The process of finding a way as a Japanese language teacher

Through talking shop and autoethnography

Abstract

The authors, who raise children of preschool age and engage in Japanese language education, talked shop and listened to each other in order to face their own experiences. Through their interaction, they reframed experiences and understood themselves as Japanese language teachers. This process was how they recognized themselves as Japanese language teachers. This paper focuses on one of them and reveals the process in which she discovered herself as a Japanese language teacher through facing her own experiences. She found out she wanted students to take on voices in Japanese language education, based on the idea that diversity should be accepted in society and we should support students understanding of themselves. This was achieved through reconsidering the idea that parenting a child is troublesome and an episode that happened 20 years ago.