MAY 2022 | VOL. 11 | NO. 2

AATJ NEWSLETTER
全米日本語教育学会 American Association of Teachers of Japanese

Messagefrom thePresident

TOMOKO TAKAMIIn this issue...
OFFICERMESSAGES
2021 ACTFLREPORT
FALL
CONFERENCE
MENTOR
INTERVIEWSERIESJNHS SPOTLIGHT
AND MORE!

Although international tensions have increased since our last newsletter, such as
the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine, spring has come and the end of theschool year is approaching. I hope all our members are safe and well.
The AATJ Annual Spring conference was held online on March 17, 18, and 19,
and nearly 400 people attended the conference, with many meaningfulpresentations and discussions. The conference's success was thanks to themeticulous preparations by the conference co-directors: Yoshiko Mori-sensei,
Mieko Kawai-sensei, and Shinsuke Tsuchiya-sensei; a big thank-you to these
hardworking co-directors. I would also like to thank the University of WisconsinMadison and the Center for East Asian Studies for their support in organizing
the conference.
Director of Professional Development Yoshiko Saito-Abbott-sensei led two
webinars in April and May. On April 2nd, Takami Taylor-sensei, William
Matsuzaki-sensei, and Mariko Moroishi Wei-sensei presented "Supporting
Students with Various Developmental Disabilities in the Japanese Language
Classroom," facilitated by Kimiko Suzuki-sensei and Saito-Abbott-sensei. On
May 7, a webinar on "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging" was held. Since
last year, AATJ has been working to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion,
and we are delighted that we have begun to have opportunities to learn together
about them. Also, in April, an AATJ Local Affiliates’ “Meet and Greet'' was held
under AATJ Vice President Mieko Avello-sensei, where leaders from various local
affiliates had the opportunity to participate and interact with each other. Being
able to learn together and connect with teachers from all over the U.S. online inthis way was one good learning outcome we gained during the crisis of COVID19.
Japanese Language and Literature (JLL) Vol 56, No. 1 (22) was published in
April. I want to thank the editors, Hiroshi Nara-sensei, Anne Sokolsky-sensei,
Yumiko Nishi-sensei, Suwako Watanabe-sensei, and Janice Brown-sensei, fortheir promotion of the AATJ scholarship through JLL. I was particularly thrilledwith the special section on language and pedagogy, "Our Challenges andTriumphs: Female Asian Faculty in Leadership Positions in U.S. Colleges andUniversities.” In my current role as President of AATJ, I have spent many days
asking myself how I should think and act as President and what leadership truly
means. In the midst of this, I read this special issue with great excitement, as it
is a collection of the voices of female Asian faculty, learning about theirexperiences, thoughts, and expectations for those of us who will assume
leadership in the future. We are currently planning an opportunity to interact
with the authors of this special issue, and I hope many of you will join us.
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As announced at the Spring Conference, the next International Conference on Japanese Language Education(ICJLE), which was postponed due to the COVID-19, will resume again in North America in the summer of2024. Junko Mori-sensei, former President and current Director of the Global Network at AATJ, will take thelead as the Conference Convener, with preparations already having begun. We hope that many AATJ members
will attend the ICJLE, consider Japanese language education from a global perspective, and create a globallyconnected network.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the AATJ, a merger of the Association of Teachersof Japanese (ATJ), founded in 1963, and the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT), founded
in 1992 and formerly the National Council of Secondary Teachers of Japanese (NCSTJ), founded in 1991 andprimarily composed of K-12 teachers. It has been ten years since AATJ was established, and as the conditions of
the COVID-19 have calmed down, we understand that this 10th anniversary year is a time to think about the
future direction of AATJ. Just as the preceding officers did in Chicago at the time of the merger ten years ago,
we had a retreat meeting in April at the same hotel to discuss the future of AATJ, including a sustainable AATJ
office management structure, financial stability, and leadership organization. We had an opportunity to discuss
this at length. This is the first step toward a stronger AATJ moving forward, and we will continue to work on it
in the future. We look forward to your support and suggestions.
Once the school year is over, will you be able to take a break and relax and have some time to yourself? To do agood job, we need to take a good rest and nourish our energy. I wish you all a happy and healthy life, both
physically and mentally.

前回のニュースレター発行後から、ウクライナ情勢など国際的に緊迫した事態になりましたが、確実に春は訪れ、また学年度末が近づいてまいりました。会員の皆様におかれましても安全にお元気にお過ごしになっていらっしゃるようにと願っております。
今年は3月17日、18日、19日とAATJ年次春季大会がオンラインでの開催となりました。昨年に引き続きオンラインでの開催でしたが、参加者も400人近くにのぼり、有意義な発表や議論がなされました。学会の成功は大会実行委員の森美子先生、河合見恵子先生、土屋伸介先生のもと綿密に準備が進められたからこそです。また学会運営にはウィスコンシン大学マディソン校、及び、東アジア研究センター
からのご支援をいただきました。関係者の皆様・ご支援をくださった皆様に感謝申し上げます。
４月、５月にはプロフェッショナル・ディベロップメント・ディレクターの齋藤アボット佳子先生にリードして頂き、２回のウエビナーが実施されました。４月２日は「日本語教室内における様々な発達障害のある学生への支援」とタイトルで 鈴木貴美子先生, 齋藤アボット先生のファシリテーション
で、 テイラー貴美先生、ウィリアム松崎先生、ウェイ諸石万里子先生にご発表いただきました。5月
７日には「Diversity（多様性）・Equity（衡平）・Inclusion（包括性）とBelonging (帰属意識)」のウエビナーが開催されました。昨年からAATJでは、多様性・衡平・包括性を強化する目標で活動していますが、この課題について学び合う機会が始まったことをとても嬉しく思います。同じく４月には地域
日本語教師会・バーチャル懇親会がアベロ美恵子副会長のもとで行われ、各地域のリーダーの先生方が参加し交流を図りました。全米の先生方とこのようにオンラインで共に学び、つながることができるのは、コロナ禍の危機的状況の中で私たちが得た一つの良い学びの産物であったと思います。
Japanese Language and Literature (JLL)Vol 56、No.1 (22)が４月に出版されました。JLLは質の高い研究を載せた学会誌として高く評価されています。編者である奈良博先生、アン・ソコルスキー先生、西由美子先生、渡辺素和子先生、ジャニス・ブラウン先生、 JLLを通してAATJのスカラシップの向上を支えてくださってどうも有難うございます。私自身、特に今回は 言語と教育学の特集 “Our Challenges
and Triumphs: Female Asian Faculty in Leadership Positions in U.S. Colleges and Universities” に感激いたしました。私自身、AATJの会長を務めさせていただいている現在、会長としてどのように考え、どのように行動すべきか、と自問自答する日々を過ごす中で、リーダーシップとは何かと考えることが多くなりました。そのような中、この特集号は同じくアジア女性である諸先輩の先生方のご経験、そこからの想いやこれからのリーダシップを担う私たちへの期待が集められたもので、胸を熱くしながら読み進めました。実はこの特集号の執筆者の方々と交流する機会をただいま企画中です。どうぞ楽しみにしていてください。
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春学会でも発表されましたが、次の国際日本語教育学会が２０２４年夏に北米で開催されることが決定しました。コロナ禍で延長されていた国際日本語教育学会が北米でまた再開します。森純子前会
長・現グローバルネットワークディレクターが大会運営委員長としてリーダーシップをとってくださ
り、既に準備が始まっています。一人でも多くのAATJ会員には国際日本語教育学会にご参加いただき、グローバルの視点から日本語教育を考え、グローバルにつながるネットワークを作っていただきたいと思います。
さて、今年は1963年に創⽴のAssociation of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ)と K-12の教師が中心となって1991
年に創立されたNCSTJ(全米中等教育日本語教師会)を前身とする1992年に創⽴のNational Council ofJapanese Language Teachers (NCJLT, 全米日本語教師会) が統合され、AATJが設⽴されてか ら10年⽬の年になります。コロナ禍の厳しい状況が落ち着きを取り戻し、この10周年という記念の年に当たる今は将来のAATJの進むべき方向性を考えるべき時期でもあると考えています。ちょうど10年前の統合の際に行われたシカゴでのミーティングと同じように、私たち役員が４月に同じホテルでリトリートミー
ティングを行い、持続可能なAATJオフィスの運営体制・財政状況・リーダーシップ組織のあり方な
ど、AATJの将来についてじっくり話し合う機会を持ちました。これはAATJがより強く進んでいくための第一歩であり、これからも引き続き考えていくものであります。会員の皆様に今後ともご助言・ご支援をよろしくお願いいたします。
一年の学年が終われば、少し一息つき、ゆったりと自分の時間を持つことができますでしょうか。いい仕事をするためには、しっかり休み、英気を養うことも必要だと思います。皆様が心身ともに健やかに幸せにお過ごしでありますように。
風薫る五月ですね。おかげさまで多くの皆さまに支えられて就任してから早４ヶ月が経ちました。全米の教師会の横の繋がりを強化するために、まず第一弾として４月にズームでアフィリエイトMeet &Greetミーティングを開催しました。たくさんの教師会役員の皆さまが参加してくださり、それぞれの教師会の規模は違っても同じような悩みがあることが分かったり、次回への付箋となる貴重なご意見をたくさん頂いたり、大変実りのある集まりになりました。アフィ
リエイトの連帯と発展を目指して今後も定期的に続けていきたいと思っています。AATJの秋の学会（ACTFL）につきましては今年はハ
イブリッド環境での実施となりました。少しでも多くの先生方とボストンでお目にかかれることを楽しみにしております。TEACHER
AWARDも例年通り継続していますので、自選他選を問わず応募してMessage
いただけますようお願いいたします。詳しくはAATJのホームページ
をご参照ください。また、同ホームページには２０２０年以降に開from the催されましたウェビナーの録画バージョンがアップロードされています。身近な問いに応えてくれるトピックが満載ですので是非ともVice President ご活用いただければ幸いです。
MIEKO AVELLO

