News

The Hakuho foundation is now accepting applications their Japan Experience Program for Overseas Children. This fantastic programme consists of three parts, training in Japan, followed by hosting Japanese school visit and culminating in a trip for some of your students to Japan!

The programme consists of three parts (chronologically):

1. One teacher of Japanese from your school will need to take part in preparatory training (two weeks in October/November 2013) . Return airfares to Japan, accommodation, meals and activities, including training and travel expenses are covered by Hakuho.


2. One or two schools that take part in the programme will be selected to host a group of Japanese students in late April, early May 2014. Hakuho will provide expenses, including travel for expenses associated with receiving the Japanese schools.


3. A maximum of 15 schools will have the chance to send 4 students and an accompanying teacher to Japan in July 2014. Return airfares to Japan, accommodation, meals and activities, including travel expenses are covered by Hakuho.
   Application deadline: May 15^th 2013

Eligibility

Schools:

• School must be recognised as a formal educational institution by a government authority


• School must be teaching students aged 13-15 in formal Japanese lessons in a school setting


• School undersatands that participation in this programme runs across two calendar years, and must be able to participate continuously until the end of the programme


• School is able to send a non-native teacher of Japanese to participate in both the training programme, and the Japan experience for overseas children.


•  School must be able to send students studying Japanese (aged 12-16) to Japan to participate in the programme


• School must be able to actively and cooperatively prepare and implement the programme training


• School must be able to obtain any permissions required from their government or any governmental body for participation in the programme and training.

Teachers:

• Must be teaching students aged 13-15 in formal Japanese classes in a formal setting (however ages 12 and 16 will be considered)


• Must have a teaching licence or equivalent qualification


• Have Japanese ability of at least N4 (previous Level 3) in the Japanese language Proficiency test at time of application.


• Nationality other than Japanese


• Must be able to guarantee continuous participation (including training) from selection until the end of the programme the following calendar year


• Able to stay physically and mentally healthy from selection until the end if the programme the following year.

* Note that teachers who are unable to continue their participation for their own reasons and those who are ineligible to participate in the foundation’s international traveller’s insurance scheme (including due to pregnancy or childbirth) may be asked to withdraw.

For further information, or to download an application form, please visit the Hakuho Website.

The Application Form and Application Guides in English and Japanese can also be downloaded below.

Participants who had never before studied Japanese learned how to write beautiful Japanese characters such as 「夢」(yume, “dream”)　「和」(wa, “harmony”)　and「愛」(ai, “love”) at our latest “Japanese from Scratch” workshop for beginners in Japanese language studies. The workshop, which focused on the art of shodō (Japanese calligraphy), was held on March 13^th at the Japan Foundation London, and 17 people braved the snowy weather to come along and take part.

The workshop was led by Hiroko Tanaka, Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London and experienced shodō practitioner. The workshop started with a quiz about Japan, followed by an introduction to some useful Japanese words and phrases. Tanaka-sensei then introduced the Japanese writing systems – hiragana, katakana and kanji – explaining their history, origins and how to use them. This was followed by an introduction to calligraphy tools and techniques, after which the participants practised using water and special Japanese “mizu-shuuji” paper.

Finally, when everyone had got to grips with the basics of shodō, the participants created their own shodō pieces with real Japanese paper and ink. Although most participants had never studied Japanese before, they all created fabulous pieces of work demonstrating their skill and determination. All staff at the Japan Foundation were very impressed!

 After the workshop, one participant said, “The teacher was excellent and really structured the workshop well. I liked how she talked about the meaning and symbolism behind words.” Another commented, “Enjoyed the workshop – learnt so much about the history and types of characters as well as the actual art of calligraphy.”

We would like to thank all participants for coming and for their hard work – arigatou gozaimashita.

If you have never studied Japanese before and are interested in learning, or have only just begun to study Japanese, please click here to sign up to our monthly e-bulletin to receive notifications of this and other Japan Foundation events. Click here to read more about Japanese from Scratch and view reports of previous workshops.

