On 10 December 2022, at 13:00-14:45, the Lightning Talks 2: The Image of Japan was held on zoom. Eight students of Nihongo Net made a speech of 5 minutes in front of the others and the two guest audience (Japanese people who live in the UK). Their speeches were all prepared carefully, and executed at their best.

The students' levels varied, from a new comer, who has only done 7 months of weekly study, to a JLPT N3, N4, N5, or those currently studying for GCSE. Regardless their levels, they did their best.

I am so proud of all of the students who presented at the Lightning Talks 2. It must have been nerve wracking, making a speech in Japanese in front of strangers other than the teacher who they are used to. They did a lot of research on the internet, probably used machine translation (which is a good thing!) or asked their Japanese friends... but the outcome was superb. They tried their limit, and used almost what they have learned so far, at various stages of their study.

I liked the fact that most students tried some expressions they had never used before in order to convey what they wanted to say. This kind of challenges must work so well in their learning, they certainly widen and deepen their abilities, knowledges, and skills.

I would like to keep holding such an event in the coming 6 months or so. I hope by then, new students may join the crowd, or those who could not attend at this occasion.

Well done everyone who presented at the event! Thank you very much for attending the event. Also using this opportunity I would like to express my gratitude to the wonderful guests, Masashi-san and Makoto-san, who gave all the students their useful feedbacks and advice.

Meet you again in the Lightning Talks 3 event, probably in about 6 months time!