３月１２日に行われた卒業終業礼拝で、冬期休暇中に全校生徒が書いた読書感想文の表彰がありました。

その中から金賞、銀賞の作品を３回に分けてご紹介致します。

第１回は金賞、高等部１年男子生徒の作品です。

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「おじいちゃん　戦争のことを教えて」を読んで

　今回の読書感想文の本は、先生方の推薦図書からではなく、祖父の推薦図書の中から選んでみた。

　タイトルは「おじいちゃん　戦争のことを教えて」だ。本を書いたのはアサヒビールの社長をした中条高徳というえらい人だ。

　題名から、戦争のことを書いた本だと思い少し気が重かった。戦争は僕にとって遠い話だ。

　日本が昔戦争をしたことを知っているし、今も世界のいろいろなところで戦争をしていることを知っている。でも戦争を身近に感じたことはない。学校でも詳しく学んでもいない。

　それでもこの本にチャレンジしてみようと思えたのは、「おじいちゃん」に「教えて」とお願いしているのが僕と同じ高校生だと知ったからだ。

　父親の転勤でアメリカの学校で学んでいる中条さんの孫娘が、歴史の授業で歴史上の出来事を経験した人にインタビューをして、その情報をクラスで共有するという宿題がきっかけでこの本ができた。

　本を読み進んで気がついたことは、中条さんは戦争のことを語りながら、常に「日本人としての心」について話していることだ。

　この本には生々しい戦争体験の話は出てこない。最初から最後まで、戦争を経験した日本人がこれからどう生きていくか、戦争から学んだことをよりよい日本を作るためにどんな風に生かしていくかということに結びつけて書いている。

　僕が感動したのは「社会のためにという公に身を捧げることが人間にとって最も尊い行為だ」という文章だ。

　これは聖書に出てくる「人がその友のために命を捨てるという、これよりも大きな愛はだれも持っていません」という聖句と同じ考えだと思う。まわりの人に感謝する、謙虚である、礼儀正しくする、尊重するといった考えは、日本の文化の中で受け継がれてきたけれど、それは世界の人に対しても共通するものだと思う。

　戦争に負けた日本は終戦後、西欧の文化を良いものとして取り入れてきた中で、日本人らしさを失ったとも言われる。中条さんの言う日本人らしさとは規範や礼節、道徳といったもので、それらは日本人を支える誇りになる、と書いてある。

　立教のオープンデイやジャパニーズイブニングで、イギリスの人々に日本文化を伝える機会があるけれど、この本を読んでみるとまだまだだなぁ、と思ってしまう。

　日本文化を通して、文化と共に僕たちが受け継ぐべき「日本人の心」を充分には伝えられていないような気分になる。

　人に伝えられるようになるにはまず、自分がきちんとそれを理解していなければならないと思う。

　だから僕は少しずつでもそんな人になることを目標にしてみようと思う。

　（高等部１年 男子生徒）

卒業終業礼拝の写真はこちらからご覧下さい。

３月１２日に行われた卒業終業礼拝。

小学部、中学部、高等部合わせて４５名の生徒が卒業しました。

それぞれの学校の代表によるスピーチを３回に分けてご紹介します。

第２回は中学部３年生。

今年は３名の中学部３年生が日本の高校に進学しますが、そのうちの１人、小学生の時から本校にいた生徒による英語のスピーチです。

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Hello.  

I’m going to talk about my life and friendships in Rikkyo School.  

Please forgive my mistakes as I sometimes talk very very fast.  

I want to talk about 3 things that impressed me a lot.

The first thing that I want to talk about is what I felt about this school when I first came.  

I entered Rikkyo when I was primary sixth grade.  Before I tell you about how my first impression of the school, I want to say what I have imagined to be in Rikkyo school.  

Because I was used to the school not surrounded by Japanese, I can only get the information from the Internet.  

And the conclusion I reached was terrible which made me not want to come here.  So, I can still clearly remember what I was like the first day…I was completely puzzled.  I didn’t understand the people, rule, manner in dining room, and so on.  

But as soon as I entered my classroom, thanks to my wonderful classmate, I got used to the atmosphere.  

It was warm and friendly like my home.  I am probably not the only one who felt like this.

In Japan, this kind of situation is not easily made.  We have to struggle a bit before you get familiar.  

However, in Rikkyo, the moment you stepped into the class is the moment you get used to the class.  

I can say this is one of the most important characters that schools should have.

I will talk a little bit about my 10 classmates’ daily behaviour in classroom.  

There are 8 boys and 3 girls including me. They are humorous and intelligent.  We sometimes get very loud but in most of the times, we were good students, I suppose.  

There is one boy who I have never seen him stop moving.  He is always running around the classroom which makes us really tired but he always gave us a lot of funny stories that we could never imagined.  

