In the beginner level Ms. Gabrielle Motilal took home a prize, and in the intermediate level Ms. Aidan Roberts also received an award. Both young women came to Japan as participants in the January 2019 program.

The speech contest was held online due to concerns over the pandemic, but it garnered a total of around 60 participants, including presenters, judges, and general participants. The Japanese Ambassador to Trinidad & Tobago, Abd. Hirayama and his wife were also present, with the ambassador giving the opening remarks, and his wife the lead judge. Gabrielle and Aidan both gave interesting talks that were worth listening to about what they discovered during their time in Japan and their one-month experience at Sophia University.

Gabrielle talked about how her trip to Japan in January 2019 was the motivation to start taking Japanese lessons. She mentioned how she come to Japan with her natural cheerfulness as her weapon, enjoying her campus life in Japan, and even though the language wall was present, she actively communicated with Japanese students. According to her, it was a challenge to keep up with the Japanese classes at Sophia, but she continued classes when she was back home at the CLL.

On the other hand, Aidan had already been studying Japanese and was furthering her studies at the time of the 2019 Student Invitation Program. During her stay in Japan she actively sought out Japanese students and talked with them, participated in field trips using the Japanese she had learned up to that point, being proactive in gaining new knowledge. After returning home, she continued her Japanese studies, contributing to the smoothness of her Japanese speaking skills.

Also, in the general participants were two people from Trinidad & Tobago now living in Japan, one as a JET Program English teacher and another a graduate school student; students who are considering coming to Japan were also in the audience, which created an opportunity at the event’s end for information exchange between participants and audience.

At the end, after Ambassador Hirayama expressed his support for the students and the judges gave their commentary, there was time for all participants to talk with each other. Although the event was held online and faced some restrictions, it was a fulfilling event for all who took part.

-Gabrielle Motilal’s script is here

-Aidan Roberts’ script is here