Good morning everyone.
I’m so glad to be with you today and to be standing here. It was four years ago when I entered this school. I remember feeling so glad of the opportunity to come to England and experience a new environment which is completely different from Japan. As you know, the school premises are so vast and surrounded by open fields, cows, horses, wildlife etc. This school is filled with things that I never experienced in Japan, especially in Tokyo.
I clearly remember the day before coming to England. My eyes refused to close and my heart was full of expectation like a child who is waiting for their birthday presents. But expectation and reality are not always the same. This school was no exception.
Our time was organized strictly and we were given a considerable amount of time to study which made me feel frustrated. We were not allowed to bring snacks from Japan. We were not allowed to go into other people’s rooms. And we were not allowed to even have girlfriends.
In Japan, teenagers like me spend time just having fun or just talking with their friends. We couldn’t do what the Japanese teenagers normally did. Actually I regretted coming here at first because it was too hard for me to adapt to life here.
However, I had no choice but to follow the rules like “when in Rome do as the Romans do”. But as I got used to the life at RIKKYO, I found that there were many positive things aside from the disadvantages.

My year particularly loved events like OPEN DAY or SPORTS DAY. Every time these events approached, we used to prepare extensively and were very excited. It was rather strange because we loved these events so much. Actually I don’t remember studying any subjects before entering grade 3 even though there are clear memories about events in my mind. In the run up to OPEN DAY, there were no classes and no self studying. I think this time was the time when we had the most freedom. But this freedom didn’t mean that we could do whatever we wanted. In this limited period we concentrated on coming up with innovative ideas and developing our creativity. Sometimes big arguments occurred between students because of each students’ very strong opinion. However eventually we forgot all about that and focused on our WORK. Thanks to these experiences we made BRILLIANT things with no regrets. The OPEN DAY which we worked on together and spent so much energy on will remain in my mind forever.
Another time which I remember well is SPORTS DAY. I especially remember this day because it was the last big event I ever attended at RIKKYO before going through the hell of study. The memory of sports day is so profound that it can be somewhat emotional to revisit it. We had been practicing a lot and had spent a lot of time on it.
But sports day itself came astonishingly quickly. It was like a dream. Everyone looked as though they felt satisfied and fulfilled after the day. I know the English expression which says “it’s not about the winning, it’s about the taking part”. But I disagree with that because I believe in that most of the satisfaction gained from sports is in the desire to compete and win. Two things equally important for life in general. So I really want the younger students to participate fully in sports days and make great memories.

To tell the truth, I have been very nervous ever since my teacher told me that I was going to make a speech at this graduation. I’m talking in English now, it’s so strange for me and for you. When I came to this school, my English was really bad. I’ve never been to international school or local school in England. I couldn’t speak English at all. Actually I even found it
difficult to ask the way to the station in English. I’m not joking. If I look back, it’s hard to believe I’m standing here and making this speech. But the one thing that really helped me was that I liked speaking English. It’s so cool, isn’t it? But it doesn’t matter why you like it as long as you do. Motivation is somehow connected to the improvement of English. People often mistakenly believe that they will be able to speak English by just staying in an English environment for a year. To my mind though, as long as you are reluctant to learn English, you will never become a good speaker. This is a conclusion which I arrived at through experiences in RIKKYO school. I really appreciate this school giving me opportunity to keep in touch with English and teachers who taught me English. I’m really glad to speak in English in front of you and EC teachers.

Finally, I will never say that everything in this school was positive and enjoyable. There were many things I couldn’t manage alone and struggled to get over. But every time I confronted some difficulties, my beloved friends helped me and cheered me up. The time I spent in this school is unforgettable and unfortunately will never be repeated. Irrespective of our year’s reputation, I’m nevertheless proud of my year and proud of my friends. If I hadn’t come to RIKKYO school, I would have never met them. It made me think that it was a good decision to come here.
I’d like to finish by saying that I will be so sad to depart from my friends and younger students who I spent more time with than my family as we all go our separate ways. And also sad that we will never again gather at this school.
I still can’t believe that today is the last day that I will be here. But occasionally it is necessary to say farewell. I also want to say thanks to the teachers, my friends and my family.
I said in the first part of my speech, we couldn’t do what Japanese teenagers normally did. But we could do what Japanese teenager never experience and learn the important thing that I can acquire only in this school. I’m sure that I’ve become stronger mentally and physically through the experiences in this school. I will never regret coming to this school. I wish everybody here success in their future. Thank you very much.

