As part of the changes that have come into play at SFVJLI, Principal Liou and staff have decided to have a traditional speech contest at SFVJLI.  The students and staff worked very hard to present the speech contest which was held on April 30th.

All the students from Nyumon through Teen / Adult worked very hard to memorize their speeches and perfect their presentation skills.  The topics of the speeches included My Favorite Things, My Future, A Family Vacation, A Favorite Sport / Hobby, How To Overcome Public Speaking and Their Generosity If They Were A Millionaire.   J1 through Advanced classes were awarded trophies based on pronunciation, intonation, voice volume and speed, presentation, memorization and proper stage appearance.   

The winners of the 2005 Speech Contest are:
J1:  1st Sakura Franzman, 2nd Kai Matsubara, 3rd Marina Sturek
J2:  1st Alex Carpenter, 2nd Erika Matsumoto, 3rd Megan Kagiyama
J3:  1st Nina Caudill, 2nd Kiyomi Kunihiro, 3rd Kianna Bertolino & Mina Matsumoto
J4:  1st Natsumi Hagiwara, 2nd Clay Thibodeaux, 3rd Kie Nagai & Marina Fukuyama
Adv: 1st Ella Preger, 2nd Hitomi Baba, 3rd Hiroshi Garrido

Congratulations to all the winners and kudos to all the students that participated in the 2005 Speech Contest.  This was another example where SFVJLI has taught the students not only Japanese, but also pubic speaking and presentation skills which is a great skill to have as an adult.