Audible Oration-Fest

For the past 5 weeks I have been a language coach to a Japanese, first year NUFS student. His name is Mashushi Hattori (of every relation to Hattori Honzo.) I was helping him prepare for the "NUFS Reading Aloud Festival 2006! *Boom, Kshhhh, SHUP-SHUP-KRAKOO!* (Those were my poor imitation fireworks noises, give me a break, jeez.) So anyway, the contestants in the festival had to pick a short english passage to practice and subsequently read in front of an audience. Masushi decided to pick the lyrics to a song by none other than the angel-voiced William Smith. Its title: "Tell Me Why?"
Now, I hear you asking, why did he decide to go big Willy style? Hmm, I don't know? Maybe it's because the master musical technician known as Will Smith has produced such timeless classics as "Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble," and "Nod Ya Head (the Remix)!" And who could forget the song that veritably defined the 90's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It." Needless to say I shed a tear of joy for my pupil's appreciation of the fine arts.
So I got right to learnin' him some English-speak and he took to it like a 3 legged mule in a skipping contest. (Note heavy southern twang.) My coaching basically consisted of us meeting every week for about a half hour. In our earlier meetings we tackled the differences between "th" and "s" as well as the infamous "r" and "l". It was really nice though, because every week he showed significant signs of improvement. By the end of our time he was reciting Will like only the freshest of Fresh Princes could.

At the competition the atmosphere was that of an underground Brazilian cockfight; tense, and emotionless. We showed up early so I could give him a few last minute pointers and also fasten razor blades to his already deadly chicken claws. But seriously, the Festival was a really cool thing. There was a surprisingly large number of Japanese students participating and there was a very supportive feel of the whole affair. Other people decided to read excerpts from such classics as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, "I Have a Dream" by MLK, and "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West. Needless to say it was a mixed bag of readings.

Masushi took the stage with a bang, and it was really great to see how far he'd come from the beginning of our meetings. He seriously wowed me with his pronunciation and carefully rehearsed timing. The lyrics of the song are about how Will Smith dealt with the tragedy of 9/11, so young Masushi did his best to channel those feelings. He clenched his fists, spoke to the heavens, and more than once reduced the audience to near, near tears with his angst-ridden voice. Here is a picture of young Masushi in the midst of his orative splendor.

Unfortunately Masushi didn't win the competition, but he will always be number one in my heart, right behind the girl who actually won, she was quite good. In all seriousness my time with Masushi was really great. It was awesome to see him improve so much and to see how seriously he was trying to learn to speak my native language. He actually gave me a Japanese style fan as a present for all my help, so I'll have that as a reminder, which is nice.
I actually just realized that I only have 15 more days before I'm back in the states. So everyone, mark your calendars and be ready to bring out the fine champagne that I will no longer be legally able to drink! I'll try to put up about 1 or 2 more posts before I go so be on the lookout for those. Thanks again everyone for all your support while I've been here, and I'll be seeing you all soon.