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月に「次期会長」に就任してから数か月経ちましたが、役員会ではパンデミック以降の日本語教育、日本語教師支援の方針について話し合いました。
この中ではすでに発表していますが2年後に予定している(2024年8月1日～4日)「国際日本語教育学会(ICJLE))」の準備についても話し合いました。2年以上先ですがウィスコンシン大学マジソン校にて、対面とオンラインのハイブリッドで行うことになりました。詳細についてはおいおい発表してまいります。
引き続き、DEI(多様性、衡平、包括)のテにで２０２０年１月ちょうど新型
コロナウイルスがまさに猛威を奮わんとしている時に副会長に就任し副会長
としての２年間の任期中は新型コロナウイルスによるパンデミックと重なってしまいました。昨年の学会選挙にて次期会長候補に推薦され投票の結果、次期会長に就任することになりました。昨年までの2年間は全米各地の先生
Message
方に副会長としての僕を随分支えていただきましたが、これからの２年間も今までにも増して引き続きよろしくお願い申し上げます。
from the
各教師会とのパイプ役は向こう２年間、新しく副会長に選出されたアベロ美President
恵子先生に引き継いでいただきます。昨年秋からはAATJ本部からのBulletinElectを各教師会とのパイプ役である副会長が日本語に簡約して全米の各教師会へ配信し始めました。是非ご活用ください。
SHINGO SATSUTANI
日本の水際対策が緩和され始めたとはいえ、まだビザなし短期渡航が再開される見通しが立たぬ中では日本語学習者を対象とした短期観光研修旅行の計画などが立てにくい状況が続いています。今後再開されることを踏まえて、考慮すべき事項が増え、一から計画しなおさねばならぬ先生方も多いのではないでしょうか。新型コロナウイルス感染対策もさることながら、ロシアとウクライナ間の「戦争」が新たな頭痛の種として浮上し、様々な形で影響を受け始めた先生方もいらっしゃると思います。一日でもはやく、病いや争いごとのない社会環境の中で日本語日本文学教育を通して日本ファンを増やしていきたいものです。
このような状況下でも、ウェビナーやバーチャル交流会を通じて皆さんが頼れるAATJを目指していきた
いと思います。この秋には三年ぶりに対面でのACTFL学会がボストンで予定されており、多くの先生方とお会いできるのを楽しみにしています。今春のNJE(全米日本語試験)は既に終わってしまいましたがJNHS(オナーソサイアティ、優等生協会)へはいつでも参加して頂けます。よろしくお願いします。また、Teacher Award(優秀教師賞)の大学レベル、K-12レベルへの推薦も6月末まで受け付けています。詳し
くはホームページをご覧ください。
全員参加の「全米日本語教育学会」を目指しているAATJとしてお手伝いできることがあれば、
satsutan@cod.eduまで連絡よろしくお願いします。
個人的には、年内の学生引率は諦めましたが、日本が一日でも早く海外から多くの人を受け入れてくれ
る日本に戻って、日本語学習者にとって憧れの「日本」が再来することを願ってやみません。既に5回の日本短期研修の引率をキャンセルしました。来年こそ、一人でも多くの学生を引率したい気持ちでいっ
ぱいです。
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AATJ 2022 Spring Conference Report

SUSAN SCHMIDTEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AATJ’s Annual Spring Conference was held virtually for the second year in 2022.
Almost 400 members registered for the event, which was held live on Zoom over three days, March 17-19. The
conference began with a keynote address by Ryuko Kubota on "Japanese Language Education and Social Justice:
Possibilities and Challenges", and continued with research presentations spread over two days. More than 50
panel and individual presentations covered topics in Pedagogy (materials development, assessment, language
and technology, course and curriculum development, and more); Linguistics; Second Language Acquisition;
Professional Development; Literature; and Language and Culture.
All conference sessions, including the keynote, were recorded, and can be viewed until June 30 by those who
registered for the conference or for post-conference online access.
For the complete program, and information about access to the recorded sessions, please visit the conference
web page, www.aatj.org/conferences-spring.
AATJ is grateful to Spring Conference Directors Mieko Kawai, Yoshiko Mori, and Shinsuke Tsuchiya for their
dedicated and inspired work planning the conference.

AATJ Officers and Directors
Officers
President: Tomoko Takami (University of Pennsylvania)
President Elect: Shingo Satsutani (College of DuPage, IL)
Immediate Past President: Ann Jordan (Laurasian Institution, CA)
Vice President: Mieko Avello (Miami Palmetto Senior High School, FL)
Past President, International Projects Director: Junko Mori (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Directors
Newsletter: Elizabeth Hojo (The Woodlands College Park High School, TX)
Professional Development: Yoshiko Saito-Abbott (California State University, Monterey Bay)
Advocacy: Noriko Otsuka (Fox Mill Elementary School, VA)
Diversity and Inclusion: Will Matsuzaki (All Saints Episcopal School, TX)
Student Activities (Nengajo Contest): Andy Scott (Kamehameha High School, HI)
Japanese National Honor Society: Holly Didi-Ogren (The College of New Jersey), Kumi Kobayashi(Los Gatos High School, CA)
National Japanese Exam: Tomomi Sato (University of Virginia)
Fall Conference: Takayuki Masai (Graham-Kapowsin High School, WA), Junko Tokuda Simpson(University of California, San Diego), Yuko Prefume (Baylor University), Jaime Tateyama Gusman(Moanalua High School, HI)
Spring Conference: Yoshiko Mori (Georgetown University), Mieko Kawai (University of Virginia),
Shinsuke Tsuchiya (Brigham Young University)5

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Annual Fall Conference ACTFL 2022 in Boston
TAKAYUKI MASAI, YUKO PREFUME,JAIME TATEYAMA GUSMAN & JUNKO TOKUDA SIMPSONFALL CONFERENCE CO-DIRECTORSThe AATJ Fall Conference will be held during the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo from Friday, November 18, through Sunday, November
20, 2022. This year, the convention will be held in person in Boston!!! This year, three general sessions, over
150 on demand educational sessions, and the recorded ACTFL Awards Ceremony will be also available formembers who want to participate in the convention virtually.
AATJ will host ten sessions and twelve paper presentations, including eight practice-oriented papers and four
research-oriented papers. In addition, six pre-recorded sessions will be hosted. The complete schedule will be
posted at https://www.aatj.org/conferences-fall in June.

