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2016 J-LEAP REPORTJANUARY, 2017: BREEZE ISSUE #111
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESE

2016 J-LEAP REPORTBY KEI YAMAGUCHICabell Midland High School
ONA, WV
Konnichiwa and hello, my name is Kei
Yamaguchi. I have been working as an
assistant teacher at Cabell Midland HighSchool and Huntington High School in WestVirginia. I am teaching Japanese here with myLead teacher, Meagan sensei.
The first time I was told that I was going to West Virginia, only the song “Country road” came tomind. Then I told my family about it, and they also thought of “Country Road”. However, I foundout even Americans don’t really know where West Virginia is located. Some people think West
Virginia is just the western part of the state of Virginia. It has been 4 months since I came here
and I have found it to be a very nice place. I really like the statement, “Wild and Wonderful”
which you can see when you come to this state.
I’m working at two high schools. I go to one school in the morning and drive to the other school
after lunch. We have our own class room in the afternoon but we don’t at the other school. Weuse other teachers’ classrooms. One of these teachers greets us “Good morning” in Japanese
which is “Ohayo gozaimasu”. There are three classes at each school with about 100 students
combined. Our Japanese classes are a little unique because four of them are mixed levels. For
example, first period class is split between JapaneseⅠ and JapaneseⅢ. There is a huge gap inJapanese proficiency levels. Therefore we divided our class so my LT teaches JapaneseⅢ andI teach JapaneseⅠ. Every day, I make lesson plans for four classes including JapaneseⅠ& Ⅱandshare the materials with Meagan sensei. This is a really good opportunity for me to learn how
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to teach Japanese by observing Meagan sensei. She teaches grammar and creates activities
sothe students use the grammar they learn. I feel very lucky to work as an assistant teacher with
my LT because she shares everything, accepts my ideas, and communicates with me a lot. She
teaches me American culture and many words that I would never learn by myself.
My job as an assistant teacher is making quizzes, grading, walking around the classroom tosupport students, and modeling dialogue with Meagan sensei. Also, since I’m teaching
Japanese I students from the beginning, I’ve been watching them improve step by step. Theystarted studying how to write Hiragana and now they are able to read and answer questions inHiragana. This improvement makes me really impressed and touched. I’m really proud of mystudents. In the classroom, I use only Japanese, no English. The first couple months, students
couldn’t understand and seemed confused. However, recently, they are getting used to it dayby day. For example, I use “Daijoubu” a lot which means, “It’s alright” or “you are alright”. Sostudents picked up the word and didn’t need to ask us for the meaning. It made us really happy
because students actually listen and pay attention when we talk.
We had finals from Dec 20th to 22nd. At the same time, we also had oral exams in the hallway. I
talked with each student for about 3 minutes and asked questions about them. Of course, westudied and made a script but I asked questions and they had to ask me, too. Higher level
Japanese students can ask me additional questions based on my reply. It was a really good
opportunity for both my students and I because we can learn from each other. I can learn more
about our students, for example what they like, and how much Japanese they can actually use.
For our students, I felt that they can feel confident talking with me. A few students said, they
are going to talk to me in Japanese more which is really great!
There are many funny experiences I have had at school. Since I started working at the highschools, I get many chances to talk with other foreign language teachers. When we talk,Meagan sensei accidently replies in Japanese to them, then they also reply in their own
language. Since I can also speak Malaysian, Meagan sensei and I often speak the wrong
language at the wrong time. I felt it was such an excellent and funny moment.
I’m not only teaching Japanese, but also learning English every day. Sometimes, I catch words
from conversation between Meagan sensei and our students. When I hear that, I ask themeaning at that moment in Japanese so students can see I’m also studying. They notice thatI’m taking notes when I ask Meagan sensei about new words. She also asks me questions
about Japanese, which is really great! She asks questions in front of students so it’s really
good for students to notice that we are both learning together. Some students think Japaneseis really hard but we keep telling them that they have just started to learn. Once they figure outthat learning a new language takes time and that even their teachers are still learning, they will
feel more comfortable to keep studying.
Lastly, I really appreciate everyone who I’ve met through this program. They teach me
American culture, language, etc. I feel that I’m really lucky to be a part of this program and I
look forward to all the new experiences I have here in West Virginia during the next 2 years.
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Breeze #122Breeze #121Breeze #120

Breeze #119

Breeze #118

Breeze #117

Breeze #116

Breeze #115

Breeze #114

Breeze #113

Breeze #112

Breeze #111

Japanese Langauge Education Update 38

2016 J-LEAP Report: Kei Yamaguchi

2016 J-LEAP Report: Miki Inokuchi

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