On 8th March 2013, 65 participants joined the Japan Conference for Schools, held at the Embassy of Japan in London. Co-organised by the Embassy of Japan, the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society, the event was an excellent opportunity for attendees to hear about how the new National Curriculum might affect Japanese language education in the UK, as well as network and share practical ideas about projects for introducing Japanese into their schools or to enhance their existing Japan-related activities.

Participants were welcomed to the Embassy by the cultural attaché, Eiji Watanabe. This was followed by very useful talk by the Director of Languages First at the University of Cambridge, Bernardette Holmes, who spoke about the changes to the new National Curriculum, and how this might affect Japanese language education in the UK. Bernadette spoke of several ideas for how teachers of Japanese might want to respond to the upcoming Department for Education consultation about the new national curriculum. You can find more about the consultation here.

This fantastic key note speech was followed by a panel discussion, where Martin Clayton from Netherthong primary school and Dan Thompson from Tile Hill Wood School joined Bernardette Holmes to speak about continuity between primary and secondary schools, as well as how this might change with the introduction of the new curriculum. One of the attendees, Darren Jones, mentioned that “The keynote speech was highly informative and thought-provoking. The panel discussion served to answer many questions and offered many ideas for Japanese provision in schools.”

After lunch, Heidi Potter, Chief Executive of the Japan Society, gave a short presentation about the Tohoku area two years after the Earthquake and Tsunami. This was followed by two sessions of small panel discussions, where attendees could join groups and learn more on the topic they were most interested in. This year the topics were things such as cross curricular Japanese for Primary schools, how to run an effective exchange without visiting Japan, practical teaching ideas as well as information about support and resources available. Joseph Bull said that “the group discussions were very useful – great to see practical teaching ideas and resources. I’ll be back in school full of ideas!” while Dan Thorn said he had found “excellent information sharing all round, thank you!”

The event was closed with a few words from the Director General of the Japan Foundation London, Tsuyoshi Takahashi. This year the conference had a good mix of both primary and secondary schools, and was also a mix of schools that teach Japanese already, schools that are hoping to start as well as schools that run Japan related activities as clubs or as cross-curricular activities.

Thank you to all the participants, speakers and the other organisers for making the conference such a success. We hope to see you again next year!

From February 12^th – March 6^th 2013, a total of 36 advanced Japanese language learners experienced a taste of professional Japanese interpreting, as part of the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Plus course.

The course was led by Yoshiko Shimizu, a professional Japanese interpreter and translator, and former Course Director at the University of Bath. After introducing the basics of interpreting, including technique, and types of interpreting, Shimizu-sensei taught liaison interpreting, in which the interpreter translates both English to Japanese and Japanese to English for two speakers. This was followed by a lesson on note-taking in preparation for performing consecutive interpreting, in which the interpreter translates a single speaker’s speech from English into Japanese, or Japanese into English. All participants had the opportunity to attempt both kinds of interpreting, and demonstrated real skill both as Japanese language learners and as budding interpreters.

All participants seemed to find the course challenging, but rewarding. Simon Grisdale, a newcomer to Japanese Plus, said, it was a “nice introduction into interpreting – realise how much more work is needed!” Kath Lawrence, another new participant, commented, “Careful preparation and vocab for liaison interpreting conversations was just the right level.”

We would like to thank all participants and Shimizu-sensei for their hard work throughout this course – otsukaresama deshita!

If you are Japanese learner of approximately JLPT Level 2/N2 or above and are interested in taking part in the next Japanese Plus, please click here to sign up to our monthly e-bulletin to receive notifications of this and other Japan Foundation events. Click here to read more about Japanese Plus and view reports of previous workshops.

On March 2^nd 2013, the Finals Day of the Eighth Japanese Speech Contest for University Students was held at Regent’s College London, showcasing ten individual speeches, along with five group presentations, by UK university students.

The day began with the Category 2 finalists, all of whom are studying Japanese as an elective or optional course. The speeches were all of a very high standard and it was very difficult for the judges to decide the winner. However, the first prize eventually went to Junehwan Sung, a second year student from the University College London, for his fascinating speech on “The Hidden Treasure – Dialects.” In second place was Scarlett Wong, a 2^nd year at Imperial College London, for her thought-provoking speech entitled “Even adults should watch anime.”

