Kumamoto City JHS Recitation Contest

Following on from my last post, I think it’s safe to say I was close to death (not that I’m being melodramatic at all). I had to take a sick day, visit a doctor, and despite him giving me enough medicines to open my own pharmacy, with the Kumamoto City English recitation contest the next day I still felt bloody awful. The struggle of me heading to school was made worthwhile when I could see my students visibly relax when they saw me. They’d been practicing solely with me for weeks, and the fact I was on my death bed the day prior to the contest had them all on edge thinking I’d abandoned them.

Admittedly, the entire competition was pretty dire. There’s only so many times you can hear a depressing rendition of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima with children imitating a crying child. I’ve got my party piece sorted now though; I could tell you the story of Ben, Mary and the stolen cow in my sleep. I was so proud of my students, with my first and second graders earning 5^th and 6^th place in their respective years out of 42 schools in the city. Third grade was a much tougher crowd, and after earning 54/60 and praise for their ‘very good pronunciation and intonation’, they didn’t even place.

One student told me “I’m not disappointed, I’ll just do better next year”, which I think aptly sums up their attitude to learning. I didn’t mind spending both my lunch time and after school helping every day when the kids willingly took on board my weird sounds, tongue actions and acting, knowing I was only doing it to benefit them.

Now the contest is over, I can fully see how they appreciated my efforts, as now the stress is gone, they are much more comfortable with me than they ever were. They don’t see me as some unapproachable foreigner, but rather someone who can help them. Finally the 1^st graders are warming up to me, which is nice since they’ll be the ones I’ll be teaching throughout junior high, unlike the 3^rd graders I’ve befriended who’ll be graduating in April.

I’m happy to report that none of my students whipped out a Scouse accent on stage at the contest, but I definitely think me being so hyper aware of my pronunciation sometimes has resulted in me having the dodgiest accent ever. I shift from my Japanese, to American-isms in class, to Australian moments because I spend that much time with Sheridan, and back to Scouse when I speak to people from home. At this rate, I’ll be the one needing my students to teach me.