Please introduce yourself.

My name is Erika Kudo. I was born in Chitose, and I was growing up in Sapporo. And one time I moved to America for 2 years for studying. I'm a Speech Language Pathologist. We usually call Speech therapist in Japan. My hobby is badminton, And I've been playing saxophone for 5 years and I also love drinking.

Why did you go to America?

When I was university student, I had a chance to go to America to see some Speech Language Pathologist curriculum at that time. It was amazing program. And the time, I got like I would like to study in America someday. And I worked in clinical hospital before, after that I decided to go to the America for study. And I took one class swallowing disorders, it's my major.

How was your US life?

Ah, it was so fun!! Of course it's not easy, but it was really great experience for me.

Did you travel to any place in America?

I didn't travel so much at that time. But I was in Idaho, there is so beautiful place. I think it looks like Hokkaido! The Climate is similar too. And there is Yellowstone National Park, there was so beautiful, I loved it.

Have you eat potatos? lol

Yeah, haha. Everyone says that Idaho is very famous by potato. And potato chips, every package is so big.

When did you came back to Japan, and what did you do first?

After I came back to Japan, I was staying at parent’s house for a few months. And I move to Sapporo, then I applied to the teaching job. And I became a teacher in here.

Could you tell me why did you decide to become a teacher?

When I back to university student in America, I was so impressed. I learned active learning teaching style at the first time. It was great experience and I got so many ideas of teaching. And I really interested in teaching. That’s why I decided to be a teacher

Why did you decide to become a Speech therapist?

When I was last grade in university student, everyone needs to go out clinical practice in the hospital. The time I didn't make decision for myself to be a Speech therapist because of I didn’t have a confidence.  But in the hospital, I met one lady, she got a stroke and she was aphasia. She can't speak well. she just can pronounce only "ka" and "ko". But she had a really good personality. And we enjoyed communication each other. You know like... not only the verbal things, everything included in the communication like facial movement and body language. That's a communication too. So we enjoyed that. And last day of my clinical practice, she said to me... "a-ka-ko"... That was she actually said "arigatou" in Japanese that meaning "Thank you". Her pronunciation was not perfect, but I totally understand what she said. At that time I thought I wanted to be a good Speech therapist.

What do you think what is the good of NISHINO GAKUEN?

I think the best thing is NISHINO GAKUEN has great clinical practice program. And student can learn some technics how to assessment patient, and how to evaluation also training and treat patient. It is a great system.

Do you have any difficulty or fun when you teaching?

I always feel fun and exited to do my class. And I love the communicate with student. In the class time I usually do some project. The most important thing is students can feel like "I did it!", "I made it!". This is a great experience if they say that I feel so happy. The moment is great for me.

Do you have any dream or vision?

My big purpose is I would like to do work and help patients as a Speech therapist. And I also want to be a teacher to do the both things like working at clinical and teaching. I’m actually going to the hospital once in the week, but now is corona virus the pandemics I can't go anyway. But I would like to be that both things. If I could do that I can tell more technics to the student. That is my big vision.

There are many people in the world who want to study in Japan. Please give any advice and message to those people.

I think study abroad is so hard. But it's going to be a great experience same as me. NISHINO GAKUEN has good clinical program. If you interested in our college or Speech therapist, please contact us!! We can do the studying together. I strongly recommend to come to NISHINO GAKUEN!!