Betsy Chafcouloff
(1981-83)
I remember the hot summer nights, especially, coming home from JohRan, or from a (then novel) karaoke bar where one night Andy and I, forced to sing "Love Me Tender," gave a lovely off-key rendition. We would walk home through a small bamboo forest, dubbed "Vietnam" by the gaijin teachers, cicadas making a comforting racket all the while.
I taught morning class my first year, and not being a morning person, I always felt a little in a dream-world, facing eight equally sleepy Japanese businessmen in sweats ("training suits") at 8 a.m. My favorite thing as time went on was to watch the classmates loosen up and start joking around (in English!). The richest language learning took place, I think, just before class started as I was gradually let into the chit-chat.
Then there was "Ladies Class" once a week-a sort of women's social club with an English-language-learning overlay. These women were a refreshing counterpoint to the men I saw all week, and they quickly put to rest any preconceived notions I had had about docile and compliant Japanese women. No pushovers by any stretch, they were as strong-willed as they were sweet, and they loved getting into cross-cultural discussions. My best teachers.
LIOJ was the beginning of my ELT career, and I could not have had a better training. We had both the obligation to come up with the best possible materials and teaching strategies, and the luxury to do so. I was privileged to work with some very creative people, some of whom are still good friends. After LIOJ I continued in ELT for twelve years, and it is no exaggeration to say that everything-my style, curriculum development, rapport with students-was rooted in my experience at LIOJ. I'm a speech pathologist now, working with the elderly. In the twenty years since I left LIOJ, I have been back only twice (once for seven months), but the place and the people will be with me forever.
Happy anniversary, LIOJ!
July 2003
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