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2015 J-LEAP REPORT: HIROKO AKIYAMAJANUARY, 2016: BREEZE ISSUE #99
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OFJAPANESE

2015 J-LEAP REPORTBY HIROKO AKIYAMA
Dunsmore Elementary School
La Crescenta, CA
Hello, I’m Hiroko Akiyama. I have been working as Japanese
assistant teacher with the 1st grade lead teacher, Ms.
Melanie Arayama, and a kindergarten teacher at Dunsmore
Elementary School in La Crescenta, California. I would like totell you about La Crescenta, the school I work at, my duties
in class, and my goals for the next two years.
California is a big state that occupies most of the West Coastof the United States. Which cities do you think of whenpeople mention California? You might think of major cities
like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. But do you
know where La Crescenta is? It is located north of LA County. Most Japanese people might
think of Hollywood, Santa Monica and Long Beach when they hear “LA”, and they might thinkthat they can go to these areas in one day. But those cities are just parts of LA County. When I
came here the first time, I thought those cities were very close and easy to get to because they
were in the city of LA. Eventually I realized that LA is much bigger than I expected.
La Crescenta has beautiful nature and is a homey environment. The school is surrounded by a
lot of greens that makes me very happy to work here. My school is a public school with aJapanese dual immersion program, but this program just has started last year. The immersion
program is only for kindergarten and 1st grade. This year, there are 48 students in kindergarten
and 31 students in 1st grade. The school also has English-only classes. In immersion classes, wespend half the time speaking in English and half in Japanese. Students learn subjects like Math,Science, Social studies and Art in both languages. They learn about the library, music andPrivacy - Terms

Physical Education (P.E.) in English. Also, there are a few things that are different fromJapanese elementary school and it surprised me. First, they have a general class schedule for
one day, but the teacher can decide on the subjects that are covered in class. The good thingis teachers can control the pace of the lesson. On the other hand, the class schedule for eachsubject has been determined in advance at schools in Japan, and they have five or ten minutes
break time during each class, therefore students prepare for the next class during break time.
Second, while students in Japan have sportswear for P.E., they don’t change clothes here. The
most surprising and impressive thing for me is that they have a lot of parents’ volunteering inclass and supporting the many events here. We don’t have such help at school in Japan.
Currently, I am lucky enough to work in both the 1st grade and kindergarten classes. We havedifferent levels of students in each class. Some students have a Japanese background and canspeak the language fluently, but others don’t and they are working hard to try to learn
Japanese. I work with the kindergarten class twice a week, and the 1st grade class three days aweek. In Japanese class, we speak only in Japanese. If we speak English a bit in class, thestudents always say with a happy look, “Teacher speaks English.” One of the challenging thingsof this program is when students can’t understand what we say; we have to try to explain it inan easier form of Japanese. Sometimes I felt it was easier for both of us to say some words in
English because they know English. But recently I felt that they can understand what we say
and they try to speak Japanese more. It takes time but they are learning a lot of difficult things
by using their young minds. It is much tougher for them because the class is taught in anunfamiliar language. I realized that I must recognize their progress no matter how small and I
praise them every chance I get. That encourages them to work harder to learn Japanese. The
good thing about this program is that it also helps their critical thinking ability grow when trying
to figure out things in their mind.
During class, I usually help late students catchup in class, get students to pay attention inclass, assist the teacher such as performing ashort skit together, and plan lessons together.
For the kindergarten class, the students are
too young to keep their concentration all theway through the lesson, so we try to plan
activities so they can practice their Japaneselike they are playing a game. The other day, I
asked them whether they enjoyed the activity,
and they told me that they had a lot of fun. I
was so happy to hear that and some students
who don’t speak Japanese that much during class could eventually speak it without help. For
the 1st grade class, I am in charge of reading comprehension in small groups, and making
materials for it. Students are very honest and it is clear for them to show if they are interested
in or not. That’s why it is my task to plan lessons that are fun and that’s how I proceed with it.
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Lastly, I would like to tell you about my goals for these two years. I have two goals; one isbeing a teacher who they will remember even after I leave. Two years seems to be a long time
but it will go by very fast. I feel that our students have been growing little by little during thepast four months. I am very pleased that they remember my name and say hello to me and giveme hugs when I meet them outside of class. It is a little sad that I can only see them grow for
two years, but I am also looking forward to seeing them learn to be able to speak Japanesemore than they can now. Therefore, I would like to do my best for them by having fun speaking
Japanese. My other goal is to progress as a Japanese teacher. It is so different teaching
children instead of adults. I have to change even the word used to explain the meanings andthe method. So I would like to learn more about immersion system and how they acquire theirtarget language in such an environment.
I would like to thank my lead teacher, Ms. Arayama and our kindergarten teacher to let me havea lot of opportunities to teach as assistant teacher and lastly I want to thank Dunsmore
Elementary School for having me.
Thank you.

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