Self-Introduction (as a Japanese Language Teacher)

Better late than never, nice to meet you😅 I'm Mioichi🐻
I am a Japanese language teacher in my 9th year.

Up until now, I have taught
people of various nationalities, including
Japanese, Asians, Westerners, and Africans,
such as international students, homemakers, new graduates, doctors, nurses,
and business people,
in settings ranging from groups of 60 to one-on-one,
and small groups alike.

In this article, I would like to focus on language
and introduce myself✨

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I grew up in a household where everyone in the family loved to read. My family consisted of seven people: my grandfather, grandmother, parents, and two older sisters.

Since the house was overflowing with
books, picture books, and manga before I could even remember,
I had been reading books as much as anyone else since I was a child,
but there were also genres I didn't like.

To be specific, it was translated Western books. The
unnatural Japanese felt wrong, so I couldn't immerse myself in the content and grew up avoiding them😞
I could say that I have been

sensitive to word usage since I was a child.

I majored in social welfare at university and
passed the national exam for certified social workers. The job I was hired for as a new graduate was
a

service provision manager and
life counselor (social worker) at a special nursing home and short-stay facility.

A manager position for a new graduate—thinking about it now,
what an unreasonable demand😅😅😅

I want to write about welfare later, but
here I decided to create and publish a monthly newsletter for families
.

With the motto of using easy-to-understand, readable, and interesting Japanese
, I awakened to the power of written expression💪

Also, as a new graduate, I even ended up
checking the records of caregivers and nurses, acting all important✅

To everyone who didn't look down on me despite being a new graduate,
and who treated me with such great care,
thank you so much😭

After that, I moved to the
UK, which was a welfare pioneer🇬🇧 at the time, and spent one year working as a
live-in caregiver at a nursing home.

It was wild, chaotic, and
so much fun...!

On my days off, I spent my time
traveling all over the UK with a book in hand
. I devoured
books in English, including Harry Potter,
O. Henry, and Jane Austen,
reading them voraciously.

Books are best read in their original language! That was the realization I came to during those days.

After returning to Japan, I worked in the administrative department of a home care company.

During this time, while attending a working adult university and English conversation school, I
achieved a TOEIC score of 910.

If you are aiming for a high TOEIC score,
just studying for the TOEIC isn't enough.
Just being exposed to English in daily life isn't enough either.
I believe both are necessary.

Oh, I've gone off track😅

At the company, I was in charge of the department's monthly
newsletter, creating the company blog, creating
manuals for internal and external use, and handling presentations
and training sessions.

This was all thanks to my boss at the time, who
recognized my love for writing and my attention to language

🙏

Also, at the company, there was a daily speech session. Here, I gained
valuable experience constantly thinking about how to tell stories that are easy for people to understand and interesting
.

Amidst that, as the number of foreign caregivers in Japan increased, I thought about teaching them Japanese, which is their biggest challenge, and

resigned
.

I took a Japanese language teacher training course and
passed the Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test.

At the same time, I attended a kimono dressing school and obtained
a professional instructor's license. I was always captivated by the beautiful Japanese spoken by the kimono dressing teachers✨

Up to this point, I have been given many opportunities to polish my language skills (including Japanese), and I am

truly grateful to many people
.

Since then, I have spent enjoyable time teaching students like those mentioned at the beginning at Japanese language schools, vocational schools, adult education schools, home helper training courses, etc.🙏

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Recently, I have been concerned about the deterioration of the Japanese language.

Japanese people who are not as good at honorifics as international students. There is a lot of deterioration such as
misuse and part-time job slang, and they only use words like 'Seriously!', 'Cute!', and 'Super!'😞

Actually, I am not one to talk. I am someone who stammers easily😅

I like casual Japanese because it feels friendly,
but

if you aim to be a wonderful adult
and polish your Japanese skills,
I am sure it will become a lifelong treasure.

For that reason, this time,
I have decided to introduce articles on note for Japanese speakers that aim not only to help you understand beautiful Japanese,
but also to help you use it effectively.

If you are interested,
I would be happy if you stopped by again😊

Thank you very much for reading this long post✨

#SelfIntroduction
#JapaneseLanguageEducation
#JapaneseLanguageTeacher
#EnglishLearning
#NewGraduate
#Writing