In Hokkaido, Japan, a young Yoshie Kadowaki fell in love with studying English and communication using different languages.
She also admired foreigners making the effort to speak Japanese. Kadowaki remembers being left in awe once as she watched a foreigner on TV speaking her language.
“When I was in high school, it was when I first started to think about teaching Japanese to English speakers would be very interesting,” Kadowaki says.
As I and other students sit in the rows of a small university classroom, at the University of Nevada, Reno, Kadowaki stands passionately as she gives us insights into Japanese culture and language.
After high school, Kadowaki attended a school in Tokyo preparing students to study abroad for a year. As the school had a strong connection with the University of Nevada, Reno, she took the opportunity to study abroad in 1988.
After studying English linguistics and pursuing her TESOL degree, Kadowaki became a part-time instructor for Japanese. As the department grew larger, she was prepared to be a full-time instructor. She is now a Senior Lecturer in Japanese.
As an educator she tries to make language learning fun, eye opening and fulfilling for her students,
“It’s important that they think it's fun so even when they finish taking classes here, they'll carry that good memory about studying and learning Japanese,” Kadowaki said.
Reno shares the small, dry and snowy familiarity of Hokkaido which is why Kadowaki says she feels at home here, while creating connections with her native country.
“I kind of feel my job here is to somewhat make me feel like I’m contributing to Japan in a very small way by making this bridge between Japan and the United States,” she said.