Ms. Jeffery, or ジェフリー 先生, has been one of the foreign language teachers to see it all. Over her many years at LVA, she’s taken her classes numerous times on trips to Japan, escorting the past foreign language majors. 

When asked what her favorite part of teaching the subject is, 先生 said, “I love exposing people to a new culture that they may or may not have had exposure to before, because there’s a lot of things you can only learn in that language.” 

I personally was a part of ジェフリー 先生 class both my freshman and sophomore years and, even as a senior, her class has remained one of my favorites throughout the years because of her teaching methods.  For example, to teach one of her units, language and phrases related to clothing, she held a fashion show with all of her students, and to learn older folk stories we had to create some of our own. Taking a different approach to learning a whole new language can make all the difference, and ジェフリー 先生 is sure to show many different sides, approaches, and experiences.

Nick Urbanski, a student (学生)  from her second level, J2 class, said,“ Our assignments are actually really fun. Her assignments have always been really fun, really creative topics. I really liked the fashion show [learning clothing items and phrases by performing a fashion show] and I had a lot of fun with it. For exams. They’re a little like…they’re very different. I feel like I’m actually learning stuff.”

Despite the fact the last foreign language majors graduated two years ago, ジェフリー 先生 keeps classroom traditions and excitement for new material alive in her environment. 

“I just love the fact that the students are passionate. In order to get into LVA you have to have a passion of some kind… and if we can find a way as teachers to tap into the passion that the students have, it’s easier to get them motivated to do well. It’s just way more fun. It’s definitely more fun.”