Latest / Be A Global Citizen! / 205. GC Talks with Toko Itaya: Small Acts of Kindness Make Big Impacts on Language Learning

Transcript

205. GC Talks with Toko Itaya: Small Acts of Kindness Make Big Impacts on Language Learning · Be A Global Citizen!

• 0:05
  Hi there, and welcome to Be a Global Citizen, the podcast that
• 0:08
  explores the concept of global citizenship through the lens of
• 0:11
  value creating education. My name is Scott Bauer and I'm
• 0:15
  Ahsoka, researcher and educator. I hope you find the discussion,
• 0:18
  stories and insights on this podcast to be valuable and
• 0:21
  inspiring as we strive to become global citizens who are
• 0:24
  committed to living a contributive life.
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  Enjoy. Hello, my name is Toko Itaya.
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  I'm a doctoral student at DePaul University in Chicago.
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  So I'm based in Chicago, but originally from Japan, Osaka.
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  I'm very happy to be here. Hi, Toko.
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  Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
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  I'm very excited to have you. And, you know, we've been good
• 0:53
  friends ever since our undergraduate years at Soca
• 0:56
  University. And it's just been, yeah, so, so
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  cool to see, like, our careers kind of like, run parallel in a
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  way, right? We're both educators.
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  We've both lived in different countries.
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  We've both taught in different countries and yeah.
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  And you know, we, we both are very interested in this idea of
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  value creating education. And yeah.
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  And then it's just that I'm, I'm just really excited to hear
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  about your recent like research, your doctoral studies kind of,
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  you know, you have a very particular like, background and
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  like focus that I think is really fascinating.
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  And it kind of like connects with a lot of the, the teaching
• 1:39
  experience that you've had as well.
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  So I'm just like curious to learn about what brought you to
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  that particular kind of research focus, but also what about this
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  desire of wanting to be a teacher?
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  I know you taught Japanese and so like, how does that also
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  factor into, yeah, what you have like looking forward in your
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  future? So this is an opportunity for
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  you to just share what that journey was like.
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  What were some of the major influences on, on, you know,
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  decisions to take one path over another?
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  And yeah, I'm just, I'm just really hoping to to learn even
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  more about you. And yeah, thank you so much
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  again. Yes, yes, yeah.
• 2:23
  Thank you so much, Scott. So just to share a little bit of
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  my background, I am a full time PhD student at the Paul
• 2:33
  University in the program curriculum Studies program.
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  So my research focus is I'm researching about Daisaku Ikeda.
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  He's a Buddhist leader, educator, his educational
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  philosophy, which is human education.
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  I'm studying about that and then its application in the issues of
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  immigration across borders and countries.
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  I'm really interested in the issues of immigration.
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  So that's my research focus. But I also teach, I am a
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  Japanese teacher. I teach Japanese as a world
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  language, although I'm not teaching any Japanese classes
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  right now. But that's my starting.
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  I started my career as a Japanese teacher and yes, so oh,
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  and then I also teach some university courses in bilingual
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  and bicultural education, which I'm also interested in.
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  Yes. So that's kind of like my
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  professional background, I would say.
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  And I know Scott, you asked me kind of many, you know,
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  questions, but I think I would answer that, you know, you asked
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  like, why, why did you choose that path of education?
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  You know, in the field of education, I, I was originally
• 4:18
  majoring in International Studies.
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  So I wasn't thinking education as my career path at the
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  beginning at all. But as Scott mentioned, I, he
• 4:31
  and I met at the undergrad. So that experience, four years
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  at Sokka University that I went to, it really changed my life
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  and, you know, my perspectives on life as well.
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  So when I first started, I was like really kind of motivated
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  person, like, oh, that's changed the world, you know, kind of
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  thing. So I, I was really thinking
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  like, OK, like as my career passed, I'm gonna do my best to
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  be able to work at the UN, like, you know, kind of bigger, you
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  know, international organizations to make a real
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  changes in the world and then stuff.
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  So that's why I chose International Studies as my
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  major. But through, you know, taking
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  classes at Sokka University and, you know, having dialogues like
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  talking to my friends and professors there, I started
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  seeing more of like kind of like power of kind of grassroots, you
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  know, the, the power that you can see in the, the grassroots,
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  like between people and then stuff.
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  It kind of like led me to see the power of education.
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  So that's kind of how I started being more interested in
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  education in general. And yes, but when you say
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  education is kind of broad as well.
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  So, and then I really also liked learning new languages.
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  I also learned French as my third language at Soca.
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  And then that was, you know, original motivation and was also
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  like, oh, if I'm going to work at the UNI, should be able to
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  speak, you know, language like French, you know, but I, I, you
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  know, aside from that kind of a motivation, I really enjoyed
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  learning new languages. And the, the first professor, a
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  French professor that we had, he was very handsome.
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  So that added kind of another motivation there.
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  But, you know, jokes aside, the experience of new learning, new
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  languages gave me like, you know, kind of opening up a new
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  world, having a new perspectives.
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  So I thought, you know, oh, wow, that's very, you know, nice
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  experience I had as a student. So I thought about, you know,
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  the possibility of being a language teacher and then I'm
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  originally from Japan native speaker.
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  So I was like, OK, like, why not give it a shot?
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  So I decided to pursue that as as my masters.
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  And I started as a Japanese teacher.
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  So that's kind of like how, yeah, my, my education and
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  environment shaped my path, like a career path.
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  Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much, Toku.
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  You know, just hearing about your your journey at SUA, it
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  resonates with me because I was also an International Studies
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  major and I was not thinking about education.
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  And I thought along the lines of, well, to make a big impact
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  in the world, I need to work at a place like the UN for the
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  World Bank. And, and that seemed to be like
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  the, the, this focus of like, well, OK, maybe I'll become a
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  diplomat or something like that. That sounds important, but not
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  really understanding what that entailed, but kind of just
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  having that as like the incentive.
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  And so it sounds like that's very similar to you.
