances today, and I and all the teachers are really, really proud of you. But more importantly you should be PROUD OF YOURSELVES. It's very difficult to make a speech in English, BUT YOU CHALLENGED YOURSELVES AND DID YOUR BEST! I am so happy for you!
@ If you received First or Second prize today that's great! CONGRATULATIONS! BUT, if you didn't receive a prize I REALLY, REALLY DON'T WANT YOU TO BE DISAPPOINTED! The levels were so high and the speeches were so good I DON'T KNOW HOW THE JUDGES MADE THEIR DECISIONS! I couldn't have picked who was first or second. I'M GLAD I WASN'T A JUDGE TODAY, IT WAS TOO DIFFICULT!! You are all big successes today, you don't need a prize to be a winner! SO YOU SHOULD ALL FEEL GOOD INSIDE.
@ NEXT, I would like to thank all the teachers, DEI sensei, SHIMIZU sesnsei, ANNA sensei, LEON sensei, AND ME, for working so hard in helping prepare the girls for the contest. Your efforts helped make the girls' speeches great. I really appreciate it.
@ And now i'd like to thank today's judges, who perhaps had the most difficult job today! Honestly, how did you decide!!!!!! I want to thank you for taking time to come to Ikuei today to be a part of our speech contest and I hope you enjoyed listening to the girls. And so the school would like to show it's appreciation by presenting each one of you a small gift. MR DES CALLAN, thank you So much for coming today. CHIBA sensei, thank you for being a judge. And MICHELLE GRECO, thanks for being a part of our contest. Please, let's give them a big round of applause!!
@ Lastly, I would really like to thank PRINCIPAL KATOH, who has the busiest schedule, for coming today. The Principal enjoys coming every year to listen to the girls, Speeches and the English teachers sincerely appreciate your ongoing support and belief in the importance of the English programs here at Ikuei.
@ Thank you everyone for coming, it was a wonderful time.