Ms. Ann McCarthy

Japanese Language Teacher
Minneapolis-Washburn High School
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ms. Ann McCarthy teaches Japanese levels 1-5 at Minneapolis-Washburn High School, where she has been instructing since 1986. She also has started middle school, as well as community education and summer enrichment programs in Japanese language and culture throughout her tenure with the Minneapolis School District.

McCarthy began her interest in Japanese as a Rotary Exchange Student to Miyagi, Japan in 1976-77. She continued her studies at the University of Minnesota, completing a major in Japanese and Elementary Education. In addition she has a Master of Education degree in the area of Second Languages and Cultures from the University of Minnesota.

Ann combined her interest of resident camping and Japanese to become the first Dean of Concordia Language Villages’ Japanese Village (Mori-No-Ike). This program started in 1988 and has grown to more than 400 villagers a year studying Japanese in the northwoods of Minnesota. McCarthy worked on and still contributes to the curriculum for this well-known language immersion program. Ann also is active in state and national endeavors for the advancement of Japanese language. She is currently on the board of the NCJLT (National Council of Japanese Language Teachers).

After experiencing growth in the program at Washburn High School, McCarthy took a year to enhance her studies in Tokyo, Japan. A true believer that one must study in the country to keep fluent, McCarthy has returned to Japan as much as possible including a summer study program at the Japan Foundation’s Urawa campus.

McCarthy is known for taking her inner-city school students on various field trips to expose them to as much Japanese culture as possible. She has taken student groups to Japan, art museums, restaurants, immersion weekends, participation regional “Japan Bowl” and encouraged all to study in Japan in the future. Ann is very proud of the many students who have graduated from Washburn and continued their education in Japanese and Japan.

McCarthy intends to use the grant money to support students attending Japanese immersion weekends at Concordia Language Villages, to develop a “Japanese Night” with her students and Minneapolis residents, and to develop technological support for a sister-school relationship with a high school in Akita, Japan.