(By Tsugako Tokumitsu, J4B Teacher)

The poem recital session by students was held in the J4B classroom on April 12. J4B students were reciting the “Amenimomakezu” poem by Kenji Miyazawa in front of an audience of parents. Parents, thank you for dropping by our class!

(By Corey Caudill, J4B parent)

To be honest with you, I did not know what to expect. I remembered how the speech contest was run in the past, but my wife said only individual classes were doing it this
year and there wouldn't be any judging. When the kids read their poems, I thought they all did pretty well. Each recited his or her poem in their own way, which made me think that each student had their own unique poem. I realized later that the poem was actually the same. Actually the poems the kids wrote sounded more alike than the recited poem. The worst part was when I had to recite a poem that I wrote. (Actually my wife wrote it and I bumbled over it.) All in all, it was enjoyable and didn't bore the parents. (It only took around thirty minutes!)