Last Saturday, Dave and I had the great privilege of being invited to the Japanese School with whom The British School shares a building, to judge their spoken English competition. There were many students who took part and they all seemed amazingly calm in such nerve wracking circumstances. Some had to recite a speech made by President Obama about education, some had to write and then repeat their own argument for or against something and then we had recitations from The Odyssy (odd choice, I thought) and from Ceasars "Lend me your ears" speech.
To be honest, I was in awe of them all. None of them had English as a first language but all of them spoke with such fluency that it put even first language speakers to shame. I doubt many of my fellow students at 14 could have spoken so well, and so publicly (apart from the one who went on to be a politician, of course).
The judging was very difficult - the criteria given to us was very demanding. The students had to look the part, sound the part and give the impression of being the part! A huge task. They all did brilliantly, some more brilliantly than others! The other judges were a Professor from Waseda University and a teacher of English at the school. We did well and managed to pick all the right students to win. One girl gave a fabulous presentation on the power of happiness only to burst into tears when she heard she had first prize! There was a certain irony, we thought.
Another interesting day in the life of the Williams's.
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