Session/Papers supported by AATJ (accepted by ACTFL)
Ordered by proposal number
Sessions (45 minutes)
Social Emotional Learning: New Practice to Advance Students' Performance

1090 Kiyomi Chinen, California State University Long Beach; Yoshiko Saito-Abbott, California State University
Monterey Bay; Shingo Satsutani, College of DuPage

1107

Applications of Gather.Town in Japanese Language Instruction
Kazumi Hatasa, Purdue University; Yumiko Tashiro, Kenyon College; Samet Baydar, Purdue University;
Kaho Sakaue, Purdue University
Impact of COVID on Japanese Language Education and Future Directions

1140 Yoshiko Saito-Abbott, California State University Monterey Bay; Junko Mori, University of Wisconsin-Madison;
Tei Ann Jordan, The Laurasian Institute; Ryo Takehara, The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles

1362

Open Pedagogy: Partnering with Students to Build Ownership of Learning
Junko Tokuda Simpson, University of California, San Diego; Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku, University of California, San
Diego; Izumi Takeda, University of California, San Diego
Learning Forward with Descriptive Feedback

1443 Mio Nishimura, Alisal High School; Yo Azama, Salinas Union High School District;
Cameron Chien, North Salinas High School

Virtual Apollo Japanese Project Connects Horizontally and Vertically

1696 Masayo Oyama, United Nations International School;
Kazuo Tsuda, United Nations International School

Maximizing the Benefit of Digital Technology Use in the Japanese Classroom

1724 Shinji Shimoura, University of South Florida;
Mako Nozu, University of South Florida

Rebound Learning through Reflective, Feedback, and Creativity Assessments

1826 Mieko Avello, Miami Palmetto Senior High School;

Kazue Masuyama, California State University, Sacramento

1850

Professional Development to Promote K-16 Japanese Language Articulation
Kazuo Tsuda, United Nations International School; Tomoko Graham, Harvard University;
Michiko Homann, Boston Latin Academy; Kazuko Saito, Clarkstown CSD and CUNY
Movie Analysis: Culture Comparisons and Social Justice Standards

2164 Junko Yamamoto, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
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Practice-Oriented Papers (15 minutes)
Effectiveness of Integrating Reflection and Feedback in Online Courses

1128 Noriko Fujioka-Ito, University of Cincinnati

Incorporating Anti-racist Pedagogy into the Foreign Language Classroom

1601 Hiromi Takayama, Rice University

Participants' Attitude Toward Zoom Conversation Table Among JFL Learners

1793 Kiyomi Kawakami, University of Colorado Boulder

Language Learning through COIL and Business Cases with a Focus on Diversity

1884 Yoshiko Gaines, Baylor University
2243

New Assignment Design to Boost Motivation for Japanese Language Learners
Masami Ikeda, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4 Steps to Transform Textbook Dialogues into Engaging Narratives

2246 Megan Scarlet, Brigham Young University; Shinsuke Tsuchiya, Brigham Young University
Utilizing What We Learned from the Remote Teaching in Our Classrooms

2324 Rie Tsuboi, San Dieguito Academy; Shigeko Sekine, California State University Monterey Bay
Fostering Autonomous Learning Through Shadowing Using Authentic Materials

2357 Wakana Maekawa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research-Oriented Papers (15 minutes)

From Spoken to Written Japanese: Steps toward Academic Writing in Japanese1103 Nobuko Koyama, University of California at Davis

Project-based Learning in a 4th year Japanese Literature Course

1276 Ryu Kitajima, San Diego State University

Role of Phonological Saliency in Kanji Learning

2100 Hisae Fujiwara, Brandeis University
Etsuko Collins, University of Miami

2482

Training and Language Learning Background vs. Japanese Sound Recognition
Shigeko Sekine, California State University Monterey Bay
Hana Jacinto, CSU Monterey Bay

Pre-Recorded Sessions (45 minutes)
Using Subtitled/Dubbed Dialogues to Expand the JFL Linguistic Repertoire

1110 Vance Schaefer, The University of Mississippi; Tamara Warhol, The University of Mississippi;
Kaoru Ochiai, The University of Mississippi

1295

Paving a Path for Language Justice for Nikkei Learners of JapaneseMimi Okabe, University of Alberta - Edmonton, AB

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Pre-Recorded Sessions (45 minutes) cont.
Project Based Learning: Interview Projects for Beginner and Intermediate Levels

1471 Naomi Larson, Cornell University

Collaborative Social Contribution: Translating Tsunami Survivors' Stories

1879 Yuko Prefume, Baylor University; Yayoi Takeuchi, University of North Texas;
Yuki Waugh, Texas A&M University

Academic Emotions to Written Corrective Feedback by JFL Learners

1943 Jun Takahashi, University of Nevada Reno

Developing Mutual Learning Curriculum for Japanese Service-Learning Course

2409 Keiko Kuriyama, IUPUI University Library; Yurika Kano, IUPUI; Alexis White, IUPUIThe goal of the ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo is to provide a comprehensive
professional development experience that will have an impact on language educators at all levels of teaching andin turn enable their students to succeed in their language learning process. The ACTFL Annual Convention andWorld Languages Expo is where language educators from around the world come to meet! This global event canbring language educators from distinct languages, levels, and assignments together, and learn from each other!

Registration
Registration is already open! Please check the ACTFL site for further details. AATJ is a Convention Partner
Organization and you can register at a member rate.
https://www.actfl.org/convention-and-expo

Full Convention:
Onsite + Digital

Early Bird
(By 7/13/22)

Advanced(10/26/22)

Late(After 10/26/22)

Member

$270

$285

$375

Non-Member

$385

$400

$490

Presenter (Membership Required)

$220

$235

$325

Student

$75

$90

$135

One Day
Onsite Only

Early Bird
(By 7/13/22)

Advanced(10/26/22)

Late(After 10/26/22)

Member

$240

$255

$345

Non-Member

$340

$355

$445

Digital Only*

Early Bird
(By 7/13/22)

Advanced(10/26/22)

Late(After 10/26/22)

Member

$135

$150

$165

Non-Member

$250

$265

$280

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1 . | 2N0 O . 2*Digital Only: A registrant for this category will have access to the live streaming of the three general sessions(later viewable on demand), over 150 on demand educational sessions, and the recorded ACTFL Awards
Ceremony.
To register for the ACTFL Convention, please go to this Registration page and click the “Register Online”
button. If you are a current AATJ member, be sure to scroll down the ACTFL 2022 Registration page and use“Convention Partner Organization Registration” under Option 2 in order to register at the lower member rate.

Stipend Award Program
To apply, please go to https://www.actfl.org/convention-and-expo/stipend-award-program.
ACTFL sponsors this Stipend Award program to provide financial assistance in the amount of $500 to registrants
for the Full Convention in the following categories to help offset ACTFL 2022 Convention expenses.

Housing
For details regarding hotel reservations, please go to https://www.actfl.org/convention-and-expo/housing.
Official Hotels:
Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport$265 Single/Double

Patron Run of House$275 Single/Double & Patron Q/Q $290 Single/Double

Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel$267 Single / $287 Double

Seaport Hotel$259 Single / $284 Double

The Westin Boston Seaport District$260 Single / $285 Double
For best availability and immediate confirmation, make your reservation online. Requests received via fax ormail may take longer to process. All hotel requests are processed on an availability basis. Please note that the
Destination DC/Passkey is ACTFL’s official housing company. Also, please note that no one will contact you
directly via phone/email to book your hotel room(s) or offer you a “special discounted conference rate.” There
are multiple scamming companies that call and/or email exhibitors claiming to represent ACTFL housing. To beclear, these companies are in no way affiliated with ACTFL. Please disregard any calls or emails you may receive.

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Annual Fall Conference at ACTFL 2021 Report

JUNKO TOKUDA SIMPSON & TAKAYUKI MASAIFALL CONFERENCE CO-DIRECTORSThe 2021 AATJ Fall Conference was held on November 19-21, in conjunction with the American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo. The format this year
was virtual again. All presentations were pre-recorded, and there were two simulive and eight on demandsessions, including three practice-oriented paper presentations and three research-oriented paper presentations.
Because of the online format, the number of accepted sessions and papers were greatly reduced from the pastin-person conventions. During simulive sessions, which occurred on Friday, November 19 and Saturday,
November 20, attendees were able to view the pre-recorded content and interact with the presenters throughlive Q&A, along with a chat feature. On demand sessions were available to view any time throughout theconvention dates. After the virtual convention, all presentations were accessible on demand to attendees until
February 28, 2022. Although we missed attending in-person live sessions at ACTFL, it was great to be able tosee a variety of sessions for more than three months to learn from peer educators. The past two years werereally challenging for us to carry out our Fall Conference online, but thanks to the understanding and support
from all AATJ members, the Fall Conference was a great success again in 2021.
During the convention dates, we held three Zoom Booth “Meet the Exhibitors” hours. The main topics were
Advocacy, Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS), Nengajo Contest, AP Test, National Japanese Exam (NJE),
and Diversity and Inclusion. These topics were selected based on the survey from AATJ members. AATJ officers
and directors welcomed participants to answer their questions and interact with them.
AATJ Happy Hour was held on Saturday, November 20 from 5pm (PST)/ 6pm (MST)/ 7PM (CST)/ 8PM (EST).
All AATJ members were welcomed to this event, even if they did not register for ACTFL2021. About 50
members participated in this event. The Happy Hour began with welcome remarks from AATJ President Ann
Jordan, followed by remarks by Deputy Director Yasuko Uchida, the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.
The regular AATJ Fall Conference includes an Annual Teacher Awards Luncheon and General Membership
Meeting at the conference venue; however, the virtual platform did not allow us to organize these events during
ACTFL 2021 Virtual. Therefore, the recipients of the 2021 AATJ Teacher Award were announced during theHappy Hour. Two winners were Ms. Kazumi Yamashita-Iverson, Maloney Interdistrict Magnet School in the K12 category and Ms. Yoko Kano, University of North Carolina Wilmington in the College and University
category. As a big surprise for the recipients in 2021 convention, we collected surprise video messages fromwinners’ students and colleagues, and shared those videos. All of the messages were very touching and brought
many to tears. All of the comments reinforced how wonderful educators both Yamashita-sensei and Kano-sensei
are. We want to congratulate on both of them again!
During the Happy Hour, JNHS Co-Directors, Kumi Kobayashi and Holly HK Didi-Ogren, prepared a shortpresentation for the participants to learn about Japanese National Honor Society. Then, we had two 20-minutebreakout room sessions where guests joined Zoom breakout rooms freely and enjoyed conversations withparticipants from different schools/states. The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, donated five sets of Marugoto
series, and we used a virtual roulette to select door prize winners. At the closing, we recognized and honored
the AATJ officers and directors who would complete their term at the end of this year: Ann Jordan, President;
Junko Mori, Immediate Past President; Shingo Satsutani, Vice President; John Cadena, Newsletter; Fumiko
Nazikian, Spring Conference Co-Director, and Yasuo Uotate, Fall Conference Co-Director.
Thanks to the support of AATJ members and the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, the 2021 Annual Fall
Conference was able to conclude with much success. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to
everyone who made this happen.
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AATJ Happy HourGroup Photo of Participants

