Despite teaching since the 1970s and winning four awards, Japanese “sensei” Yoshimi Aoyagi finally felt like a good teacher in September of this year.
That’s when she won the 2018 Teacher Award from the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ). Aoyagi will be presented with the award the award in November at an exclusive AATJ reception in New Orleans.
“When I won this award, I was really happy. Normally, when I win awards, I don’t feel much excitement, but this award marked a special point in my career,” Aoyagi said. “To me, the award was amazing because it was just for Japanese teachers, and it meant that I was finally a good Japanese teacher. However, now that I have won this award, I must move on and continue to become a better teacher.”
Aoyagi attended Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan, graduating in 1982. She decided to pursue a career in teaching with her parents’ encouragement: in Japan, being a teacher was a very stable job, and the pay between male and female teachers has always been equal since it is a government job. Aoyagi taught English in Japan from 1978–1985 and later enrolled at West Virginia University in 1985 to get her master’s degree.
She previously taught Japanese in Baton Rouge and has been teaching at Chapel Hill High School for 11 years and East Chapel Hill High School for five years. She splits her time teaching five levels of Japanese to the Tigers in the morning and the Wildcats in the afternoon. She tries to replicate the way a classroom in Japan functions.
“At the beginning of every class, we always stand at attention and bow for greetings, which shows respect for our sensei,” senior Yuuki Yamamrgo said.
Aoyagi said that her students cannot fully understand the Japanese language without knowing about its culture.
“Language is communication. I want students to open their eyes and accept differences,” she said. “There are many different cultures in the world that are very different from American culture, and I think students should be exposed to this.”
Aoyagi taught English classes in Japan to large groups of students, meeting only three times a week. Her teaching there emphasized memorization and testing. Now she has smaller classes and is able to form personal relationships with her students.
“Here, I meet with all my classes five times a week, and I can see the progress with all my students by speaking and checking their notes,” Aoyagi said. “The classes are so small compared to Japan that now I can tell when a student is absent or cuts their hair.”
Her students have learned the intricacies of Japanese culture through their sensei.
“Cultural tactfulness is something we learn a lot about in [Japanese] class. Aoyagi wants us to be aware of how we act around other people. In Japan, the people are very polite and formal. They care about other people,” senior Ethan San Pedro said.
Nell Ovitt, who was once a student of Aoyagis and now works in Japan teaching English as part of a year-long program called Princeton in Asia, which helps recent college graduates obtain business, media organization, non-government/ non-profit organization and educational jobs throughout Asia, stressed how important Aoyagi’s classes at Chapel Hill High School were to her in her new position.
“Aoyagi sensei’s teaching emphasized to me, that the global community is a better place when its citizens get to know one another,” she said. “I always felt that [Aoyagi’s] lessons and extracurricular opportunities taught that when we form international friendships and openly share the experiences, cultures and ideas that make up our identities, we create positive change in the world, as well as in our own lives.”
Aoyagi says that language and technology are always changing, as well as traditions and interests.
“[Japanese teachers] don’t like using technology, but we know we should start,” Aoyagi said. “I don’t like teaching the same things each year. I want my students to give me ideas about what they’re interested in learning, so I can try to keep things fun but also challenging.”
Aoyagi still prefers face-to-face communication to communicating online though she said she realizes students use computers to look for information. Still, Aoyagi urges her students to talk to her or upperclassmen first if they are confused.
“You can’t find many teachers like Aoyagi,” San Pedro said. “She is homegrown, so she brings what she knows to class. We are able to learn a lot more about the culture of Japan through Aoyagi than from a textbook. We are really lucky because we get to learn from a first-hand source instead of a medium.”
“Aoyagi is able to embed this message of cross-cultural communication–a lesson that is becoming more important each day–in all aspects of her teaching,” Ovitt concurred.
