Becoming an intercultural teacher of Japanese in Australia

Abstract

This project explores what it means to be a native teacher of Japanese in an Australian classroom and how best to balance the need to adjust to Australian student expectations with the goal of helping these students become familiar with Japanese culture. Apart from improving my own performance as a teacher, this project sheds light on the cultural adjustments that overseas educated teachers experience in Australia, as well as on the related problem of familiarising Australian students with other cultures. To do this I undertook an analysis of my own personal background, recorded some of my classes and to enable me to reflect on my teaching practices and to study my students’ views on culture, interviewed students, and also interviewed other Japanese language teachers in order to compare their views with mine.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	English
Supervisor	Paul Black (Supervisor)