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JANUARY, 2018: BREEZE ISSUE #123
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESE2017 J-LEAP REPORTBY KEIKO SUZUKISheridan Japanese SchoolSheridan, ORKonnichwa. My name is Keiko Suzuki. I am currently teaching
Japanese as an assistant at Sheridan Japanese School inOregon. I once taught Japanese at a high school in Thailandfor 2 years. This is my first time to America and I’ve been
here for about 5 months. In this article, I’d like to share myinspiring experience and how I’ve felt through my life hereteaching in America.
My school
Sheridan Japanese School (SJS), where I have been
assigned, is a public charter school founded by parents and teachers. Since the school limits
the number of the students, there are only 88 students from 4th to 12th grade with 10 teachersand staff members. Surprisingly, almost all the students learn Japanese as a required subject.
In Japanese class, the students are divided into 5 classes by proficiency-level rather thangrade level. SJS not only offers Japanese language class, but also adopts Japanese school
culture in daily life. For example, students change from outdoor to indoor shoes when theyenter the school, clean the school by themselves and call every teacher “Sensei (teacher inJapanese)”. What is more, all classrooms have names which came from the islands and seas inJapan such as “Honshu（the main island）” and “Setonaikai（Seto island sea）.” In addition,
we do radio exercise every day in the morning! As a Japanese person, I really appreciate thatstudents learn Japanese almost every day and cherish our culture. In these ways, SJS is a smalland unique school.

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My workMy lead teacher, Davis-sensei and I teachJapanese together in 3 classes. I believe that
team-teaching makes it possible to offer abetter class to students because the Americanteacher and Japanese teacher can utilize theirstrengths and make up for eachother’sweaknesses. Though we are stillsearching for the best way to team-teaching, I
have learned a lot from the way Davis-sensei
teaches Japanese. In class, it seems like shetries to let them hear natural andunderstandable Japanese as much as possible and this make our classroom comfortable forstudents to speak Japanese. As I haven’t focused on those points so much personally, I wasimpressed with that and her passion toward Japanese education as well. I’ll keep doing mybest to be able to give something meaningful to Davis-sensei, and to the students.
I’m also teaching small group of 5 students alone. I’m very lucky to have a variety ofexperiences to teach students of varying ages, in small to large classes, by team-teaching andsolo-teaching here.
Also, I’m in charge of a Japanese culture class once a week. In this class, I’ve introduced
Japanese culture such as making onigiri, making seasonal decorations with origami and looking
back on the history of radio exercise. I’d like them to enjoy the differences between ourcultures as well as to understand the spirit behind Japanese culture.
Students and teachers at SJSCompared with Japanese and Thai students, I have the impression that American students havea lot of freedom, which is very interesting to me. For example, they can dye their hair green orpink, they can wear hats in the classroom and they can participate in class while sitting on theclassroom couch if they get permission from the teacher. I feel students are respected as
individuals. Also, students are very honest during class. I can tell if today’s lesson wassuccessful or not when I see the students’ faces. It is my greatest joy as a Japanese teacher tosee students enjoy talking in Japanese with the expressions I taught them that day.
Also, I love the teachers at SJS. They don’t just teach their subject, but they also support
students in respect to each student’s situations and problems they may be facing. They always
think what is best for students and carry out plans to help them. Since SJS is such a small
school, teachers and students are like one family. They show me how a teacher should be andI’m happy to work together with them.
My homestay lifeI enjoy my free time outside of school too. Having unfamiliar foods is one of my pleasures here,
such as artichoke, eggnog pie and lentil soup. All of them were cooked by my host mother andwere very tasty. Also, I like talking with my host family. They have told me about American
culture and history, which is very intriguing. I look forward to dinner time with my host family
every day.
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Lastly, I’d like to say thank you to those who have accepted me warmly here in America despite
being busy, my family and friends who always support me from Japan, the teachers who lookover me with kind eyes and my dependable friends who came to America together. Thanks toeveryone, I can be here and work with great people at SJS. I’ll try to make progress one day at
a time, asking myself what is the best for the students again and again.

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2017 J-LEAP Report: Keiko Suzuki

2017 J-LEAP Report: Mika Muchima

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