Teaching kids, a dream come true
Yoko Mizui Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
The experience of teaching Japanese to American children at Marcus Whitman Elementary School in Richland, Wash., on an internship program in 1992 led Mariko Shimizu to conclude she wanted to make teaching Japanese children English a lifetime job.
Shimizu had been teaching English to children in language classes in her hometown of Gujo, Gifu Prefecture, when she went to the United States on a six-month program. The teaching sojourn in the United States proved to be an eye-opening experience for Shimizu, 42, president of EduSeeds Inc., in Nagoya, which aims to provide educational systems to teach children English here.
"I was ready to accept anything they would tell me about how to teach American children," she said, looking back on her experience 15 years ago. "When I asked what I should do at the school, I was asked what I wanted to teach them instead. It was a new mind-set for me."
In teaching American children Japanese, Shimizu came to recognize children's flexible ability to absorb a new language, and the experience revived her long-cherished dream to become a primary school teacher.
It was something she had wanted to do even when she was a high school student. However, she failed the entrance exam for a university in Kyoto and entered Trident College of Languages in Nagoya instead. In her second year at the school, she took a course in teaching children English, and that was her first encounter with that aspect of primary school teaching.
After she returned from the United States, she got married and moved to Seki, Gifu Prefecture. In 1997, she heard that English would be taught at primary schools in the near future.
"That was really big news for me," Shimizu said.
Thinking that it would be necessary to get a teacher's license to teach at schools, she attended a junior college and got a middle school English teacher's license. Then, she transferred to a university in Gifu and got a high school English teacher's license. She also got a primary school teacher's license through a university correspondence course. As Shimizu already had an English teacher's license, she got a primary school teacher's license in only one year, the shortest timescale possible for getting the license.
Encouraged by fellow teachers, she decided to take a master's degree at the graduate school of Gifu University. She was the last graduate student of Reiko Matsukawa, who was then a professor of English education at the university.
"Prof. Matsukawa closely checked my master's thesis. Now that she has become the chairwoman of the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, it's no longer as easy to approach her," said Shimizu, who expressed admiration for Matsukawa.
She also thanks her husband, who allowed her to do all these things after she had married him at the age of 28.
In 2001, her dream of teaching children English at primary school was realized. She was hired as an English instructor at a primary school in Seki and taught English at the school once a week for six years until March.
She started teaching English at a primary school in Nagoya earlier this month. Meanwhile, since 2001, she has also been the "guide," or in-house expert, on children's English education for the popular Web site All About. As a consultant for teaching English to children, she writes an e-mail magazine twice a month for the site and introduces a variety of information and lesson ideas relating to the teaching of English to children.
During the past 20 years, Shimizu has done a lot of research on teaching methods and teaching materials by visiting not only primary schools in Japan but ones in foreign countries as well. In 2003, her book Kodomo no Tame no Eigo: Beginners' Guide (English for Children) was published by Kinsei-do. In it, she introduces the theoretical background of teaching children English and gives practical information on how to choose good English schools and English-teaching materials.
Through her experience of teaching children English at primary school, she realized the import!ance of regular classroom teachers in teaching children English.
"Getting an English lecturer from outside to teach English once a week will be stimulating both for the children and their teachers, but I think it is more effective for classroom teachers to create an English environment in their school," she said. "Classroom teachers have a great influence on children. I really think the most effective way for children to learn English is for classroom teachers to teach English every day, even [if it's just] for 15 minutes."
Hoping to bring up young people who will become teachers with a firm wish to teach English to children themselves in the future, Shimizu now also teaches English at Trident College of Languages, her alma mater.
Shimizu believes in children's ability to absorb English if an English environment is available. In her book, she introduces ways to make an English environment at home, including letting children experience the joy of communication with people from other cultures.
"They say children can get used to English sounds if they are taught English at a younger age, but I think they can get more than that. We don't know when and where children acquire English."
Having been in the field for a long time, Shimizu has noticed some social changes regarding the teaching of English to children.
"The number and variety of materials for teaching children English began to increase around 2000, and TV programs to teach children English have also been increasing. I think the English environment for children today is much better than several years ago," she said.
Shimizu, who became interested in English through pen pals in the United States and Germany when she was a middle school student, hopes children will find it is fun to communicate in English.
(Apr. 27, 2007)