2021 AATJ Teacher Award Recipients

Donation by
Japan Foundation, Los Angeles

Virtual Roulette for
Door Prizes

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AATJ Teacher Awards – Nominations Are Open
The AATJ Teacher Awards recognize outstanding teachers who
demonstrate excellence in teaching, advocacy, and leadership inJapanese education both locally and regionally. AATJ customarily presents
the awards to the recipients during the ACTFL Annual Convention each
November.
Awards are given annually in two categories:• K-12 Level Teacher Award• Community College/College and University Level Teacher Award
Please consider nominating a colleague for one of these awards.
Candidates must have a minimum of three years’ teaching experience atthe level for which they are nominated, and also must hold a current
membership in AATJ. Nominators may be anyone familiar with thenominee's teaching (e.g., a colleague, administrator, parent, or student).
The deadline for nominations is June 30. For full details and links to theNomination Form, please go to https://www.aatj.org/prodev-awards.

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Mentor Interview Series

MOTOKO TABUSE
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

The two interviews published in this newsletter are the first of four interviews with senior mentors in the Japanese
language / Japanese studies field: individuals who are gifted teachers and who have also succeeded in the academic
world, becoming chairs, deans, and leaders in higher education institutions.
The four interviewees are:Janet Ikeda, Washington & Lee University – Liberal Arts Ambassador
Laurel Rasplica Rodd, University of Colorado – Program Builder
Bill Tsutsui, Ottawa University – Bridge Builder
Suwako Watanabe, Portland State University – Trans-Pacific Traveler
The interviews were conducted in 2019 – just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic – by Motoko Tabuse, a field
leader in her own right: Professor at Eastern Michigan University, Past President of AATJ, Chief Reader of the AP Japanese
Language and Culture program, and Director of the Middlebury Summer Language School and MA Program in Japanese.
Tabuse sensei talked with each of the mentors about their own career stories, their strategies for success in the “academic
hothouse,” and their advice for colleagues who are building their careers and looking for success of their own.
The interview series was made possible by a Sakura Network grant to AATJ from The Japan Foundation. We are gratefulto the Foundation for its support of Japanese language education in the United States and around the world.
In this issue, we present two interviews, one in Japanese and one in English.

Interview One: Suwako Watanabe
渡辺先生はインタビューが行われた時は、日本語プログラムのヘッドでしたが、2021年９月よりオレゴ
ン州のポートランド州立大学世界言語学部の部長を務めておられます。2019年にAATJの会長も務められました。
田伏：渡辺先生の教えておられるPortland State大学の学生の数はどのくらいですか？
渡辺先生はインタビューが行われた時は、日本語プログラムのヘッドでしたが、2021年９月よりオレゴン州のポートランド州立大
学世界言語学部の部長を務めておられます。2019年にAATJの会長も務められました。
田伏：渡辺先生の教えておられるPortland State大学の学生の数はどのくらいですか？
渡辺：今のところは200人前後です。1年生が大体100人ぐらい。2
年生が50人から60人、そして3年生が30人程度で、4年生が15人~20人程度なんですけれども、全部合わせると学年の初めは200人前後から始まるという状態です。それがここ数年維持されています。
田伏：外国語のコースは必須科目ですか？
渡辺：はい、科学以外の学士(Bachelor)の場合は最低２年間の外国語を履修しなければいけないというrequirementがあります。
田伏：先生のキャリアを振り返ってみて、今までに直面した一番のチャレンジは？そしてそのチャレンジをどのように克服したのかもお話いただけますか。
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渡辺: 実を言うとピンチとかチャレンジを思い起こそうとしたんですが、なぜかあまり覚えていないです。絶対にあったと思うのですが、今振り返ってみるとあまりないですね。でも自分が脂汗をかいた経験としては、人前で話すと言うことです。クラスで学生の前で話すのはすぐになれるのですが、やはり学術関係の仕事をしていたり、事務関係の仕事をしていると大勢の人の前で話さなければならないことがどんどん増えて来るんです。これをどのように克服するか。ショートカットはなくて、経験を積んでいき、そのうちに決まり文句が身に付いてくる。嫌がって逃げていると経験自体させてもらえないので、いやだと思ってもチャレンジしていくこと。恥をかいても、脂汗をかいても、それも自分の身になると言う心構えでチェレンジし、前向きの姿勢をもつことで克服できたと思います。
田伏：用意していたことはしっかり言えるが、急にふってこられることがあるので、やはり人前で話す機会をたくさん持ち、慣れることが大切なんですね。
渡辺：特に私の場合は、英語で仕事をしなくてはいけない場合は、第２言語になり、外国語ですから、非常に不利なので、余計に脂汗をかく、冷や汗をかくのですが、やはり数をこなすことで少しずつはよくなっていると思います。
田伏: 日本語プログラムのセクションヘッド（当時）をしておられているので、大学内外で色々な人と仕事をしていかなければならないですよね。同僚とうまく付き合っていくその術は？
渡辺：私は談話分析を研究してきました。ジョージタウン大学で談話分析のクラスを取って、人の話を聞く、微に入り細に入り聞いてそれを消化して自分のものにして相手に返すと言う訓練を大学院でしたのが、今役に立っているようです。例えば、会議などで発言するときに、言い方によって相手がどういう反応をするかを考えます。他の同僚が、日本語でも英語でも、話しをしている場面を見ながら、相手を傷つける言い方は避け、相手を褒めてやる気を起こさせる言い方のモデルをたくさん聞いて、消化して、それを今度は実践して使っていくことをしています。会議中の口頭の話し方だけではなく、Eメールなど文字にするコミュニケーションなど、色々な形のものを分析し、目を養うことで、問題を回避する
ようなすべを身につけられたのではないかと思います。
田伏：仕事をやっていてよかったなと思う時はどんな時ですか？
渡辺：教育関係の仕事をしていると、知的関心がいつも頭の中にあるようで、何か謎を探していると言う感覚があるのですが、その謎を埋められるのが良いと思います。例えば、大学院生に修士論文をアドバイス指導する時は、自分の分野でなかったりする時もあるのですがが、それでも嫌がらずに興味を持って、どういう分野なんだろうと知ろうとする自分がいます。知らない分野を少しでもかじってみる。
そうすると、身の肥やしになる。昨日と違う自分、一年前と違う自分がいて、もっと知っている自分がいるという（気持ちが）得られる。自己満足かもしれないですが、なんとなく満足感を得ています。
田伏: 私も大学で他の言語の学生のHonors Thesisなどを読む事がありますが、新しい視点に巡り合うと嬉しいですよね。
さて、次の質問です。リーダーの素質って生まれつきのものでしょうか。それとも環境やトレーニング
で得られるものでしょうか？
渡辺：リーダーの素質としては、カリスマ的なものと対極的に物事を見る視点が大切だと思います。このような２つの素質が重要だと思うのです。カリスマ的なものっていうのは、ある程度素質というか生まれ持ったものだとは思います。ただし、生まれ持ってないからその人にカリスマがないかっていうと、つまり得ることができないのかというとそうではない。なので、その人の育てられ方とか、（褒められて育てられるとか、）それから、いい恩師やメンターに出会うとか、そういったことで、かなり養
われるところがあるのではないかと思います。