Category 2 was followed by speeches by  the Category 1 finalists, who are studying Japanese as their main degree subject. All five finalists demonstrated not only exceptional Japanese ability, but also a great degree of insight and knowledge of their chosen subjects. After much deliberation, first prize was awarded to Tim Joris Laméris, a 4^th year student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, for his enlightening speech on “Japan: Dancing Prohibited.” The second prize was awarded to Paulina Wilczynska, in her 4^th year at SOAS, for her insightful speech on the theme of “The apology culture of Japan.”

This year’s Group Category gave beginner-level students the chance to give presentations on a topic of their choice. The four outstanding groups that made it through to Saturday’s finals were chosen from an initial 19 applications, and represented Imperial College London, King's College London, University of Warwick and University of Wolverhampton. They gave talks on “Vietnam,” “Introduction to the Mythological Creatures of Great Britain,” “Chinese Food Culture”, “Stratford-Upon-Avon “ and “Stereotypes of British people.” These groups were not placed individually, but instead received special prizes based on their chosen topics.

The full results and details of other entrants can be downloaded below.

We would like to thank all participants, their teachers and supporters, the judges, audience members and BATJ for making the contest such a success. In addition, special thanks must go to the generous sponsors: Baker & McKenzie LLP, Bloomberg L.P., Central Japan Railway Company, Eikoku News Digest, Gendai Travel Limited, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Airlines, Japan Centre, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd.), Mitsubishi Electric Europe, European Business School (Regent’s College London), Ricoh UK Ltd and Toshiba of Europe Ltd

We would like to encourage as many undergraduate students of Japanese language as possible to apply for next year’s contest.

If you are a secondary school teacher or student, you may be interested in the 2013 Nihongo Cup Japanese Speech Contest for Secondary Schools.

On February 22^nd 2013, 19 volunteers attended the first training day of 2013 for the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) Programme, in which native and fluent Japanese speakers conduct free Japanese taster sessions in UK schools.

After an overview for new volunteers about the programme itself, the participants heard reports by two volunteers who had held recent Japanese language tasters. One presenter was a native Japanese speaker who had visited the London-based Rosendale Primary School with three other volunteers, while the other was a non-native speaker who held a taster at Sale Grammar School in Cheshire by herself. It was a good opportunity to hear about two very different JTS experiences. Several of the materials used for the tasters came from Japan Foundation’s own resources, including Ready Steady NihonGO.

These presentations were followed by a very special session by Kayoko Fujii – one of JTS’s most experienced members, having visited 20 schools during her time with JTS. As Ms Fujii is now returning to Japan, this was a final chance for volunteers to get some valuable teaching ideas from a veteran member. Ms Fujii introduced various songs and dances to make learning Japanese as enjoyable as possible for students.

Finally, Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Advisor Hiroko Tanaka held workshops on how to introduce Japanese language and culture effectively in a Japanese taster, including fun games for teaching Japanese colours such as “finger twister!”

All participants seemed to enjoy the Training Day. Sachiko Toda commented, 「初めての参加でしたので、全く楽しく興味深かったです。実際の活動の紹介がとてもよかったです。次回も是非参加したいと思っています。」

(“It was my first time to attend, and it was all really enjoyable and interesting. The introduction to practical activities was very good. I definitely want to attend again next time.”)

Karolina Nalaskowska, a veteran JTS member, said, “The session was very entertaining and as always gave me lots of new great ideas for the next JTS.”

We would like to thank all participants for coming, especially our three guest speakers, and wish Kayoko Fujii the best of luck when she returns to Japan!

Twenty-two participants came to the Japan Foundation London on February 14^th for a very special, one-off Japanese Plus workshop on wa no iro – the colours of Japan – hosted by Yuko Hayasaka,  editor-in-chief at the Visual Design Institute. The workshop not only gave participants an insight into Japanese colours, but also the opportunity to practice advanced Japanese with help from Hiroko Tanaka, Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London.

