Presentation by: Yoriko Gillard
Session: A | Time: 9:00 AM-9:40 AM | Location: Room 201
“…learning a second language has been an entering into the strange world of unfamiliarity. Gradually, the new language sheds its unfamiliarity as I see more deeply into another perspective of the world and see with new eyes an already familiar world (Aoki, Pinar, & Irwin, 2005, p. 243). Trust is something I have been examining through my research and I believe trusting feeling could grow by making effort to understand differences of our perspectives. The book Curriculum in a New Key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki written by Ted T. Aoki edited by William F. Pinar and Rita L. Irwin guides me to appreciate my liminal space where I enjoy both Japanese and Canadian perspectives to see the world. In this space, I encountered a life inbetween (without an hyphen) two languages, Japanese and English, which are a fundamental source of my creative mind in communicating with people especially reciprocating my own thoughts with others. When I explain how to communicate in Japanese to my students, I try to remember how difficult it was for me to enter the unknown world of English but trusted its language to express my thoughts. I learned communication skills such as body gesture and facial expression by living with a host family, observing people in public, and making mistakes in daily conversation with people inside and outside school. Everyday was an educational encounter in becoming aware and comfortable with my environment, and be understood. I was often exhausted and distrusted myself due to my poor English so I was stuck on a bridge crying. After studying Aoki, I realized that it was not a negative stage of my life. It was my time to dwell deep on the bridge inbetween Japan (familiar world) and Canada (unfamiliar world) to ask who I was and who I wanted to become. By living in this inbetween world, I gained much strength, courage, and trust to express my emotion, thoughts, and own words in English (or new skills). I am no longer the same person who only knew my Japanese self but now both my Japanese and Canadian self have merged in the middle of Pacific Ocean.
Abstract: 608