Friends, Japanese people, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Well yesterday we had our first round of annual speech contests, for which we've been in training for the last 3 months. I actually really enjoy helping my students learn their speeches as I've found those that enter the competition usually improve in their English, or at least begin to enjoy it more, oh and it doesn't hurt that we've won one competition for the last 2 years (yep that's the sound of my own trumpet being blown...)

Anyway, basically the students have to either write their own script or, recite from a prewritten story to a group of judges. Usually my students bring me a copy of the script they've written in Japanese during June, which me and the teacher then translate in English. Its usually a long process of trial and error, finding out what words and sentences work, re writing parts to fit better and seeing how the student manages with the pronunciation. Then the real fun begins as we (and by we I mean me and one other teacher) then practice with the students during lunchtime and after school. This year because of our victories (there's that trumpet again) we had a bumper crop of students wanting to enter so it meant some nights working till 5 -6 and some very quickly eaten lunches hmmmm instant ramen.

Much in the same way you never expect a sensible answer if you ask Steven Segal for the time. You don't go into a speech contest expecting to hear stories of sunshine and fairy dust. Oh no my friends speech contests are a little like tales of the unexpected, thankfully without the dancing, You can almost guarantee one war story, the odd natural disaster and at least 2 stories about a death in the family. During my first speech contest I'll never forget one student starting her story by telling us how much she loved staying with her Grandmother every year, going into detail about all the great things they do, and just generally how much of a fun person she is, then somehow by the end of the story she used the awesome phrase, and this is completely true I swear....

"I was sick, alone and grandmaless"

Thankfully we've managed to steer our students away from such jolities although an early draft of one did use the term "my mother sometimes disgusts me" which maaayyy not have been appropriate.

So on Tuesday we all packed into Omihachiman centre, which seems to be filled with old people or at least very wrinkly young ones. T.O.H came with me (thank you very much T.O.H appreciated) We stories about going abroad, being in the brass band club, one mention of the war, one controversial moment when a student took her script up with her (students have to memorise the script) one disqualification, and the some really heartbreaking moments when students forgot their lines, everyone sits in silence willing the student on. I'm really proud of all my students trying their best, was just glad they all tried. We even managed to score second place which means in about a week and a half time we have to go through it all again, better start practicing those L's and R's.

Oh and the winner? Oh the student who wrote about their great cousin who they love very much, always joked around with them and was just generally the life and soul of any party... oh and who also died two months ago! hmmm maybe we should have put a death or two in there???!