高校生英語エッセーコンテスト 努力賞受賞!

 関西学院大学と読売新聞主催による「第三回高校生英語エッセーコンテスト」において、高校三年の土屋里奈さんが努力賞を受賞しました。

今回は800を超える作品の応募があり、最優秀賞1人、優秀賞3人、そして努力賞5人の中の受賞です。テーマは「考えてみよう。世界のこと、日本のこと」で、土屋さんは児童労働についてエッセーを書きました。

土屋さんは、高校一年のときにマリアン先生から勧められた児童労働反対の行進に参加し、世界では自分よりも幼い子供達が悪条件の中で働かされているという現実に衝撃を受けました。そこから自主的に児童労働に関する学習を進めるようになり、高校二年ではGlobal Studiesの授業でこのテーマを掘り下げてプレゼンテーションをしたり、文化祭ではクラスで児童労働をテーマにしてBODY SHOPが行っている児童労働撲滅の署名活動に参加したりしました。そして今回、今までの経験をもとに児童労働についてエッセーを書き、見事に受賞を果たしました。

このように長期に渡る関心と学習が実を結んだことは、大変喜ばしいことですね。以下は、12月3日(土)に関西学院大学まで授賞式に出かけた土屋さんの感想と受賞作品です。

感想↓

「自分が関心のあることを英語にすることが出来たことと、それで受賞をしたことがとても嬉しいです。大学では英語コミュニケーションを専攻することになっているので、トキワ松卒業後も英語の能力を伸ばしていきたいです。また児童労働についてもっと深く研究し、多くの人に児童労働の現実を知ってもらいたいです。」

作品↓

“Another Special Day”

You know about February 14th, don’t you? This is a special day to give chocolate to people we love. But do you know about June 12th? This day is “World Day Against Child Labor.” It is a day for appealing to the world to stop child labor.
I learned this 2 years ago when I took part in an event against child labor called “PEACE WALK.” I was shocked to know that child labor is connected not only with developing countries but also developed countries. At present, about 215 million children are laborers. This means one child in seven is working. The main cause is poverty. For example, parents don’t have enough money to buy food for their family. They think they don’t need to send their children to school, or there is no school where they live. This leads children to low income occupations and it is difficult to get out of poverty without education.
I took part in a workshop about child labor in August. I learned about the connection between chocolate and child labor. Germany has the highest per head chocolate consumption. They eat 159 bars a year. Japan’s consumption per head is 31 bars. It is the 19th country but Japan’s total consumption as a country is 290,000 tons and it is in sixth place. The countries that consume most chocolate are developed nations such as America and Japan.
Cacao for making chocolate is produced in West African countries such as Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Children are engaged in crop work. Growing cacao is very hard work. They have to cut weeds using hatchets and climb up 10 meter trees to pick the cacao. It is very dangerous.
We can buy chocolate and other things cheaply because people in developing countries don’t get enough money. So many children have to work.
This problem can’t be solved unless we change the way we live. Thus, we should take action such as buying fair trade goods, signing petitions and telling other people. I signed my name to ask the Japanese government to act on solving child labor before. However, we haven’t seen any big changes yet. What is most important in solving child labor is to take action. So, I will keep a close watch on the child labor problem and tell people around me about it. Let’s all celebrate June 12th as a special day for working children.