Hello. Now, I will talk about my life and friendships in Rikkyo. Please ignore my grammar and speaking mistakes.
Well, I came to Rikkyo when I was middle school 2nd grade, about 2 years ago.
Now, before I talk about my life in Rikkyo, I’ll talk what I thought about Rikkyo, before I came here.
Before I came to Rikkyo, I heard that student had to pray every morning, they couldn’t go out whenever they wanted, and they had many table manners, and so on. So, to tell the truth, I wasn’t looking forward to coming here. And when I came here, as I expected, I got confused about the rules. The thing that I got most confused about was the atmosphere. I couldn’t join in to their atmosphere, and I had a hard time to join in with them. But in the meantime, there was an eruption in Iceland, and many students couldn’t come to entrance ceremony, so I had a time to speak with them one by one, so I can join in with them. And now, I have many friends in many grades. I’m really glad of it.

Now, let me talk about my 15 classmates. There are 8 boys and 8 girls including me.
They are cheerful, and sometimes clever. We are always fooling around, but they are good students, whenever they should be, I suppose. There is a girl who is always talking about animations. She always sings in the classroom. Listening to her, and enjoying it, is the girl who can speak brilliant English, better than me. Third, there is a boy who is very shy, so he can’t speak with the girls for a long time. He’s very good at football too. There are 2 more classmates who are good at football. One boy, who came this term, is very polite. The other boy always makes us laugh. There are 3 classmates that are so funny, and always in the centre of us. They are 2 girls and 1 boy, and they are very good friends to each other. By the way, in our classroom, there is a giant, and a barbarian. The giant, is over 185cm, and very good at computer. I think he could be an engineer. And the barbarian is the nickname for the girl who is very energetic, but unfortunately, she has a disease on her leg. I hope she will be fine soon. We have a painter in our classroom, too. He’s very good at painting, and he is always thinking about enjoyable things. I respect him very much. Also, there is a girl that I really respect.
She’s so intelligent, and good at playing sports. I have never seen such a clever girl. On top of that, there is a girl who is absent-minded all the time. But she’s very friendly, and gave us lots of advice. I can never thank her enough. There is a girl who is always sleeping in the classroom. She is very boyish, and it’s very fun to talk with her. At last, there is one more boy, who isn’t here for now. He’s compared to a sun. He always shines on us, and makes us happy.
Well, I did many things with them. I got happy sometimes, and got mad sometimes. There are good memories, and bad memories. And when I think about those memories, I reach to a word which is [thank you]. I had many memories because of my classmates. I couldn’t have many happy memories without them. I want to say a huge thank you.
I want to say thank you to my older students, younger students, and also to the teachers. I gave many troubles to them, especially to Mr. Koda. He’s my homeroom teacher for 2 years and taught me many things. Really thank you.

So, I’m really proud to meet these wonderful people, and I’m really proud to graduate from this school. I’ll never forget these 2 years, because these 2 years were so special to me. And finally, thank you to all of you for listening to my long speech. Thank you.

