Faculty & Staff To enable the Institute to provide excellent on-line professional development, we contracted with three well respected educators active in the field of Japanese language education. Dr. Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku is the primary author of initial ITJ course material and will oversee assessment for the on-line courses. Ms. Leslie Birkland is the Institute's first on-line learning facilitator who will work with students in completing their modules. As more modules are brought on-line, the Institute will hire other master teacher practioners to provide these instructional services. In addition to these professionals, Mr. William Thomas, is responsible for administering the Institute and Ms. Mari Maruyama is an advisor to the Institute and liaison to the JALEX program. Dr. Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku Dr. Tohsaku is principally responsible for crafting the academic material for the ITJ modules. He is an associate professor at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He also serves as Director of the Graduate Language Program and Japanese Studies Language Program. He received his a B.A. and M.S. degrees in Spanish linguistics from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, San Diego. His current research is exploring aspects of second language acquisition focusing on the development of reading skills by adult second language learners, the optimization of instructional design for effective language acquisition,and the development of a performance-based testing instruments. Dr. Tohsaku has published articles in leading journals of language pedagogy and is the author of communicative-oriented Japanese textbooks Yookoso!: An Introduction to Contemporary Japanese , and Yookoso!: Continuing with Contemporary Japanese (both published by McGraw-Hill). Professor Tohsaku also designed and coordinated an intensive Japanese language program for the Canadian Department of National Defense, and was an advisor to the Language Training Program of the Canadian Department of External Affairs. He has worked as a consultant for other East Asian language programs and has carried out language training at several institutions throughout the United States. Dr. Tohsaku also played a key role in developing computer-based Japanese instructional programs and video programs, and is currently developing a new project focusing on the use of multimedia technologies for teaching Japanese. He has conducted Japanese pedagogy workshops both inside and outside the United States and is currently organizing a project to develop guidelines for a Japanese language curriculum for Californian schools. Dr. Tohsaku is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Teachers of Japanese and a member of the policy board of the California Foreign Language Project. He resides with his wife, Carol and two lovely dogs, Umechiyo and Takechiyo, in San Diego, California. Ms. Leslie Birkland Ms. Birkland serves as the Learning Facilitator for the first ITJ modules. She was born in Osaka and raised in Tokyo, where she attended the American School in Japan (ASIJ). Later, she taught at the ASIJ Elementary School. For the past 11 years, Ms. Birkland has been teaching Japanese language at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington. Her classes range from Level I to Level IV. Recently, her classes were expanded to include a junior high grade. While teaching, Ms. Birkland served as the committee chair for the Washington State Framework. Through this project, Ms. Birkland was able to work with teachers to improve the teaching and learning of Japanese. In 1990 she became the founding president of the Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese and from 1992 to 1995 she served as the president of the National Council of Secondary Teachers of Japanese. During this time, she had the honor of serving on a number of committees, presenting papers at many conferences and workshops, and working with numerous teachers from across the country and around the world. In addition to her teaching work, Ms. Birkland serves as a consultant to The Laurasian Institution's Japanese Language Enhancement program. Ms. Birkland firmly believes that people learn best when they learn from and with one another. She will use this collaborative learning approach in providing guidance to participating teachers engaged in the Institute's courses. Mr. William Thomas Mr. Thomas earned his undergraduate degree in history, political science, and theatre at Eureka College. His masters degree is in education from The University of Chicago. Mr. Thomas has had extensive experience in public school teaching and administration, having taught on the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and been a principal on the elementary level. Mr. Thomas joined The Laurasian Institution as a Senior Partner in 1993 and currently serves as program administrator for its New Perspectives: Japan program and the Institute for the Teaching of Japanese. Ms.Mari Maruyama Mari Maruyama earned her bachelors degree from Oberlin College in East Asian Studies and Government and her masters from the University of Washington in Japanese and Korean modern history. Prior to graduate school, she worked in various public education programs related to Japan and Korea at The Asia Society in New York. During and following graduate school, she taught Japanese at the Japan-America Society's Total Immersion Japanese Language and Culture Camp for high school students during the summers of 1992 and 1993. Most recently, she served as project coordinator for the Washington State Japanese Language Curriculum Guidelines Committee, raised funds for the dissemination of A Communicative Framework for Introductory Japanese Language Curricula in Washington State High Schools and administering workshops and the Summer Institutes introducing the communication-oriented principles of the Framework. Ms. Maruyama now serves as the co-administrator of The Laurasian Institution's JALEX program and is in charge of a special JALEX initiative in the New England area.

© 1997 The Laurasian Institution