The ELP Teaching Staff
Chrystabel Butler, Adjunct Instructor
Mark Christianson, Mark Christianson, Adjunct Instructor: MA TESL, BA International Studies, BA Chinese. My research interests include the English education system in Japanese public schools and how to design fun, effective programs for intercultural communication training. For fun, I like soccer, running, Chinese karaoke, and hanging out with my wife Megumi and son Michael.
Susan Edwards, Instructor: MEd TEFL, RSA DTEFLA, BA Hons French and Spanish. I'm currently researching the effectiveness of using websites in language teaching. I'm interested in yoga, film, travel and learning foreign languages.
Steven Engler, Adjunct Instructor: MA TESL, BA English, BA Secondary Education. My research interests include the use of the peer review activity in writing classes and the effect of task on language production. I enjoy reading, exercising, and drinking good beer, especially German beer.
Ken Enochs, Senior Lecturer: MEd TESL, BA English Literature. My teaching interests include presentation skills and adventure narratives, and my personal interests include traveling, telemark skiing, cycling, and juggling.
Akiko Fukao, Lecturer: MA TESOL, BA English. As a teacher, I am interested in helping students become efficient academic readers. My research interests include English teaching and learning in the context of liberal arts education.
Christopher Gallagher, Lecturer: MSc TESP, BEd, RSA Cert TEFLA. My present research interests include applications of Systemic Functional linguistics in the teaching of English for Academic Purposes, and the role of reflection in ongoing teacher/self development. I like surfing too!
Chris Hale, Adjunct Instructor: MEd Applied Linguistics, MA TESOL, BA English Literature. Lately I have been looking into group dynamics in autonomous learning environments in group and pair work . I'm also interested in conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics and self-access language learning. I love electronic music and am a semi-professional techno/house producer and DJ with album releases in the US and UK.
Bill Harshbarger, Professor. Ph.D. Intercultural Communication, M.A. TESL, B.S. Geology. I have lived and worked in the US, England, Mexico, Oman, India, the Dominican Republic and Japan. I am interested in the application of complex systems theory and Web 2.0 to language learning. I enjoy cooking, hiking, badminton and playing the guitar.
Chris Hoskins, Adjunct Instructor: MA in TESOL, BA Speech Communications/Public Relations. As a language teacher, I am interested in story-telling as a means of transmitting social and cultural information, and how to structure language training to efficiently move toward students' performance related goals. I'm also very interested in the use of technology to support language learning. My personal interests include playing various kinds of music on the fiddle, video and sound recording and editing, and sometimes scuba diving in exotic locations.
Robert Homan, Lecturer: MA TESOL, BA Political Science, Minor French. My interests are in sports, (especially baseball), cooking (especially Mexican) and reading. I've been in Japan for over 16 years, and here at ICU for over 11 years.
Kumi Iwasaki, Adjunct Instructor: MA in TESOL, BA Education. A question, "What makes us learn?" has driven my life as a language teacher. I am interested in how the mind works. My personal interests include having holiday brunch at a cafe, reading, being outdoors, baking bread, swimming and now exercising Martial Arts (kind of).
Michael Kleindl, Senior Lecturer: MA TESOL, BA Russian, BA German. My interests include poetry, gardening, baking bread and researching Shitamachi. I also write restaurant reviews for the Asahi Shimbun and for Tokyo Q, a weekly e-zine guide to the city.
Masuko Miyahara, Adjunct Instructor: MA in TESOL, BA in Intercultural Communications. My research interests revolves around the field of learner autonomy. I am also very much into studying the co-relation between one's identity construction and its influence on language development. I love going to art musuems, and going out for walks in the Musashino area.
Audrey Morrell, Adjunct Instructor: M.Ed. Counseling and
Consulting Psychology, B.A. Psychology. I'm currently working on a
degree in Mysticism and the study of Religious Experience.