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田伏：もう少し具体的にいうと…
渡辺：いいメンターが存在すればいいのですが、いない場合もある。Professional Organizationがそういうシステムを作ることもあります。そもそもその前にメンターになれる人、メンターとして若手を指導していく人材がまず必要ですね。そのためにはリーダーとしての色々なHow to本を使い自己啓発をしていくことも必要かもしれません。キャリアを積んだ人たちのメンターとしての自覚としては、自分の関心を追い求めるだけではなく、いかにその分野を後に繋いでいくかを考え始めないといけないですね。そのためには、こうした方が自分のためになるというのではなく、それに加えて、分野のためになる、それから社会のためになるという視野を加えて教えていくということが必要だと思います。最近の日本の社会では上司が部下を叱ることができなくなったと聞きますが、叱ることも大切。昔でいう叱るというイメージではなく、どうしたら成功するのか、どうしたら社会のために貢献できるのかという術を示せるメンターでないといけない。昔はダメなところを指摘するだけの場合が多かったと思いますが、今は、ではどうすればよくなるのかを具体的に示せるキャリアを積んだメンターが出てこないといけないです。あとは、リーダーシップ・トレーニングがシステマティックに行われるべきですね。
田伏：そうですね。過去のAATJのリーダーシップ研修には、テキサスのトヨタの社長を招いて、お話をして頂きました。色々な分野で仕事の内容がよくわかっているだけではなく、包容力と柔軟性がある人たちの「人間力」を育てることが必要であるというお話をしてくださいました。
渡辺：そうですね。お勉強だけではなく、自分のことだけを考えるのではなく、相手を思いやれる人、そして相手の存在を認めていける教育者・研究者・学術者であるべきかと思います。
田伏: 良い人間関係を作ることへのアドバイスは？
渡辺：時々人間関係で思うようにいかない時や誤解をされたり、人間関係がギクシャクするときがあると思いますが、その時に私がいつも立ち帰るのが、「人は決して意地悪でやっているのではない」「悪意でやる人はいない」という前提に立って考えてみます。私の行動にしても、嫌だからこういう反応をしているのか、それともみんなのために、どういう事がいい事なのかを考えて、その目的のためにどういう手段がいいのかを考えて行動することにしています。なので、哲学的・宗教的になるかもしれませんが、そもそも悪意があるのではないという事から始めて見ると、少しは物事が冷静に見られて感情的な行動に走らなくなるのではないかと思います。感情的に爆発してしまうと、そこで人間関係が終わってしまう事もある。そこに行かないためにはいかに冷静さを保つか、客観的に物事を見るのかというのが大切かなと思います。
田伏：人間関係も含め、ストレスを感じるときも必ずあると思いますが、先生はストレス解消には何をしておられるのですか。
渡辺：私は2000年から茶道を始め、2012年からは茶道を教えています。茶道をすると、例えば２時間お稽古に行っている時には、仕事の事、家庭の事、個人的な事が忘れられる。お茶を点てることに一点集中できる事がとてもいいです。１時間でも２時間でも、全てを忘れ去ることができるような時間が持てることでストレスはかなり解消されている気がします。最近、昔の同僚から「最近、顔が柔らかくなった」と言われました。私は多分お茶を始めたからだと思う。でも、皆さんにお茶を勧めるわけにも行かないだろうから、ヨガとかスポーツとかなんでもいいので、そういったものを見つけるといいと思います。私の場合は、切り替えの時間というのを作ったことが良かったのだと個人的に思います。
渡辺:もう一つ、付け加えたいのは、ペットです。プラス家族のようなもので、ペットと触れ合っている
時には全く忘れられるので、それも大事だと思います。
田伏: 次は、外国語教育のアドボカシーについてお聞きします。アドボカシーをしながらこれから外国語の分野でキャリアを築いていこうとしている人へのアドバイスをお願いします。

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渡辺：今若手の方々は研究とかTenureの審査などで自分のポジションを守ることで手一杯だとは思うのですが、アドボカシーというのは自分のいるポジションの中だけでは解決できない要因がたくさんあると思います。例えば、Professional Organizationsの中での日本語教育の分野全体が見える視点を養うことも大事です。そして自分の勤めている学校のアドミニや学長がどういうビジョンで大学・学校を変えていきたいのかなどを共有する、または理解する視点を養うのが必要です。それをしながら自分の研究やクラスを教えるという仕事をこなしていかないといけない。一回は外に出てみて、何かのorganizationの役職についたり、学校の委員会に出席することが必要かと思うのです。是非億劫がらずに、どんな委員会
でもいいので、そしてどんな役職でもいいので、嫌がらずに一歩踏み出してやってみると良いと思います。
田伏：先生方の中には謙譲の美徳を大切にされ、ご自分のプログラムのマーケティングをあまりされていない方もおられると聞いています。
渡辺：SN Sを利用して情報をあげていくという事を習慣づけてできるようにすれば一歩進み出せるのではないかな。それから発信する相手にどういうタイプの人たちがいるのかということを把握しておくことが大切ですね。生徒のための情報なのか、コミュニティーへの情報なのか、アドミニのための情報なのかを見極めて、一つの発信相手を選んで効率よく効果的なメディアで発信行為をしていくことで自分の限られた時間が効率よく使えるのではないかと考えます。
田伏：SNSを上手に使うという事ですね。さて、大学には安定しているポジションもあれば、安定していないポジションもありますが、日本語教師のポジションを安定させるためには何ができるかと思いますか。
渡辺：安定という言葉は確かに魅力的な言葉ですね。ただし、学校だから安定していているように見えますけど、企業を見てみると、いつ自分のポジションがカットされるのかという不安定さは企業だと当たり前なのではないでしょうか？そういう意味で、我々ができる事は日本語教師の質を個人的に一教師として向上させていくことが大切です。が、同時にその努力をサポートする日本語教育界のサポート機
能というものが大切になってくると思います。サポート機能というのは、例えばワークショップをするということも考えられるし、アドボカシーの面で何かのawardをあげて、いかに優秀であるかということをコミュニティーに知らしめることも考えられるし、リーダーシップトレーニング、それから日本語教育学会、professional organizationとして日本語教育のスタンダートを決め、スタンダードというのはこの程度であるべきだ・このレベルでないといけないと言うものが、きちんと打ち出されていればアドミニ
に対しても強くでることも可能ですよね。勝手に個人で決めるのではなくて、学会のスタンダードがこれだから、私はそれを目指す。それに対してどう言うProfessional Developmentが必要なのかと言うことをアドミニに訴えて行くこと。それがひいては、効果的な日本語のプロフィシェンシーを得た学習者を生み出せることをアピールし、プログラムの成果や質が上がっているとコミュニティーやアドミニに知らしめればいいのではないでしょうか。
田伏：国際交流基金がアドミニストレーターを日本に招待して日本の良さを知ってもらおうと召喚するプログラムがあるが、それも大切ですよね。
渡辺: 日本のことをあまり知らない人たちが日本語、日本文化や日本社会のことを知る事は非常に大切で、教育者の中には一人で戦っている人たちもたくさんいるので、そういった視野は大切だと思います。

