A Few Moments

from The Akitan Autumn 2021

A Word From the Editor

Mini-vignettes of one language teacher’s everyday experiences with her students. By Rachel Youngblood

The screen goes blank as the last threads of “See you soon!” echo through my headphones. My knee fidgets as I watch the whirling icon, my computer preparing to enter the new chat room. Who will it be? Will there be one or two, maybe three students? Where are they from? Do I know enough slang for this? Questions zip around my mind as I force my knee to still and focus instead on the faint breeze from my oscillating floor fan. I’m an English teacher, this is no different than what I usually do. It’s fine. It’s exciting. It’s an adventure. Suddenly two expectant faces peer out at me from my screen. “Hi!” we all exclaim together, waving, and it begins.

He flips excitedly through the pages of the book responding, “I don’t know this book.” The vivid bright orange of the cover shines dully in the overhead light. “Is Dr. Suess popular in Japan?”, I ask. He ponders this for a moment before saying he doesn’t think so. “Harapekomushi is popular and so is Disney,” he continues. “Oh, The Very Hungry Caterpillar! That’s very popular in the U.S., as well. I loved reading it when I was little,” I exclaim. He goes on to discuss some famous Japanese children’s books, a nostalgic air about him, and shows me their covers and characters on his phone. Bringing our attention back to Green Eggs and Ham, I explain, “Dr. Suess is famous for writing with rhyming words,” “Rhyming words?” he puzzles, “like ‘their’ and ‘there’?”

Mini-vignettes of one language teacher’s everyday experiences with her students. By Rachel Youngblood

He leans inquiringly toward the blank notebook and pen. “Should I use these?” he questions. I nod my head in the affirmative and ask back, “Do you think it will be difficult?” He shrugs nonchalantly, “I don’t write in English much, but I know how. It’s no problem.” He adjusts the pen in his grip and proceeds to write each letter of the alphabet. Without any direction, he chooses to use all capital letters. He pauses briefly before ‘M’ and writes with his finger in the air, before scribbling ‘N, M’ and continuing on. He skips over ‘X’ entirely, but finishes with a slight flourish and smile. ...

She grasps the pen in her right hand, looking distant as she taps the paper and considers what word to use. “Like ‘bicycle’!” she exclaims, “Each kanji has a different meaning, but together they mean ‘bicycle’”. She excitedly writes three characters side by side, a small mass of complicated strokes and lines, and points at them as she explains each meaning, “yourself, turn, wheel”. Although each character stands for something individual and can function as a word on its own, I can easily understand why she’s connected this with English’s use of affixes. As I muse on this, she continues to come up with more examples, writing out ‘train’ and ‘car’ in similar yet different sets of characters.

“I often use technology for connecting with people,” she states as she gazes out from my screen, “especially during quarantine, so I think it can be an important part of self-care.” Her navy bucket hat sits stoically atop her head as she continues to speak. “It’s also connected to what I study, so I think it’s interesting to see how people and technology interact with language.” The light dimly reflects off her oversized glasses. “How so?”, both the other tutor and I inquire at the same time. She smiles, “Like when you use Siri or a smart device, what gender is the voice?” As she becomes more animated and gestures to support her points, her navy bucket hat begins to bob in time to her movement as she nods her head excitedly and light twinkles off her glasses.