Ged O'Connell, Senior Lecturer: M.Ed. TESOL, B.Ed Media Studies. My aim as a teacher is to help my students become independent learners. My interests include playing football and golf, and solving cryptic crosswords.
Kota Ohata, Instructor. Ph.D. Rhetoric & Linguistics, M.A. Linguistics & TESOL, B.A. English. My research interests center around the roles of affect in second language learning, epecially in relation to the cross-cultural issues involved in the processes, such as the learner's experiences of inner conflicts or dilemmas between L1 and L2 self-identity.
Rab Paterson Adjunct Instructor: PhD (ABD) International Relations, MA (Hons.) Pacific Asian Studies, BA (Hons.) Pacific Asian History, RSA CTEFLA. My research interests are U.S. Foreign Policy towards Asia, International Security, Venezuelan Direct Democracy, Promoting Media Literacy, Citizen Activism, Human Rights / Social Justice and the Alternative Globalisation movement. I also help run the film / discussion / activist group called Tokyo Spring and am interested in raising student's awareness of these and other contemporary issues. I love football (the beautiful game variety!) hiking, camping, barbeques and beer. Slainte!
Sylvan Payne, Instructor: MA TEFL, BA Fine Art/Painting and Drawing. My teaching interests center around the adaptation of digital technology to language-learning resources, and my personal interests include bicycling, walking, reading, and people-watching.
David Pickles, Senior Lecturer: BA Mathematics, MA English. As a teacher, I try to guide students as they discover their own research questions, form opinions, and support their opinions. Other interests are movies, hiking, and baking sourdough bread.
Miguel Sosa, Adjunct Instructor. I have two careers, one as a language teacher and the other as a musician. For several years, I taught music at a university in Canada. Teaching music led me to study how we learn languages. Years later, I went back to school to learn about teaching languages. There, I re-discovered the pleasure of reading and writing. Now, in addition to playing several piano concerts a year, I am interested in writing essays about learning and teaching, and of course, playing concerts!
Lynn Stein, Tenured Instructor: MA TESOL, BA Music Education. My research interests include writing, writing centers, and literacy. My other interests include music, especially music theater and opera, gardening, and travelling.
Mikiko Sudo, Adjunct Instructor: MA TESOL, BA Sociology. As a language teacher, I am interested in the nature of classroom discourse and its role in promoting students' learning. On sunny days, I enjoy cycling along the Nogawa River, which is the heaven of ducks. In spring you can occasionally watch new-born bay ducks. Watching them is the best way to relax for me.
Asako Takaesu, Adjunct Instructor: MA American Studies, BA English and American Literature. One of my aims as a teacher is to facilitate language acquisition through the study of global and social issues. In my free time, I enjoy watching films, walking, doing yoga, and singing in chorus.
Hiroshi Takahashi, Adjunct Instructor: My research interests pivot around cognitive linguistics and its applications to second language education. I am particularly interested in how embodied cognition shapes language. As a learner/teacher, I am interested in genre-based approaches to learning/teaching English (such as legal discourse and journalistic writing) and how advanced literacy can be achieved. I like skiing, strumming the guitar, and playing with my son
Atsuko Tsuda, Adjunct Instructor: MA TESOL, BA English and American Literature. I love teaching English and would like to help Japanese students gain confidence in their linguistic skills. My personal interests include traveling, cooking and singing.
Paul Wadden, Senior Lecturer: Ph.D. American Literature and Rhetoric; M.F.A. in Writing; B.A. English, Psychology and Philosophy. Interests include critical theory, literature, and writing.
Atsuko Watanabe, Tenured Instructor: MA TESOL, BA Psychology. As a teacher I am interested in fostering student autonomy and also in motivating students who do not like English.
Izumi Watanabe-Kim, Instructor: MA TESOL, BS Business Administration, Minor Psychology. My academic interests are wide ranging second language assessment, sociolinguistics in a cross-cultural context, both external and internal factors of second language acquisition, and the role of non-native ESL teachers.