Elizabeth Victor/America / Executive Director

今、アメリカでヒッポのスタッフをしているエリザベスが、ヒッポとの出会いを書いてくれました。もともと日本が好きで、日本の文化に魅せられたエリザベスは、日本人も顔負けの書道や焼き物の腕前。

エリザベスは、もともと留学した頃から日本語が話せるようになったそうですが、ヒッポを知り、そこでメンバーがいろいろなことばを楽しんで口にする様子にびっくりしたそうです。（多言語かわら版 第9号ではカラーで紹介できなかったエリザベスの作品もいくつか紹介します。）

I have been interested in other languages and cultures since I was a small child, but I had very little actual exposure. In college, I had close friends who had lived around the world, and seeing their wider viewpoints helped me decide to go overseas after graduation. I chose Japan because I had fallen in love with Japanese art.

I went to Japan as an English teacher with the JET Program. In Ehime, I visited 23 junior high schools by bus, 電車, 車, 自転車, and 船. I studied 習字and お花, and made やきものwith a local potter. The kindness and generosity of the people I met was amazing and I made many great friendships. Before going to Japan I didn’t speak Japanese. By the time I came back, I was conversational and knew that I wanted to keep a strong connection with the Japanese language, culture, and people while learning about new languages, cultures, and people. When I found LEX in Boston, I was amazed!

Just a few days after I started work for LEX, I was sent to Japan as an exchange program chaperone, and there I experienced my first Hippo Club. There were kids running around and shouting and my first impression was, “How can anyone learn anything in this chaos?!” But two things happened that were very感動的. I had studied Spanish, but couldn’t speak it. I had prepared to introduce myself in English and Spanish, but when “talking time” came I was too panicked to use Spanish. Then the mic began to move around the circle and I heard others speak: their Spanish wasn’t perfect, but they weren’t afraid to try, and the group encouraged them. When everyone else had finished, I asked if I could have another turn, and then I introduced myself in Spanish. That was exciting! But even more impressive was hearing so many Japanese members speaking easily in Korean. I found this incredibly moving and beautiful.

I was both excited and doubtful when we launched Hippo in the United States. It wasn’t until I could see my own languages developing that I put aside my doubts. About a year after our first U.S. club I had the opportunity to take a group to Chihuahua, Mexico. My host family were new members and didn’t speak English. To my amazement, we communicated easily – between my baby Spanish and my host mom’s great patience and kindness – on all kinds of topics including Presidential term limits and homelessness.

While it is now easy for me to believe whole-heartedly, not only in natural acquisition, but in multilingual natural acquisition, my biggest challenge these days is finding the best way to convey this 当たり前to others. Ideally this is something that each person will discover for themselves, but how do we as a community create the best possible environment for each person to make their own wonderful discoveries?

What I treasure most about my experiences with LEX is the people I have come to trust and to love: LEX members at home and abroad, my host families around the world, the amazing LEX staff in Japan and Mexico, our exchange program partners, and our directors, including Suzanne Flynn. I found Suzanne thanks to a friend who had attended Suzanne’s lecture and was struck by the similarities between Suzanne’s research and LEX ideas. I contacted Suzanne and invited her to visit a LEX club. When she said, “LEX represents the perfect embodiment of what we know to be true about language and learning,” it was the beginning of a wonderful collaboration.

I look forward to continuing the journey with Suzanne and with all of you to creating places of joyful learning; to greater openness to all languages and all people; to deeper understanding of ourselves as human beings; and to a more peaceful world.

アメリカ、ボストンのメンバーたちと。エリザベスは写真前列右端