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  You took it another step, right, in terms of like committing to
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  French as the, you know, your target language, because I know
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  in the UN that's a very important language to to know.
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  And I think that, you know, unknowingly though, you were
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  building these different skills and kind of immersing yourself,
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  you know, in these different dialogues right at at this
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  particular school and kind of finding out like, oh, what's
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  what, what does it really mean to, you know, make that change
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  in the world? And perhaps, you know, the kind
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  of like person right in front of me and what's happening here and
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  now in that interaction actually contains a lot of potential,
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  right? And that's where the power of
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  grassroots that you were talking about really came through.
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  And then from there, you know, making these decisions to like
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  be like, OK, well, I know Japanese, I'm from Japan.
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  So let's let's start with that. And I know that you mentioned
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  about your, you know, like love of, of learning languages.
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  And I'm just curious because I, you know, I had this experience
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  where, you know, I also was like, well, you know, I'm from
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  the US and I know English. So why why not start teaching
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  English? But it's one thing to know a
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  language. It's another thing to teach a
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  language. Did you have a kind of awkward,
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  And I mean, I don't know if it's the word is awkward, but a kind
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  of period of like realization of like what it actually meant one
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  like how to distinguish one from the other and and yeah.
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  And what did that look like in your studies or in the initial
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  teaching jobs that you took? Yeah, yeah, definitely.
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  And then I would say, you know, it's, it was like a awkward, you
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  know, moment of realizing like, oh, like knowing or like, you
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  know, being able to speak that language as a native speaker and
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  actually teaching it to somebody else as a language, foreign
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  language, it's completely different thing.
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  And that that, I mean, you know, surprising, but also it
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  fascinated me as well. Like very like academic way,
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  like, oh, wow. Like it's very interesting.
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  So I was very glad that I had an opportunity to be able to, you
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  know, learn that specifically from a kind of linguistic stand
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  of point of viewpoint in the in the master's program.
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  Yeah. So like when I'm having like
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  conversations with my students who are, you know, in the middle
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  of learning Japanese as their world language, you know, the
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  the mistakes they make, you know, it's sometimes like very
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  surprising to me. And then that brings me like the
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  joy of like finding new things about longitudes.
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  So that's very like a great experiences for me as well.
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  So yes. Well, so I think that the, the
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  perspective of what you shared of like going through that
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  awkward transition and then kind of maybe adding more layers of
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  like nuance to like, what does it, what, what do I really
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  understand from the language in terms of like my own processing
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  of the language and like what you know, But then also in terms
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  of like how you can articulate that to someone else who is in a
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  very different stage of, of knowing or in the language
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  acquisition period. And I find that, you know, the,
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  the theory of it is one thing, but then translating theory into
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  practice is another. And, and so like when you had
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  your early start as a teacher or maybe getting like teacher
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  experience, what, what was, what were those like early classroom
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  days like, and kind of, yeah, I mean, just just take us back to
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  that time. I'd, I'd love to hear kind of
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  what that was like, because I would imagine it, it was
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  challenging. But like now looking back many,
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  you know, years later as a more experienced teacher now, yeah.
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  What are some like insights that you can pull out from like those
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  initial kind of attempts to kind of bridge that theory and like
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  practice, you know, side? Yes, yes, that's a very good
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  question. I mean, I'm, I don't, I wouldn't
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  consider myself like experienced, you know, Japanese
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  teacher. I've taught Japanese for about 3
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  years in back in Japan and then I came to the States.
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  So and then my experience of teaching Japanese here in the
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  States is somewhat limited as well.
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  But I, you know, like to continue teaching and that's
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  something that, you know, I'm passionate about, something I
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  want to continue doing in my life.
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  But yeah, looking back, I think, you know, many teacher, maybe
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  you know you too, but I think they can resonate with this.
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  But I don't want to like look back on the early days of myself
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  teaching because, you know, like, I was absolutely like
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  terrified to be in front of the students.
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  You know, like, just the thought of like everyone is looking at
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  you, right? And then you need to like be
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  just talking, continue talking and, you know, facilitate and,
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  you know, everyone, like all students in front of you are
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  different people coming from different backgrounds.
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  So yes, that was very difficult. You know, there are so many
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  moments I made mistakes in a classroom.
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  Like looking back, I was like, Oh my gosh, it's so horrible.
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  Why did I do that? You know, like all these
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  moments. But I, I think that the one idea
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  that kept me going, you know, the, it's, I know, almost like,
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  like why I wanted to be a language teacher, like
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  particularly why I want to teach language.
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  It's like, I think going back to, you know, the classes, I had
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  a French classes with the handsome professor.
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  Not only he was a handsome, but also he was a very like, a kind,
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  you know, person. You know, he like, we could see
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  like as a student, we could see his efforts to make classes very
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  interesting to us. And he, you know, kept
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  encouraging us like, oh, I know that at the beginning it's hard
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  to learn a new language, but just stick with it.
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  And then you'll be able to have a great time in France, you
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  know, wherever you go, study abroad.
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  And then when we actually got to the time of study abroad, he was
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  like, you know, giving his phone number to each student and
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  telling us that, oh, whenever you have, you know, any like
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  difficulties, you can call me. So that kind of like, you know,
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  just a small act that one teacher can do, right?
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  Like you don't even need to do that.
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  Like it's not included in your job description or not like
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  that. But the fact that he did that
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  and we were able to feel that like his heart, like heart to
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  heart kind of interactions that happen in the language
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  classroom. I, I think I really love that
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  like felt that Wow, like through language because, you know, we
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  need a language to communicate. And when we communicate, it's
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  not just the like a surface level, but it's like human to
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  human, even though we can't see everything about the person.
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  But that's why we need to communicate.
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  And then that's why I felt like the language teachers
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  personality or like way of being matters, like really matters in
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  the classroom because it's so about like communication, you
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  know, human interactions. So like, rather than teaching
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  just like facts, facts, like after facts, of course, you
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  know, language learning requires like memorizations and like a
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  practice over and then over. I think the the essence of it,
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  like the core of it in the language teaching and in the
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  language classroom. I think that's what I really
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  loved. So yeah.
