JLfest 2024 | The 17th Annual Japanese Language Festival
RESULT ANNOUNCEMENT
Saturday, August 28, 2021
1st Prize Winner:
TEAM 8
Vaishanavi A/P Karuna Garan
Siti Salasiah Bt Abdul Hamim
SMK (P) METHODIST KLANG
"The poster captured vividly the nature of water. Water flows down from the pipe, which indicates its origin into the sea or lake which was represented by various shades of blue to denote water depth. It's a pity that the team did not further capitalize this concept by adding adjectives like `浅い shallow and 深い deep, which both contain the water radical.
The choice of some kanji vocabulary may not be appropriate for basic learners, but their clever placement at the bottom (the deepest end) gave learners a sense of expected difficulties."
EDWARD LEE
2nd Prize Winner:
TEAM 5
Nurkareena Natasha Bt Abdul Rahman
Wesley Sipang Anak Robert Limbai
SM SAINS MIRI
"Satu poster yang mencerminkan kerja keras peserta dalam mengkategorikan kanji berdasarkan saiz api, bacaan (bi,hi atau ka), dan kedudukan radikal. Kategori Kanji yang digunakan untuk merujuk ‘cooking method’ dan ‘extremity’ sangat membantu. Walaupun hampir kesemua contoh perkataan yang diberi tidak bersesuaian dengan pelajar tahap asas, namun ia boleh dijadikan satu panduan bagi pelajar dan menambahkan minat pelajar untuk memahami atau mendalami Kanji."
DR ROKIAH PAEE
3rd Prize Winner:
TEAM 6
Lau Tze Ling
Fateen Jazmeena Bt Faizal Hamdy
SMK (P) METHODIST KLANG
"Attractive and easy to understand."
SEKI Mayumi
"What a great way to tell stories! Very good. However, there is a need to reconsider the choice of vocabulary."
Nirmala Beletambi
3rd Prize Winner:
TEAM 12
Kuhaneetha Bai A/P Kalaicelvan
KOLEJ TINGKATAN ENAM SRI ISTANA
Yuvahneetha Bai A/P Kalaicelvan
SMK (P) METHODIST KLANG
"A rather unconventional kanji map. The 2-sister team managed to weave their shared experience into a story, delightfully bridging the differences in their language proficiency and experience. The inclusion of 2 proverbs related to the KANJI is an added education value. What delighted me most was the sisters' action in having a regular shared activity whereby they would watch water-themed anime together and playfully named in WATER DAY from 水曜日(Wednesday).
Lastly, the exclusion of the KANJI's stroke order in the poster, whether intentional or otherwise, sent a strong statement to teachers. Kanji are often typed than written. Perhaps, it’s time for us, teachers to change the way KANJI is being taught."
EDWARD LEE
Other Finalists
PANEL OF JUDGES
Edward LEE
Vice President
JAPANESE LANGUAGE SOCIETY OF MALAYSIA
Nirmala A/P Beletambi
Japanese Language Teacher
SMK KING EDWARD V11
SEKI Mayumi
Part time Lecturer
TSUDA UNIVERSITY
Dr Rokiah Bt Paee
Senior Lecturer
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
COMMENTS FROM THE JUDGES
"'What’s the nature and characteristics of this KANJI?' , 'Where could I find it?'. 'How does it relate to me in my daily life?' and 'How could all these be woven into a story to help remember that KANJI.' These are questions brewing in the mind of the students when they create their KANJI Map Poster. Along the way, students gained a deeper understanding of the KANJI while teachers discover how their students learn KANJI through the kanji map they produce.
It was hard to judge all entries as all posters were good. We could see all the hard work and effort students made in their posters. Most judges lost count of how many hours they spent evaluating them. The oral presentation by the students helped clear up our uncertainty as well as gain a better understanding of the concept behind each poster.
This year, contestants were asked to choose either 水 water or 火 fire. More than half of the competing teams chose the former. Both KANJIs are interlocked in our lives. They are both benevolent and destructive. The nature of water is to go downwards, the fire upwards. This was captured vividly in the poster of the 1st and 2nd Prize winners. Both teams also made use of color shades to denote the depth of water or the heat intensity of the fire. The original and creative categorization of the Kanji byTeam 5 is highly commendable. The stories weaved by Team 6 and 12 made the Kanji Map interesting.
The posters of other finalists were equally good but lack depth or substance. I wish all teams would pay more attention to their choices of kanji vocabularies to ensure that they are appropriate to the basic learners as required by the competition."
EDWARD LEE
"'All maps are properly categorized and show educational value attractively. The point of my evaluation is how well each piece of information works together and how clearly and creatively it is designed in the poster as a story of kanji in a series of information flows. Please create wonderful maps again next year!"
SEKI MAYUMI
"'A very good platform for the students to display their creativity and imaginative skills. All the participants did their own research and came up with interesting and informative posters. They also created stories based on the kanji given. This contest will enhance the learning of kanji among the Japanese Language learners. Congratulations to the organizing committee of the JL festival, 2021 for their tremendous effort."
NIRMALA BELETAMBI
"'Tahniah kerana telah terpilih untuk keperingkat akhir. Tahniah sekali lagi kerana berani mencuba. Secara keseluruhan, semua peserta telah berusaha dengan kapasiti masing-masing untuk mencipta poster yang menarik dan memenuhi kriteria pertandingan terutamanya kesesuaian poster tersebut untuk pelajar bahasa Jepun tahap asas. Hampir kesemua peserta menunjukkan kefahaman mengenai konsep Kanji map dan berjaya memetakan contoh dalam kategori yang sepatutnya.
Antara cabaran terbesar dalam mereka poster adalah untuk menghasilkan ‘story’ yang bertepatan dengan tema yang dipilih, Terdapat peserta yang terlalu fokus kepada ‘story’ sehingga mengabaikan kombinasi warna atau contoh perkataan yang bersesuaian dengan pelajar tahap asas. Ada juga yang cuba menyampaikan ‘story’ dalam bentuk latarbelakang poster ataupun dalam bentuk penyampaian bertulis. Ada juga poster yang kelihatan agak ‘messy’ dalam erti kata cara susun atur menyebabkan ia sedikit sukar untuk difahami.
Saya pasti anda semua telah memberikan yang terbaik. Sebenarnya, agak sukar bagi saya untuk menilai hasil kreativiti anda semua. Setiap poster yang terhasil ada keistimewaan masing-masing. Namun begitu sudah adat pertandingan. Ada yang kalah dan ada yang menang. Pada saya, anda semua adalah PEMENANG!"
DR ROKIAH PAEE
A DISCUSSION AMONG THE JUDGES