Kayoko Tazawa

Kayoko Tazawa’s childhood aspiration was to work at the Japanese gaming and electronics company Nintendo. She grew up in Osaka, Japan, and always saw Nintendo’s headquarters when travelling to and from her house. She had even conceived an elaborate plan for the game she wanted to design: a role playing game in which the protagonist speaks English. The goal of the game was for the real-world players to pick up English as they played the game. While Kayoko does not currently work at Nintendo, she found another way to make her dreams a reality through creating educational opportunities for young students. Because of her aspirations, she chose to concentrate in computer programming in college. She then decided to attend the University of New Hampshire for her Master of Linguistics degree so that she could learn the correct pronunciations for English words. “The computer programs have to have accurate pronunciations so that the players can learn the language as they play the game,” she said. Although her original plan after finishing her master’s degree in America was to go back to Japan and follow her passion in computer programming, a massive earthquake hit Japan. As a result of the disaster, the nation’s economy collapsed, along with many buildings. “My parents’ house was destroyed. They said, ‘Don’t come back, we have to rebuild everything,’” she recalled. Around this time, Tazawa was appointed to Phillips Exeter Academy as a new instructor of Japanese. “Always, at the back of my mind [I told myself] ‘When [the] Japanese economy bounces back, I want to go back.’ That was my thinking, but … I am still here, and I am glad to be here,” she said. When asked about her favorite aspect of teaching at Exeter, Tazawa responded without hesitation that it is her students’ strong motivation to learn Japanese. Throughout her time in the United States, Tazawa Sensei had observed that Japanese was not a widely taught language in middle school. Therefore, the students who were deciding to take Japanese at Exeter had made the choice themselves. “In order for you to choose Japanese, you really have to have the desire to learn Japanese,” she said.  Tazawa’s unique approach to grading assignments is known to many around campus. Her style derives from her philosophy to help the students learn the material rather than to simply get a good grade. One major component of her system is the “two-day test.” Tazawa, like many other teachers, began her Exeter career by giving single day tests and allowed her students to hand in corrections after she had handed back the tests. She soon discovered that this was not the best system to help students retain the information. “For the rewrites, I noticed they were just writing anything and return[ing] the assignments,” she said. Tazawa then developed the “two-day test” and implemented it in her classroom. After experimenting with two-day tests, she observed that the students are able to concentrate more on learning the material. “I think the reason they retain more from the test is that they try to remember what they didn’t understand, and they go back and study and try to produce it on paper,” she said.Tazawa’s innovative efforts has garnered praise from her students. Lower Will Peeler, who has been her student for the past two years, said that Tazawa’s method of teaching inspires passion in her students. “She tells us exactly what we did wrong, and she goes over every test in detail before and after we’ve taken it, especially after it. She is always open to work with it.”Prep Charles Falivena has experienced firsthand the effects of Tazawa’s unique teaching style. After Falivena nearly failed his test, Tazawa Sensei encouraged him to retake the test. Falivena used this chance to master what he had missed during the first test. He recounted his experience: “Before the class, I studied really really hard for it, and I got it back and it was a 23/24, so I really appreciated the fact that she understands that the learning process can’t really be shown by a single one-day test.”Tazawa Sensei also makes an effort outside of the classroom to bring her students closer to each other through teaching them about Japanese culture. At the end of each term, Tazawa Sensei invites students to her house for dinner. “You can go to Japanese restaurants and eat sushi, but you do not know what Japanese people eat at home … that’s why I want to invite the students to have homemade Japanese food,” she said. Tazawa Sensei realized the importance of teacher-student personal connections when she sent her own son away to boarding school. “I really appreciated the teachers who did more than they should be doing, [whether it was] inviting him and his advisee group to go out and eat at their house or [organizing a] birthday party,” she said. She wishes to have the same effect on her students and their parents as his son’s teachers had on her son and on her. Inside the classroom, she is a beloved teacher as much as she is outside. Falivena noted her strong presence in the classroom. “I am not really thinking about learning Japanese, I am really thinking about learning Japanese from her because she just commands such a presence, and it’s a really positive presence,” he said. “I absolutely love Tazawa because she is just the best.”