The workshop began with a game to match colours with their names in Japanese; a challenging task, as it was hard to imagine what colours with names such as 「縁色」(yukari-iro, “the colour of affinity”) and 「薄花色」(usuhana-iro, “light flower colour”) could be like. After matching the colours, the participants practiced their Japanese by expressing what meanings each colour could have, and what feelings they evoked.

Hayasaka-sensei then went on to explain the history and meanings of the colours, taking examples from classical Japanese poems (written in the original classical Japanese). In keeping with Valentine’s Day, the participants discovered that many of the colours had very romantic associations.  

We would like to thank all the participants for coming, and Hayasaka-sensei for her unique insight into the world of Japanese colours.

If you are Japanese learner of approximately JLPT Level 2/N2 or above and are interested in taking part in future Japanese Plus courses and workshops, please click here to sign up to our monthly e-bulletin to receive notifications of this and other Japan Foundation events. Click here to read more about Japanese Plus and view reports of previous workshops.

On Saturday 23^rd February 2013, Professor Michael Byram of Durham University and Professor Hideo Hosokawa of Waseda University held a lecture on Mediation, Interculturality & Citizenship Education: The significance and potential of Japanese Language Education at the Japan Foundation London, in association with British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ).

Prof. Byram started the lecture by discussing and demonstrating how foreign language teaching in Higher Education should and can be related to liberal educational aims of developing ‘criticality’ in learners and how this can be done through linking language teaching with ‘education for citizenship’. The lecture focused on the theory behind how the aims and objectives of the cultural dimension of language teaching correspond to this of criticality and citizenship, as well as examples from advanced language learners and beginners’ courses.

The theme of mediation, interculturality and citizenship continued in Prof. Hosokawa’s lecture, which explored the relationship between individuals and society and the boundaries between language and culture. To illustrate how mediation relates to interculturality and citizenship education in Japanese language education, Prof. Hosokawa gave examples of the experiences of Japanese language students who participated in his research.

The lecture was not only attended in person by approximately 40 people, but also had a total of 193 views (including 74 unique views) from across the world thanks to a live broadcast on Ustream. Some of the comments from participants included:

「以前から興味のあったトピックでしたが、実際にレクチャーを聞いたりする機会がなかったので、とても良い経験になりました。」

(“I’ve had an interest in this topic for a while, but I hadn’t had a chance to hear a lecture by these researchers so this was a really good experience for me.”)

「実際の研究や具体例を交えながらで、深く理解しながら拝聴することができました。『日本語教育とは、教育とはこうあるべきだ』という考えを根本から問いかける内容で非常に興味深かったです。」

(“Combining real research with actual examples meant I could get a deep understanding of this topic. It was really interesting to explore the concept of what Japanese language education and education in general should be like.”)

「市民性教育についてお聞きしたかったので、言語教育と市民性教育のつながりを聞けたのは、とても新しい発見だったと考えています。」

(“I wanted to find out more about citizenship education, and I think it was a really new discovery to explore the connection between language education and citizenship education.”)

We would like to thank Professor Byram, Professor Hosokawa and all attendees for their enthusiastic participation in this lecture.

This lecture was recorded on Ustream and can be viewed here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/japan-foundation-london-language

We have also included the presentation files from the two lecturers below.

The Japan Foundation welcomed people from all over Europe on 6^th-8^th February 2013 as we hosted a meeting for a new European Commission Funded project called Lingu@netWork. 

This project aims to build on the fantastic work of the Lingu@net World Wide website, which is a multilingual portal website for language learning, that links to over 4,900 quality assured resources in 32 different languages. Teachers and language learners can access the current website in 32 different languages including Japanese. There are currently over 160 resources aimed for Japanese which teachers and learners of Japanese have used since its launch in 2011. Lingu@net World Wide was developed by 34 organisations from 25 European countries including the Japan Foundation London.

The new Ling@netWork project will be a new interactive resource, building on and linked to the existing website. The interface will be accessible through 10 different languages, and will give users a chance to interact with each other and rate their favorite resources. Please keep a look out for this fantastic website in the next year!

