From the Midwest to Japan and beyond
Jen Kocher
NLJ Correspondent
Sid Douglas grew up hearing stories about Japan. His father had been stationed in Okinawa during his military service and spoke reverently of the people, culture and country in general. As a kid growing up in California, Colorado and finally Newcastle, Japan was about as far away as Sid could imagine, and he dreamed of one day going there.
His interest was further cemented by his love of Japanese video games and vloggers (video blogging) documenting the day-to-day life in foreign countries, including Japan.
He was enamored by how different that world was compared to his life in Wyoming, and it captured his imagination and interest.
As a freshman at the University of Wyoming, Douglas started taking classes in Japanese, which he describes as one of the hardest languages to learn. His love of language and ideas led him to philosophy where he earned a degree last May and remained in Laramie working on campus in the English Language Center, where he tutors international graduate students and helps the director develop curriculum and other programs.
Now, at age 22, Douglas has lined up a job teaching in Japan and leaves for Nagoya next month, where he’ll be teaching English.
At this point, he has no idea what grade or ages he’ll be teaching, but hopes his background working with people with disabilities will enable him to work with Japanese students with special needs.
Nagoya is one of the larger cities, Douglas said, and is situated at the half-way mark between Tokyo and Kyoto. The city has deep historic significance, which also appeals to him.
It will be his first time overseas, and though not exactly nervous about the prospect of living so far from home, he nonetheless has a general feeling of anxiety leaving his life in Laramie and heading off into parts unknown.
“For a Midwestern kid who has never traveled, Japan
feels pretty far away,”
Douglas said. Still, he’s eager to explore a country he’s dreamed about visiting since he was just a boy.
His love of diverse cultures and curiosity to see the world belies his young age as Douglas talks thoughtfully about his passion for language and his goals as a teacher. Already, he has worked with Nepali students and African students from Albania and Kenya. He also has several Russian friends. His roommate heads up the group for Japanese students on campus, and along with watching lots of YouTube videos and vlogs about both language and various cultures, Douglas also has vast experience as a teacher working with students with special needs.
Douglas talks about the many lessons garnered by his early years as youth mentor and working with adults with special needs.
He began working with children with emotional behavioral disorders at the Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center in Newcastle. As an 18-year-old kid working with 12- and 13-year-olds, he learned to be patient yet firm, and in his words, “use language in a way to elicit positive responses.”
In Laramie, as a student, Douglas went on to work with disabled adults in group homes and was profoundly impacted by several experiences working with adults with special needs. He remembers as an 18-year-old helping a man with cerebral palsy take a shower. The guy was 19, just one year older than Douglas, and confined to a wheelchair and would never walk again.
“It made me realize just how lucky I was,” he said. “It was a completely humbling moment and made me feel grounded.”
He went on to work with a mentally disabled man, who was struggling to communicate and acting out to get attention. When Douglas saw that the man had a book on sign language, he reverted to the skills he learned in eighth grade and began signing with the man.
His demeanor and attitude completely changed, and Douglas understood his charge was freed by his ability to finally communicate.
“It opened my eyes to the power of language,” he said, “and the ways people can speak without using words.”
For Douglas, language has powerful implications, which he learned firsthand as he struggled to learn Japanese. Along with learning to write and decipher the many characters, speaking it was just as challenging, and after five years of study, he’s only now feeling that he’s made any progress.
Like anything else, Douglas points out, it’s a matter of how much time you put into it and how eager you are to learn. For him, it took understanding how to learn languages from a psychological viewpoint, which helped him better understand the intricacies of the brain and the different ways that one processes language.
He has no idea what it will be like to communicate when he arrives in Japan next month, but he’s taking it all in stride.
He laughed
“I’m sure I’ll learn a lot by trial and error,” he said. And though he’s excited to finally realize his long-term goal of going abroad, there’s a little apprehension about what it will feel like to be so far from home.
“Up until now my family was just a car ride away,” he said.
And though Douglas is not quite as nostalgic as he was once about going to Japan, he’s nonetheless excited for the many challenges it will no doubt bring.
As for his next long-term goal, he’s not sure. He’s signed a one-year teaching contract in Japan and is eager to pay off his student loans, so he thinks he might stick around for another year or so. Who knows? Because he’s also well versed in mathematics, he thinks maybe he’ll look into doing something in artificial intelligence or something that combines language with other skills.
For now, he’s got his eyes on the 2020 Olympics, which will be in Japan, and he’s hoping that his bilingual skills will land him some type of job working with athletes or the commission.
And with one goal nearly under his belt, he’s content to wait until the next idea germinates. In the meantime, he’s heading over to a friend’s to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and the new life that awaits him.