Faculty Spotlight: Cris Dofitas

We feature Cris-sensei in this installment of faculty spotlight! Cris-sensei’s classes are known for their fun and collaborative exercises. Read on to learn more about his background and interests!

1. What got you interested in learning and teaching Japanese?

For me, it’s two separate reasons. I liked anime and was fascinated by Japanese culture from a young age mostly because I had an aunt who had a boyfriend who was Japanese and we would sometimes spend weekends with them and we got to play on the Super Nintendo. We would also listen to Japanese music because her boyfriend had CDs at the time. Then I was influenced greatly by a classmate in elementary who was really into Rurouni Kenshin. She got me to listen to the soundtrack and I really enjoyed it. Ever since then, I listened to anime soundtracks and watched anime. What got me into teaching Japanese was a result of my dream of becoming a teacher and my knowledge of Japanese. I only started considering teaching Japanese on my fourth and final year of undergrad. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and when I looked at my skills, I saw that I could possibly teach Japanese in the department. I could have also taught English somewhere, but I didn’t really like teaching English, based on my experience teaching English in Japan. What I did realize was that I really enjoyed seeing people improve and that I noticed other people’s mistakes and how to fix them. Japanese was the only body of knowledge that I had enough confidence in, so I applied as a teacher in the department and I was fortunate enough to be accepted.

2. How is your experience teaching the language at UP Diliman so far?

It has been the one of the most consistent things that have brought joy to my life. I enjoy teaching UP students because they always challenge me as a teacher. Every semester I set expectations and every semester; UP students exceed those expectations. There has never been a semester where I was frustrated with my students. There have been semesters where I felt that I failed as a teacher, but never a semester where students failed to meet my expectations. And this is something that I can only say about UP students. Teaching them is different and refreshing. It is like an arms race: I have to keep improving because students are learning on their own and come to class with many questions, so I have to anticipate those questions and formulate an explanation that would make sense to them. I would also like to mention that the mentorship in the department is wonderful. I was given enough leeway to try out my own ideas, but I was also given advice when I asked for it. The faculty has supported my endeavors by being my sounding board and devil’s advocate when necessary. I wouldn’t have grown as much as a teacher if not for the wealth of knowledge available in books and in the minds of my colleagues.

3. Can you share some tips for learning Japanese, especially for students who might be intimidated by the language and its writing system?

Find an aspect of Japan that you can really like and use that as your practice material. If you like Jpop idols, start by looking up clips of them and try reading their messages on Instagram or X (formerly Twitter). Find a source of gratification that will sustain you through the frustrating parts of learning a language. If you are obsessed enough on that aspect of Japan, learning more about it is gratifying and the way to learn more about it is to improve your language skills. Any difficulty you might face will just be a bump in the road to your own gratification.

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Currently, Cris-sensei teaches beginner classes, as well as higher-level courses. This second semester, he will handle one section of Hapon 11, and one section of Hapon 110. Access the “Regular Classes” and “Course Catalog” tabs of CRS for more information. 

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This article is part of the “Faculty Spotlight” series of the Department, and is also done in celebration of 100 years of Japanese language teaching in the university. Click here for more information.