Communication skill, beyond language, called key necessity
07.10.11
Although the trip took place over 40 years ago, the lessons he learned there — on life and communication — continuously traverse his everyday life as a language teacher in Sapporo. From his first evening in Japan over 15 years ago to his interactions with his students today, Rubiner sees communication as "the key to personal or professional success."
His road to becoming a language teacher took some unusual detours after many false starts. He grew up in Arizona, and his brother Joel, two years his senior, moved to Spain when Rubiner was in high school. His world expanded when his brother invited him on the South American trip, and he experienced firsthand the complexities of communication.
"It was a quite a deep experience for me. I saw poverty for the first time, people living in cardboard on the streets of Guayaquil in Ecuador. I saw incredible wilderness in the Andes mountains, and that opened me up to nature as I had never really experienced. The rigors of travel were quite profound, the differences between civilizations. And it became obvious to me how important it was to have communication skills."
Source: The Japan Times