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2013 J-LEAP REPORTDECEMBER, 2013: BREEZE ISSUE #74
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF JAPANESE

2013 J-LEAP REPORTBY HITOMI KOMEDA
Tigard High School
Tigard, ORHello. My name is Hitomi Komeda and I’m currently
working as a Japanese language assistant teacher atTigard High School in suburbs of southwest Portland inthe state of Oregon. Tigard is very beautiful and has manyparks as well as trees and forests that are iconic to thePacific Northwest.
Tigard High School (THS) is a public high school that has approximately 2100 students, and 170 of them
are taking Japanese this year. There are three foreign languages offered (Japanese, Spanish and French)
which is not common in Japanese public high schools. THS operates on an alternating day schedule withfour 90-minutes classes daily. The schedule for students taking foreign language classes is unique in thatclass is held every day, rather than every other day. This gives students the advantage of concentrated
learning and finishing one level in a single semester. We offer Japanese levels 1 to 5, Independent Studyand IB (International Baccalaureate). Our school is an authorized IB school and is one of the first schools
to offer IB in Oregon State. Students have a choice to take an IB exam which provides an internationallyaccepted qualification. Earning an IB certificate in Japanese is exceptionally challenging but worth theeffort to those who plan to go to college.
This semester, we have 3 Japanese classes including two level 2 classes, and a combined class for levels
4 and 5. I participate in all classes and assist my lead teacher Roberts Noriko sensei. This is her 24th year
teaching at THS. I am so grateful to be working with a very experienced and professional teacher. Norikosensei is very powerful and passionate about teaching Japanese. She has a very interesting teaching
method and I am learning from her every day. Each class is extremely well organized and involves lots ofphysical movement to reinforce the lessons. This keeps students focused and attentive.
THS offers Japanese National Honors Society (JNHS) and an Anime club. Both of them are lead bystudents who have a great interest in Japanese. Through JNHS, I have experienced the annualHomecoming Parade and a Halloween event. Those events give me a chance to share Japanese culture
with other students who are not taking Japanese and also to people in the community. We also receive
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students from Japan every year; they come to America as a school excursion to participate in a weekend

home stay. JNHS welcomed them during a school assembly that included students from all of the foreign
language classes. It provides them cultural exchange opportunities by seeing よさこい踊り (Yosakoidance), American high school cheerleaders, dance team, brass band and so on. An upcoming big event isJapan Night. This annual event is organized by JNHS students, and it is open to the community. Many
demonstrations such as tea ceremony, kendo, Japanese food, artifacts, and calligraphy will be offered. Iam looking forward to participating and helping out at such a big event.
In only three months, I’ve had many chances to talk about Japan such as helping out at an Origami
workshop in the local library with students, as well as teaching Japanese culture in a local church with myhost family. Unexpectedly, adults seemed more interested than the kids. This made me realize that I amvery far from Japan, but I have had many enjoyable and precious opportunities here to share myknowledge about Japan. All of these experiences reinforce the value of my time here. I’m so thankful for
those of you who provided me with this opportunity here in the United States. I believe my experiences ofsharing Japanese culture with people from the United States sow seeds of interest and cross cultural
understanding that further strengthens the exchange between Japan and the U.S.
One of the most interesting parts of teaching Japanese is the mutual benefit to both teacher and student.
Teaching Japanese is not just about teaching the language or culture. I think teaching is always related tolearning. When I teach students something, I always learn something from them in return. Learning isalways interesting. Instead of building a stereotype, I would rather learn and gain new knowledge about
the things I don’t know such as American culture, the way of thinking, as well as improving my teaching
method and unaccustomed style. For this point I’m in a great environment and gain new knowledge every
single time I interact with people around me.
The potential of all our students is truly enormous and by opening their minds to a foreign language, I
hope to be able to expand their worldviews and perspectives. Students with this type of skill and mindset
will definitely have an advantage in their future academia and career. Therefore, I will do my best tosupport those who are willing to learn and provide them with any resources that I have about Japan.

Breeze #74

Japanese Langauge Education Update 12013 J-LEAP Report: Kanae Higuchi

2013 J-LEAP Report: Hitomi Komeda

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Nanette Jackson

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Kapil Kanhai

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Sean Kim

2013 JET-MIP Essay: Kelly Kratz
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