Hello, Nǐ Hǎo, and Konnichiwa!
My name is Benjamin Frochtzwajg, but my students usually know me as Mr. Benjamin in English, Jié Míng Lǎo Shī (“Teacher Benjamin”) in Mandarin, or Benjamin Sensei in Japanese.
I am the Mandarin, Japanese, and APIDA Studies (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Studies) teacher here at Bernstein High and a proud member of our Cinematic and Creative Technology Magnet.
My mission is to inspire and uplift others through language and culture.
To accomplish this goal in our Mandarin and Japanese classes, we create an immersive environment where as much Japanese and Mandarin is used as possible to conduct all class business, we embed language learning into frequent cultural activities including but not limited to brush and ink calligraphy, martial arts, celebrating all major Japanese and Chinese holidays etc., and finally we frequently embed our magnet theme (Cinematic and Creative Technologies) into our lesson creating a School Tour Video in Chinese, designing and 3-D printing your own Anime character and using Japanese to describe them, and designing a digital menu in Japanese/Chinese for a proposed restaurant.
In APIDA Studies (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Studies) we learn about the history, culture, and current status of East Asian, South East Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander communities here in the United States.
To accomplish our goal of uplifting and inspiring students through culture in APIDA studies, we frequently engage in cultural and community projects that build understanding of and appreciation for our Asian Pacific Islander community here in the United States. These include but are not limited to a a Stop Asian Hate themed celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, a Calligraphy project that commemorates the Internment of Japanese Americans, proposing a business plan for an Asian restaurant, creating a digital Asian restaurant menu, and planning a public event to celebrate AAPI heritage month.
I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Japanese from UC Irvine, my Master’s Degree in Asian Studies from Cal State Long Beach, and my Teaching Credential in 4 subjects: Mandarin, Japanese, Social Studies, and English Language Arts from Cal State Northridge.
I am very passionate about language learning and teaching and spend much of my free time learning new languages. I currently speak Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and Modern Hebrew. I also read Biblical Hebrew and Bibilical Aramaic. I am currently learning Tagalog, Indonesian, and Hindi.
I also have published an article on Mandarin Chinese on Chabad.org, the world’s largest Jewish website. The article can be found here.
It is a privilege to be able to teach every single one of my students because they are the reason I am employed! I have deep gratitude to each family for making Bernstein’s CACT magnet their choice of school.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out any time. I will make every effort to respond within 24 hours.
Email: [email protected]
Work Phone: 424-666-7421
Thank You, Xiè xie, and Arigatou Gozaimasu!
