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2008: Independent Upper School Teacher of the Year

Lycée Français' Writer-in-Residence
English teacher and author Jiro Adachi transitions to teaching teens

Jiro Adachi enjoys a bit of celebrity at Lycée Français de New York. He is a favorite teacher among upper school students, known for his accelerated English curriculum and demanding yet yielding teaching style.

But Adachi also has name recognition outside of the international bilingual school: he is a published author and writer. In 2004, the New York native penned The Island of Bicycle Dancers, a story of a young Korean-Japanese woman spending a summer in the city at her uncle’s grocery store.

His articles for The New York Times are vignettes of city life from the point of view of the marginalized, be they immigrants, bike messengers zooming through traffic or abandoned subway stations.

Adachi’s writing meshes well with his duties as a teacher. He often finds time to write during his travels on a cross-town bus or an uptown train, he said.

“The writing career is long-term, slow growth,” Adachi said. “They’re not happening on the same time frame, which is perfect,” he said of teaching and writing.

Adachi’s teaching career spans almost two decades. He taught foreign language and writing at well-known schools throughout the city, like the New School at Parsons and Hunter College, where he still teaches English to adults. He started at Lycée Français in 2005.

The transition to teaching teenagers came because Adachi wanted to have an impact on younger minds, he said, remembering his 6th and 9th grade teachers.

“They were so valuable to me when I was 12 and 15,” Adachi said. “I wanted to experience that.”
At Lycée Français, Adachi finally gets to apply the French he studied as a teenager. The school was a good fit for the 42-year-old, whose Japanese-Hungarian heritage is as culturally distinct as his students’ backgrounds.

“It’s a really great mix,” Adachi said. “They’re really well traveled. I like the international atmosphere.”
Adachi has adapted to the changes that come with Lycée Français, like adjusting to the French school system. But his biggest adjustment was teaching younger pupils. Adachi previously tutored junior high and high school students in English, but addressing an entire class of young teenagers was a different experience. Educating students in grades 6 through 10, he said, helped develop his teaching style.

“I’m developing a repertoire to keep students on task,” Adachi said. “It’s an ongoing process.”

Adachi has a few links to the Upper East Side, where Lycée Français is located. His childhood friend, who also grew up in Queens, lives near the school. He is close to the restaurant where he cooked before teaching. Much of his writing is set in New York. And though Adachi sometimes has a love-hate relationship with the city, he is proud of the impact he has made.

“There’s a huge need here for good teachers,” Adachi said. “I’m glad I’ve been able to fill part of that need.”

— Dan Rivoli