Dear Sensei

Celebrating a brilliant decade of Japanese language education in Australia.

On the occasion of the Sydney Language Centre's 10th anniversary on 17th June 2001, it is my great honour to say that the establishment of the Centre was no doubt one of the biggest and most significant challenges ever made by the Japan Foundation in its thirty-year old history.

Our supporting programs have been highly evaluated by the teaching realms of Japanese language in Australia, and the remarkable development in Japanese language education is clearly evident and highly reputed worldwide.

Though there were only 60 000 students of Japanese a decade ago when the Sydney Language Centre was established, the number had increased to five times as many in 1998, with 300 000 students, and was ranked second in the world next to Korea. With regard to the rapid growth and development in such a short time, Australia in my opinion, may be ranked first in the world.

The quality of Japanese language teaching in Australia is remarkable and the extensive teaching ma-terials and methods implemented by Australian teachers and educators reflect this.

2001 is the dawn of a new decade of Japanese language education in Australia. We look forward to sharing the journey with our dearest 'senseis!'

Katsumi Kakazu
Director, Sydney Language Centre

Bottom (L to R): Itsumi Uchida (Administrator), Katsumi Kakazu (Director), Cathy Jonak (Chief Advisory Lecturer). Top (L to R): Samantha Hoy (former Program Coordinator), Cathy Fullerton (Program Coordinator), Himiko Negishi-Wood (Advisory Lecturer), Nanayo Kato-Wilder (Chief Program Coordinator), Lynsey McGee (Assistant Program Coordinator), Akiko Wada (Visiting Advisory Lecturer).

Help us celebrate! Participate in our 10 th Anniversary activities and look out for a special edition of Dear Sensei in November!