去る２月２日、毎年恒例の関西インターナショナルハイスクール校内英語スピーチコンテストが開催されました。
今年度の出場者は総勢１５名。

英語スピーチコンテストの様子

英語授業の各レベル（１～６）から選考された代表が、全校生徒、教員からなる大きな聴衆を前に、それぞれ素晴らしい発表を行いました。
初出場となる１年生は初々しく、昨年の経験を経た２年生は堂々と、３年生はさすがの貫録を備えて、いずれも印象に残るスピーチを披露してくれました。

スピーチコンテストに至るまでの準備

ここに至るまでには、冬休み前から生徒全員が各授業で準備に取り組み、教員のアドバイスを受けながら第１原稿、第２原稿、第３原稿と推敲を重ね、クラス内での発表、審査、代表選考、という２か月弱に渡る過程がありました。
各生徒が自らテーマを見つけ、考察を深めて、皆に訴えかける内容に仕立て上げ、さらに人前に立って発表する、という経験は、それぞれにとって大切な学びとなったことと思います。もちろん、英作文の力や英語的な文章の構成の仕方、より自然で美しい発音やイントネーションの体得、といった英語力のブラッシュアップについては言わずもがなのことです。

英語ネイティブ教員と日本人教員が審査で熱い議論

コンテスト当日、全スピーチ終了後にネイティブ教員、日本人教員１２名からなるジャッジ団は得点の集計表を前に熱い議論を戦わせました。最終的に第１位～第３位を決定しましたが、入賞を逃した出場者たちに対しても多くの賞賛の言葉が飛び交ったことを付け加えておきます。
ますますレベルアップしていくKIHSスピーチコンテスト、来年の開催を今から楽しみにしています。
英語科教員　　興野　美穂

優勝したミティ・ラシダのスピーチ原稿

以下は今回優勝した2年生ミティ・ラシダのスピーチ原稿です。
『Donating Organs after Death』
If you die in a car accident tomorrow, wouldn’t you have wished to have donated your organs? How many of you will say “no”? If it were a donation to your family member, wouldn’t you? How many of you would say “yes”? Recently, the age of people who have donated their organs has changed, with more people aged over 50, and fewer twenty and thirty year-olds.
Many people don’t actually know how many lives they can save or help just by giving a part of their body, without even harming themselves. Organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people who have trouble living. Not only can you donate internal organs, for example, kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, or lungs, but you can also donate parts of your bone, like bone marrow. You can even give your cornea. A cornea from one person can save two people’s eye sights.
However, there is a problem that you will have to overcome in order to donate your organs. Your family members might not agree to you giving parts of your body away after you die, and they might not allow the doctor to remove them even if you had requested it. Therefore, you need to write down in your will or tell your family members your true wish so that you are able to save many lives even after you die. Also, many people might wonder how they would look in their funeral after operations are done to your body and hesitate to donate. However, there are no visible signs of organs or tissue donations due to different techniques. For a bone donation, a rod is inserted where the bone was removed. For a skin donation, a very thin layer of skin is taken from the donor’s back so for the funeral, there will be clothing on the body itself. No one will realize what’s missing just by looking at you.
There are many people who have experienced organ donation while they were living. One case involves a man aged of 22, who gave a kidney transplant to his dear wife. His wife’s younger brother had had a disease and he had needed a kidney transplant, so his wife offered him her kidney. But as year passed by, on the 7th year after her donation, she was diagnosed with the same disease as her brother, and needed a transplant as well. This diagnosis was because of the side effects of the medicine she had taken after donating her organ to her younger brother. The husband got the doctor to check himself if he was a good match to give his kidney to his wife, and he was. He gave his kidney to his wife and experienced his first living donation. The following day after the kidney transplant operation, he woke up and found himself with tubes all over his body. He finally got out of the hospital after a week or so, but he concludes that there was not a single day when he regretted making a donation even though he had a scar on his body. Also, he didn’t get a disease after his transplant, due to the new medicines that had been invented. He now thanks the doctors for helping him and his wife, his parents for allowing him to give a part of his body away, and the new medicines that had been invented so that the donor wouldn’t get any diseases after the surgery.
There are over 123,000 men, women, and children needing lifesaving organ transplants just in America, and every 10 minutes, another name is added to the waiting list. An average of 21 people die each day because an organ wasn’t made available for transplant. “People” does not only mean adults. Children are also included. From babies to little children in kindergarten and primary school, those haven’t experienced anything out in the world yet are pulled towards death. The main reason for this is that children need small organs, not a fully adult sized organ to fit their body size. Therefore, we need more young people to cooperate and help these unfortunate lives with a donation. What can you do to help?
Rashida Mithi
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