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  Yeah, I'd really appreciate that because it's not about well,
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  yeah, again what you said about like knowing vocabulary, write
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  the words and knowing the grammar and knowing all that
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  information is important. It's it really comes down to
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  that relationship that you have with with the the teacher in
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  terms of that engagement of trying to like learn something
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  that is very difficult. And and then also I would say
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  there's a certain relationship that is being created with that
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  new language and also that new culture that comes with it.
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  But especially if you haven't been there, you know, someone
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  like that handsome French teacher understands what it's
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  like to kind of stand between worlds, right?
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  Or actually, you know, in that situation, you had already
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  experienced that because you were already doing a study
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  abroad in a sense, right, by coming to the US.
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  But it's like, I don't know, I'm thinking of like, you know, you
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  go to like, a dinner party, right?
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  A dinner party with a lot of people and everyone's new.
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  And there's that kind of social anxiety of like, I don't want to
• 18:38
  say hi or I don't want to mess up or, you know, it's scary.
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  And having a good friend in this case, you know, handsome
• 18:47
  professor to kind of guide you along and really, you know, help
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  you in kind of like learning and, you know, making mistakes,
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  but in like a kind of safe environment.
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  And, you know, him shielding you in a lot of ways.
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  Like part of that being maybe through making the, the lessons,
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  you know, really fun despite a very difficult concept being
• 19:06
  conveyed or in that moment of departure to a study abroad, you
• 19:11
  know, going to France, you know, somewhere, you know, a city in
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  France, for example, giving his number to say, like, you know,
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  I, I, I, I'm there for you if you, if you need anything.
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  I think that that humanity is so is so important, but it also
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  ties back to what you were sharing about your early years
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  as a teacher because that also was like your humanity and all
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  the kind of like, you know, miss making mistakes and doubting
• 19:34
  yourself and being nervous in front of students.
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  I resonate with that. And I think anyone who's ever
• 19:40
  taught in front of a group of students will resonate with that
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  because there's just, there's, there's so much happening and
• 19:48
  there's a sense of like, I think if you're wanting to do a good
• 19:51
  job, you're like, I don't want to scar these children.
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  I want, I want to make sure that I'm actually adding value to
• 19:58
  them and not wasting their time. But, you know, I, I feel like
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  it's kind of, it seems a little, you know, paradoxical, But like
• 20:06
  the more that I think teachers are able to like own up to that
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  very human side of like, you know, kind of.
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  Like with the victories, but there's also going to be all
• 20:16
  these kind of mistakes. But like the more they can show
• 20:18
  that that they care and that they're doing their best, I
• 20:21
  think the better students respond to that.
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  And and so that this next question that I have for you.
• 20:28
  And it kind of relates to more of like the, you know, cultural
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  differences that come up with, you know, being from one place
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  and like teaching your language to maybe a group of students who
• 20:41
  are not from there. And I think this maybe ties into
• 20:44
  some of your research interests or, or at least you mentioned
• 20:47
  the, the undergraduate courses that you you teach on like by
• 20:50
  literacy and by cultural right studies.
• 20:53
  So I guess you know, you, you've had experiences where you know,
• 20:59
  you're as a Japanese citizen now you're teaching Japanese to a
• 21:03
  group of students who are, let's say, I think, you know, there
• 21:07
  was a stint of time where you were living in Brazil even.
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  So maybe that can be a good example.
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  Like maybe could you speak a little bit to that experience of
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  like being in a very different cultural setting and having to
• 21:21
  convey not only the content of like what the language is, but
• 21:25
  also kind of navigate a brand new culture as well, right?
• 21:29
  Kind of this, it almost seems, I don't know.
• 21:31
  Would you describe it like a tug of war in terms of like how to
• 21:35
  like kind of assert one side or to teach one thing over the
• 21:39
  other? Or like, is it more of a dance,
• 21:43
  right, where you're trying to really kind of like learn the
• 21:45
  steps together with the students?
• 21:47
  I'm curious. Yes, yes, I think like, yeah, it
• 21:55
  was maybe I, I would agree that it's, you can kind of describe
• 21:59
  it as a tug of war. But yes, as someone you know
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  who's from one place, one country and then moving to a
• 22:09
  different country and then teaching different kind of like
• 22:13
  a contents from your own language and culture.
• 22:18
  But that experience, I think in itself really helped me develop
• 22:23
  as a teacher because I myself like had to go through, you
• 22:28
  know, like the cultural like differences and, you know, I, I
• 22:33
  had to like get used to the cultural differences.
• 22:37
  So, but I think I'm so glad that I had that experience because so
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  that it helps me to like better understand what my students
• 22:52
  would go through in the future as well.
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  Because many of my students, you know, their dreams is like, oh,
• 22:58
  I want to go to Japan and then study there or maybe like live
• 23:02
  there and then work there. So I know that not everything is
• 23:08
  going to be great. And then because, but because of
• 23:11
  that, exactly because of that, like you're going to be able to
• 23:15
  grow so much and be able to get to know people that you wouldn't
• 23:21
  know, like you don't wouldn't have known if you just stayed at
• 23:26
  one place. You know, nothing wrong with
• 23:28
  just playing staying at the one place.
• 23:30
  But yeah, like first when I went to Brazil, that that experience
• 23:38
  was really great as well. I loved Brazil.
• 23:41
  People are so warm and great food.
• 23:46
  Yes. So I really enjoyed.
• 23:47
  I'm sure you really loved it too.
• 23:50
  But yes, to me, when I first went to undergrad, you know,
• 23:57
  studying at SUA Soca University, that was my first time going
• 24:02
  outside of my home country. So going to, you know, other
• 24:09
  countries, you know, from the US like France or Brazil, also like
• 24:13
  open up so much of my world new perspectives, not just like, you
• 24:21
  know, either Japan or the US, you know, to me at the time,
• 24:28
  yes, yes. And also like, you know, you
• 24:33
  mentioned about my research interest, but I, I think that
• 24:38
  the reason why I got to be interested in the issues of
• 24:42
  immigration is like, I think, you know, my own path that that
• 24:48
  I came through really kind of showed me.
