Features

• Small class size
• Interactive classes
• Individualized instruction and feedback
• An active extracurricular schedule
• Computer and Internet facilities
• International and multi-cultural environment, with more than half of the students from outside Japan
• Residential campus
• Scenic mountainous surroundings in a rural setting

Goals

• Develop English language skills for academic needs
• Develop oral communication skills in and outside of the classroom
• Develop cross-cultural awareness inside and outside the classes
• Make use of self-access learning materials
• Develop leadership and organizational skills
• Participate in an "English only environment"

Basic Facts

Mohammed Ahmed
Mohammed Ahmed comes from Bangladesh. After receiving his M.A. (linguistics/EFL) and Ph.D. (concentration in applied linguistics) degrees in the U.S.A., he joined the International University of Japan in 1988. He has been teaching at IUJ since then. He has also taught ESL/EFL courses in the U.S., Bangladesh, and Sweden. His research interests include Vygotskian psycholinguictics, task-based course design, and non-native varieties of English. At IUJ, he also conducts teacher-training workshops for high school English language teachers. In his spare time, he likes listening to music, gardening, driving around the countryside, and hiking.

Anthony Crooks
Anthony (Tony) Crooks was born in Melbourne, Australia. He holds a B.Ed., Grad. Dip. TESOL, MA TESOL, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in Education through Deakin University in Australia, in which he is exploring the professional identity of native speaker teachers of English in Japan. He has taught ESL in his home country at institutions including Swinburne University of Technology, and has also been involved in EFL in Thailand, South Korea, and, for the past ten years, Japan. He has recently joined IUJ, previously having worked in Sendai in the Sendai Board of Education and then later Miyagi University of Education. In his spare time he enjoys computing, music and movies, and traveling.

Christopher Murphy
Chris Murphy comes from New York, NY. He has a BA in Communication Arts with a minor in East Asian Studies from Villanova University. He completed his M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) at Columbia University, Teachers College in 2004. He has taught English in New York City and Japan. He also has volunteer English teaching experience in India and Indonesia. His academic interests include Second Language Acquisition, Critical Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, and Language Policy/Planning. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, writing short fiction, and the outdoors.

Richard Smith
Richard Smith grew up in London, but left the UK twenty years ago in search of a career as a language teacher. He obtained an MA in Social and Political Science from Cambridge University and worked for a period in London as a sociological field researcher, before changing his career track. He joined IUJ in 1990 after spending several years teaching company courses in Tokyo. His current research interests are productive vocabulary knowledge development and the impact of World Englishes on international English instruction. In his spare time he would like to walk in the mountains, watch movies and go cycling, and during the IEP he actually does some of them.

Alex Harris Jr.
Alex Harris, Jr. was born and raised in SE Virginia. He completed his BS in Biology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. As an undergraduate, he began to work with International students of English and that experience led him to Japan, where he spent two years as an English Conversation Teacher for AEON Corporation. After returning to the US, he returned to his alma mater and completed his graduate studies in Applied Linguistics. He is an enthusiastic proponent of technology in the classroom and continues to introduce new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. He describes his favorite read as a cookbook, being the owner of more than 200. His other interests include gardening and doing Japanese-style pottery.

Risa Ikeda
Risa Ikeda grew up spending half of her life in southern California, in the U.S. and the other half in Japan. She completed a BA in Environmental Information (i.e. interdisciplinary studies) at Keio University in Japan, then obtained a MATESOL at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Since then, she taught English to international students in Seattle and to university students in the Sultanate of Oman. She recently returned to Japan and started teaching English to university students here. Her academic interests include bilingual language acquisition and using songs in language teaching. When possible, Risa loves playing sports and listening to different kinds of music.

Gretchen Jude
Gretchen Jude was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, USA. At 17, she moved to Philadelphia to attend Bryn Mawr College, then returned to her hometown to study TESOL at Boise State University. Soon after receiving her M.A., Gretchen moved to Tokyo, where she lived for eight years, teaching at Asia University, Tokyo Metropolitan University and Tsuda College. In 2005, she returned to Boise to teach ESL, write for the local weekly newspaper, and pursue her interests in music and theater. Gretchen currently lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. She loves to hike, swim, cook and watch classic Japanese films.

Michael Krapin
Michael Krapin comes from New York. He received an M.A. in Journalism from New York University, but later switched to a teaching career. He has since specialized in teaching English for academic and special purposes in the U.S., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Brazil, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. Michael is currently affiliated with Pace University in New York. In his spare time, he loves to hike, bike, and hunt mushrooms.

