The final round of George Washington University’s sixth annual J.LIVE Talk, a national presentation contest open to college-level Japanese learners and, for the first time ever, high-school learners of Japanese in the United States, was held on Saturday, November 14, via Zoom and live streamed to YouTube.
The nine finalists were selected from 18 impressive semifinalists, who themselves were selected from amongst 47 applicants hailing from 10 states (CA, GA, MD, NC, OH, PA, TX, VA, WA, WV) and the District of Columbia.
Though usually held on the George Washington University campus, unavoidable difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic caused us to hold the event entirely online. Yet this challenge offered participants in J.LIVE Talk a unique opportunity to develop and display both their presentation skills and language abilities in a real-time, online format. The finalists delivered their dynamic presentations to a distinguished panel of judges and an audience of several hundred viewers watching live on YouTube.