• 24:58
  I don't know how I would explain, but like what I'm
• 25:04
  interested in and what I want to like pursue and then the
• 25:08
  research about kind of looking back on my own experience as a
• 25:16
  student coming to the US. And, you know, the first four
• 25:20
  years at university, at undergrad, I struggled a lot as
• 25:25
  well, you know, academically and, you know, making friends
• 25:31
  and everything, like literally everything.
• 25:35
  And then because I struggled with everything, I started
• 25:39
  feeling like, you know, kind of losing, you know,
• 25:41
  self-confidence, right? I can't even express myself.
• 25:45
  I can't even understand what my, you know, classmates are saying,
• 25:51
  you know, because of the language barriers and that
• 25:58
  experience, you know, I, I wouldn't want to go back because
• 26:03
  it was so hard, but I think that expanded my capacity to be able
• 26:13
  to understand others feelings like so much like without that I
• 26:21
  wouldn't be, you know, myself now.
• 26:24
  I wouldn't be like Toko Itaya now.
• 26:27
  So even though I wouldn't want to be go back to that days, but
• 26:31
  I would definitely choose that experience to be able to get to
• 26:38
  where I am right now. So and yes, kind of like going
• 26:43
  back to what I was sharing about, you know, my students
• 26:46
  also like going through, you know, there's a potential that
• 26:49
  my students would go through the same thing as me.
• 26:54
  Yes. So that's that's what I'm trying
• 26:56
  to look at as my research interest.
• 26:59
  When you like include immigration as a curriculum
• 27:03
  materials, there is a it kind of like opens up the world for
• 27:09
  students because it enables them to think about what would I go
• 27:13
  through as as kind of like outsider when I go to Japan, you
• 27:18
  know, in Japanese society, I would be outsider.
• 27:23
  It's not everything, you know, not everything you're going to
• 27:26
  be like flashy like, you know, shining great experience as I
• 27:32
  see on in the anime or on a manga, because not everyone, of
• 27:38
  course, you know, not everyone has the same opinion as you.
• 27:42
  But how would you navigate that, You know, through study abroad
• 27:48
  experience, if you have that opportunity.
• 27:51
  And even if you don't have study abroad, but being able to think
• 27:57
  about that, how would that help students to kind of like develop
• 28:03
  their humanity and be able to extend their thoughts to people
• 28:09
  around them coming from like different backgrounds?
• 28:14
  So I yeah, that's, that's what I'm trying to research on the
• 28:21
  immigration issues in the language classrooms.
• 28:27
  Wow, there's so there's so much that you shared and it's it's so
• 28:31
  rich. Like there's, there's I, I
• 28:33
  really appreciate this, this conversation about how, you
• 28:38
  know, experiencing what it's like to be an outsider.
• 28:43
  It's, it's incredibly difficult. It can be painful, right?
• 28:47
  And yet at the same time, it it does for, you know, one the
• 28:53
  opportunity to really cultivate their own sense of like empathy
• 28:58
  towards what others have experienced.
• 29:00
  Because you know, in a study abroad kind of setting, you're
• 29:04
  willingly right, putting yourself into a kind of, you
• 29:08
  know, uncomfortable situation where you don't know the
• 29:10
  language, Maybe you don't know the culture or you're, you're
• 29:13
  learning the, the language as you go along.
• 29:16
  And, and you're kind of, you know, grappling with the
• 29:19
  perception of like, how do I fit in here?
• 29:24
  And then kind of feeling like I don't fit in, like, and this is
• 29:26
  a, this is a problem. So you know, that that
• 29:30
  outsiderness is something that you know, from study abroad
• 29:33
  programs and through learning a language, I think is very
• 29:37
  apparent. And it's very powerful because
• 29:39
  it's not, it's not like, you know, just like a simulation in
• 29:43
  a in a classroom, but it's like really it's, it's meant to be
• 29:46
  felt. Then there's also this kind of
• 29:50
  situation where when we talk, when at least when I think about
• 29:53
  immigration, I think of, you know, kind of like coming to a
• 29:57
  country for, you know, work opportunities, right?
• 30:01
  And it's kind of create a new life.
• 30:03
  But then again, they're faced with the same kind of, you know,
• 30:08
  powerful forces of like, how do you navigate a new kind of
• 30:13
  cultural setting? How do you figure out like,
• 30:16
  yeah, making friends, right, building out your network.
• 30:19
  And it's there's so much that can just kind of overwhelm us.
• 30:24
  But you know, the process of I think through the from your lens
• 30:30
  of like through language and then also from your own lived
• 30:33
  experience, how can you really set students up so that it's,
• 30:38
  it's not about, I just want you to do well on this vocabulary
• 30:41
  test, you know, but it's like it's tied to something much
• 30:44
  bigger, right? There's this, this hope, right
• 30:47
  that, you know, wow, you know, like I don't, I know you need to
• 30:50
  struggle and I know it might be difficult, but I want to set you
• 30:54
  up as best I can, right? Or I want you to maybe have the
• 30:57
  right mindset, right? Because sometimes, you know, if
• 31:01
  you kind of go into a situation with thinking it'll be one way
• 31:06
  that everything will just kind of be handed to you and people
• 31:08
  will be nice. And you know, they'll it'll be,
• 31:12
  you know, it'll work out in your favor.
• 31:13
  But then have the complete opposite happen.
• 31:15
  Can be very disillusioned. Like, you know, it'll be very
• 31:19
  shocking and they'll feel disillusioned.
• 31:22
  So, you know, all of that just it makes me think about how, you
• 31:25
  know, again, language learning and like what, what the teacher
• 31:29
  is kind of asked to do and setting them up.
