“I got to meet some of the like, smartest five year old’s I’ve ever met in my life because they were bilingual and they pick up language so fast,” Sarah Wright said. 

In the year 2017 Sarah Wright moved to Japan to teach English. For about six months being there she got to experience what life was like in another country. 

“I definitely got used to using like the train system to get to work and I would bike to the train, and park my bike,” Wright said. “ like a transit conscious kind of community where you really don’t like to use a vehicle to get anywhere.”

While Wright was staying in Japan she expressed the differences between teaching in Japan and the US.   

“Just a part of Japanese culture is that education is very strict and it’s very serious and like you’re expected to sit and do your work and to not really like talk with the teacher, unless the teacher is giving an instruction. And the in comparison, I had taught middle school for three and a half years before in the US here in Colorado, and like, I had great relationships with my kids,” said Wright

Wright, having love for getting to know the kids she works with, was challenging for her when she moved out to Japan.

“You know, that’s my favorite part of teaching and so I really feel like that aspect was challenging for me,” said Wright. 

Even though Wright didn’t really get to know many of her students, she got to do one on one lessons that helped get to know them just a little bit more.

“It was really cool to get to do like, one on one lessons with students because then I actually got to see like, a little bit more of their personality,” said Wright.

Also learning about different parts of Japanese culture. 

“They would share things with me about how Americans had Americanized pieces of Japanese culture, like sushi for instance, I remember them asking me my favorite type of sushi and when I told them they were like, that’s not real sushi,” said Wright.

During the time Wright was working with the kids, she had encountered some amazing kids and their talents.

“ I had a student who had learned how to speak English primarily from watching TV shows. And so he had picked up a British accent when he would speak English because he was watching British TV shows. But his English was like, beautiful and he’s five so it was really cool.” Said Wright. 

After six months of living in Japan and getting a new experience, with also getting a new perspective on teaching Sarah Wright moved back to the US and subbed here at SHHS for a whale until she became a teacher here permanently.