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Faculty & Staff 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. Ms. Yasuko Wada Ms. Wada is responsible for
developing portfolio assessment mechanisms for ITJ. Ms.
Wada, who has a masters degree in Education and Linguistics
from UPS, began her teaching career in the Tacoma School
District in the State of Washington. After five years, she
joined the Charles Wright Academy, a private school located
in Tacoma, Washington, where she has taught Japanese for 23
years and Asian History for 3 years in grades 7 to 12. Ms.
Wada also helped establish a lower school Japanese language
and culture course. During her final year of teaching at the
Academy, she directed a federally funded curriculum
restructuring project and worked to infuse the principles of
the National Curricular Framework into the new curriculum.
Prior to this project, she served for two years as a task
force member of the National Curricular Framework
Development Committee and for four years as a member of the
National Achievement Test in Japanese Committee (both funded
by NEH). Ms. Wada has taught for Exchange Japan for three
consecutive summers, an Intensive National Japanese Language
Secondary Teacher Training program, been an instructor and
consultant for JALEX since 1993, served as an advisor and
evaluator for the Washington State Japanese Language
Curriculum Guidelines Committee since 1994, and is currently
serving as a consultant to The Laurasian Institution's
Japanese Language Enhancement program. 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. Dr. Rusten earned his undergraduate
degree in biology and education from Eastern Michigan
University. After serving as a teacher with the US Peace
Corps in Kenya and as the science teacher at the
International School in Kathmandu, Nepal, he returned to the
US to earn his masters degree from Washington University in
St. Louis and his doctorate at Michigan State University.
After completing his degrees, Dr. Rusten took a position as
a program officer with the Ford Foundation office in
Nairobi, Kenya where he was in charge of the Rural Resource
Management program for East and Southern Africa. He joined
The Laurasian Institution in 1996 and currently serves as
the program coordinator for the Institution's On-Line
Education Program and as the director of 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 administered 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. |
