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Achievement Profile: Setsuko Toyama
Writing Materials to Help Teachers Engage Young Learners

What is your main ESL activity now? What are your principal projects, and what is on the back burner?

I am working on the last leg of my writing for English Time series, a new 6-level-course from Oxford University Press. The levels 1and 2 were launched last fall and I am now working on songs and chants for level 6. I'm also writing a Japanese teacher's guide for an OUP Elementary School Pack. This year quite a few public elementary schools are starting on some English Program in the framework of "studies for international understanding" and homeroom teachers are looking for ways to incorporate English teaching in their curriculum. I believe the English Time wall charts can be strong vehicles to teach practical and meaningful English in natural contexts and show every day life of North American culture. I am also running around the country (as well as overseas) to conduct teacher training workshops. This year so far, I've done 20 workshops and 30 more to go. Sometimes, I get very tired physically but meeting teachers in different places and working with them toward the same goal of making English teaching more and more children-centered keeps me going. I think I am one lucky person, getting to travel so much and meeting so many people.

How did you start your ESL career? Who influenced your decision? What were some important formative experiences in the early stages of your development?

I didn't even major in English at university so when I started teaching, I didn't know how to teach. Niigata JALT chapter kicked off and I joined. I learned so much from every meeting. I've been going to JALT annual conference since 1987. Yoko Matsuka "discovered" me and got me to work as an instructor for her phonics seminars. It was wonderful training on the job. Other people "discovered" me and asked me to work on projects. I was so fortunate to be asked to work on adapting Addison-Wesley Big Book Program to EFL environment in Japan. I wrote a teacher's guide in Japanese and conducted workshops in many cities. The teacher's guide is still doing well and using picture books in children's classes is still the biggest interest for me. I believe children learn most in a context.

When I started teaching, my English had French accent. (I majored in comparative studies of cultures and my thesis, please don't ask me why, was analysis of modern French theater.) Benay Lappe straightened my pronunciation and showed me a great model of a teacher. I also learned so much from Carolyn Graham's work and since I met her in person at TESOL 1991, she has been a great mentor and friend.

Then I co-authored Journeys Listening/Speaking 1 for young adults with Carl Adams. This was my first time to author in English and I realized I truly wanted to work for false beginners more than anything else. The series editor, Steven Brown, adequately said, "Beginning students have brains and hearts. They live in an interesting world that they are interested in." I bring this into teaching children but with Japanese children, I'm aware that I have to work on expanding their interests to start with.

Lesley Koustaff, whom I worked with on the SuperKids series, is a tireless perfectionist has become a life-time friend. Being an editor for an EFL project was like studying for masters degrees. You keep asking, "What am I doing here? Why am I doing this?" all the time. It's all for the learners. I've also worked on numerous projects for Japanese publishers but working for ELT publishers was more demanding in that I had to keep making my thoughts 100 % clear all the time both to the team and to myself, while with the Japanese team a lot of efforts were made to make the working process conflict-free.

What are the four or five language/culture backgrounds with which you are most familiar as a teacher? Which ones are you familiar with from the perspective of a language learner yourself? What insights have you gained in how to meet the needs of English learners from these cultures and language backgrounds?

I was educated and trained totally in Japan. I learn languages more easily than other people. My late father was in the trading business and he brought American business associates to our home once in a while and I was a bit accustomed to say something in English on those occasions. I thought I'd have to speak English when I grew up, looking up at my father as a model. I started studying English in junior high like everyone else but the difference was I was able to use what I learned. I also read a lot ever since I started reading. I'm talking about the late 60's so there were not many English books around. But I just wanted to read English books like my father (he looked so cool!) so I got hold of anything in English. I kept this all my life and sometimes I'm speaking and using some words I don't know when and where I learned. I think I internalized so much from my reading.

I'm aware that I am an exception so I try not to expect the same of my students. However, I try to use my experience when I write materials and plan lessons. Comprehensible input is crucial. Situational dialogs are important and directly usable and make learners very confident.

I studied French and am studying Korean at this moment and I am observing my process and try to use it in my teaching.

If you had to give three pieces of advice to a new ESL teacher, what would they be?

1. Look at the students as they are. They are people before they are your students. Respect their thoughts, culture, and feelings.

2. Know your own strength and weakness. A teacher himself/herself is a resource. Try to know yourself better. How do you approach learning a foreign language? Is that reflected in your teaching? If so, in what ways?

3. Think of a teacher's role as an advanced learner who coordinates the learning and lead the classroom activities and not as a "giver of knowledge" from a step higher.

What do you see as the most important issues facing the ESL/EFL teaching profession today?

I am not an academic and my answer may not be addressing the whole field. I think teachers have to keep learning and developing. In Japan, the opportunities for public school teachers to receive training are limited. Teachers are burdened with miscellaneous tasks other than brushing up on their skills and teaching methods and techniques. There's still a lot of grammar-translation teaching going on. Teachers in private sectors are not doing much better. There's a lot of repeat-after-me going on. I hope more and more teachers keep training themselves so they can conduct meaningful lessons that zero in to students' needs.

Interviewed by Robb Scott

2002 ESL MiniConference Online