My Language Learning and Teaching Story

The following was something I wrote for a course I took last year. I just found it again.

###

I am currently working at Osaka YMCA International School as an Inclusion Teacher in Grades K-9. (An inclusion teacher is a learning support teacher.) I work with Tier 2 and 3 students to help them meet the expectations of the classwork. I also work with teachers to modify instruction to meet the needs of all the students in the class to help the class run more smoothly. I feel the de Oliveria, et. al. article sums my position up with the quote, "teachers need to be able to create inclusive learning environments where all students have the opportunity to succeed." (2019) This is exactly what my goal as an Inclusion Teacher.

I am a native speaker of English having been born in the USA. For the majority of my adult life, I have lived in Japan. I was about to write that I have studied the majority of my time here, but thinking back on it again, that would not be a true statement. As I have gotten older I have become less interested in studying.  

In 7th Grade, I chose to study Spanish. That was what all my other friends were taking and it was something I heard around from time to time. Thinking back at the classes, I can see how the teachers were trying to teach and the pedagogy they were using, but still, I was not engaged.

I have been abroad for twenty years now, with most of my time being in Japan. I came here as a university student thinking that a semester would get me fluent. I joined an aikido club and I went out with people. I found that people wanted to hang out with me because of my English. This would come up again. At the end of my trip abroad, I was not fluent but felt like I had a good handle on the language. I transferred to another university and was placed in Japanese 101 because my prior classes did not count. I spent the next two years unengaged for the most part. 

When I moved to Japan, I started learning Japanese. I studied in a number of ways: by myself using textbooks, reading, and trying to use the language as much as possible, informally in a coffee shop with someone who was interested in teaching me, more formally in a language conversation school, and finally went to school full-time to study the language. My progression went from focusing on grammar in a Skinnerian way (Rojas, 2023) to using it interpersonally, and back to the rote form of learning. 

I suppose a teacher who knows more about the grammar and rules of a language could be more creative and therefore more effective. I just wish that my own teachers had “broken the fourth wall” more in their teaching to give me insight into what teaching methods they were doing and why they were doing it that way.

I currently only speak English and conversational Japanese. I have been living in Japan for 20 years, aside from a two-year stint in Taiwan. When I first came here, I studied very hard. I had a goal of becoming a translator. I did pass the JLPT N2 test (supposedly business level) but did not pass the N1 test (native level) - twice. I feel embarrassed to tell people how long I have been here. These tests were focused on input skills, rather than truly assessing one's mastery of the language. 

A few years ago I accepted a job in Taiwan and was able to study Chinese. It was very similar to my experience learning Japanese with a textbook, verbs, and phrases being thrown at me. I was able to pick some things up more quickly since I had the background knowledge of kanji, or Chinese characters, from my Japanese study. I found many of the readings of the characters had the same sound as the Japanese. This was very helpful. 

All this taught me that learning, like feedback, should be applicable and actionable as well as the importance of background knowledge. Language learning in a social context works well when in the beginning stages of a language. Feedback has also been shown to show students where their strengths and weaknesses are (de Oliveria, et. al., 2019). 

When I first came to Japan, I was teaching adults basic English conversation from a textbook. The adults came from a rigid grammar-based language-learning experience in Junior High School and High School. Older adults here I found, felt more comfortable when they understood the grammar rules. I find that is similar to all adult learners; we adults want to know processes, while children are unencumbered with rules.

I do not like calling myself an expert because I am learning every day. So I will focus here on experience. In my teaching experience, I have used many cycles such as the Inquiry Cycle, the Design Cycle, and the Writing Cycle. I feel that the Teaching Learning Cycle (TLC) falls somewhere in between these. As an elementary homeroom teacher, I was taught to model for the students when teaching them. I still find that true today. Whether working with teachers in a technology workshop or working with students who are learning to write, humans learn better with a model. I think it is more than just a model. I think the multi-modality nature of the task allows us to better understand and remember what we learn.

That brings me to some possible areas of research. I am interested in learning more about Universal Design for Learning and how to apply it to my position. I am interested in researching the adult learner and how to effectively use language-learning apps. I think, though, that I am most interested in motivation and [language] learning. Seeing my own motivation start to wane makes this one timely for me. Another possible option I just thought of is how to best study. These options appeal to me to help students, yes, but more selfishly for myself.