I was born in 1980 in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Nelson is a small mountain town, surrounded by some of the most pristine and wild nature Canada has to offer. It is located beside the Kootenay River, with world-famous back country skiing, hiking, mountain biking and fishing. Growing up in such a place turned me into an athlete and an outdoor enthusiast: I frequently hike mountains and go camping, play soccer, and enjoy many other activities and sports.
Upon graduating high school I moved to Victoria to go to university at UVic, where I studied English Literature and Professional Writing. I graduated with first class standing, then immediately moved to Japan, to the small northern town of Yamagata. My time spent in Yamagata a life-changing experience for me. I could not speak Japanese at the time and lived with my Japanese boss for the first two months, working at a small, private English Conversation School with no co-workers. It was during this time which I realized I must study Japanese to create the life I wanted and this is where my passion for studying and teaching languages was born. I have studied Japanese for the last six years, achieving level 2 on the Japanese Proficiency Index Exam (日本語能力試験）.
During my years in Yamagata I taught children and adults in various teaching environments. Every week I worked in six different cities: Yamagata, Sagae, Tendo, Tsuroka, Sakata and Kaminoyama and therefore got to know Yamagata's countryside very well. In my free time, I traveled around Japan - from Okinawa to Hokkaido - and developed a strong interest in Japan's culture and its people, further sparking my interest in the language.
After Yamagata I returned to Vancouver to get my TESOL Diploma at Vancouver Community College - Canada's most extensive ESL diploma program. In 2004, I received my diploma and moved to Hiroshima to teach at one of Japan's most respected ESL schools, David English House. During this time I switched my focus from teaching children to teaching adults. I worked at Hiroshima Prefectural University, taught adult conversation classes as well as company classes. After completing my one-year contract, I then moved to Sendai in 2006 to work at Tohoku Foreign Language College. I worked there for two and half years, and then retired in order to start Elocutions in October 2008.
During my varied experience over the last six years, I have learned a great deal about the country of Japan and its people, including their customs, lifestyle and learning styles. I am an active member in Sendai's community, helping promote the city's culture when I can through music and photography. I believe being a resident of Sendai for over three years as well as living in three different cities in Japan sets me apart from the average teacher - not only professionally but also personally. Studying with me at Elocutions, you do not get a teacher who is an employee of a big English school, someone here to make some money and travel for a year: you get a teacher who is personally invested in the same country as you, can speak your language and is interested in your culture, has lived in Japan for more than six years, and is a professional language teacher.