Prepping for Another Speech Comp

I've mentioned it before, but I've been spending a few hours after school several days a week for the last week or two, working with a student who is preparing for an upcoming speech competition. It's a priority in my seikatsu (everyday) life at the moment, so I thought it was worth talking a little more about.

Last year, we decided to enter a regional speech contest (my school doesn't really do speech or debate contests), worked really hard, and won first place. It's really satisfying to see my students improve and do well, but I've also been pretty much spent by the time the day is over lately, not to mention that it kind of sucks to get home when it's dark outside (and then hardly want to run because I'm so tired). BUT in the long run... it's worth it. So why not do it again?

The girl I am working with (let's call her "Megan") is about 16 years old and has a really strong will to do well. I actually find it personally inspiring at times. She wrote a fantastic speech (especially for her level), and I can see/hear progress in her intonation and overall presentation since we started. At the same time, we've sort of hit a rut right now and I'm sort of struggling with helping Megan with her pronunciation.

I think phonetics is interesting and I like training people, but right now, Megan is sort of sounding like Barbara Wawa and I'm hitting a brick wall with helping her grasp the changes she needs to make in saying different words. My Japanese isn't great (so I know how hard it is to learn a language), but we're so close and I really just want to help this student not only nail the speech, but also improve her overall ability. We've been working on s, th, and l &r sounds for a while now (so hard!), in addition to breathing patterns (we breath out when speaking English, while most Japanese people breath to the side... try talking with a paper in front of your face and watch it move!) and she's getting better, but it feels like we're hitting a plateau.

I recorded myself reading her speech and I'm pretty sure she's been practicing at home, though, so just a bit more before we send in her audition (?) tape.

Anyways, I originally posted the speech here and published this blog, but I realized I should probably wait until after the competition to give it away. Keep your fingers crossed for Megan and wish us luck, though!