When I took TPI, I was thinking of two different disciplines of teaching: Japanese and Mathematics. I teach a first year Japanese language class at UGA, while I am a PhD student of Mathematics Education. I used to be a high school teacher in Tokyo and currently tutor college math five hours a week.
For some questions in TPI, I realized I have different answers and perspectives depending on which subject I look at myself teaching. For example, when I think of my teaching in Japanese, I would like to have individually oriented goals of teaching and learning. In other words, I am not particularly hoping my teaching activity and students improvement of Japanese language skills would change or improve the society. All I hope out of my teaching is that my students enjoy learning Japanese. However, when I think of mathematics teaching and learning. I certainly have picture society change as result of mathematics teaching and learning. I believe people learning mathematics help improve the structure of society. If, for example, elementary mathematics teachers had more mathematics knowledge, that mere fact would change people's view of mathematics and mathematics teaching and learning would be more appreciated. That would be a significant change of the world or society. This sort of story, for one, is something I think of as a goal of my mathematics teaching, which I do not picture in my Japanese language teaching.
Then, I thought how this difference influences my teaching. One thing is that when I teach mathematics on one hand, I often mention how mathematics is useful both for society and individuals. On the other hand, when I teach Japanese, I do not particularly emphasize how learning Japanese helps my students to live their life better. In other words, I usually leave how they use what they learn in Japanese class, up to students themselves. I would like my Japanese students to simply enjoy learning Japanese inside and outside of classroom. For that purpose, I often use YouTube videos, Japanese songs, and Manga skits into my instruction.