The Japan Foundation will continue to add new Japanese language resources to the Lingu@net World Wide website, so if you know of a high quality resources you think we should include, please click here (in English) or click here (in Japanese) to reccoment online resources.

On the 21^st of January 2013, 40 teachers of Japanese braved the snow to come to come and learn more about ABC Awards. This event, co-organised by the Association for Language Learning (ALL), ABC Awards and the Japan Foundation, introduced the ABC Awards and gave teachers an idea of how these qualifications could be used to accredit Japanese language learning in UK schools. This event was particularly timely as many schools need to find an alternative to the Asset Language Japanese qualification that is due to be scrapped at the end of 2013.

Josephine Audigier, Programme Officer at the Japan Foundation opened the event with information about Japanese Language Teaching in the UK and support available from the Japan Foundation. Daniel Moult, of ABC awards, then gave basic information about the structure of the ABC Awards and how these can be used in schools. Lydia Morey of ALL provided practical information about her schemes of work, assessments and how she has used the ABC awards to accredit her students’ Japanese language studies. Lydia gave teachers the chance to discuss how they could adapt these ideas to their own classrooms. Finally Noriko Williams from Richard Huish College gave practical examples of how she teaches Japanese using the ABC Awards.

We hope that the day proved useful for all the teachers who came. Once teacher commented that they “received very practical and useful information”. Another mentioned “I will recommend ABC to my colleagues as an alternative to Asset.”

We would like to thank the Sasakawa Foundation who generously provided funds to pay the travel expenses for attendees.

If you were unable to attend this event, but are still interested in finding out more about the ABC Awards, you can download the hand outs below.

On Sunday December 9th, 34 manga fans came to the Japan Foundation for a workshop to learn new kinds of  Japanese language by reading and watching the internationally-acclaimed manga, Bleach. 

The Japan Foundation’s Chief Language Advisor, Dr Seiji Fukushima, introduced different styles of speech for several different types of manga characters before teaching attendees specific phrases and speech patterns for two of Bleach’s main characters, Ichigo and Ruika. Attendees then had the chance to read some of the manga and ask questions about the author’s use of Japanese, which was often very different to the Japanese traditionally taught in classrooms! One of the attendees, Stuart Eynon, said that he enjoyed “learning colloquialisms and how Japanese can actually be used in real life” while another participant, James Moore, liked “practising yarou speech” (speaking like a gangster).

All attendees went home with a copy of the original Japanese version of Bleach, and a deeper understanding of the Japanese used in anime and manga.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Japan Foundation’s stand at the Hyper Japan 2012 on the 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th November.

HYPER JAPAN is the UK's biggest celebration of Japanese culture, Japanese cuisine, and Japanese cool. The Japan Foundation London held a stand for the first time ever at this event, which gave visitors a chance to find out more about studying Japanese language.

One of the highlights of our stand was our Japan Quiz, which over 1,000 people entered. 

The answers to the quiz were as follows:

1. What is the capital of Japan?  a) Tokyo   b) Seoul  c) Beijing
Answer: a) Tokyo (Seoul is the capital of South Korea, and Beijing is the capital of China)

2. Which of these is NOT a Japanese martial art?  a) Judo  b) Karate  c) Kung fu
Answer c) Kung Fu, which is from China.

3. What is “Hello” in Japanese?  a) Konnichiwa!  b) Sayonara!  c) Wagamama!
Answer a) Konnichiwa is “hello” in Japanese (Sayonara means “goodbye,” andwagamama means “self-indulgence”)

4. Which of these kaomoji (Japanese emoticons/smileys) means, “I’m happy”?
a) (>_<)  b) (^_^)  c) (X_X)
Answer: b) (^_^) represents a smiling face. (>_<)  is an angry face, and (X_X) is dizzy/confused!

5. What noise does a dog make in Japanese?  a) Chu chu!  b) Nya nya!  c) Wan wan!
Answer: c) “Wan wan” is a dog’s bark in Japanese. “Chu chu” is a mouse’s squeak, and “nya nya” is a cat’s meow.

Out of those who answered the quiz correctly, we will soon pick five at random to send our Japan Foundation Goody Bag. Good luck to everyone who entered, and keep checking your emails to see if you were a winner!