• 31:32
  It just, it goes, the curriculum is so much bigger than we think,
• 31:36
  right? And because again, the
• 31:37
  curriculum of not just the test that they take, the grammar they
• 31:41
  need to cover the sequencing of it, the pace, right?
• 31:44
  But it's again like these bigger things of like, well, like, what
• 31:48
  does it mean to belong? Like, what, what?
• 31:51
  What can we learn from different cultures?
• 31:54
  What does it say about you, right, in terms of your own
• 31:56
  culture? I know that's something that I
• 31:58
  know I've really thought a lot about in terms of having like,
• 32:02
  the mirror kind of reflected back.
• 32:05
  It's like, well, I might be living in Brazil, but actually I
• 32:08
  learned so much about, you know, my own kind of biases as like,
• 32:13
  someone from the US And. Yeah, I mean, I'm just on that
• 32:18
  line. Like, is that are, are these
• 32:20
  kind of like things that you've considered within the curriculum
• 32:24
  itself or maybe just even within your own teaching experiences?
• 32:27
  Like do you try to engage students in those conversations?
• 32:31
  Like the deeper conversations of like, like what, what are kind
• 32:35
  of like biases that we come into another culture with?
• 32:40
  Are there things that you try to like, share with them as far as
• 32:43
  like helping them bridge some of the gaps that they're inevitably
• 32:47
  going to find? Yeah.
• 32:50
  And then also like what, what age group are we talking about
• 32:53
  for like the students that you've been teaching?
• 32:55
  Like, are you, were you just you're speaking broadly, but
• 32:57
  like in terms of your own teaching experience, was it
• 32:59
  mostly like a certain age group too?
• 33:02
  Yes, yes. So my, the, the age groups that
• 33:07
  I teach, I started with teaching university students or students
• 33:12
  who want to, you know, they wanna go into the undergrad
• 33:16
  program in Japan. So like they are fresh out of
• 33:20
  high school, like almost high schoolers, but in between like
• 33:23
  high school and university and also like exchange students, you
• 33:28
  know, from all over the world. So like university students and
• 33:33
  then also a shorter period of time, but I taught at high
• 33:38
  school. So that's kind of the age group
• 33:42
  particularly that I have experience teaching with.
• 33:49
  I so to like your answer, your question, I think like I'm still
• 33:55
  really, you know, exploring that question as well, like
• 34:00
  relationship with like teaching and thinking about like these
• 34:05
  big questions through the lessons, you know, in the
• 34:08
  Japanese teaching. But I, you know, as my like
• 34:13
  teacher, like philosophy or attitude, I just try to be, you
• 34:20
  know, there for them trying to like reflect on my experience,
• 34:26
  my own experience of what it was like to learn new language
• 34:33
  potentially in a foreign country.
• 34:38
  You know, it can be like very, very hard.
• 34:41
  So and every student they might need, you know, different
• 34:47
  things. Some students just need a kind
• 34:51
  of encouragement, you know, like they, they just want to be like
• 34:54
  praised by teachers and so that they get like, you know, a
• 34:58
  little bit of like push so they can do well on exams and stuff.
• 35:03
  But you know, some students really need like more time to to
• 35:09
  like just be taught by the teacher.
• 35:13
  So I think that, you know, I mentioned about like making so
• 35:19
  many mistakes as a young teacher, but I think one thing I
• 35:23
  feel like I can be proud of is like, although, you know, I made
• 35:28
  many mistakes, but despite those mistakes, I think that I think
• 35:35
  that I kept doing my best. So maybe, you know, from the
• 35:46
  pedagogical perspective, or if I ask advice from the senior
• 35:52
  educators, teachers, you know, there might be like millions of
• 35:56
  advices that I should get, but you know, I, I just like tried
• 36:01
  my best and do whatever that I thought would be the best for my
• 36:07
  students. So, you know, at times I, I
• 36:12
  shared my experience with my students.
• 36:15
  So, you know, just to show that, you know, somebody's there, you
• 36:19
  know, who might not understand completely what they're feeling,
• 36:23
  but you know, just to show the support.
• 36:27
  So yes, because, because, you know, it's a language class, so
• 36:33
  my students tend to be coming from different backgrounds as
• 36:38
  well. Not, not when I was teaching in
• 36:40
  the States, but especially when I was teaching back in Japan.
• 36:46
  You know, students are coming from different countries and
• 36:49
  they have different, you know, cultural like religious,
• 36:54
  linguistic, different backgrounds.
• 36:57
  So sometimes, you know, I asked myself like, what would be the
• 37:03
  best way to teach, to communicate with these students
• 37:09
  coming from very different, you know, places.
• 37:15
  But one thing that I really value or like cherish in my
• 37:22
  heart is the experience I got from Socal SUA, you know,
• 37:27
  although, you know, it was hard, especially at the beginning
• 37:31
  because of the language barrier and all.
• 37:34
  But I think that the, you know, if I had to share like, oh,
• 37:39
  what, what's the like? One thing, like one big lesson
• 37:43
  that you you earned through these four years at SUA, then I
• 37:49
  would say that I think I was able to see like how similar we
• 37:56
  are as human beings. Of course, you know, like I
• 38:00
  understand that there's like so many differences, like
• 38:04
  personality wise and a cultural like, you know, there's many,
• 38:08
  many differences. I can like, you know, list a
• 38:11
  list goes on, but I, I realized like, you know, through living
• 38:16
  there and, you know, interacting with them, I realized that Oh
• 38:21
  wow, like everyone becomes happy.
• 38:23
  You know, when when they make efforts and they get like a good
• 38:28
  grades, you know, for example, right, like when your family
• 38:31
  members are sick, you get, you become really sad.
• 38:35
  Like you, you know, break up with your boyfriend or
• 38:38
  girlfriend, you become very sad. Like all these things as like
• 38:42
  human beings. I felt like beyond differences
• 38:47
  that we have, I felt like, oh wow, like, you know, like my
• 38:52
  friends from like other countries from the other side of
• 38:57
  the world. But they share, you know, we can
• 39:01
  share these kind of like feelings, right?
