The JLP Director, Tomoko Takami, was selected as the recipient of 2019 Teacher Award by the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ)

The Director of the Japanese Language Program at Penn, Ms. Tomoko Takami, was awarded the 2019 Teacher Award in the college level category by the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) in September 2019.  The AATJ is a national professional organization for the promotion of Japanese language in the United States, and it explained that Ms. Takami excelled in all of the following areas that the AATJ wanted to recognize and honor with this award: “quality and innovative teaching, service to the profession and to the community, participation in professional development activities, and advocacy for your program and Japanese language education as a whole.”

Ms. Takami has expressed her gratitude and love to the Penn community, “I am very honored and humbled to receive the 2019 Teacher Award from the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ).  I am grateful to my colleagues at Penn.  I came to Penn as a graduate student in 1994; it was my very first time to study in the United States.  Upon receiving my degree, I started to teach Japanese here. Penn is my home and my colleagues are my family.  I am very fortunate to have the most inspiring and supportive colleagues.  I would also like to say thank you to my students, past and present, for their passion and commitment to learning.  Their joy in learning is my joy in teaching. Their struggle is my struggle with teaching. They are my source of energy in teaching and learning to become a better educator.  I am very happy to share this award with my colleagues and students at Penn.  Thank you all very much!”