Graduate profile

Natasha McKee

Natasha is currently taking a break from the classroom to spend time with her young son and to complete study towards a Masters in Educational Administration and Leadership. Natasha lives in Whanganui, New Zealand.

Japanese language education

Secondary School:

  • Four years of Japanese study in NZ.
  • Final year of schooling spent on American Field Scholarship (AFS) in Aichi-ken, Japan living with a Japanese host family and attending a local high school.

 Tertiary:

Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Japanese at Massey University, including a one-year Kyoto Sangyo University (KSU) exchange

Motivation to begin Japanese language studies

Natasha’s karate training (from the age of 12) ignited an interest in Japan and learning Japanese. Her involvement in this sport developed her Japanese speaking ability, albeit in the predominantly male karate club environment. Her studies in Japanese became her favourite subject at school and have continued to dominate her career choice.

Skills gained as a result of studying Japanese

Natasha can communicate effectively with Japanese people and believes that studying a second language improved her overall English grammar as she became more conscious of grammatical usage.

Use of Japan/Japanese language skills and knowledge in current employment

Natasha has been teaching Japanese and karate at secondary school for 13 years. She loves teaching students, and can see herself remaining in this position for some time.

Time spent in Japan and benefits gained

Four years in total: Secondary school exchange (AFS)–one year at age 17; University exchange (KSU)–one year; and, teaching English at a private high school in Kyoto–two years.

 She says:

When I was on exchange at both secondary school and university I became very much involved in Japanese culture and way of life, probably because I lived with a host family at secondary school. At KSU, although there were other exchange students from my university living in the same dorm, I trained in the karate club 6 days a week and would often then eat out or go for a drink socially with my club team mates. Being in the karate club also gave me a better insight into the sempai-kohai (senior-junior) relationships that are prevalent in Japanese society and I learned the appropriate social etiquette and adjusted my language depending on who I was talking to, for example, learning to use teineigo and sonkeigo (polite language) when speaking to superiors.

 Working in Japan was quite a different experience I guess because I lived on my own and many of my colleagues had families, I socialised more with expats outside of work. However, as I was working as a teacher in a professional capacity, I made a conscientious effort to learn and use both teinego and sonkeigo; especially when addressing superiors at work and students’ parents.