Studying Abroad Presentation(�T) By Kazuya Muto	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
プレゼンテーション(その1) 「日本文化概論」のクラスでプレゼンテーションの課題が出されました。 各自が日本文化に関するトピックを選び、7分間の発表をするというものです。 「自分の英語力をカバーするためにも、テーマ選びが重要」と、悩みに悩んだ武藤さん。 思いついたトピックは、自身も10年間やっていた「剣道」についてでした。 早速リサーチを開始し、原稿作成に入ったのですが･･･。

I was panicking. I had just received a handout from my "Survey of Japanese Culture" lecturer and the title read "Oral Presentation Workshop." Each student had to give a seven-minute presentation on some aspect of Japanese culture, and I was thinking: "With my broken English? With my bad pronunciation? Shoot me now."

It was important to choose a good topic to make up for my English skills. I pondered long and hard until I hit on an idea: I could give a presentation on kendo. I had practiced kendo for 10 years, although I had quit about four years ago, and I thought a presentation based on my experience might be interesting.

First of all, I went to the library to borrow some books on kendo. I found four and read most of them, learning a great deal along the way, especially about the history of kendo. I found myself feeling proud that I had practiced kendo for such a long time.

Two weeks before the presentation, I started organizing the information and preparing it on Power Point. Once I started, I found myself getting into it so much that I continued at it for about five hours non-stop. When I came to, the presentation was 20 pages long. "Well done!" I said to myself, and then I tried reading it out loud. It took 15 minutes — double the required time. With a sigh, I went about shortening it.

By the following week, I had cut my presentation down to seven minutes. I rehearsed it a number of times and memorized it. But it had also occurred to me that I needed something extra. So I included some kendo footage and decided to borrow a shinai from someone and demonstrate certain moves myself.

The next day, I went to the Sports & Recreation Center at my university to find someone who might have a shinai I could borrow. I asked one of the staff and was told: "There aren't that many people doing kendo. But there's a kendo club that meets in the martial arts hall at four on Wednesday. I reckon if you try them, you might be lucky."

So I went at four the following Wednesday.

"Moi! Moi!" I heard strange yelling from the hall as I approached. I opened the door and found four people practicing kendo, and from their name plates, I could see that all of them were Korean. They immediately stopped what they were doing. "Welcome," they said. "Make yourself comfortable. Are you a new member?" "Ah, no," I said, "I'm not a member ... I just wanted to borrow a shinai for a presentation. Would that be possible?" They said yes.

On the day of the presentation, I was nervous, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the other students' presentations. They talked about all sorts of topics, such as Japanese castles, cosupure, sumo, hot springs, electronics and so on. The best was a hilarious presentation on vending machines.

Finally, it was my turn. The lecturer called out my name. "And now we have Kazuya Muto. His topic is kendo. Please give him a hand." My head swam.

[To be continued]

Shukan ST: July 28, 2006

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