For Linda Fujikawa, assistant professor of Japanese language at Kapiolani Community College, teaching goes beyond the four walls of the classroom.
Teaching Japanese is about more than mastering the grammar and inflections of the language, as Fujikawa also conveys culture and history.
Through the International Service Learning Program, which Fujikawa helped found at KCC in 1998, she also encourages students to become involved in the community, whether it’s volunteering at an organic farm or at a homeless shelter as part of an educational experience.
"Service learning is different from just volunteering," she said. "You do service and learn from it."
Fujikawa, 58, was nominated by her students for the Heroes Next Door award for her inspirational style of teaching.
She’s not a fan of lengthy homework assignments, placing emphasis instead on what’s learned in the classroom. While teaching kanji characters, it’s also not unusual for her to offer nuggets of wisdom.
The mission of the International Service Learning Program, better known as "International Cafe," is to help local and foreign students gain insight about one another’s cultures and to see how they have more similarities than differences, creating a bridge among them.
In the cafeteria and classrooms, she said, students often tend to cluster within their ethnic groups or the people they went to high school with. At the International Cafe, which is set up in one of the classrooms, they are encouraged to share with one another.
"Our motto here is ‘A weaving of humanity,’" she said.
The cafe is open about three times a week as an informal place to hang out. It is furnished with tables and chairs, microwaves, even a crafts area with a sewing machine.
On Wednesdays students offer language tutoring sessions. Students also regularly offer presentations about their countries.
Students keep the cafe stocked with coffee and tea, bring food to share and are the driving force behind activities such as a raising funds for the victims of superstorm Sandy or fun social events like international dance night.
What started out as a grass-roots effort with just 10 student members has grown to 150.
Fujikawa, a Peace Corps veteran, has been teaching at KCC since 1987. She was an English teacher in South Korea and says the experience continued to inspire her.
Fujikawa also reminds her students to live life to the fullest, motivated by the memory of her eldest son, Gen, an avid fisher who died in a diving accident in 2005.
He also loved the ocean and cared for nature, Fujikawa said. She created the Aloha Aina Gen Memorial Award in his memory, which is given to students who perform outstanding community service.
Fujikawa’s students fondly call her by a nickname, "Linda sensei."
Among students whom Fujikawa has inspired are Jaran Hernandez, a native of Puerto Rico and enrolled at KCC after serving in the military. Hernandez, who hopes to provide counseling to veterans, was a recipient of the Gen Memorial Award.
Isaac Lau, a student who speaks Japanese, Chinese and Korean, tutors at the cafe and offers gifts of his woven art to others. Student Jikai Yamazato teaches others about his Okinawan culture.
Fujikawa said her goal is to help her students learn about one another’s cultures — whether they are from Pakistan, Puerto Rico or Indonesia — and to discover how they have more similarities than differences.
"Let us cross over the walls of self and build upon the whole heart of humanity with aloha," she said. "Truly, I believe each student is a treasure, and it’s my role to make them shine. More than ever, it’s the role of our school to guide the development of the human heart and compassion."