• 39:04
  Like we can resonate with them and then we can like try to
• 39:08
  understand what they're feeling. So I think that became the core
• 39:16
  of myself as a human being and as a teacher as well.
• 39:22
  So even when we get to the classroom and, you know, with
• 39:26
  many different people, but I think that's kind of like my
• 39:31
  philosophy, teaching philosophy. So I try to like, you know,
• 39:35
  share my own experience with them and then hear their
• 39:38
  experiences as well. And then let them share students
• 39:44
  experiences so that it becomes like a community, like a
• 39:48
  learning community to be able to support each other.
• 39:51
  I guess I want them to be able to also feel like, you know,
• 39:56
  one, like understanding each other differences is important,
• 40:00
  but at the same time to like also you share so many things as
• 40:05
  well as human beings. Yeah, what, what I'm, what I'm
• 40:11
  getting from, from everything that you shared is that, you
• 40:14
  know, like this approach that you have to really, really like
• 40:19
  listen to and, and, and just like appreciate the student in
• 40:23
  front of you because they're going to be going through who
• 40:26
  knows what right terms of the this critical moment of, oh, I
• 40:30
  just broke up with so and so or my, my family member is sick.
• 40:35
  And yet here we are, you know, learning Japanese.
• 40:39
  I think there's something that that's to be said about the kind
• 40:44
  of all-encompassing and like, you know, the warmth that you as
• 40:48
  the teacher, you know, offer to the student to let them know
• 40:52
  that it's OK and, and that, you know, you're wanting to support
• 40:57
  them as a, as a person 1st. And then after that as, as a
• 41:03
  Japanese student. And then through these many
• 41:06
  interactions that you've had with probably at this point,
• 41:09
  hundreds of students, you, you talked about the similarities,
• 41:15
  right, that that emerge in terms of, again, these deeper felt
• 41:21
  characteristics of, you know, just humans wanting to, to be
• 41:25
  recognized, wanting to be supported and, and just, you
• 41:29
  know, overall wanting to grow and, and learn and make efforts.
• 41:34
  So I think that is really, really powerful.
• 41:38
  But it also is a little revolutionary in the sense that
• 41:41
  it's not about how can I get this student to Max out of their
• 41:46
  Japanese language proficiency in a set number of time, right?
• 41:50
  Which is what I think a lot of people tend to view language
• 41:54
  learning as just, you know, hit a certain benchmark, right?
• 41:59
  It's like a video game. You just need a certain number
• 42:02
  of experience and then you level up and then that's that's it.
• 42:06
  But I think you approach it in, in such a holistic and like very
• 42:11
  humanistic way that makes it very clear that, you know, this
• 42:16
  language has the potential to really factor into not just
• 42:20
  their career, right, or what they're they plan to do in the
• 42:23
  future, but also and how they just relate to themselves too.
• 42:27
  I think. And again, that's kind of what I
• 42:29
  had shared previously about a relationship to the language
• 42:33
  itself, because I know for myself, like, you know, it, it
• 42:37
  was very difficult to, to learn some of these languages like
• 42:40
  Spanish and, and Portuguese. But you know, there did come a
• 42:45
  point when my confidence, you know, was high enough where I, I
• 42:49
  felt like, wow, I was able to have a successful conversation.
• 42:53
  I was able to have an experience and actually go to the
• 42:56
  supermarket or I was able to do this and that.
• 42:59
  And, and all of that just factors into, again, like just
• 43:03
  life, you know, core memories. And, and I think that's so, so
• 43:07
  beautiful because you're constantly proving to yourself
• 43:10
  that you can do a lot more than you actually think amidst very
• 43:14
  unknown, seemingly, you know, scary and risky kind of
• 43:18
  environment, like, you know, a brand new country, But you know,
• 43:23
  all of this, you know, is to say you're setting your students up
• 43:27
  to speak Japanese, right, to want to speak Japanese.
• 43:32
  And, and it opens up a whole plethora of possibilities, new
• 43:36
  paths. I wanted to bring in the this
• 43:40
  concept of global citizenship. Is this also something that like
• 43:44
  you use as like language, not language, but as part of the
• 43:49
  kind of conversation of like, why would you want to learn a
• 43:53
  language like Japanese in the 1st place?
• 43:55
  How do you articulate something like being a global citizen to
• 43:59
  to students? And yeah, yeah.
• 44:03
  So I'm just, I'm just curious like how that factors into
• 44:06
  either your teaching approach or in terms of even the research
• 44:10
  that you're doing on on immigration?
• 44:14
  Yes, yes, global like regarding like global citizenship.
• 44:21
  I'm not directly incorporating it into, you know, my teaching
• 44:25
  in a Japanese classroom, but I think, you know, it relates in
• 44:31
  terms of like, I guess with what I just shared, like kind of all
• 44:35
  of that I shared. And also you mentioned about,
• 44:39
  you know, you, the relationship between you and then the
• 44:42
  language and the culture and the stuff.
• 44:46
  I think that the, you know, of course, learning a new language
• 44:54
  opens up new world, new cultural perspectives.
• 45:01
  So yeah, like literally, you know, you will be able to
• 45:06
  communicate with many more people in the world, not from
• 45:12
  the same place, but having completely different
• 45:15
  experiences, but you'll be able to communicate because of that,
• 45:19
  you know, language capacity, capability.
• 45:23
  So I, I want students be able to, you know, see that, you
• 45:26
  know, as a kind of like a goal. So like I try to encourage
• 45:30
  students like, OK, like what, what, what is your goal?
• 45:33
  Like what is your purpose? I think that's, you know, very
• 45:36
  important to like continue reminding students like what is
• 45:39
  their goal dream and, you know, purpose, because sometimes, you
• 45:45
  know, like it's kind of specific to our Japanese, but especially
• 45:49
  like writing system is really complicated.
