DiRECT invited Ms. LE Cam TU Thi to be one of the guest speakers for IGPAS Gathering 2023.

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Ms. LE Cam TU Thi (Earth Science/Vietnam)

Affiliation:
Geography and English teacher, International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, Sendai Nika High School
Working history:
After graduating in 2019 September, she extended her period of stay for 6 months to find a job in Japan. She had several internships during that time. She started her first job in April 2020 at Sendai Nika High School. The positions since then have been as below:
- April 2020 to August 2020: IB assistant coordinator.
- September 2020 to March 2021: IB assistant coordinator and IB Geography teacher.
- April 2021 until now: IB Geography teacher and IB English teacher.
Hobbies: Cooking, reading, shopping, and traveling

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It was 6 months before her graduation from the Department of Earth Science that Le Thi Cam Tu (nicknamed 'Chip') decided to continue staying in Japan. "I made up my mind that I wanted to work in Japan and so I began searching for job-related information", she says.

However, she listed down many of her challenges at that time - Lack of working experience, poor Japanese skills, few connections in Sendai, Visa, etc. She broke down each of these challenges and found solutions for the same. Lack of working experience can be solved by getting more internships and poor Japanese skills can be addressed by focusing on jobs that require English primarily. Attending events and taking university's support can bridge the gap in local connections and finally resident status can be extended for 6 months by the Immigration Bureau. Realising the solutions at her hand, Chip began to build her social network by looking into Tohoku University's student and career support services. Her efforts eventually led to her professor introducing her to Sendai Nika Junior and Senior High School where she started working as IB (International Baccalaureate) Assistant Coordinator.

For many students, the balance between internships and time in laboratory can be similar to walking on a tight rope. "I did internships mostly after graduation. While I was a student, I made inquiries to companies if I could start an internship after graduation and I prepared for the designated activity resident status to allow me to stay in Japan for six months for job hunting. Some companies offered me an internship before graduation because the term of the internship was from one week to three months and the working schedule was very flexible", she explains.

The importance of Japanese for working in Japan is often one of the major challenges for international students. In the case of Chip, her international working environment helped her a lot. "Luckily enough, I do not need to speak Japanese for teaching subjects. However, good Japanese skills should always be helpful. For one class, I work with Japanese teacher and I need to speak Japanese. My Japanese is not perfect, but language is a tool for communication and not perfection. Therefore, I use body language and useful translation devices such as Google and DeepL", she says.

The classes at the school are co-taught by a Japanese teacher and an international teacher. This helps in sharing of ideas between the 2 teachers to ensure better learning outcomes. In the case of Chip, this evolving relationship between teachers and students have now made her interested in Educational Psychology.

In spite of the many challenges that came along the way, Chip has set her foot on a career path that is self-created and self-led. Using the university resources and the experience she gained on the campus, she has discovered new pathways towards being a global citizen.