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田伏：次はデジタルな世界の中での日本語教育についてご意見をお願いします。
渡辺: 最初にくる言葉は「危機感」です。ただし、テクノロジーの発達は止まりませんから、発達し続けるでしょう。で、まず読み書きの事ですが、テキスト、書かれた物、つまり文字化された日本語の教材に対して日本語教育者がどう取り組むかはガラリと変わると思います。今は手書きで何回も漢字を書く事がありますが、その内キーボードで書くことが日本社会でも当たり前なような社会が来る。そんな時代が来るとすればもう手書きを教えるかという議論がなくなるかもしれないですね。そういったときにノスタルジックに昔はこうだったと、昔にすがりつく先生もおられるかもしれないけれど、それはそれで伝統保存と言う事で意義があると思いますが、手書きをしなくてすむ時間をまた別のことに当てたらいいのではないだろうか。と言う事で学習者の熟達度（発展）の方に時間をどうやって当てていくかについてもっと前向きに考えるべきだと思います。まず読み書きの点が一つだと思う。もう一つはAIの発達で学習するAIというのが最近出てきていますが、今、例えば、コンピュータで何か質問されて（アバターですか）それに学習者が応えるというテストがありますけど、それは自分の答えをレコーディング
した後は、答えが間違っていても、不明な点があってもアバターは突っ込んでこないですよね。けれども学習するAIが出てくれば、突っ込んでくるコンピュータのアバターが存在するわけですよ。そうすると瞬時にどう対応するか、即興的に会話にどうやって立ち向かっていくか、どう対応していくかという学習者の能力をAIを使って学習していくというような場面が出て来るんじゃないかと思うのです。その時に先生はいらなくなるのかというと、どうでしょう。AIと先生のどちらが即興力があるかという勝負になってくるのかなと思います。それは個人的な練習として使うことができるのか。クラスの中では感情とか、情緒などといったものはいかにAIが頑張ってもできない分野ではないかと思うので。それから日本語の場合はまだ上下関係、ウチ・ソトの関係という事がAI対一人の学習者だけでは培われない能力だと思うので、そういった一対一だけでは培われないものを教師がクラスの中でどんどん補強して、育てていく形になるのではないかと思います。AI・テクノロジーに呑まれて負けていくという事ではなくて、そういったものの発達で自分たちの時間、教室での時間というものに余裕ができていくのか。その余裕の時間をどういう風に、それまでできなかったことに使っていくのかという前向きな視点が必要になってきていると思います。
田伏：最後に、渡辺先生が考える日本語教育の理想像とは？
渡辺：オレゴンでは昔外国語がk１２のcoreの科目になったことがあるのですが、結局予算の関係で崩れてしまった。日本語プラス外国語というのが小中高大学でもCoreの科目の存在になってほしいと思います。1990年代、バブルの時代に日本語ブームが起こって、それまで少なかった日本語学習者の数が増
え、日本語学習者の裾野がかなり広がったと思うのです。ただし、いろいろな事情があり、まだかなり尖った山になっているのではないかと思うのですが、その尖った山をいかにフラットな山にしていくか。本当に話せる人、読み書きができる人、国際舞台で日本語で話し合いができ、交渉ができる日本人
以外の外国の人たちが増えていくといいと思います。
田伏：本日はお忙しい中、本当にありがとうございました。

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Interview Two: Laurel Rasplica Rodd
This interview with Dr. Laurel Rasplica Rodd was conducted in2019 in Boulder, Colorado, where she retired after two decades as
a professor at the University of Colorado. She served as Presidentof AATJ from 1996 to 2002. We began the interview by asking
about how the professional organization for Japanese language
educators in the U.S. came to find a home at the University ofColorado.

Historical Information on AATJ,
formerly two separate organizations known as ATJ and NCJLT
Q: Could you tell us how ATJ came to Colorado from Middlebury
College in 1996? And how you integrated it into the University ofColorado Boulder (CU, hereinafter) organizational structure?
Rodd: Up until my presidency, AATJ had always moved to theinstitution of the president. One of the prerequisites for becoming
the president was the willingness of your institution to take it on.
Also, you had to have two colleagues who were willing to become the other two officers of ATJ. So when I took it,
we moved it to University of Colorado and two of my colleagues, Stephen Miller and Steve Snyder, became the othertwo officers. The main thing I needed to do was to find office space and arrange for the finances, especially grant
finances to mesh with the university system. These were the two trickiest parts. As with most things, I went to the
Executive Assistant of the Dean and asked her for advice on who to talk to about finding space. The Dean promised a
space that was available at that time, and we have kept and hung on to the space ever since. And it worked out that
we were able, although it has never been easy, to run grant funding through the Contracts and Grants office of theuniversity. It’s worked very smoothly with not too much of a problem. I think it’s going to be an issue in the future,
because the organization needs to be thinking about moving on at some point.
Q: What was your position when this happened? Were you tenured faculty?
Laurel: Yes, I came to CU as tenured faculty and a full professor. And in the middle of my first year I ended up
becoming the department Chair, too, so I did have a little bit of clout to throw around—that’s also helpful.

Background
Q: Please tell us a little about your career—the path you took and what your present (or last) position is (was).
Rodd: I retired 3 years ago as professor of Japanese at CU and did that for 20 years. I moved here in 1994, two years
before ATJ came here. Before that I taught at Arizona State University in Tempe, also for 20 years. Before that I
taught one year at the University of Virginia. They were in the process of starting a new program, with the help of aJapan Foundation Salary Assistance Program grant, which was written by a professor of Japanese history there. It was
the beginning of the program at the University of Virginia.
I have always felt fortunate I was initiated at the University of Virginia. Then when I was hired at Arizona State they
were in the process of starting a BA degree. So I got to move and help build the BA program there. The reason I was
hired at CU was that they were interested in starting a graduate program. So I got to come here and help to build theMasters and then the PhD program in Japanese.
Q: Why did you select the field you are in? What made you stay and continue in this field?
Rodd: When I was in college, I was interested in both languages and travel So I thought about careers in two fields:
one was linguistics, and the other one was political science. I thought, perhaps foreign service or government service,or some other means of getting on the road. I did my BA in French with a minor in Russian. But my junior year inollege, I wanted to study abroad, and I also wanted some funding to be able to study abroad. I ran across a programat the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii. That was an all-expenses-paid opportunity—it was acompetition. They took 15 people in Japanese and 15 people in Chinese for a 15-month program—12 months at the
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the National Defense Foreign Language fellowship program—part of the national security program of the 1960s.
That was how I got into it.
Through this sideways sort of introduction to Japanese, I did the 15 months of intensive Japanese and went back tofinish my French degree and start graduate school at the University of Michigan in linguistics. There, I wanted to sign
up for a Japanese course. When I went to sign up, they gave me a placement test and put me in Classical Japanese,and I found out I really liked it. During the first semester, Robert Brower asked me to major in or focus on Japanese,and I said yes and changed my field. So that’s how it happened.
I stayed in because . . . well, for the same reason that I got into it: it was unusual at that time, and it was a very
challenging language. I like a challenge, and I continued to find both the language and the work that I was able to do
in Japanese studies to be challenging and interesting.
Q: What was the most rewarding part of your career?
Rodd: That’s a hard question, because I’ve really enjoyed all the work that I’ve done. I would not have stayed if I did
not enjoy it. I’ve always recommended to students that they think about what they really enjoy doing and find a job
where they can enjoy doing that.
I have enjoyed both the teaching and the research side of things. On the personal side, I found while I was at theEast-West Center that I really enjoy Japanese poetry, and I was able to continue the long-term study of Japanese
poetry. But I also like thinking about organizing things and how things could be improved and perhaps finding
structures that make things work better. I very much enjoyed that in a variety of different settings.
Q: What was your biggest challenge? Or most difficulty situation related to your career?
Rodd: I did too much service when I first entered CU, with the development of the program; I also set up an outreachprogram and singlehandedly ran it for a couple of years. Then when I went up for tenure, my first book was still inpress and I decided that I should wait for a year and go up again. That does not seem too much of an impediment
now, but it felt like one to me at that time. The biggest challenge was getting through the year persuading them thatthey were wrong and I should be tenured.
In terms of the professional work that I’ve done, maybe chairing the department was more of a challenge thandirecting the Center for Asian Studies or being the president of ATJ. With the Center and with the professional field,
I felt as though the possibilities were more open. Within the university, the structure was more rigid. You have tobang your head against them a lot harder to make things change. So, I think maybe chairing the department was mybiggest challenge.
Q: How did you overcome the difficulties?
Rodd: I think talking with other people who were in similar situations and befriending other chairs and otherdepartments. . .talking with them about solutions that worked for them or ways to ignore problems and hope thatthey would go away. But also getting to know administrators and the administrators’ assistants, who are a very usefulpart of the university. So I think it is important to really study the organizational structure and figure out how things
work and where you can insinuate things that you would like to see happen at a particular institution. A lot of talking
with people and asking questions and befriending people is the main solution that I had.
Q: What were the challenges of taking care of three different sections at CU (department, Center for Asian Studies,
ATJ)?
Rodd: I think my philosophy—this is why I am happy in my field—is to look at situation that I am in and figure out
what I can do to make it better. That’s been my main goal in all the things that I have done during my career. For
example, our East Asian Languages and Literatures department was a department consisting of Japanese and Chinese
when I became chair, and gradually over the years we expanded so that it’s now a department of Asian Languages
and Civilizations with seven different languages; at the same time, we are expanding to graduate programs inJapanese and Chinese.
I think those are challenges, but I would not say that those are challenges that necessarily were brought to me fromoutside. I like to set challenges for myself for looking at ways for things to grow. The same thing goes for the Centerfor the Asian Studies; it actually had not existed when I came to CU, but with a group of other faculty and a variety
of different departments, we were able to convince the administration of the value of having the Center for AsianStudies. Then obviously there was a lot of work to do—building the Center and seeking grant funding to build
programs across the university related to all different areas of Asian Studies.
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ATJ, when I took over as President, was largely an organization that focused on college-level faculty. It always
seemed to me that the field would be stronger if we were more integrated. I felt that a stronger, broader structurethat provided communication among everyone who might have an interest in a particular area would be a benefit toeverybody. So what we gradually did was to bring together ATJ and the National Council of Secondary Teachers ofJapanese (later NCJLT), which was founded just a year before I became President of ATJ. Also we looked at ways tostrengthen K-12 education in general, recognizing that university programs are built both on having strong programs
that train students at the K-12 level and also on cultivating the interest among students who are coming into a
program and continuing to study Japanese at the university level.
So among the things we did was seek grant funding for programs that provided Professional Development support
for K-12 teachers and university -level faculty programs that provided student funding for summer immersion
training.
Q: Can you talk about your role in developing the Advanced Placement program in Japanese Language and Culture?
I always thought that Japanese should be at least the equal of Spanish, French, and German. So it was important forJapanese to be recognized at the national level with the kinds of programs available for students of European
languages—one of those being Advanced Placement (AP). It was quite a lengthy lobbying effort to work with theCollege Board, but we were very pleased that they finally were willing to introduce both Japanese and Chinese to
Advanced Placement. I have been really pleased with the Japanese program in particular. I think we established astrong program. And I think that assessments of the students are fairly accurate to give universities a pretty goodknowledge of what the abilities of incoming students are likely to be. So, I’ve been pleased with those developments.
The College Board is the organization we had to lobby with for establishing the AP program. Once it was established,
then ETS (Educational Testing Service) is the one that does the testing design and administration. As the first Chief
Reader for Japanese AP. I had to work with ETS to establish the assessments that came out of the program.
One of the things that I did, because it is always useful to find the largest possible pool of lobbyists, was bring in
Chinese so that we could lobby together for establishing AP programs in both Japanese and Chinese. It’s always good
to find everybody who might have an interest that parallel yours to own and work together toward whatever goal you
might have in mind.
Q: As a Chief Reader for AP, you led a group of people to create test items. What were the challenges of that phase?
Rodd: The test development went fairly smoothly. We had some very good people—both high school teachers andpost-secondary teachers—on that committee, and we worked very well together. It was a lot of collaborative effort
on deciding which items would be most likely to give us the kind of information that we needed to tell which
students belonged at a particular level of ability. The main challenge actually was the first offering of the AP exam.
ETS decided to give Chinese and Japanese by computer, and they had never done this before and clearly did notthink through all the problems that were going to arise. The first year, when we tried to score the exam from ourhomes, I wound up working about 18 hours a day straight for two weeks straight, doing test scoring myself. It was
just impossible to do the kind of coordination that they claimed we were going to be able to do by assigning people
to score in different time zones. The following year, we had viable scores. We had set pretty good measures. I feelvery proud of having overcome that challenge. Everybody who worked on the project did a wonderful job.
Q: Do you think leaders are born, or can leadership be taught or nurtured?
Rodd: Might be both. Everybody has to take responsibility—to take on whatever they are able to take responsibility
for. When people recognize that something needs to be done or something could be done, and that it would
strengthen their institution or their field, I think people have the responsibility to step up and try to do it. So it’s
partly an individual responsibility to take leadership. Everybody needs to think about their responsibility. That said, I
think some people are obviously more comfortable doing that, so that it might be a function of personal qualities aswell. I cannot say that I have those qualities, but I have a hyper-developed sense of responsibility, or maybe an
eagerness to change and take things where I want them to be. So I will be willing to step up and try to do things
when I see them in need of doing. But I think also you can work with people and convince them that it is possible forthem to try to do things by getting out of their shell and getting to know their colleagues, and getting a good senseof their home institution so that they can think of what the possibilities are.

