２年生の渥美萌亜さんは、磐田地区中学校話し方能力研究大会第１位、磐周地区英語弁論大会第２位となり、９月２４日（火）に浜北文化センターで行われる西部地区英語弁論大会に出場します。本日、西部大会を前に、職員室でスピーチを行いました。流れるような発音と豊かな表現力に、皆、聞き入りました。本番でも、緊張することなく、力を存分に発揮してきてほしいと思います。

　

Moa Atsumi ( Shinmei J. H. S. )

Do you like dogs?   Manypeople say, “Dogs are human’s best friend”.  I agree with that statement.  

     Itwas in fall four years ago.   A redfurried toy poodle came to my house.  She was only two months old.   Wenamed her “Shukuru”.   It was our firsttime to have a pet dog, so we learned about taking care of dogs at a trainingclass for dog owners.   She made ushappy.

Dogs are popular animals from both theirappearances and characteristics.   Theyalso contribute to our society such as guide dogs, police dogs and therapydogs.   I’m looking forward to muchbetter relationships between dogs and people in the future.

I homestayed in Portland in the U.S. duringthe spring vacation of 2019.   It was notonly for learning English but also for experiencing another culture.   I commuted to a university by bus everymorning.   I enjoyed the beautifuldowntown and meeting friendly people.  It was impressive to me that many Americans walk with their dogs on thestreets and take their dogs into cafés or even in buses.   They shop in the supermarket with theirdogs.   There are a lot of dog parks ineach city and town.   Dog parks are veryconvenient for dogs and their owners.  

In the U.S., people don’t buy their dogs onlyin pet shops.   They also pick up andsave dogs in dog shelters.   I heard someof the dogs are killed if nobody picks them up.   But many dogs are saved by ordinarypeople.   I felt dogs have an importantrole in American society.   I like howthey think about their pets in America.  They treat a dog like a human member of the family.   It was very different from ourselves inJapan.

After coming back to Japan, I noticed manythings about the environment surrounding dogs.

In Japan, dogshave been considered as “watchdogs”.   That’swhy we treat our dogs as something we own.  On the other hand, in America, dogs have been partners for hunting, forherding cattle and for people who don’t have a family, so dogs remain importantmembers of their families.   I should beable to go anywhere in Japan with my pet.  I’ve never taken Shukuru to shopping malls, supermarkets, norcafes.  I made my own rule not to takedogs to public places.   I consideredtaking dogs there as wrong and abnormal. I think many Japanese people agree with me.　　

So what should we do to change our mind?   I think there are three ways.   First, the owners of dogs, including myself,always have to keep the rules such as cleaning our dogs mess.   Second, to discipline our dogs when they arestill puppies.   Third, to love our petsdearly like our own children.   If ourdog is an important member of our family, why don’t we take him or her anywhereanytime?  I wish we could have experiencestogether with our pets without any hesitation.  In the future, I hope that pet dogs are allowed to stay close to theirowners all the time in Japan.