I can still remember it clearly, the day I would meet my favourite teacher and mentor.  It was the first day of High School.  My group of three friends and I were excited because we all had the next class together.  We thought it was surprising how we all got the same hour for our foreign language class.  After entering the smaller than normal room and taking seats among eight other students we noticed something was missing, our  teacher.
That’s when she would appear, Mrs. Kazuko Scherer commonly referred to by all of her students as Sensei.  Despite being a teacher she had to look up to everyone.  But don’t let her height deceive you.  This palmtop tiger is small, but expects nothing but perfection from her students.  After centering herself in the room she would stun all of us. 
“???????”  she said as is if we all understood fluent Japanese.  “By the end of the week you will understand that and we will be able to start class like in a true Japanese classroom.  But for now, welcome to Japanese One” she gave as a followup. This encompasses sensei’s teaching method, learn, then do, and perfect.
Sensei, from the first day to the end  of the three year program, pushed us the same way.  No matter how hard it was to learn something, she would always be behind us showing us the way, but never pushing it down on us.  We would have to struggle our way through as she held us to a Japanese level standard.   Not only does she expect perfection from her students, but she delivers it as well.  It was not uncommon for a thursday test to be in our hands and corrected by Friday.  She surprised me after one of our tests that I scored a 95% on by saying
“I know you can do better Hisao[my Japanese name].”
At Arrowhead the Japanese program is not offered in the 2014-2015 school year.  Even though we do not meet with Sensei everyday anymore, her class still meets in an online Skype call once and a while to ask about problems we have faced not only in the Japanese language, but in our lives.  Sensei will always be my favorite teacher.  She is kind like a mother, and yet demanding like a U.S. Marine drill instructor.