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2013 J-LEAP REPORTOCTOBER, 2013: BREEZE ISSUE #72
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF JAPANESE

2013 J-LEAP REPORTBY AMIKO NISHIJIMAGarfield High SchoolSeattle, WAHello. My name is Amiko NISHIJIMA and I am currently working
as a teaching assistant at Garfield High School, which is locatedin the Central District of Seattle. It has been almost 1 month since
I came here.
Before I came here, I taught Japanese language in Uzbekistan for 2 years. As the Japanese proverb says,“Sumeba miyako- Home is where the heart is.” I loved living in Uzbekistan, so I was looking forward tocoming here to Seattle.
As you might know, Seattle is famously known as “the Evergreen State.” I’m fascinated by its beauty. At
the same time, it is often called “Rainy City” because from fall to spring it will rain almost every day. Somepeople told me it is very depressing and they suffer from lack of sun, but fortunately, I have notexperienced “SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) “ yet.
In this report, I would like to introduce briefly my surprising and challenging school life in Seattle.
Garfield High School is a public high school and was established in 1923. The number of students is about
1600. This school is famous for Drama and Jazz Orchestra Clubs. The Garfield High School student
population is very ethnically diverse. Students can select foreign language classes from Spanish, French,
Latin, and Japanese. The number of students who take Japanese classes is as follows:
Japanesse 1: 54 (2 classes)
Japanese 2: 54 (2 classes)
Japanese3: 44 (2 classes)
AP Japanese: 29(1 class)
So the total number is 181. Do you think it is a huge number?
Students have many reasons to study Japanese. Some students say they learn Japanese because theirrelatives have Japanese backgrounds. Others say they love Japanese sub cultures like anime and comics,
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so they want to understand Japanese anime without subtitles. On the other hand, a few students takeJapanese just because other foreign language classes were over their limits, so they had no other choice
but to take Japanese.
The motivations of students are different, but I want all of them to broaden their perspectives throughlearning Japanese language and culture.
Now I mainly co-teach Japanese 1 class with my supervisor, Sarah-sensei. In this class, we started to learn
あ、い、う、え、お(A,B,C).
What do you think was the first homework and quiz in this class? The answer is “Memorizing and writing all
the classmates ‘names.” I am impressed that Sarah-sensei always makes every effort to build acomfortable learning environment for her students and I am learning a lot from her.
From now on, I would like to devote myself to spending time with the students as much as possible
through “Japanese tutoring” and “Japanese only lunch.” Japanese tutoring is held every morning and afterschool hours to support learning Japanese. “Japanese only lunch time” is when students are prohibitedfrom using English and encouraged to talk in Japanese with not only classmates but also other friends
from Japanese class.
My work extends beyond the limits of high school because Sarah-sensei and I are planning to visit local
elementary and middle schools to introduce Japanese culture. I am also excited to participate in WATJ
(Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese) to learn from other Japanese language teachers in thearea.
Finally, I really appreciate all the people who provided me with this opportunity to live in the U.S. andhelped me adjust to my new life here. I would not have been able to handle this new experience if it werenot for the people around me, especially my host mother Ms. Debbie Robinson. I will do my best to makethe most of this great opportunity.

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2013 Group Tour Report: Steven Johnson

2013 J-LEAP Report: Amiko Nishijima

2013 J-LEAP Report: Hiroko Maekawa

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Ariana Foster

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Lian Eytinge
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2013 JET-MIP Essay: Rebecca Cook2013 JET-MIP Essay: Shannon Foremaster

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