Japan first caught my interest during my freshman year of high school while taking World Geography. The teacher had spent two years in Japan, so we spent an entire unit studying the country, learning about its history and customs, and hearing stories of my teacher's personal experiences. To me, this was the best unit of the year and I have been a Japanophile ever since. As a current Asian Studies major, I believe that studying abroad in Japan is not only beneficial but essential to my academic goals and professional goal of teaching English in Japan. Since coming to DePauw, I have studied Japanese diligently. However, despite the amount of time I spend memorizing vocabulary, practicing grammar and drawing kanji, I have found it difficult …show more content…
Not only does study abroad experience help obtain these jobs in programs such as the JET program, but in my experience, the greatest teachers are those who are able to connect with their students and have personal experience with the material they are teaching. In order to be a suitable teacher not only should I be able to speak Japanese well, if not entirely fluently, but I should also understand the culture and have first-hand experience in the country so I can fully understand my students. Tutoring for English classes and working with a speaking partner while studying in Japan will also provide me with first-hand experience teaching English as a second language. Later in my career, I hope to teach Japanese and Asian Studies courses in America as well, broadening students' minds by teaching them about a culture vastly different from their own and helping them understand that these differences are valuable. As a teacher, I hope to be the example my Geography teacher was to me my freshman year, an example of challenging biases and broadening horizons, and I believe that studying abroad will help me achieve that