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It’s also important to have a sense of the broader field, so that people think about how they fit into the field andwhat they can contribute. Even beyond that, we have a responsibility to foreign languages in general. Foreign
languages continue to struggle in the US, so this is something we all need to be aware of and keep hammering on.
We don’t have enough students; we don’t have enough programs; we don’t have enough money. . .We all need tokeep working on that.
Maybe even beyond that, where do we fit in and where can we contribute to strengthening the humanities—can wework across departments to encourage students to take more courses in humanities or area studies? It is very
important for people to be thinking outside of their own box. That can be encouraged and CAN BE taught if people
are willing. People in our field should be really willing. It’s an obligation.

謙譲の美徳

Q: Some Japanese professors and teachers tend think that Kenjou no bitoku () is good in the United States
as well. Maybe it is. Do you have any specific advice or message to those who tend to be little reserved?
Rodd: I think you can be reserved. I think I am reserved, too. Everybody can be reserved. But I think you can bereserved and at the same time recognize that it is important to take on that aspect of your career—the surface
component of a teacher’s world, whether it’s K-12 or university level. In order to be able to contribute to yourinstitution or to your field, you need to educate yourself about the institution and your field as deeply as you can sothat you can recognize where there are areas where you might be able to step up and make your contribution.
I think it’s very important for people to overcome their sense of humility—to recognize that stepping up is a part oftheir job. Making the effort to learn as much as you can about your institution will help you to recognize where it isthat you are able to insert yourself—or assert yourself as the case may be. I don’t think it necessarily has to be“bossy-ness”. I think a lot of it has to do with networking, getting to know your colleagues, getting to know yourstudents, getting to know faculty in other departments, getting to know the staff of your institution, and theadministrators. The more you get to know them, the more you’ll recognize the places where you can make acontribution—where there is an opening for you to do that.
Q: What do you do when you feel stressed? What is your stress-relief strategy?
Rodd: These days I don’t feel stressed at all—after retirement. I’ve always enjoyed gardening, and I used to sew mydaughter’s clothes. I like anything that requires intricate work; and not thinking about what’s going on at the office isgood! I’ve also enjoyed cooking. I can spend my day at a meeting, and if I am not enjoying what’s going on at themeeting I think of a menu for dinner. Exercise too is good. I’ve always been a pretty serious exerciser. That’s it. I dida lot of tooth grinding at various point of my career. Those things are not foolproof.
Q: What about professors and teachers who are thinking about starting a family? Sometimes we think having a family
would set us back. Do you have any advice?
Rodd: My main advice is just to plow through it. I think institutions have become a lot more aware of the needs offemale faculty in particular. When I had my son, there was no maternity leave for faculty. I paid a substitute for oneof my two language and literature classes. I paid the wife of a friend to take my language classes for two weeks, and I
had my literature class students come to my house—it was a once-a-week class. So I had no time off at all. After that
I took Joshua to class with me. So it can be done. I think things are getting easier, actually. The main thing is just thatyou can’t do more than you can do, so do what you can and move on is my main advice. That worked well.
Q: What do you think about the current two-tier system in foreign language departments between tenure-track
positions and insecure lecturer and instructor positions? Can anything be done to improve the precarity of these
positions?
Rodd: I think it’s terrible. I have always thought so. It’s really challenging to deal with because universities enjoy
being able to have lower-paid and easily exploitable people on the faculty, and it’s getting worse and worse. The only
kind of positive solution that I have heard about is the idea of the Professor of the Practice which some institutions
have instituted, which does give people teaching-focused positions that are more secure and better paid. But one of
my failures was the inability to convince my own institution that this was a good idea. I don’t have any other goodsuggestions along those lines.
University-level faculty, whether tenure-track or non-tenure-track, need to recognize that they are really a unit andthey need to work together very tightly; they should not see themselves as two separate parts of the program. They
really need to get the program to realize that. I realize that sometimes it depends on the particular view of thepeople who are in the program, but I think as much as possible people should try to make a Japanese program becohesive and make decisions collaboratively and try to integrate the language curriculum and the literature andhumanities aspect of the program as much as possible. This is the best suggestion that I have, I am afraid.
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Q: What does language instruction look like in the digital world?
Rodd: The digital world is one that is much more closely integrated in terms of communication and ability to gather
information about other parts of the world. When I first started teaching, the only visual or oral stimuli were slides ortapes. Gradually, students have become able to access their own information about Japan or about the Japanese
language. And there was even more expansion as we faculty and students became able to input Japanese on
computers and interact with people in other parts of the world. It’s really transformed the field. You are not so
isolated any more with just you and the pile of teaching materials you used to have in your room. You can engage instructured communication, classroom to classroom, or encourage students to participate in discussions online or toseek out information and bring it to class and share it with their classmates; that would have been impossible a few
years ago. It’s a great step forward. But it also means that a teacher no longer controls the information is being
disseminated in the classroom. We need to recognize that that is a strength, and find ways to integrate the students’interests and the students’ abilities that they bring to class.
In an earlier time, students who were typically ranked as beginners probably did not know anything about Japan or(except for a few Mormon missionaries) had ever done any communication in Japanese. Now you have students whocome in who have perhaps read a lot of manga but have not done much with other aspects of the culture and otheraspects of the language. So we need to find a way to move them all forward. You cannot do it in lock step any more.
It is a bit more challenging for teachers to be able to individualize the kind of instruction they do in a classroom, sothat all students are making progress and getting a well-rounded understanding of Japanese language and Japan as
they move on.
Q: You have long been a translator of Japanese literature—poetry, in particular, both classical and modern. What are
your thoughts about translating and if/how it fit in with language teaching and vice versa.
Rodd: I have always enjoyed translating—any language. When I was doing French I really loved French poetry, too. It
might partly be because when I start studying languages it was still translation method. Everything we read wetranslated, and I really enjoy digging out the nuances and meaning of one language and struggling to find a way toconvey that as much as possible in another language. So I was particularly pleased when I found a program such as
the one at the University of Michigan. I already mentioned Robert Brower in Japanese poetry. I also studied with
Edward Seidensticker, with whom I had many semesters of reading and translating Genji, and with Bill Sibley inmodern Japanese. I discovered that I love translating. I think it is a form of literary criticism but also a kind of creative
writing—a means of self-expression. It was a good way to integrate my own pleasure in producing a version in
English and also digging into the nuances and the understanding of a text in a foreign language.
I particularly enjoy doing Japanese poetry because it is so challenging. I also enjoy doing Japanese poetry because it’s
one of the forms of Japanese culture that was fairly. . . I won’t say easy, but . . .was something you could absorb into
the language curriculum. I always thought that in a language curriculum, there should be content, starting at the
beginnings as much as possible, so that you can have the students doing something with the language that informs
their understanding of Japan. So, from the very beginning I was able to introduce haiku, for example, or simple
modern poetry into first-year Japanese classes. Students have always been pretty receptive to the idea of “Look, we
can already read it—a real Japanese text!” I have continued to do that with the other courses that I taught, fromfirst-year level up to graduate program.
One of my favorite quotations is from Heidi Byrnes, a long-time leader in the field of German Studies, who always
said that “there should be content from the beginning and language to the end” so that even graduate students arestill dealing with the nuances of the language—certainly if they are doing Classical language. But there is sort of a
trajectory, where you are doing certain kinds of things at the beginning of the language instruction and by the time
you get to the end, your language instruction is about the content that you are dealing with. I have also found that it
is possible to engage students outside of the classroom with things like linked-verse or opportunities to travel toJapan to visit the places you introduced students to in Japanese literary texts. I had wonderful trips to Japan wherestudents followed Basho’s Okuno Hosomichi and composed haiku and linked verses (). They really enjoyed it. I
have been able to integrate language and literature in this way and have enjoyed doing that.

