Ms. Yoshimi Yamagata Aoyagi
Teacher of Japanese Language
East Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill High School
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Yoshimi Yamagata Aoyagi’s work as an educator started in 1978. Since then, she created countless opportunities for students of all ages to learn about the language and ethos of Japan.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in British and American Literature in Japan, Ms. Aoyagi first became aware of her passion for teaching as an English instructor at a language school in Tokyo. Shortly after that, she enrolled in the graduate foreign languages program at West Virginia University, where she obtained her master’s degree. Following graduation, Ms. Aoyagi served as a Japanese language instructor at esteemed institutions of higher learning across the United States, before finally settling down in central North Carolina. After years teaching at the university level, Ms. Aoyagi left to touch the lives of younger scholars.
Since she first came to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, its Japanese programs have flourished because she exposes students to the challenges and rewards of learning a foreign language. Ms. Aoyagi has a reputation for being strict; her classes are rigorous and she sets high expectations. Nonetheless, her students know her best for fostering a classroom environment that is inclusive, exciting, and inspiring. As one student described during an interview on NPR, “we sometimes refer to Aoyagi sensei as our second mother.”
Understanding that learning a foreign language requires experiences outside of the classroom, Ms. Aoyagi set up numerous interactive opportunities for her students, including the creation of an immersive exchange program with schools across Japan. During the annual exchange trips she coordinates, her students attend Japanese language classes, as well as college-level courses in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts. Additionally, the students live with host families, thereby strengthening their Japanese language abilities through spontaneous conversation and friendly debate. Since 2009 alone, these experiences have touched the lives of over 120 students and their families.
Ms. Aoyagi is gracious and enthusiastic to be a recipient of the 2017 Elgin Heinz Teacher Award. She divided her award project into two separate components to support her student’s efforts in competing in regional and national Japanese contests. In one component, Ms. Aoyagi will purchase her school’s very first computers with Japanese font support, finally permitting her students to read, type, and research in Japanese in the classroom. This investment in new technology will enhance the opportunities for the schools’ Japanese program far into the future. The other component will allow Ms. Aoyagi to award scholarships to students to attend the All-USA High School Japanese Speech and Essay Contests in Atlanta, Georgia. Her goal is to improve the number and diversity of students who can participate in these highly competitive and extremely revered contests.
Ms. Aoyagi’s decades-long career demonstrates her sustained commitment to improving mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese, and she has made considerable contributions to enhancing students’ knowledge of foreign language.