Natsuko Buurstra has been teaching Japanese at PHS for 18 years. Buurstra taught Japanese Language and Literature at a high school in Japan for three years before moving to the United States in 1984. Before coming to PHS, she worked for six years as a manager at a Japanese cosmetics company and taught Japanese at Rutgers.

Besides teaching different levels of Japanese at PHS, Buurstra also created and teaches the East Asian Studies class. Buurstra started this class because she believed that there was a lack of exposure to the cultures of China, Japan, and Korea at PHS. Buurstra wanted this class to introduce and celebrate these cultures with students.

“In this school, there are several other classes that teach about other cultures, like Russian studies, or the [Latin] America Studies. … But there's nothing about East Asia. And East Asia — China, Korea and Japan — has such a long, rich, culture and history,” said Buurstra. “It seems like in the students' history classes, they don't learn too much about [culture] — they focus on trade [and] economy. Even though all of that is important, I think it's also important to learn more about culture.”

During her time at PHS, Buurstra has not only taught students, but has also learned from them. Buurstra believes that all of the people she has met at PHS have taught her something new.

“[I’ve learned] that I have to be patient with my students, to let them really understand the material and to let them learn at their own pace,” said Buurstra. “I've learned [from] all the other people I work with. I've met so many great students, parents, and also other fellow teachers.”

One reason Buurstra loves teaching Japanese at PHS is her students’ passion for the class.

“I have really great students who are really interested in the Japanese language and Japanese culture. [They're] very studious — they study hard because they want to do more with the language. And they're very open-minded,” Buurstra said. “I'm very blessed to have great students.”

To help her students’ mental health, Buurstra tries not to give very much homework. She believes that her students can learn Japanese without doing hours of homework each night.

“Every student has [a] different progress speed — some students will finish everything in a really short time, but some need extra time. The students here have a lot going on, and a lot of them are really stressed. [I] don't really want to add to that stress [by giving them too much homework].”

In her class, Buurstra tries to focus on learning rather than memorization. She maintains a test policy where students are able to retake their assessments until they feel satisfied with their grade, and tries to encourage studying inside and outside the classroom.

“I have my quiz policy because instead of just moving on after each quiz, after each test, I want to teach the students. I don't want to just say ‘that's it’ and move on. I want them to learn,” said Buurstra. “So that's why, as long as they're learning, I want to give as many chances as I can. I want them to be able to keep doing the tests until they've learned the material.”

Outside of school, Buurstra enjoys cooking, going on walks with her dogs, and playing Mahjong with her Japanese friends.

Buurstra hopes that students can see that the classes she teaches are approachable, and encourages students to broaden their horizons.

“Japanese is not as difficult of a language as many people think. … The East Asian class is a really great class, especially if you're interested in East Asian history,” said Buurstra. “I hope that more people will be open to [learning] Japanese and [studying] East Asian cultures.”