By Yoko Mansfield, new J3B teacher

Hello, everyone! My name is Yoko Mansfield, the new J3 teacher. I’m originally from Kumamoto. I worked in Tokyo for some time, then came here to the States. I studied about drug addiction treatment at Glendale College, and earned qualification as a counselor. I worked for four years as a counselor in two different locations, got married, and moved to Van Nuys. After I obtained a green card, I quit working, and went back to being a student. This time, I am studying anthropology at CSUN. Recently, I watched a video image of a mother of American Indian decent teaching her dying native language to the small children, and I was thinking about the importance for the Indians to keep using their native language. I had an opportunity to teach elementary- and middle school-age students privately in my hometown of Kumamoto this summer. They all had a hard time learning the foreign language.  While these students in Japan are just learning a foreign language, SFVJLI students are learning the language of their cultural background. I hope our students here in SFVJLI will gain confidence and feel affection toward the culture through learning the language.