TUFS Student Awarded at English Presentation Contest

December 12, 2018

On Saturday the 1st of December (2018), TUFS student Nodoka Nakaya (School of International and Area Studies, Latin American Area Studies, first year) was awarded a Top 50 Prize in the individual division of the 7th Annual All Japan Student English Presentation Contest (sponsored by Kanda Gaigo Group and Yomiuri Shimbun). Ms. Nakaya presented to the topic of “Appealing Japan’s night tourism to foreign tourists”.

This contest has been held since 2012 for students aiming to be active in a global society.
Details on the contest can be found here: http://www.kandagaigo.ac.jp/contest/ (Japanese)

Comment – Nodoka Nakaya

At first I was worried about the difference in English ability and TOEIC scores of the people around me. I gained confidence through my ideas and repetition practice, and decided to challenge myself by entering this contest. I picked the first topic, “Appealing Japan’s night tourism to foreign tourists”, to which I presented on “Offering hyakumonogatari (a round of ghost stories) at temple guesthouses”. The most nerve-wracking part of this was interviewing temple staff over the phone.

I could feel the difference between myself and the overall winners, from their beautiful pronunciation to the amount of surveys, videos and recordings shown in their presentations. However, the staff and participants were all very friendly, and I feel like this atmosphere made my presentation better than my practices. I want all my classmates and lowerclassmen to try and enter in the next contest. I think I will step up to the challenge again.

Considering I used to always murmur and look down during presentations, I think I did very well to place in this contest. This is entirely owed to the support of Ms. Kaneko and Ms. Lily from the ELC, and many others. Thank you so much.

*The English Learning Center (ELC) supports the English studies of TUFS students. At the ELC, teachers and language assistants (exchange students from many countries) work together to support students learning English. For more information on the ELC, please visit TUFS Today: https://tufstoday.com/articles/181023-2/ (Japanese)