７月３０日（土曜日）２０２２
人と会う約束があって、久しぶりに以前の職場を訪れました。ウェルズリー大学は夏休みでキャンパスは学生も職員もいなくて遠くに塊となって座って人の話を聞いている光景が見えましたが（あれは高校生を対象にした夏のprogramではないかと）、あとは夏休みに両親と大学を見に来ている数組の親子連れがいたぐらいです。
マサチューセッツ州西部、ボストン郊外にあるこの大学は創立が１８７０年。大学院を持たない学生数２３００人ぐらいのこじんまりした私立の女子大です。私はここで２０年ちょっと仕事をしました。今回時間がなく僅かな写真しか撮れませんでしたが、それでもいかに緑に囲まれた美しい大学であるかが分かると思います。広い敷地内には人工で作られた湖もあり私たち日本人には夢のようなキャンパスです。
８０年代後半の日本の経済好調期にアメリカの大学は空前の日本語ブームが起こり、教員の人材不足からアカデミアとは無縁ながら劇団で日本語の基礎訓練を受けたという経歴に教授が興味を示しハーバード大学で採用され、８年後にこのウェルズリー大学に移ってきました。日本の経済力の恩恵を受けて貴重で楽しい様々な経験を若さみなぎる学生たちの中でできたことは幸運以外の何ものでもありません。
Since I had an appointment, I visited Wellesley College where I used to work after many years. Almost no students and staff were on campus because it was during the summer vacation, I only saw a group sitting in the yard and listening someone's talk ( probably it was a summer program for highschool students). I also saw a couple of small family groups who visited campus for the college selection before the application.
Wellesley College is located western part of Massatusetts and in the suburbs of Boston. Wellesley College is a women's college with no graduate program which has about 2300 students. I worked for this college for 20 years and little more before. I took only a few photos because of the time limit, but you will see how beautiful the college is surrounded by lots of green. There is also a man-made lake in a vast area. It is a dreamy campus for most Japanese.
In the late 80's, the Japanese economy was in good health, and it made a Japanese language boom in US colleges. Many Japanese programs were short of teaching staff. Although I was not in the field of linguistics or language education, professor T. Monane in Harvard was interested in my background. I was in a Japanese theatrical company and had been trained in basic Japanese vocalization, so she hired me as a language instructor. After teaching Japanese at Harvard for eight years, I moved to Wellesley College. Receiving the benefit of a good Japanese economy, I spent precious and joyful days among US college students who were full of energy and talent and those were my happiest days in my memories.
