REGISTRATION 

Registration Fee: $8 per entrant 

• Schools not registered with JATNET will incur an additional non-member fee of $60. If the teacher entering students is a JATNET member, no additional fee is charged. 

• Any adjustments to registrations prior to the closing date are to be made by emailing the JATNET secretary directly.  

• Invoices will be emailed after the registration closing date. 

• If you teach at more than one school, please fill in a separate form for each school that you will be entering.

Registration of numbers for the competition must be received by Friday 28 August.

Registration link: COMING SOON

Online submission links will be sent to teachers of Japanese after registration has closed.

OBJECTIVES

The Speech Competition aims to:

1. Motivate students in their study of Japanese;

2. Give students the opportunity to demonstrate their language skills before a panel;

3. Encourage students to strive beyond the normal classroom requirements in the learning of Japanese;

4. Generate publicity about the study of Japanese language in Tasmanian schools.

DIVISIONS

The Junior Japanese Speech Competition has eight divisions. 

Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Primary tokubetsu sanka

Grade 7, Grade 8, Grade 7/8 Tokubetsu sanka

NUMBER OF ENTRANTS AND ELIGIBILITY

Grade 3:         2 students per year level or 1:25 (whichever is greater).

Grade 4:         2 students per year level or 1:25 (whichever is greater).

Grade 5:         2 students per year level or 1:25 (whichever is greater).

Grade 6:         2 students per year level or 1:25 (whichever is greater).

Grade 7:        One student per Grade 7 class or 1:25 (whichever is greater) 

Grade 8:        One student per Grade 8 class or 1:25 (whichever is greater) 

Please note: Grade 2 students in a 2/3 composite class are not eligible. 

• Contestant’s background language is not Japanese.

• Contestant must be studying Japanese.

• All participants are to be registered through the school or organisation at which they are undertaking studies in Japanese. It is the responsibility of the school or organisation to nominate and subsequently register the representative/s following an internal selection process of their choosing.

• Contestant has not travelled to Japan for more than 3 months (after the age of 8).

• Contestant has not completed more than 6 months of Japan’s compulsory education, either in Japan or at any Japanese school overseas.

• The competition is not open to members of the families of the judging panel.

Grade 3-6 Tokubetsu sanka:       No limitations on student numbers

Grade 7/8 Tokubetsu sanka:       No limitations on student numbers

• Contestant’s mother and/or father’s first language is Japanese AND/OR student has spent a significant amount of time in Japan or interacting in a Japanese immersion environment.

• Contestant must be studying Japanese as a Language other than English (LOTE).

• All participants are to be registered through the school or organisation at which they are undertaking studies in Japanese (except for HAP students, who should be registered by the college they are enrolled at). It is the responsibility of the school or organisation to nominate and subsequently register the representative/s following an internal selection process of their choosing.

• Contestant has not spent more than 24 months in Japan after reaching the Japanese compulsory education starting age.

• Contestant has not completed more than 2 academic years of Japan’s compulsory education either in Japan or at any Japanese school overseas

• The competition is not open to members of the families of the judging panel.

RESOURCE BOOKLETS

A resource booklet has been provided for each division from Grade 3 to 7 (download link at the bottom of the page).

Guidelines for each division appear on page 2 of the booklets. A sample speech appears on the final page. Students and teachers should be sure to read them carefully.

A script has been provided for Grade 8.

CONTENT AND TIME/LENGTH

Grade 3-7 じこしょうかい (self introduction) length:

Grade 3:    12 - 14 sentences
Grade 4:     15 - 17 sentences          
Grade 5:     18 - 20 sentences                                 
Grade 6:     20 – 22 sentences
Grade 7:     22 – 24 sentences

Grade 3-7 とくべつさんか - These students should follow their year level じこしょうかい booklet. They should add 5 additional sentence to elaborate on a topic they are already covering. The time limit will be 2 minutes.

Grade 8 – わたしのところ My Place
Students are asked to learn and recite a passage on わたしのところ (download link at the bottom of this page). There are four audio files available to download (one for each season). The audio files contain recordings of the speech a native speaker of Japanese. 

Students will be assessed on their ability to deliver the passage with accuracy and fluency. Students should personalise the passage by adding their name, choosing their favourite season and personalising it by adding a place they like to go during that season (see script).

Grade 8 とくべつさんか - These students should follow the Year 8 わたしのところ speech. They should make alterations to adjectives, places and activities in order to partially personalise their speech. They may add 5 additional sentences to elaborate on a topic they are already covering. The time limit will be 2 minutes, and they will be judged in the same group as Year 7 とくべつさんか.

It is important to work within the allocation for each division. Where options of ‘OR’ have been given only one sentence may be chosen – not both/all options given. Please note, the use of greetings in a speech – eg こんにちは are counted as 1 element (sentence).

SUBMISSION

Videos of speeches are to be submitted to the judging panel by the due date. 

Videos must be:

• Taken in one take ONLY - teacher chooses a day to video speeches, and on that day the teacher videos each student performing their speech ONCE - with no editing permitted and no re-takes due to mistakes (as if they were performing in front of a judging panel). Students are not permitted to video themselves, or each other.

• Portrait orientation (please make sure these are not sideways when you upload them to Google Drive)

• Showing the student from head to toe, with no other students in the frame

• No background noise

• Rules are as for performing their speech live - scripts must be memorised. No notes permitted.

• A link will be emailed to you so you can upload student speech videos to the JATNET Google Drive - uploads close September 15th.

• Files names MUST follow this convention, otherwise videos will not be included in the judging: 

  • Grade School Student eg. Grade 3 Hillview High School John Brown.mp4

JUDGING CRITERIA

 The marking system is as follows:

• Judges will be looking for a high competency in the following: pronunciation, intonation, fluency, body language 

• In Grades 3-7, the じこしょうかい must follow the guidelines set out in the resource booklet.

• Props (e.g. puppets, objects etc.) must not be used.

• Contestants should not read their speech.

• Any student using content derived from resources above their allocated division may be ineligible for a prize.

• Students should not ‘act out’ their speech.

• Students are required to wear school uniform where applicable.

JUDGES

There will be a panel of up to three judges. The judges will be from the field of Japanese language education and members of the Japanese community, and will decide the winners. Aggregates of marks from all judges will determine the place allocated to each contestant in the order of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In the case of a draw, the judges will determine the outcome through discussion. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The content of the judges’ discussion is not open to the public at any time.

PRIZES

Prizes and certificates will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in each division where applicable (dependent on entrant numbers and quality of speeches). Prizes will be awarded in the category of Best Delivery. Honourable Mention Certificates will also be awarded in each division.

Prizes may take the form of books, vouchers or Japanese realia but will not be monetary.

First, second and third place winners in each division (with one parent/carer as their guest) will be invited to a reception at Government House on Thursday 27th November, 2025, 6-7pm to receive their certificates from the Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC.

Participation certificates will be available to be printed by teachers of Japanese for students that made a reasonable effort to participate. This is left to the discretion of teachers, but we ask that you require students to at least know some of their speech to earn this recognition.

PAYMENT

An invoice will be sent to your school(s) based on the information on the registration form. Please fill it in carefully.
Refunds are not possible after invoices have been sent. The invoice will be sent to the main contact person's email address. 

Please be sure to forward it to the appropriate person at your school to arrange payment via direct debit to the JATNET bank account.
Account details will be included on the invoice. Receipts will be issued for all payments received. 

*JATNET does not have an ABN but does have ‘Statement of Supplier’ details (which may be required by your finance division). This can be accessed below.