Corey Muench
Corey Muench is originally from Missouri and grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River. He completed a BA in French and was a student at the University of Savoie in Chambery, France. He received a dual MA in French linguistics and TESOL from Indiana University. After teaching French, ESL, and applied linguistics for nearly a decade at Indiana University and briefly in Paris, France, he immigrated to Vancouver, Canada where he is currently teaching ESL at Capilano College. Corey's specializations include English pronunciation instruction and academic writing instruction. He has presented and published several papers in these areas. In a rare moment of spare time, Corey enjoys reading anything, but he is especially interested in the fields of architecture, geography, and of course, languages.

Jeremy Sanders
Jeremy Sanders comes from the village of Castle Combe in the west of England. He started his academic career as a research chemist and has a PhD in inorganic chemistry. When suitable jobs in this field proved scarce, he decided to develop his language interests by training as an English-language teacher, and went on to gain a Cambridge University DELTA and an MA in linguistics from Durham University. He taught a variety of general English and EAP courses for over 7 years at the Northern University of Malaysia, and more recently has been teaching and developing ESAP and linguistics courses at the University of Bath, UK. His linguistic interests evolve around teaching EAP to business and science students, as well as various aspects of syntax, SLA and language change. He is a keen naturalist and in his spare time his pursuits encompass bird-watching, hiking and the cultivation of orchids and insectivorous plants. He also enjoys swimming and cycling, and learning about Oriental culture.

Rachel Sardell
Rachel Sardell was born and raised in Oregon. She has completed two degrees from the University of Oregon: a BA in Spanish and an MEd in Education with emphases in teaching ESL and Spanish. She has taught at the American English Institute at the University of Oregon for five years, mostly in the intensive English program. Her professional interests include computer-assisted language learning, and she is currently working with a group of instructors on a research project to measure what listening / speaking skills are necessary for international students to know in order to succeed in American university classes. In her free time, Rachel enjoys practicing Ashtanga yoga, running, and the outdoors.

Jeremy Slagoski
Jeremy Slagoski lived the first 22 years of his life in Wisconsin. After earning his BA in English from Beloit College, he and his fiancee moved to Japan to start their careers in ESL education. They returned to the United States to get married and so Jeremy could continue his education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he earned his MA in ESOL/Bilingual Education. From there, Jeremy and his wife have lived and taught ESL in South Korea and Russia before returning to Wisconsin. In 2008, they had a beautiful baby daughter, and the following year they moved to Iowa where Jeremy is pursuing his PhD degree in Foreign Language and ESL Education. His research interest is in the adjustment process of expatriate EFL instructors, and his other interests are in music, cats, Eastern philosophies, and the skeptical movement.

Yvert de Souza
Yvert de Souza is from a mixed background. Born in Uganda of Goan-Indian parentage, he was raised in London. He has taught in Portugal, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom and has taught ESOL, EFL and EAP. He has been working as an ESOL lecturer and CELTA teacher-trainer in a college in London for the past six years. In addition to the DELTA, Yvert has obtained an MA in English Language Teaching. His main interests are language testing and materials design. He is a test writer, examiner for different examining boards and writes and revises materials for several UK publishers. He enjoys travelling, watching films and football.

Christian Stuart
Christian Stuart is from the Pacific Coast of the United States: He was born in Palo Alto, California and now lives in Seattle, Washington. Upon receiving his undergraduate degree in English from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, he went to South Korea to teach conversational English. After this, he worked as a technical writer in several corporate settings back in the United States, including a tax firm and a law firm. Realizing he was happier teaching English, though, he decided to make a career of it. He went to the University of Washington in Seattle where he earned his M.A. degree in TESOL in 2004. He then earned his Ph.D. in Language and Rhetoric at the same university in 2012, with research emphasis on second language writers in North American academic writing contexts. In his free time, he enjoys reading, studying the Korean language, and watching major league baseball games.

Barbara Thompson
Born and raised in New York State, Barbara moved to Australia for 18 years after graduating from college. She has been a teacher for more than 30 years, the last 20 of which have been teaching Adult ESL. She earned her TESOL degree from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Masters in Educational Administration from Rutgers University. Barbara currently teaches oral language and presentation skills to international graduate students at Princeton University. She taught in China for two summers and at Cornell University for four. Barbara enjoys travelling, reading, and taking long walks.