And there, looking at the running boy laughing is a girl who is always smiling and looking happy.  She seldom gets the blues.  

The third classmate usually quiet and she like reading books.  But as soon as she gets excited, she is the most funny and noisiest girl in my class.  

There are 2 boys who are always together.  They are really good at badminton and I often saw them playing.  Of course, there was no way I could get a point from them.  Plus they were really fond of playing computer games.  T

here is a handsome boy who was with me for 4 years.  He is also very quiet in most of the time, but after he found himself in fun situation, he acts like monkey.  

I must say that there are normal people in my class as you might mistake that my class is a zoo.  There is a kind-hearted boy who always takes care of us when we have done some mess.  He picks up the trash and he is also a very hard worker that we must say that we respect him.  He’s like the zookeeper for us.  That is the first and the last person who I can say well.  The next person is the girl who is very smart and thoughtful which all of us know.  

The three girls are always together and although one of the girls is going to another school, I am sure that they will forever be good friends each other.  

The last boy came to Rikkyo last term.  He came from Japan and like I was, he was completely confused what’s going on here in Rikkyo.  At first, he didn’t even know where the shower room is.  But as I said before, the moment you step into the classroom is the moment when you get used to the classroom.  He had no problem.

So, what I want to say about my classmates is, in short, thank you.  

All the wonderful time and all the laughter that you have made are all my valuable memory.  

You are certainly my best friends.  There is no one who I don’t want to keep in touch with.

At last, I want to talk about communications with teachers in this school.  

When I first came, Mr.Kaneko was in charge of my class.  He is always smiling and looks happy like the rest of the teachers. He has taken us to the forest couple of times and we went bracken gathering and afterwards in his room, we ate it.  I don’t think there are many teachers who take his students to the forest.  

I also have to thank him for being my nice adviser.  Because although I got used to the school very quickly, I do sometimes get depressed and every time I felt it, Mr.Kaneko was always beside me to listen to my problems.  

Thank you.  

When I was 2nd grade middle school, it was Mr.Kurashina who took care of me.  I think he is the most sincere person within the people who I have met.  I can’t imagine him telling a lie.  And he is also very good at making laughter explosions in our class.  

I enjoyed it very much.  

On the other hand, as a teacher of Kendo that is a traditional sport in Japan, he is sometimes very stern.  But I have to tell you that Kendo is a sport, which you have to be very strict, and Mr.Kurashina is usually a gentleman.  

To end I shall speak little bit about EC teachers. For primary 6th grade, I knew that I could speak a little better than other Japanese who were brought up in Japan.  So that means that I had more chance speaking to EC teachers.  And I did.  They are probably the best English-speaking teachers.  Because in general, student like me always start to forget their native English when entering the Japanese school, however, it didn’t happen to me probably because I had my EC teachers.  

I have to thank you a lot. I will try not to forget my English though I am going to another school.  I will not forget the stories that you have told me.  All of those interesting stories were never being heard from Japanese people.  And through those EC lessons, I learnt how important to talk to people other than Japanese.

To sum up, I want to say a huge thank you to all of the people in this school.  

The time I will forget about this school will never come.  I would like to thank especially to my classmates.  

The pleasant time spent in Rikkyo was not done without you.  

Also, thank to all teachers who supported me with all your energy.  It wasn’t only the study that you taught me.  

And finally, thank you to all of you for listening my long speech.

３月１２日に行われた卒業終業礼拝。

小学部、中学部、高等部合わせて４５名の生徒が卒業しました。

それぞれの学校の代表によるスピーチを３回に分けてご紹介します。

第１回は小学部６年生。英語によるスピーチでした。

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I went to London from Japan when I was 3rd grade in primary school.

And I went to Hong Kong when I was 5th grade.

Then, I entered Rikkyo School in England.  

The best thing about Rikkyo is that elder students are kind to me.

The first day of Rikkyo, the 3rd grade middle school students taught me how to take a shower since the system was difficult.

Since then, they are nice to me. Although they should have no time, they spend some of their times for me to play.

The manner in eating meals in Rikkyo is a little bit difficult. But people older than me carefully taught me how to eat.

For example, when serving the food with two spoons in unordinary way, they helped me by my side.

Plus they told me lots of interesting stories. So, I am always happy to eat the meal.

Open day which was held last term, my class had display of Japanese comics and animations.

My job was to fill a big paper with drawings of Japanese animation characters.

I found hundreds of pokemon in the internet.

I had to copy them all one by one in bigger size. But it was not easy to finish.

The day before open day, I have only gone the half way.  

Although, some students helped, it still didn’t finish. In the afternoon I had to go to Domino project.

When I came back, surprisingly it was almost finished!

There were a lot of pokemons added. The 3rd grade high school students helped me.

The finished work was so beautiful and perfect.

When I enter the middle school next term, I would like to help the new comers as those elder students have done for me.

