３月１２日に行われた卒業終業礼拝。小学部、中学部、高等部合わせて４５名の生徒が卒業しました。それぞれの学校の代表によるスピーチを３回に分けてご紹介します。第２回は中学部３年生。今年は３名の中学部３年生が日本の高校に進学しますが、そのうちの１人、小学生の時から本校にいた生徒による英語のスピーチです。
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Hello. I’m going to talk about my life and friendships in Rikkyo School. Please forgive my mistakes as I sometimes talk very very fast. I want to talk about 3 things that impressed me a lot.
The first thing that I want to talk about is what I felt about this school when I first came. I entered Rikkyo when I was primary sixth grade. Before I tell you about how my first impression of the school, I want to say what I have imagined to be in Rikkyo school. Because I was used to the school not surrounded by Japanese, I can only get the information from the Internet. And the conclusion I reached was terrible which made me not want to come here. So, I can still clearly remember what I was like the first day…I was completely puzzled. I didn’t understand the people, rule, manner in dining room, and so on. But as soon as I entered my classroom, thanks to my wonderful classmate, I got used to the atmosphere. It was warm and friendly like my home. I am probably not the only one who felt like this. In Japan, this kind of situation is not easily made. We have to struggle a bit before you get familiar. However, in Rikkyo, the moment you stepped into the class is the moment you get used to the class. I can say this is one of the most important characters that schools should have.
I will talk a little bit about my 10 classmates’ daily behaviour in classroom. There are 8 boys and 3 girls including me. They are humorous and intelligent. We sometimes get very loud but in most of the times, we were good students, I suppose. There is one boy who I have never seen him stop moving. He is always running around the classroom which makes us really tired but he always gave us a lot of funny stories that we could never imagined. And there, looking at the running boy laughing is a girl who is always smiling and looking happy. She seldom gets the blues. The third classmate usually quiet and she like reading books. But as soon as she gets excited, she is the most funny and noisiest girl in my class. There are 2 boys who are always together. They are really good at badminton and I often saw them playing. Of course, there was no way I could get a point from them. Plus they were really fond of playing computer games. There is a handsome boy who was with me for 4 years. He is also very quiet in most of the time, but after he found himself in fun situation, he acts like monkey. I must say that there are normal people in my class as you might mistake that my class is a zoo. There is a kind-hearted boy who always takes care of us when we have done some mess. He picks up the trash and he is also a very hard worker that we must say that we respect him. He’s like the zookeeper for us. That is the first and the last person who I can say well. The next person is the girl who is very smart and thoughtful which all of us know. The three girls are always together and although one of the girls is going to another school, I am sure that they will forever be good friends each other. The last boy came to Rikkyo last term. He came from Japan and like I was, he was completely confused what’s going on here in Rikkyo. At first, he didn’t even know where the shower room is. But as I said before, the moment you step into the classroom is the moment when you get used to the classroom. He had no problem. So, what I want to say about my classmates is, in short, thank you. All the wonderful time and all the laughter that you have made are all my valuable memory. You are certainly my best friends. There is no one who I don’t want to keep in touch with.
At last, I want to talk about communications with teachers in this school. When I first came, Mr.Kaneko was in charge of my class. He is always smiling and looks happy like the rest of the teachers. He has taken us to the forest couple of times and we went bracken gathering and afterwards in his room, we ate it. I don’t think there are many teachers who take his students to the forest. I also have to thank him for being my nice adviser. Because although I got used to the school very quickly, I do sometimes get depressed and every time I felt it, Mr.Kaneko was always beside me to listen to my problems. Thank you. When I was 2nd grade middle school, it was Mr.Kurashina who took care of me. I think he is the most sincere person within the people who I have met. I can’t imagine him telling a lie. And he is also very good at making laughter explosions in our class. I enjoyed it very much. On the other hand, as a teacher of Kendo that is a traditional sport in Japan, he is sometimes very stern. But I have to tell you that Kendo is a sport, which you have to be very strict, and Mr.Kurashina is usually a gentleman. To end I shall speak little bit about EC teachers. For primary 6th grade, I knew that I could speak a little better than other Japanese who were brought up in Japan. So that means that I had more chance speaking to EC teachers. And I did. They are probably the best English-speaking teachers. Because in general, student like me always start to forget their native English when entering the Japanese school, however, it didn’t happen to me probably because I had my EC teachers. I have to thank you a lot. I will try not to forget my English though I am going to another school. I will not forget the stories that you have told me. All of those interesting stories were never being heard from Japanese people. And through those EC lessons, I learnt how important to talk to people other than Japanese.
To sum up, I want to say a huge thank you to all of the people in this school. The time I will forget about this school will never come. I would like to thank especially to my classmates. The pleasant time spent in Rikkyo was not done without you. Also, thank to all teachers who supported me with all your energy. It wasn’t only the study that you taught me. And finally, thank you to all of you for listening my long speech.