• 45:52
  And then many students kind of like stop like in suggesting
• 45:58
  learning Japanese at that point. But if you don't need to like,
• 46:04
  if you want to like, master it, of course, at some point you
• 46:09
  need to study the writing system and memorize how to write them,
• 46:14
  read them. But if you're like, for example,
• 46:17
  your purpose is to be able to maybe have a casual conversation
• 46:21
  with your Japanese friends, then you don't need to start with,
• 46:26
  you know, writing system, but more like all the greetings, how
• 46:30
  to introduce yourself in Japanese.
• 46:32
  And you know, these kind of the vocabularies related to hobbies
• 46:36
  and stuff, These are more important to you.
• 46:39
  So like I try to like let my students think about what's the
• 46:44
  relationship and what's the, the meaning that you get from
• 46:49
  learning the language, learning Japanese.
• 46:55
  Yes. And then there's something I
• 46:58
  wanted to. Share OH.
• 47:01
  Oh yeah? Oh, go ahead.
• 47:06
  Well, yeah, as you're thinking about that, it just sounds very
• 47:10
  practical in the way that like language does not have to be
• 47:14
  like seemingly like one-size-fits-all, but more so
• 47:19
  like, again, for what purpose really are you wanting to like
• 47:23
  use the language? And, and sometimes it can be
• 47:26
  very clear from the start, right.
• 47:28
  I want to go to Japan and visit Mount Fuji and I just need to be
• 47:35
  able to ask for maybe directions.
• 47:38
  And that's OK. You don't have to read a
• 47:40
  newspaper in Japanese. But I think that it's, it's,
• 47:45
  it's good to set those goals, but it's also good to not be
• 47:48
  overly rigid as far as, you know, closing a door forever.
• 47:53
  Because sometimes I think we often think so black and white
• 47:56
  or, or we don't see that potential of like kind of what
• 47:59
  that experience is like. I know that when you just go
• 48:02
  from like zero to 100 and say, oh, my goal is to become fluent,
• 48:07
  just just Max out more fluent than an actual native.
• 48:11
  That's when it gets really tricky because I experienced
• 48:14
  this 1st 10 of just being constantly disappointed by my
• 48:18
  results because I would always measure it to that pinnacle of
• 48:22
  language fluency, right? You're you're nodding like a
• 48:27
  lot. You're like, Oh my gosh, yeah.
• 48:28
  There are a lot of students. They suffer from that, too.
• 48:31
  Yeah, yeah, my student. And then, you know, myself, I
• 48:34
  think that, you know, I had to go through that as well.
• 48:37
  And then I had to like, you know, remind myself like, I
• 48:41
  don't need to be disappointed even though I cannot speak like
• 48:45
  a native speaker, Like why, why am I, you know, aspiring myself
• 48:50
  to do that Even so that kind of like made me reflect about
• 48:55
  myself a lot. Yeah.
• 48:57
  Yeah. You don't need to do that,
• 48:58
  right. Like to communicate with your
• 49:00
  friends. Just just enjoy the
• 49:01
  conversation. No, no, no need to be afraid of,
• 49:05
  you know, making mistakes and then that and then OK, so that
• 49:09
  made me remember what I wanted to share.
• 49:12
  The other thing related to global citizenship.
• 49:14
  So, so again, you know, not directly kind of, you know, me
• 49:20
  talking about the term global citizenship in a classroom or
• 49:24
  anything, but kind of tying back to, you know, when we were
• 49:29
  sharing about study abroad experience and thinking about,
• 49:33
  oh, what would I go through when I go to Japan or in the Japanese
• 49:40
  society? Like I would be outsider.
• 49:42
  But I think that learning languages gives you an
• 49:46
  opportunity to be, you know, exactly like outsider and be
• 49:52
  more vulnerable. Being on that side and being
• 49:58
  able to like experience that in itself, I think that's really a
• 50:03
  valuable educational experience because, you know, at some
• 50:09
  points, not only in the language classroom or even in the school
• 50:16
  system, people become like need to be vulnerable or sometimes,
• 50:24
  you know, others cannot understand you what you don't
• 50:28
  understand others. You know, when you experience
• 50:31
  that, how do you like, how would you navigate, you know, that
• 50:35
  kind of issues? So I think being able to
• 50:39
  experience that through learning languages, I think that's a
• 50:44
  great opportunity from an educational perspective as well.
• 50:48
  And then I think that kind of gives important aspect of a
• 50:53
  global citizenship as well, like how do you communicate with
• 50:57
  people who not necessarily have a same opinion as you?
• 51:08
  Yeah. And I think that not only like
• 51:09
  through the process of like, let's say you're learning
• 51:12
  Japanese and then it'll, it gives you that feeling of like,
• 51:15
  OK, well, maybe I can like, you know, speak with Japanese
• 51:20
  people, but not like just kind of through their own process.
• 51:24
  It won't be like fluent, but maybe just kind of getting some
• 51:26
  words out there. But I think that, you know,
• 51:28
  still experiencing that kind of other feeling or that sense of
• 51:33
  maybe they're battling their own insecurities of like, Oh, that
• 51:35
  didn't really sound great. But it's, it's a willingness to
• 51:40
  make mistakes. It's a curiosity about what this
• 51:44
  other person has to to share, like what I can learn from them.
• 51:49
  And I think that, you know, whether it's, you know, you
• 51:51
  learning Japanese, but then speaking to someone from a
• 51:54
  totally different background, you know, it doesn't even have
• 51:57
  to be about the language itself. I think then it becomes just
• 52:01
  this kind of mindset, how to engage with difference and to
• 52:06
  approach it with certain level of humility as well that I don't
• 52:10
  know, you know, how this may turn out.
• 52:13
  And I don't know if I'm fully expressing myself appropriately,
• 52:17
  but taking every kind of possible action to be
• 52:24
  respectful, right? To, to try to, you know, try to
• 52:28
  like and build some kind of bridge, maybe just through hand
• 52:32
  gestures, maybe it's through another action of like, you
• 52:35
  know, pointing them in the direction they need to go or
• 52:38
  whatever it might be. But I just think that, you know,
• 52:41
  there's just so much is that goes into how we in essence try
• 52:46
  to like connect with people across difference.
