Brazilian-born Elisa Kemmisaki, 22, is a newly assigned English language teacher at Ushioda Junior High School in Yokohama.
She also helps pupils in the "kokusai kyoshitsu" (international classroom) pursue their study of Japanese and other subjects.
One recent Friday class was filled with restless students. A Brazilian boy spoke relatively fluent Japanese, while a female compatriot stumbled over reading her Japanese textbook.
The girl slipped back into her mother tongue, Portuguese, to ask her young teacher a question. When Kemmisaki replied in Portuguese, the girl smiled.