Hiroko Kimura Sherry
Hiroko Kimura Sherry is a senior lecturer
in Japanese in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University
of Pennsylvania. She is also a Japanese oral proficiency tester certified by ACTFL.
She was born in Tachikawa city, Tokyo, Japan and was trained in Education (International
Christian University, Japan) and in Linguistics (University of Toronto, Canada)
and has received master's degrees in both. She also received formal training in
teaching Japanese as a second language when she was in Japan. In 1975, she was
chosen as a visiting lecturer in Japanese to University of Toronto by the Japan
Foundation. She stayed in Toronto until 1980 when she came to Philadelphia. She
has been teaching at University of Pennsylvania since 1981.
Dear Students,
I had no intention to stay in North America this long when I first came to Toronto
in 1975. Actually, I had never thought of coming over here. I wanted to go to
India (Don't ask me why, because I don't have an answer to that question.) and
I said so when the Japan Foundation asked me where I would like to be sent. Instead,
they shipped me to Canada and I have been in North America since. My point is
that you don't know where you may end up in your life, so STUDY JAPANESE. Who
knows, you may be dropped in Japan before you know it. You may be my replacement
there. Good luck (Ganbatte ne!).
Hiroko Kimura Sherry