４月から通い始めた立教ですが、もうすぐで一年がたとうとしてます。
初めて来た時、みんな上級生でしかも私より背が大きくて少し怖かったのが印象的です。でもみんな、「こんにちは」とか、「新入生の方ですか」等と話しかけてくれて安心したのを覚えています。
ドミトリーに案内された時、私はハリーポッターの世界に迷い込んだようでした。広々とした吹き抜けの高い天井。高い天井から真ん中に下がっているキラキラしたシャンデリア。シャンデリアの下には白くてかわいいピアノ。ピアノの横に置いてあるのは、テレビを囲んだ大きなソファー。そして、木のドアがたくさん並んでいます。私にとって夢のような世界に感じ、こんな場所で生活できるんだと思うと、とてもうれしくなってきました。「あなた達のドミトリーは２階です」と案内され、重たいトランクを持って母と、ほかの新入生と階段を上りました。二階にもやはり同じく木のドアがたくさん並んでいます。そのたくさん並んでいる中の『ドミトリー３』という６人部屋が私達の部屋でした。部屋に入ると、６つのきれいなベッドが並んでいます。しかし、１つだけベッドの上や周辺にトランクやものが沢山置いてあります。私が誰だろう？と不思議に思っていると、ドミトリーに新入生ではない子が１人入ってきました。すると先生が「この子がKさんです。小５からいるのでわからない事は何でも聞いてください。」と紹介してくれました。Kさんも「よろしくね。」とやさしく声をかけてくれたので、なぞが解けたとともに不安もなくなりました。すると、みんなも少し不安や緊張が消えたみたいで「名前は？よろしくね。」等と新入生同士でも会話が普通にできるようになってきました。
大きなトランクをあけ、荷物をだし各ロッカーに詰めていきます。時計を見ると後２時間で父母が帰る時間です。私は急に不安と寂しさとがまたよみがえって急に悲しくなってきました。そして、図書館で説明会の時間になったので図書館に行きました。フライデースポーツの確認やネクタイを受け取り、次は始業礼拝の時間です。始業礼拝では、校章を受けとり、校長先生の話を聞いたりして終わりました。
時計を見ると４時。後３０分で父母が帰る時間です。しかし、そこまで悲しくはありませんでした。みんなと夢の世界で１日中過ごせるすばらしさが感じられてきたからです。そして４時３０分。タクシーが迎えに来ました。ほんの少しだけ寂しかったのですが「またね」と笑顔で見送ることができました。それからどんどん時が流れていき、今はすっかり立教生として生活しています。わからないこともだいぶ減りました。今は、逆に教える側です。
来学期のまだ何もわからない不安な新入生にKさんのように優しく教えられたらいいなと思います。

さきほど、水泳の賞をいただきました。これは苦手な種目もありましたが、その種目を特に頑張って、全員合格することができました。
私達は毎週月曜日に水泳の授業があり、今学期は小６の３人でシルバーを受けました。シルバーというのは８００メートル、スカーリング、立ち泳ぎ３分間、百メートルを３分以内という項目でした。

ところで私は、４月から新しく始めたことが２つあります。１つ目は、バイオリンです。１年間習ってきて、バイオリンの楽しさが、わかりかけてきたので、さらに練習を続けていきたいと思います。
２つ目は乗馬です。日本ではなかなか出来ないスポーツです。初めは乗った瞬間に足が震えて、とても怖かったのですが、馬に乗って歩いたり、走ったりしているうちに、気づいたら「怖い」から「楽しい」に変わっていました。金曜日のフライデースポーツの時だけでなく、機会があるときはどんどんチャレンジしていきたいです。
これから、中学、高校と学んでいきますが、前向きに各々自分の夢、希望に向かって、進んで行こうと、考えています。

中学部1年では，将来，希望する職業，希望しない職業について，調査しました。その結果，希望する職業としては，1位がデザイナー，2位は医師，外交官，国連職員でした。クラスの自習時間の様子では，英語を習得しようという意識が高く，入学した4月にアルファベットの練習をしていた生徒たちが，今では，英語の問題集はもちろんのこと，英検の準備や，高校生が主に参加しているREADING MARATHONにも挑戦し，現在では半数以上が参加しています。これも将来の夢と関係があるのではないかと思います。ちなみに希望しない職業の方では、医師，政治家，教員といった”先生”と呼ばれる職業が不人気のようでした。