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Japan Foundation’s stand at the Language Show Live on the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st October.

Held once a year, the Language Show is the UK's biggest event for language learners, teachers, linguists and anyone with a passion for languages.  This year’s show, held in Olympia, was attended by over 9,000 people across the three days. The Japan Foundation’s stand gave visitors a chance to experience Japanese language and culture, including writing their name in Japanese and taking a purikura-style photo using Japan Foundation’s Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese website (you can find the purikura game here).

On Saturday, for the first time, Japan Foundation presented a performance of Japanese taiko drumming and a taiko workshop at the Language Show’s “Cultural Arena,” performed by Tamashii Daiko. Tamashii’s exhilarating drumming drew an enormous crowd, and one Japanese member of the audience commented that the performance “...made me remember that I am Japanese.”

On Sunday, we held a Japanese Language Taster session led by award-winning Japanese language education professional Lydia Morey. It was attended by enthusiastic language learners of all ages, who learned basic Japanese greetings and the writing system.

Additionally, we held a Japan Quiz, which over 700 people entered.  Out of those who answered the quiz correctly, we picked five at random to send our Japan Foundation Goody Bag.

We would like to thank Tamashii Daiko, Lydia-sensei and all our Japanese Taster for Schools volunteers who generously donated their time and expertise for the show.  Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Japan Foundation will also be attending the Language Show in 2013, on October 18^th, 19^th and 20^th   at the Olympia 2, London. 

Don’t forget that the Japan Foundation will next be appearing at Hyper Japan 2012 on November 23^rd, 24^th and 26^th – click here for more details. We hope to see you there!

The Japan Matsuri returned to London on Saturday 6th October 2012. This year the Japan Matsuri was held in Trafalgar square and the organisers expected 70,000 visitors for one busy day! “Matsuri” means “festival” in Japanese and this event took the form of a large Japanese-style festival. There were numerous food and gift stalls, a variety of performances, nodo jiman (Japanese karaoke competition) and plenty of activities for families.

The Japan Foundation participated in the Japan Matsuri for the first time this year. We provided information about studying Japanese in the UK, useful handouts about our support for schools and  details about all of our upcoming events.  In addition, we held a Japan Quiz, which 500 people entered.  Out of those who answered the quiz correctly, we picked five at random to send our Japan Foundation Goody Bag. Congratulations to the winners who were selected at random from all those who got all the answers right to win our goody bag!

The Japan Foundation will also be attending the Language Show Live 19th - 21st October 2012 at the Olympia, London as well as Hyper Japan on November 23rd - 25th 2012 at Brompton Hall, Earls Court. We hope to see you there!

The Nihongo Cup Japanese Speech Contest for secondary school students was held at the Embassy of Japan in London on June 16^th 2012.

The 18 finalists, who had been selected from 162 applicants from 21 different schools across the UK, all demonstrated great creativity, thoughtfulness and outstanding ability in Japanese in performing their speeches – not to mention extraordinary courage to present their ideas in a foreign language to an audience of 140 people!

Between each of the three categories of speeches, the audience was entertained by the beautiful sounds of Melissa Holding’s koto performance as well as the gorgeous voices of the choir from Greenford High school as they regaled the audience with songs in Japanese.

Due to the extremely high level of Japanese and the thought-provoking content of the speeches delivered by all finalists, the judges had extremely difficult decisions to make when choosing the final winners of the 2012 Nihongo Cup. In the end, Tom Rodriguez (Key Stage 4and 5 Post-GCSE), Nicholas Hendy (Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE) and Samantha Nead (Key Stage 3) were awarded first prize in each of their categories. One member of the audience, Michelle Taylor, said the highlight was “seeing the finalists relax and really ‘get into’ their speeches.” Tyra Brown, who is a student from Greenford High school mentioned that “hearing the post GCSE students talk so fast was exceptionally breath-taking.” Several of the younger students also mentioned that they enjoyed listening to the post GCSE speeches; so we hope they will all continue to study hard and come back to try again next year.

