Credentials

My path to becoming a language teacher is a bit unique. In 2015, my husband and I adopted school aged siblings from overseas. We did what we thought would be best for our children given the circumstances, and decided to homeschool so that our children could take time acclimating to new environment while learning the language and catching up with academics in the U.S. education system. Since it had been a few decades since I was last a student in Japan, I went back to community college to equip myself to become a home teacher. 

I continued my academic endeavor post homeschooling and transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill in case our children needed help beyond high school. During my first semester at UNC, I took 400 level Japanese course as an elective which became the starting point of my aspiration to becoming a language teacher. Being in a classroom with dedicated young students who were genuinely interested in learning the Japanese language and culture altered my view of language classroom, and I strongly wished that such enlightening experience to become a regular part of my life going forward. I chose linguistics as my major and began observing Japanese courses across levels and apprenticing at UNC.   

While the calling to becoming a language teacher came later in my life, the career choice felt natural as I have always had love for language, and I believe that everything I had experienced to the point -- being a language learner, having other professional experience both in Japan and the U.S., moving to another country as an adult, all through which I have come to view language as a social tool -- makes up who I am today and helps me articulate what I believe about language teaching and learning.