2025.06.25
High School English Speech and Recitation Contest
It has been a busy first term! There have been many events that I have wanted to write about but haven’t had the time to post about. Today I have some free time and am happy to be able to sit down and tell you about our High School English Speech and Recitation Contest which was held two weeks ago.
At Eiwa we have two speech contests every year, one for junior high school students, which is held in April, and another for our first and second year high school students, which takes place in June. The high school students have the choice of four speeches that they can memorize, two short ones and two longer ones. As well, they can write their own speech and memorize that. We try to choose speeches that have meaning and that can inspire our students to look beyond themselves and to others and the world in general.
This year’s short speeches were taken from speeches given to the United Nations by two high-school girls – Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. Malala talked about the importance of education and Greta about the environment. The longer speeches were by Mother Teresa, who focused on how love can lead us to peace, and by Queen Elizabeth, who talked about the need to come together as a society during the coronavirus pandemic.
All of the first and second year students did their best to memorize and recite one speech, and then each class held an in-class contest. From that, eight students from each grade were chosen to participate in the final contest in the school chapel on June 11.
There were many excellent performances given, and we’d like to congratulate all the students who took part. The judges had a difficult decision, but in the end four students were awarded prizes for their short recitations, three for their long recitations, and one for her original speech. Of those eight students, three will write original speeches and take part in the Shizuoka Prefectural Speech Contest, the first round of which is in September. We wish them the best of luck and, once again, give our warmest congratulations to all the students for the effort they showed to present these speeches.
There were many excellent performances given, and we’d like to congratulate all the students who took part. The judges had a difficult decision, but in the end four students were awarded prizes for their short recitations, three for their long recitations, and one for her original speech. Of those eight students, three will write original speeches and take part in the Shizuoka Prefectural Speech Contest, the first round of which is in September. We wish them the best of luck and, once again, give our warmest congratulations to all the students for the effort they showed to present these speeches.
