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2016 J-LEAP REPORTFEBRUARY, 2017: BREEZE ISSUE #112
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESE

2016 J-LEAP REPORTBY NATSUMI UEJO
Silver Creek High School
San Jose, CA“Mistakes are treasures” is the motto in ourJapanese classes. My Lead Teacher (LT),
Nicholas Sturtevant, believes “mistakes aretreasures” because mistakes are the only way
that we learn a language. In fact, they're theonly way we learn pretty much anything. And
he also likes the phrase because it makes him think about diamonds and how they look likedirty rocks at first and need to be polished. If you don't have dirt on the outside, you certainly
won't have a diamond on the inside. So by slowly taking off and polishing away the dirt, you
get a diamond. And that is just like learning a language.
Hello. My name is Natsumi Uejo. I work at Silver Creek High School (SCHS) as a Japanese
language assistant teacher in San Jose, CA. Half a year has already passed since I came to San
Jose. Time flies so fast!
San Jose is the third-largest city by population in California and is known as the capital ofSilicon Valley. There are a lot of famous IT companies nearby, such as Google and Facebook.
San Jose is a very convenient place to live because there are big shopping malls, Japan Town,a Japanese supermarket, and also Japanese restaurants. Also, it only takes about one hour to
go to San Francisco by car. Though this is my first time to live in the U.S., I feel very
comfortable.

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SCHS is the only school in the district that offers a Japanese language program. Students haveto take one language for two years and can choose from among Spanish, Japanese, French,and Vietnamese. The student demographic at
SCHS is very diverse, but students who takeJapanese language are mostly Asian American,especially Vietnamese American, so it
sometimes feel like I'm teaching Japanese inAsia. There are about 2,500 students at theschool, and 183 of them are taking Japanese
this year. We have 6 classes each day: twoJapanese 1 classes, two Japanese 2 classes, aJapanese 3 class, and an AP class. I support
the students who need help, grade students'
work, demonstrate pronunciation, make classmaterials, and introduce Japanese culture. I feel that our students are very well-behaved andheartwarming. When my LT was absent for the first time, I was so nervous. But my students
listened to me and the students who understood what I said explained things to the otherstudents who didn't. They helped me to continue our classes. I'm really happy to have such
nice students.
Tuesday through Thursday, we have Japan Bowl Club after school. Japan Bowl is an academic
competition that tests the skill levels of high school students throughout the United States whoare studying the Japanese language. It also tests the students' knowledge of Japan. There are
17 students participating, and they placed 5th last year. They study Japanese history, idioms,
onomatopoeia, culture, and current news based on study guides every week. They're working
so hard to win Japan Bowl this year!
“Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”
The new semester has begun. The first week
was Japanese culture week in our class. We
showed a video of my relative’s New Year’s
gathering, played Japanese traditional games
such as karuta, fukuwarai, sugoroku, andotedama, and also wrote our New Year’sresolutions in calligraphy. The last day of theweek, the students presented them to theclass. I was surprised because a lot of mystudents' resolutions were studying hard andgetting good grades. They're so hardworking.
My New Year’s resolution is “Challenging”. I am going to start taking English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes after school four times a week at the adult education program. There
are two reasons why I'm taking ESL. One is to improve my English skills, and the other is toPrivacy - Terms

learn more about teaching a language. I think taking ESL class is a good opportunity to becomeaware of my students’ needs because I have empathy for them. Plus, I can get some ideas forpractice activities from the ESL class, and I would like to try to use them in my Japanese class.
During my arrival training, I expressed my three goals for the next two years. Firstly, I will keep
smiling and be positive if I have difficulties in the U.S. Secondly, I would like to deepen theintercultural understanding between Japan and the United States and share my knowledge ofthe differences between Japanese and American culture/customs with my students. Thirdly, I'll
also cooperate with my LT to create classes that use the team-teaching philosophy, and I'll
work to increase student engagement and involvement in Japanese classes. To reach my goals,I'll work hard for the rest of my time here.
Lastly, I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to be an assistant teacher in such a nice school.
I'm always thankful for all the support that I've received from JF, TLI, my host family, andfriends. It has been an amazing six months at SCHS.

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Japanese Langauge Education Update 39

2016 J-LEAP Report: Hina

2016 J-LEAP Report: Natsumi Uejo

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