Cassie Prock and Elizabeth Raines are enrolled in an elementary Japanese course course offered through the department of world languages and cultures. Prock took first place in the calligraphy category and Raines won first place for Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level N5 in a traditional Japanese card game known as Karuta.
Liam Perkins, an Intermediate Japanese student, received second place for JLPT Level N4 in Karuta.
This year, 13 students from MSU participated in the 25th Japanese Language Contest.
Six students were from the elementary Japanese course and seven were from intermediate Japanese. Additionally, elementary Japanese student Golda Biby won the t-shirt design contest.
The Japanese Language Contest is an annual event hosted by the Heart of America Japan-America Society (HAJAS) and the Japanese Language Contest Planning Committee (JLCPC). Participants come from all over Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri regions come to compete.
Each year, students test their Japanese language skills in five activities: calligraphy, tanka poem, four-panel manga, a vocabulary and grammar quiz, and a game of Karuta. This year, they also added a new category, Speech-Presentation in Japanese.
With the added emphasis on speaking ability in this year’s competition, the Japanese instructor Hiromi Elliston got busy brushing up her students’ conversation skills straight away.
Elliston emphasized that the key to success was in the preparation and cultivation of good relationships between the students. She provided practice materials for students to use on their own time and encouraged them to use each other as conversation partners.
“I try to build my class as a big family where everyone can make mistakes without hesitation, challenge higher level issues for study purposes, and help each other with jokes and laughter.” –Elliston Hiromi
Elliston believes that teaching and helping each other is one of the most effective ways to learn.
She also wanted her students to engage in “cultural experiences” outside of class. This ranged anywhere from analyzing tanka poems to reading manga to watching Anime.
The name of the game was practice, practice, practice.
The students studied in pairs or groups. They did practice rounds in class. They did mock performances in front of each other. Even at the contest site, they were reviewing until the very last second. This created an environment of lively and supportive cheer as they geared up to compete.
And it all paid off.
“Reviewing Kanji lists, speaking and practicing with the Japanese transfer students, watching various Japanese shows, and regular vocabulary practice all helped me prepare for the competition personally,” Perkins said.
Prock said what helped her in the calligraphy portion of the competition was focusing on the meditative aspect of it. “Emptying my mind. It’s really fun to do and often helped me relax after a long day!” Prock explained.
Raines credited her success to language apps like Anki and WaniKani, which she used to study kanji.
Beyond the students’ commitment and excellence, and their instructor’s hard work, some financial support from the world languages and cultures department helped make it possible. For some students, the registration fees were a barrier to competing. However, thanks to the department’s support, more students were able to enter the contest.
From practicing with each other to cheering each other on at the competition, these students not only got to showcase their hard work and knowledge, they also gained a sense of community and friendship from the whole experience.