連歌

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JNHS Spotlight - Los Gatos HS

KUMI KOBAYASHI & HOLLY DIDI-OGRENJNHS CO-DIRECTORS

Happy Spring! I hope all students and teachers are thriving and enjoying the last few weeks of the school year. In thisissue, I would like to share with you an article written by my senior JNHS officers about a special virtual meeting they
had with Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) JNHS officers in Virginia. Originally,
this meeting was envisioned by the Immediate Past President, Ann Jordan Sensei, when she was assisting the
TJHSST JNHS Officers in advocating for their Japanese Program and JNHS in summer 2021. At this meeting
between Los Gatos High School and TJHSST, I was able to meet with Fumiko Kuriki Sensei, Japanese Teacher at
TJHSST. While we were learning about each other’s schools and JNHS chapters in a breakout room, our officers had
a lively discussion and got to know each other.

JNHS Meeting: West Meets East

This February, Los Gatos High School's Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) officers got the chance to meetwith the pre-college JNHS chapter from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST). The
meeting not only affirmed our club members' quirky personalities but also provided an opportunity for both schools
to share various ideas to boost club activity, from annual events we both host, to designing T-shirts and sponsoring art
contests and much more.
Another topic we talked about was the difference in how each chapter/club approaches JNHS. For example, while
Thomas Jefferson HS is smaller than Los Gatos HS, it has many other culture related clubs beyond JNHS, such as
Russian Culture Club, Vietnamese Students Association, Asian Awareness Club, and many more.
During our meeting, the officers of TJHSST expressed how the effects of Covid-19 decreased the usual size of the
club. This is why the advisors' idea to create a JNHS summit conference struck both schools' officer teams as brilliant.
Covid-19 was unprecedented and challenging, but it also led to innovative ideas, such as imagining a virtual summit
linking JNHS chapters across the U.S.. Bringing together individual chapters would allow local high school chapters
to support and learn from each other and could create a larger sense of community for JNHS. With a summit,
members from different sectors of JNHS would be able to come together and boost morale by sharing ideas anddeveloping ways to address whatever hardships or stalemates might befall them.
Although the senior officers of both chapters will be leaving us soon, they planted a seed that we hope to grow into a
JNHS Virtual Summit next school year. If your school’s JNHS chapter is interested in joining or helping to plan thisexciting event, please contact Pre-College Co-director of JNHS Kumi Kobayashi kkobayashi@lgsuhsd.org. And staytuned for more details!
Los Gatos
JNHS Representatives:
Khya Hafeez
Allison Snyder

Japanese
National
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Webinars

A Lasting Professional Development Legacy

SUSAN SCHMIDTEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AATJ’s series of webinars for Japanese Language educators, which began in spring of 2020, continue to offer
education, networking, and inspiration for our community.
The most recent offerings have focused on topics related to the themes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. On April 2
a panel of K-16 educators spoke on “Helping Students with Disabilities”. A May 7 workshop-style webinar offered an
introduction to the basics of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) and an open forum for discussingthese issues in a confidential setting.
Webinars customarily include small-group networking discussions as well as presentations and Q-and-A sessions. Past
webinars are archived on AATJ’s website, with video recordings and/or presentation slides available; to access them,please visit https://www.aatj.org/teaching-resources. We value suggestions for new topics and ways of improving thewebinars; please write to aatj@aatj.org.
We are grateful to Professional Development Director Yoshiko Saito-Abbott for her hard work in organizing andconducting the webinars.

Japanese Language and Literature

Spring 2022 Issue of the Journal is Published
AATJ’s journal Japanese Language and Literature, which is in its 56th year of publication, has just published its Spring
2022 issue. In addition to research articles on literature, linguistics, and language pedagogy, this issue contains a
special feature which will be of special interest to AATJ members.
A special section, “Our Challenges and Triumphs: Female Asian Faculty in Leadership Positions in U.S. Colleges andUniversities,” collects the first-person accounts of eight women who have taken on leadership roles in Japanese
language education at the universities and colleges where they teach. Their short essays about their lives and careers,their successes and the challenges they faced, will resonate with many AATJ members and inspire colleagues who arecoming behind them.
The journal is online and free for all through Open Access. To read these and other articles from the current issue,
please go online to jll.pitt.edu.

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Wa-Shokuiku Online On-Demand Course
Table for Two, the sponsor of the Onigiri Action project, is offering an online ondemand Japanese-inspired food education course for university students. They arelooking for 10 teachers to collaborate with for the 2022-23 school year. The course will
be provided for free to the selected schools. Apply by May 31, 2022.
Through this course, students learn the principles of Japanese cuisine and food culture
and the skills required to prepare Japanese-inspired meals.
The program can be adapted according to each teacher’s lesson plans. Participatingteachers can use part or all of the course.
To learn more and apply for one of the 10 “collaborator” slots, go to https://www.washokuiku.org/ondemand-university.

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J.LIVE Talk 2022
J.LIVE Talk 2022 will take place on November 13, 2022, and we areagain inviting applications from high school and college students. This
will be a hybrid event. The contestants, judges, and a limited number ofguests will attend the event in person on the campus of the George
Washington University in Washington, DC. The event will also be
broadcast through a video-conferencing application so that many more
people will be able to participate in the event. Remote viewers will beable to actively participate in the question-and-answer sessions. The
Preliminary Round application will be open from September 14, 2022 to
October 5, 2022.
More information will be posted on the J.LIVE Talk 2022 site by July 1,
2022.
You can view last year's final round video and other related videos
on our YouTube J.LIVE Talk channel.
In addition to these competitions for individuals, this year we aresoliciting group videos from high school students. For details, pleaseview this page.

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Contact our social media director, Noriko Otsuka HERE!

American Association ofTeachers of Japanese, Inc.
Campus Box 366
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0366