Speech Contest

I have been preparing two third year students for the all-Shiso Junior High English Speech Contest since mid-September. The contest was Monday, and my kids placed first and second! I was so proud of them, they're amazing kids and they both worked so hard. The boy has a real natural ability and an ear for English, and the girl tries really hard, though her ability is not naturally as good. But actually in the judges' discussion room after the speech (I was one of the  judges) some of them were saying they thought her speech was actually better than his (the boy placed first, the girl second). The girl's speech was about a woman she met on a school trip to Okinawa, so she had to say the word "woman" a lot. She had a really hard time saying it, since there is no "wo" sound in Japanese, she kept saying "u-man." For weeks we worked on it, and then finally, last week, she got it, and could do it consistently. I was so happy, I actually almost started crying during speech practice. And she did it perfectly during the contest. 

Since it's pictures of my students, I've made a private album. But they're really good pictures, so please email or comment on this post with your email address and I'll send you the link. There are also some pictures of me with the third years during an English class in which we cooked Spanish custard. Worth checking out!