2018 Award Recipients

  • Ms. Manami Honda Mata
    Japanese Language Category
    Teacher of Japanese Language
    Ed. W. Clark High School
    Las Vegas, NV

    Ms. Manami Honda Mata started teaching Japanese at Ed W. Clark High School in Las Vegas (NV) in 2004 after teaching at the University of Nevada Las Vegas for three years and at Japanese supplementary schools for six years. Ms. Mata teaches over 170 9th-to 12th grade students ranging from Level I to AP Japanese Language and Culture.

    Ms. Mata constantly incorporates fun activities in her classroom to help her students learn Japanese language and culture. Fukuwarai (a game like “pin the tail on the donkey”), hana ichi monme (a children’s game), and a T-shirt Fashion Show are just some of the many examples. Her students also have many opportunities to improve their technology skills, such as making cooking videos and using “Kahoot!”. In 2014 her Japanese National Honor Society students made a dance video with “Koisuru Fochun Kukkii/ Loving Fortune Cookie” to introduce their high school to students in Japan. Ms. Mata has also been known to perform a tea ceremony on tatami for her students and to bring a furisode (Japanese kimono for young ladies) for students to try on. Her students have opportunities to listen to first-hand stories by guest speakers from a variety of fields, such as the military, popular culture, transportation, and others.

    Ms. Mata also strongly encourages students to explore Japanese language and culture outside of the classroom. Since the Southern Nevada Japanese Speech Contest began in 2004, her students have regularly participated and have frequently won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Her dance and drama teams also participate in the annual Las Vegas Fall Festival. Some students volunteer at the annual Spring Festival. Every year students take the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) National Japanese Exam and participate in the AATJ Nengajo (Japanese New Year’s cards) contest. In both 2012 and 2013, one of her students was selected to participate in the Japan Exchange and teaching Memorial Invitation Program (JET-MIP). In 2014 Ed W. Clark High School was chosen to participate in the KAKEHASHI Program, hosting two groups of 21 students from Japan and sending 21 of Ms. Mata’s students to Japan.

    In the Clark County School District, Ms. Mata has taken a leadership role by participating in groups such as the Advanced Placement (AP) Professional Learning Community Cadre, the Curriculum Task Force, the Textbook Adoption Committee, and the New Course Development Committee for Japanese. She has served as President and Vice-President of the Southern Nevada Japanese Teachers Association (SNJTA), and has organized speech contests and facilitated various workshops and lectures. She has presented at the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching and will be a co-presenter of a 2018 ACTFL Convention workshop, “Sparkling Your Students’ Interest with Lessons Integrating Technology.”

    When AP Japanese Language and Culture was launched in the 2006-2007 school year, Ms. Mata was selected as an AP Reader. This opportunity became the most important event in her professional career, providing not only first-hand knowledge about AP Japanese Language and Culture but also the opportunity to meet other enthusiastic, dedicated and highly qualified Japanese language education professionals. They inspired her as a language teacher and made her think about what she could do to promote knowledge of Japan. Since then she has been an active member of the California Association of Japanese Language Schools (CAJLS) and ACTFL, helping share information with the teachers in her district. Furthermore, in 2014, with the help of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, the Japan Foundation in Los Angeles, and others, Ms. Mata launched the “Las Vegas Free Lecture Series.” to promote greater knowledge of Japan in the community. In April this year Ms. Mata facilitated the 4th Las Vegas Free Lecture Series. In December 2017, with the help of her school district coordinator, she organized and facilitated a district-wide Professional Development Workshop for all World Language teachers in her district to improve the quality of teaching.

    Ms. Mata states “It is a quite honor to receive this renowned award, and I am humbled to be selected for this prestigious recognition. I have a passion to establish regular youth exchange opportunities between the U.S. and Japan in the near future, to promote greater knowledge of Japan in the Las Vegas community, and to improve Japanese language education both in my own school district and beyond. This Elgin Heinz Teacher Award is a great enforcement to me as I pursue my goals.”


    Ms. Catherine A. Mein
    Humanities Category
    Teacher of World History
    B. Ballard High School
    Huxley, IA

    Catherine Mein is a World History teacher at Ballard High School in central Iowa. She teaches Modern World History: 1450 to the Present and dual credit Western Civilizations: Beginnings to the Present. She serves as the social studies department chair and the high school social studies PLC lead teacher. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Catherine is the current Vice President of the Iowa Council for the Social Studies and has served on the ICSS board since 2004.

    Catherine came to Japan through China. She studied Modern Chinese History and Women in Chinese History with Professor Jonathan Lipman at Mount Holyoke College. These two courses created a desire to know more about East Asia, and she was fortunate to encounter the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia early in her career. In 2000, she completed a 30-hour seminar that included China and Japan and which led her seek other learning opportunities about both China and Japan. The majority of those opportunities came from the Program for Teaching East Asia at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Since 2006, Catherine has participated in eight professional development opportunities on Modern Japan as well as additional opportunities on China and Korea. Catherine states, “These summer institutes, online courses, and study tours have created a deep understanding of the history of modern Japan and developed strong pedagogical strategies for teaching effectively about Japan. The generous funding provided by the U.S.-Japan Foundation, the Freeman Foundation, and the Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad Program made these opportunities possible.”

    The impact of these professional development opportunities are apparent in lessons developed for Catherine’s Modern World History course. These lessons encourage students to interrogate sources so they can better assess historical arguments and to examine events from multiple perspectives. Beyond her classroom, Catherine has presented at state and national social studies conferences. Several of these presentations were developed out of her professional learning about Japan. Almost every professional development opportunity was followed by a presentation at either the state, regional, or national level, with the intent of sharing that learning with more teachers. Following an online course and study tour about Japan’s cultural encounters, Catherine developed lessons which are nationally available through the Program for Teaching East Asia. She presented two webinars and presented twice at the National Conference for the Social Studies conference. In 2014, she collaborated on two more lessons for another project on early 20th century Japan.

    Catherine shares, “I have been hugely fortunate to have all of these learning opportunities. I’ve listened to John Dower talk about the creation of the MIT Visualizing Cultures website and to a survivor of the bombing of Nagasaki share her story. I got to plant trees in an area inundated by the 2011 tsunami and spend a weekend with a family in Osaka. While I and my students have benefitted from these opportunities, I also feel a strong responsibility to share this learning with other teachers, to impact as many classrooms as possible. Receiving the Elgin Heinz Award is a great honor and encourages me to continue my work.”

    Catherine is sponsoring a trip to Japan in 2020 and will provide scholarships for students out of the program funds. In addition to these scholarships, Catherine will be purchasing books for her curriculum library and providing funds to expand the high school manga collection. All of these will provide greater learning opportunities about Japan for Ballard students.