As mentioned in a previous post, we had 2 teams from Woodend place 2nd and 3rd in the district Hiragana Reading Competition in September, last term.

This year was the third year the Japanese Language Teachers’ Association of SA have held a State Hiragana Competition, inviting those teams who placed in the top 3 of their district event.

Our 2 teams, Abunai Angels (dangerous angels) and Mijikai Samurais (short samurais) were invited to represent our school and district. All 8 students, Briar, Jade, Lisa, Miah, Jack, Kai, Lewis and Xavier were excellent ambassadors for Woodend.

Abunai Angels ready to start!

Mijikai samurais at the ready!

This year’s competition saw the format change. Our students had to read Japanese words made up of 2 and 3 characters, written in hiragana. Our teams competed in both the first and second rounds, competing against some very strong competition. It was impressive to watch their skills.

The competition was extremely close with our students doing an excellent job in a highly competitive situation. It was wonderful to see our students not only being fierce competitors but also honest and good sports as well as good sports for all the other teams competing.

Competing against each other

After the first 2 rounds the top 6 teams went on to compete in the finals. Unfortunately, we missed out on a spot in the finals but that didn’t stop our students supporting those students from other schools.

All 8 of the Woodend students held their own during the whole competition and were excellent competitors and can hold their heads high and be very proud of their achievements.

Well done everyone. 　たいへん　よくできました。