Many congratulations and a big thank-you to everyone who came together to make the day such a success. The full results of the contest are as follows:

Key Stage 4 and 5 Post-GCSE Category
Winner: Tom Rodriguez (Aquinas College) 
Speech title: “The importance of Foreign Languages”
2^nd Prize: Vivian Truong (Bexley Grammar School)
Speech title: “My image of Japan”
3^rd Prize: Omar Shah Hakim (Wycliffe College)
Speech title: “Male Jobs”

Other finalists:
Winnie Fan (Wycliffe College)
William Miller (Blythe Hall)
Azfar Rashman (Whitgift School) 

Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE Category
Winner: Nicholas Hendy (Aylesbury Grammer School)
Speech title: “My Future Dream”
2^nd Prize: Kirsten Bergfors (St Helen’s School)
Speech title: “Story of Kappa”
3^rd Prize: Jenny Robinson (Queen Mary’s High School)
Speech title: “Riding”

Other finalists:
Serena Coid (Queen’s College)
Eilis Hafey (Newstead Wood School)
Sorin Muraru (Hockerhill Anglo-European College) 

Key Stage 3 Category (Speech theme: “Inspired by London 2012”)
Winner: Samantha Nead (Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls)
2^nd Prize: Kendra Rabbitts (South Wolds Community School and Sixth Form) 
3^rd Prize: Anna Whitehead (Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls)

Other finalists:
Maisey Hodges (Campion School and Languages College)
Annie Moohan (King Edward VII School and Language College)
Emma Newman (South Wolds Community School and Sixth Form) 

The event was organised by the Japanese Language Committee of the Association for Language Learning, in association with the Japan Foundation London and Embassy of Japan in the UK. We are very grateful to Toshiba of Europe Ltd, JSA (the Japanese Speech Awards), Ricoh UK Ltd, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd), the Japan Centre and Lingualift for sponsoring the event and donating prizes, and also to Sumisho Computer Systems for their generous sponsorship and to Soho Japan for contributing to the evening reception.

We are delighted to announce that Newstead Wood School in Kent has won £1000 worth of prizes for the Gold Award in the Japan Webpage Contest for Schools 2011-2012. All prizes were announced at an award ceremony and presentation afternoon, held on Saturday 17^th March 2012 at the Hotel Russell in London. 

Newstead Wood School captivated the judges with their fantastic website packed full information about their activities, trips and classes, as well as fantastic student work, photos, Japanese language resources and much, much more! The judges mentioned that the site is a bit like a treasure chest as they found more interesting nuggets of information each time they visited! This website also won the Public Vote Award, gaining an impressive 1042 votes out of 4363, almost 24% of the total votes.

The Silver Award was presented to Tenbury C of E Primary School for their website that is packed full of inspirational ideas for Japan related topics and lessons at Primary school level. You can take a peek at the Voki quizzes, play games to practice hiragana and katakana or spend hours watching the fantastic recordings of Kamishibai.

The Bronze award went to Heathfield House School for their brightly coloured, original and fun website. This website is great fun to look through as it is full of photographs of Japan related activities and has some thoughtful comments from the pupils themselves!

Finally, Luton Sixth Form won the Design Award as they impressed the judges with their stylish web design, and large range of content. The judges really liked the language section as well as the student work which showcases what fantastic group of artists they are!

The award ceremony was an excellent chance for pupils from each of these winning schools to display their webpages and tell the audience about their fantastic Japan–related projects. The ladies from Newstead High were delighted to win the top prize and Tenbury Primary school pupils wowed the audience by performing their Algorithm March. One parent, Hanna White mentioned that ‘The children’s presentations were wonderful. A great way to cement relations between our two countries!’ Another attendee, Cathy Darling, mentioned it was good to have ‘the opportunity to finally meet the creators of the competing websites we’d spent too many hours perusing.’ The final highlight for many of the children was the delicious range of sushi provided at the reception, which disappeared remarkably quickly!

You can see more information and links to all of the wonderful entries on the contest website here. Hopefully other schools will be inspired to start a similar webpages, and will join the Japan Webpage Contest for Schools in the future!