International Languages Week

Edgewater College 2008

Thanks to a grant provided by the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Language Education, Edgewater College was able to hold an origami competition to celebrate International Languages Week.

In August our students had participated in the Cranes for Peace project and I was surprised at how popular this was and also by the types of students who were attracted to our school library to make cranes. I decided an origami competition would be a good activity to follow on from this.

I put up invitation posters from the Japanese Department around the school to invite all students to enter the first Edgewater College Origami Competition. The competition would run for the Monday to Friday of Languages Week at intervals and lunchtimes in our school library. The two main prizes were a sushi lunch for four people and a Naruto DVD.

The library was packed with the students the whole week. Boys outnumbered girls and although there were more Asian students participating, it proved popular across cultures. (Edgewater is a multi-cultural school with a large number of Pacific Island students.) One boy was so enthusiastic he made 12 different origami models which he entered. Most students took paper home with them as school intervals and lunch times were not long enough to make the more complex origami pieces. Several of them said they worked for four nights making their models.

On the final day the Art teacher chose the prize winners while all competitors watched in anticipation as she chose her six favourites. She finally reached a decision and announced the two main prize winners and the four who received consolation prizes.

The winner of the first prize was Yige Xu, a Year 11 International student who arrived only one month ago from China. She spent four nights making an origami mobile with a very colourful display of birds and geometrical shapes. The winner of the second prize was Adam Powell, a Year 10 student who made the Olympic rings. There were other beautiful origami models such as dragons, cows and baskets of flowers and these are now on display in our school library.

We have been able to raise the profile of the Japanese Department in our school and a large number of students have now developed an interest in this aspect of Japanese culture.

Thanks to the Sasakawa Fellowship fund, we were able to buy origami paper and provide the prizes to make this competition successful.

Wendy Sheahan
HoD Japanese
Edgewater College