MTSU Japanese language students Henry Bellow, Andrew Le, Jorgan Petit and Benjamin Sneed
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Four Japanese language students at Middle Tennessee State University earned runner-up in Level 1 of the competitive 2025 Tennessee Japanese Video Skit and Presentation Contest.
Held annually each spring semester, the contest is open to college students studying Japanese across Tennessee and includes both group skits and individual presentations depending on student proficiency.
“The goal is to encourage students to use Japanese in a creative and meaningful way beyond the classroom,” said Japanese language lecturer Ryoko Poarch in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures at MTSU. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to connect with the broader language-learning community and build confidence in their speaking and presentation skills.”
Contest team members include foreign languages major Benjamin Sneed from Nolensville; computer science major Henry Bello from La Vergne; and media and entertainment major Andrew Le and computer science major Jorgan Petit, both from Murfreesboro.
The intermediate-level students produced the video, “A Trip to Japan,” in fall 2024 as the final assignment in Poarch’s Japanese 2010 course and entered the spring contest while enrolled in her Japanese 2020 this year. Poarch said the first course focused on foundational grammar, vocabulary and expressions and the project allowed them to apply it in a creative way. The spring class built upon the first.
Poarch gave her students skit guidelines based on the contest requirements. But the team devised their own storyline and dialogue they blended with “humor and strong language skills.”
“The prompt for the video had to be about Japan, so we thought about some things that are popular in Japan that we also enjoy. This included Mount Fuji, sake (rice wine) and convenience stores,” Sneed explained.
Students filmed the video in the green screen room at James E. Walker Library on campus using scenes from Japan as the backdrop while they conversed with each other in Japanese.
“Our sensei (teacher) and the class curriculum helped us tremendously to be able to study Japanese at this level,” Sneed said. “We do a lot of speaking exercises during class where we practice conversations in Japanese. We are also required to do writing assignments in Japanese. These exercises help us to think in the Japanese language and keeps us engaged in the language as well.”
Sneed said the team credits Poarch with helping them build a foundation to learning and implementing Japanese language skills.
“She does a brilliant job of helping the class succeed,” Sneed said.
Poarch was equally complimentary of her students.
“They did a fantastic job,” Poarch said. “I wasn’t surprised. They’ve been consistent, hardworking students. But I was genuinely impressed by how engaging their final video was. Their skit reflected a lot of preparation, creativity and care. I loved how their energy came through in the performance.”
Students were presented their award at the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival held Saturday, April 12.
“Their success underscores the strength of our Japanese program and highlights the importance of fostering cultural exchange and global education,” said Ayaka Matsuo, assistant professor of Japanese at MTSU.
To view additional contest videos, visit https://sites.google.com/view/tn-japanese-contest/.
The video skit contest was sponsored by the Mitsui USA Foundation and Middle Tennessee Japan Society with support from Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville, Japan America Society of Tennessee and Knox Asian Festival.
The Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures is part of the MTSU College of Liberal Arts. To learn more about the Japanese concentration, visit https://bit.ly/3RJbnwL.
AloJapan.com