Oh my… the semester is almost over! It is unbelievable that I have taken 4 courses this semester. I thought I would not be able to survive at all. Thanks to my classmates who worked with me and other friends who helped me with my English, I managed to get through it all. After this semester I only have one more class, which is a linguistics class, and it will surely kill me. I must complete this course in order to receive my Master degree. This course was very hard, but, I honestly can say that I have learned a lot. None of the classes I have taken are a waste of my time. I have accumulated a lot of teaching materials that I can use in my class, both for Japanese learners and English learners. I really appreciate the difficulty of this course, but it surely provided me a chance to improve my teaching practice.
Unfortunately, I do not have a license to teach anywhere in the United States. Before I came here, I had never thought about staying in the states for a while after graduation, so I do not have a licensure path either. However, I would like to try to transfer my Japanese national license in English subjects into a TN one, so that I may be able to teach here.
I have taught the Japanese language at MTSU for 3 semesters, and it has been very interesting. I love all of my students. They are all different, but all of them showed passion when it came to learn the Japanese culture and the language. Their questions made me think about whom I am and what I have as a Japanese person. I wish all of my students were learning the language in Japan, so that they can make more use of it though.
For one of the course requirement, I made a Wiki page for ESL professionals and teaching materials. Actually, I honestly do not like the Wiki because it often messed up my work. It sometimes took me more than 2 hours to edit it causing me frustration. I haven’t used my Wiki pages in my class for my students because it is for ESL, but I may redesign the site for other Japanese learners, so that they can have access to a lot of useful information regarding the Japanese culture and language.
Even though this course was for ESL add-on, I worked with my Japanese learners so that I could make use of obtained information in order to improve my teaching practice. I surely learned a lot and sometimes applied the materials, such as writing prompts, to my Japanese class. It seemed very successful for both my students and me, because the students had more detailed directions to follow. I am so glad that I took this course and other related courses that allowed me to acquire different materials that I can use in class. .
Since I worked with my Japanese learners, it is a bit hard to give advice to an ESL teacher. But as an ESL learners myself, I want to tell you that those students are having difficulty fitting into a new environment. When I studied abroad for the first time in America, I was culture shocked and had a hard time in adjusting myself to a new school. Many students do not come here to study abroad, so it would be a lot different from my situation. However, if they have at least one person who understands and listens to them, they can feel at home. I’m sure that, as I am enjoying teaching the Japanese language to my students, you will enjoy teaching your students as well because they are very adorable and unique.
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