July, 2014: Breeze Issue #81

A Free Monthly E-Newsletter for Friends of Japan & Teachers of Japanese

Japanese Language Education Update #8: JFLA Advocacy Resources Survey for Japanese Language Teachers

by Amanda Rollins, Japanese Language Program Coordinator

It’s time to upgrade JFLA’s Advocacy Kit! And Japanese language teachers in the U.S. can help.

Part of our mission is to support teachers as they advocate for their Japanese language programs. Advocacy usually involves showing the community the value of its Japanese language program through fun cultural events, PR, and professional development, all of which lead to student recruitment and high-quality, sustained Japanese programs. With that objective, the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles and the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) are working together to update JFLA’s current advocacy resources.

Information-sharing has turned digital, and the way people advocate is changing. Do teachers advocate with social media? Do they share the most recent data on the benefits of foreign language education via e-newsletters? What can JFLA do to make these things time-consuming and more effective?

To find out, JFLA is inviting Japanese language teachers to fill out a short, 10 minute questionnaire called the JFLA Advocacy Resources Survey for Japanese Language Teachers. It asks 22 questions about teachers’ current advocacy activities and needs, and requests feedback on our current resources. With the data from this survey, JFLA hopes to better support teachers as they advocate for their programs.

This month’s Advocacy Tip for teachers: Consider sharing the Japan Foundation’s Directory of Japanese-Language Educational Institutions 2012 (now searchable in English!) with your graduating students. They can search for schools which teach Japanese by state, educational level, and degrees awarded. Make it easier for them to continue learning their favorite language!