I have taught at Stevens since 1991. I taught kindergarten
here for many years, and after receiving my endorsement in teaching English
as a Second Language, I became the ELL teacher here.
I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and moved at a young age to the U.S.
My mother is a native of Japan, coming from Fukuoka. I grew up mostly
in the Los Angeles area. I went to an American dependent (DOD) high school
in Okinawa, which was a territory of the U.S. at the time. (It's now
part of Japan). While there, I was fortunate to travel and be exposed to
Asian languages and culture in Japan and Taiwan. I started college at
Cal State Dominguez Hills, then transferred to the University of Hawaii,
where I received a B.Ed. and M.Ed. in secondary education, with an
emphasis on reading. I have completed graduate course work at Seattle
University, Seattle Pacific University, and the U. of Washington.
Like most teachers, I enjoy traveling during vacations. I have been
fortunate to travel around western Europe, visiting France, Italy, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria and Italy with my husband. We also visited the Yucatan
peninsula in Mexico twice. It was fascinating to learn about the Mayan
culture and visit the ruins in Chichen Itza and Tulum, while staying at the
home of a Mexican teacher friend. We also return to Hawaii regularly to
visit family members and enjoy the ethnic food, hospitality, slack key
guitar music, and warm breezes of the islands.