• 52:48
  I think that really ties into like global citizenship and then
• 52:52
  also just language acquisition in general.
• 52:54
  So, So yeah. Thank you so much, Toku.
• 52:57
  And you sound like such an incredible Japanese teacher.
• 53:02
  I want to learn more Japanese and I want you to be my teacher.
• 53:08
  You can pay me. But anyways, am I also allowed
• 53:12
  to ask you a question? I don't know, maybe if you've,
• 53:17
  you know, shared already somewhere in a podcast, but I
• 53:21
  wanted to like also know, like, you know, if you were to share
• 53:24
  like, oh, this was the biggest lesson or like something I
• 53:28
  learned through your four years at SUA, like, you know, not
• 53:33
  necessarily related to global citizenship or could be related,
• 53:38
  but I don't know. I wanted to like ask you what
• 53:41
  was your, you know, lesson to? Well, I think, I mean, there's a
• 53:49
  lot of so many lessons, right? The one that immediately comes
• 53:52
  to mind that I think really initially after graduating was
• 53:57
  most like resonant with me was just about like just how much
• 54:03
  gratitude I have for the university and for everyone that
• 54:07
  contributed to the university and even my journey getting
• 54:11
  there. I just, I think that's like the
• 54:14
  huge thing, right? Because when I first started,
• 54:17
  like a lot of young people, I think it kind of was like not
• 54:20
  not thinking about like others. I was more self-centered and
• 54:24
  just kind of like, oh, how's it going to benefit me?
• 54:27
  But it was this wonderful process of just recognizing this
• 54:31
  incredible like, you know, feeling of like, wow, I, I, I've
• 54:35
  received so much. I, I really want to give back.
• 54:38
  But you know, now and I think in the context of this conversation
• 54:41
  that we're having, one lesson that I think is really important
• 54:44
  too is just that I, we, we don't know what's, you know, kind of
• 54:50
  going on in the lives of others. We also maybe don't give them
• 54:55
  full, full credit or opportunity to to share their backgrounds.
• 54:59
  So I think that the lesson is of like just being very curious to
• 55:04
  learn from others because I think we tend to just kind of
• 55:08
  see it from our perspective and we just move forward.
• 55:10
  But when we're really able to stop and just kind of take,
• 55:15
  take, take moment to to like really like learn about another
• 55:19
  person and appreciate their contribution to, you know, the
• 55:24
  conversation and whatever ideas they're sharing.
• 55:27
  I don't know. I just, you know, a place like
• 55:29
  SUA has people from so many different walks of life and
• 55:31
  different parts of the world that I think that was like a
• 55:35
  huge lesson of just like really appreciating diversity too,
• 55:41
  right? And what we can learn from that.
• 55:44
  So yeah, hope that answers your question and it's a great.
• 55:48
  Question and. I appreciate, I appreciate that
• 55:50
  and I appreciate you, Toko. You know, we could go on for
• 55:54
  hours. Unfortunately, we are kind of
• 55:56
  reaching the tail end of of this conversation.
• 55:59
  And I wanted to ask you another question.
• 56:01
  That's OK. So this is the one that I ask
• 56:03
  all all my guests. It's book or movie
• 56:07
  recommendation. So anything you'd like to share
• 56:09
  with the listeners and it could be within the context of this
• 56:12
  conversation or just just in general.
• 56:15
  Can I also recommend like ATV shows?
• 56:18
  Yeah, totally. That's good.
• 56:20
  OK so this is ATV show from Netflix.
• 56:23
  I love Netflix but anyways this is a show called Families like
• 56:29
  ours on Netflix and it's about a family.
• 56:36
  This is like a hypothetical situation but but it happens in
• 56:43
  Danish the what's the countries name?
• 56:48
  Denmark. Oh, Denmark.
• 56:49
  Yes, Denmark. And then because of the rising
• 56:52
  water level, the Denmark as a country, they shut down like
• 56:57
  other countries. So everybody, like all the
• 56:59
  Danish people, they need to evacuate their country to other
• 57:03
  country before the borders are shut, you know, being shut down.
• 57:07
  And but, you know, the story kind of goes on around 1 family,
• 57:12
  a girl who, you know, like, just like a ordinary person has a
• 57:17
  relationship with her family members boyfriend.
• 57:21
  What would she do in that kind of situation?
• 57:24
  So that really made me think about, you know, this is
• 57:28
  something that could happen to everybody because it's a, you
• 57:34
  know, the, the climate, the disaster and climate
• 57:42
  immigration. So, you know, in terms of like
• 57:47
  immigration issues, I wanted to recommend that.
• 57:49
  It's a very good TV show. Awesome.
• 58:00
  Thank you so much for that recommendation.
• 58:01
  And no, this this audio like this podcast was not sponsored
• 58:06
  by Netflix, although that would be pretty cool because you're
• 58:08
  like, I love Netflix and like sponsor us now.
• 58:11
  But yeah, thank you so much for recommending that TV show and
• 58:15
  I'll definitely check it out myself.
• 58:17
  So yeah, you know, this is the tail end.
• 58:20
  I really enjoyed, you know, learning even more about your
• 58:25
  teacher journey and going into more nuanced as far as like the
• 58:29
  the really humanistic approach that you take to like getting to
• 58:33
  know your students, encouraging them, meeting them where they're
• 58:36
  at and really having like, you know, the long term view on like
• 58:41
  just what this will do further their life, expanding their life
• 58:47
  in exciting different ways. So thank you so much, Toko, and
• 58:52
  wanted to give you the last words.
• 58:53
  So any final thoughts about global citizenship or just a
• 58:57
  send off as we wrap up our time together?
• 59:03
  Yes. So thank you so much for
• 59:05
  listening to us. And yes, like Scott said, be
• 59:09
  curious to be a global citizenship.
• 59:11
  And then if you have an opportunity, please learn
• 59:13
  Japanese and welcome to the Japan at any time.
• 59:18
  Thank you.