Thank you for listening to my speech.

本校で22年間にわたって英会話の授業をされてきたアップコット先生が今学期をもって引退されることになりました。

以下、アップコット先生から頂いたメッセージをご紹介します。

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‘All good things come to an end’ and on Saturday 12th March 2011, I am retiring from my job as an English Teacher at the Rikkyo School.

I cannot believe it is almost 22 years since I arrived for my first day on a beautiful sunny September morning in 1989.  

I have worked for four Headmasters and have seen many changes.  When I arrived the classroom block, teachers’ room and sports hall were not yet built.  

There was no running track and there were fewer tennis courts.  

However, some things remain the same, not least the beautiful gardens, but more importantly, the atmosphere of the school is still as warm and friendly as ever.  

The kindness of both staff and pupils is what makes Rikkyo such a happy place to work in.   

Two things have always impressed me, the friendliness shown by  students to each other,  irrespective of their  year group, and the wonderful welcome students always give to visitors to the school.

I have loved the teaching.  Sometimes it has been quite challenging but it has always been rewarding  and a great pleasure watching the students grow up, develop and improve their English.  

I so enjoy  hearing  news from  students after they  have left.  

It has also been a great privilege to learn about and appreciate the Japanese culture.   

I am very fortunate to have had wonderful colleagues and I shall miss staff and students alike.  

I want to thank everyone for making my time at the Rikkyo School so happy.  

I very much look forward to coming  to concerts and open days in the future.

３月１２日（土）、卒業終業礼拝が行われました。

受験のため日本に帰国していた中学３年生、高校３年生が数日前から続々と帰寮、中学部は全員が、高等部は２０名が式に参列しました。

きれいに晴れ上がった空からは春らしい日差しが注ぎ、卒業式にはぴったりの天気。

チャペルに入堂する前に生徒たちが中庭に集まると保護者の方々が写真やビデオを一斉に撮り始めました。

イギリスはもとより、ヨーロッパの国々や日本から遥々来て下さった方もいらっしゃいました。

今年の卒業終業礼拝は、まず東日本で起きた大地震で被害を受けた方々のためのお祈りで始まりました。

続いて各種表彰。

この１年の学校生活に積極的に取り組み各種資格試験に合格した生徒、音楽活動で活躍した生徒、英語でめざましい進歩を遂げた生徒達が表彰されました。

表彰の最後は地元ホーシャム市議会の議長ブライアン・ドネリー氏よりアンバサダー賞の授与がありました。

その名のとおり、地域との交流を通して学校の代表としてふさわしい活動を続けてきた生徒に毎年贈られる名誉ある賞です。

今年は、夏の短期留学や地元の学校との交流プログラムに積極的に参加し、さらにバスケットボールの対外試合や校外での練習活動を通して地域と密接にかかわり合いながら活動を続けた高等部２年生の女子にこのアンバサダー賞が贈られました。

祝辞は在英国日本国大使館の特命全権大使 野田様、そして本校の守村理事より頂きました。

数年間をこのイギリスの地で過ごした生徒たちにはとても励みになるお話でした。

これからの日本を「外からの目」を持って考えられる人でありたい、卒業生の一人一人がそんな自覚を持ってくれたのではないでしょうか。

最後に卒業学年生徒のスピーチ。

まずは小学部６年の男子生徒が英語でスピーチをしました。

全校で一番小さなこの生徒が話し始めると、その滑らかな英語に来賓の方々は少々ビックリした様子。

ホーシャム市議会議長や、本校のイギリス人スタッフも皆微笑みながら楽しそうに聞いていました。

続いて中学部３年生の男子生徒。これも英語でのスピーチでした。彼は逆に全校で一番大きな生徒。

流暢で、しかも堂々としたその話しぶりにはイギリス人の方々だけではなく、保護者の方々やスタップ、他の生徒たちも皆感動していました。

そして最後は高等部３年女子生徒のスピーチ。中学部１年から本校に６年間在籍していた生徒です。

数々の地域交流プロジェクトに参加し、いつも笑顔で積極的に学校生活を送って来た彼女の話は、同輩には懐かしい思い出の宝、そして後輩達にはとっても刺激的なメッセージでした。

小学部６年生は全員本校中学部へ進学、中学部３年生は３名が日本の高校へ進学し他は本校高等部に進学、そして高等部３年生は全員が日本に帰国します。

皆それぞれ次のスタート地点につくべく、新しい生活の準備を始めています。

卒業して２年経った今でも在学中の事はすぐに思い出す事ができます。

久しぶりに訪れると、何も変わっていないようでやはり確実に変化はしていて、少し寂しいような気もします。

しかし生徒の皆さんや先生方の温かい雰囲気はいたる所で息づいていてとても嬉しかったです。

突然の訪問にも関わらず受け入れて下さってありがとうございました。