As the 2022-2023 school year begins, we have welcomed a number of new teachers to the wonderful staff at Arcadia High School (AHS). One of the newest additions is Ms. Tomoko Snyder, a teacher who specializes in Japanese. She has been a teacher for 15 years and previously taught English as a second language at a public school in Japan. In addition, she also taught at a Japanese instructional school, Asahi Gakuen, in Los Angeles, to help Japanese students maintain their ancestry and heritage.

Ms. Snyder was born and raised in Japan. Her interest and love for linguistics led her to major in linguistics in college and receive teaching credentials in the U.S. to teach Japanese to American students. When Ms. Snyder talked about becoming a teacher at AHS, she said that “this is the best opportunity [she’s] ever gotten.”

Ms. Snyder’s thoughts on AHS have been extremely positive. “So far, it’s been great! I like how all students are so hardworking and how the students have been incredible. I thought I’d have to deal with some issues, but they’ve always been exceeding my expectations, and I always consider how to help improve even more,” said Ms. Snyder. “Everyone has different needs and requirements, so that’s been difficult, but it’s an exciting hardship if I could call it that. The other teachers have also been an enormous help. They are amazing and supportive. The students are lucky to have them.” 

Furthermore, Ms. Snyder’s favorite part of teaching is the ability to personally teach students a language. Some people believe that with devices like “Google Translate”, there’s no reason to learn a new language, but Ms. Snyder disagrees. According to her, modern, advanced technology can’t compare to the meaningfulness and authenticity behind genuinely learning and teaching a language. Because of this, her favorite quote is a quote from Nelson Mandela.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

In addition, Ms. Snyder emphasized “cultural awareness”. She believes that learning Japanese culture is just as important as learning the language itself and that trying to have an understanding of other cultures and having cultural awareness is a priority.

“Many of the world’s issues result from cultural differences and misunderstandings. I want students to know cultural differences and to accept them as well.” Ms. Snyder said.

Finally, when questioned about her teaching style, she stated that her favorite form of teaching is the usage of conversational activities. There are many difficult parts of learning a new language and she tries to utilize her experience learning English to help her students learn Japanese. “I love when students speak in Japanese and try to communicate with it. I don’t want my students to be afraid of making mistakes, I just want them to try. I try to have them speak Japanese as often as possible.”

We’re honored to have Ms. Snyder at AHS!

Photo by Ainsley Najafzadeh