本当に気さくな人

Soft spoken with her words, she greets and bows every one of her acquaintances with genuine sincerity, regardless of them being a student or fellow teacher. Endearing, friendly, considerate, and sometimes even “maybe a little too nice,” Akiko Satou serves as the perfect embodiment of what Japanese people would call a, “Hontouni kisakuna hito.”
After previously teaching at Santa Monica for a year, Satou now teaches levels two and three of Japanese at CCHS. Prior to coming to America, she lived in Nijita, Japan for 25 years and graduated from Gakuin University with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Satou then participated in a homestay in America for one year and began teaching at LACC for a semester. That experience allowed Satou to discover her enjoyment for teaching Japanese, and has led her to where she is now. “I’m very happy to be here,” Satou says.
Upon first coming to the campus, she noticed that CCHS does an excellent job of instituting discipline among students. She reveals that her current students are more courteous and nice in comparison to those at Santa Monica. Satou found the school “friendly and welcoming,” also is sized relatively well, not too large or small. “All the students are nice and eager to learn,” said Satou. Satou’s students also respond well to her teaching style, commending her for method of involving everyone into her lessons.
“She’s very energetic and has a lot of visual examples to help us learn. She keeps the class integrated into what she talks about and makes sure that nobody is off task,” said Marcus Brown, a student in her Japanese 2 class.
Kayako Ross, head of the Japanese department, also expresses that Satou does a great job of actively interacting with others. “She talks to students very well,” said Ross. Unlike many Japanese people who tend to distance themselves at first, Ross described Satou as being “very approachable” and “easy to talk to.” Ross emphasized that instead of just agreeing and nodding, she really tries to understand others. At the first mentioning of Satou’s name, Ross responded without hesitation, “She’s wonderful!”
While simultaneously aiming to give off a passionate and energetic image to her students, Satou’s also hope to give them an incentive to enjoy learning Japanese.
She explains that the most difficult chapter of teaching Japanese is instructing students how to conjugate certain words. Yet, she despite this obstacle, the number of students who actively raise their hands, has made teaching that much easier and enjoyable. “It’s nice to see that they’re interested in Japanese culture and Japanese,” said Satou.
She looks forward to seeing them grow not only as a person, but see their personal and academic development as japanese learners. “I would like to provide a safe, positive, learning environment for them,”