I have been teaching Japanese language since 1997. For me, teaching a foreign langauge is like having a good conversation. Students should pick up vocabulary and patterns of the language in linguistically and culturally rich context. I enjoy getting to know my students through actively engaging with them in class. Additionally, I believe that culturally appropriate performance is critical for smooth and comfortable interactions with natives speakers.  I received pedagogical training at Bryn Mawr College, PA, in 1997, through EEP (Exchange Japan Program, currently as known as Allex Japan Program) directed by Dr. Eleanor Jordan, a prominet Japnese educator. After the training I taught Japanese for two years in Kansas City, MO, and my passion for teaching grew more and more. I had an opportunity to study and teach at The Ohio State University (Japanese Literature) and Portland State University (Applied Linguistic) as a grauate student.  My previous teaching post includes; Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris (Paris, France),Kiev Politechnic Institute (Kiev, Ukraine)Northeast Normal University (吉林省長春)Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)  I also taught at ICU (International Christian University), Portland State University, The Ohio State University as a summer instructor. Academically I am interested in Performance Based Pedagogy, Intercultural Communication, Literature (Modanizumu), Interpretation and Translation, and "Border" crossing. In my free time, I enjoy reading books, urban exploration, and singing Karaoke.  

Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman graduated from Monash University in 1987 and trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Monash Medical Centre and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She is presently the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University, USA. She established the Centre of Excellence for Research on AIDS (CERiA) that conducts multi-disciplinary research on HIV ranging from clinical to public health and policy research. Professor Kamarulzaman has used her clinical and academic leadership to engage in the national and community response to HIV/AIDS. She is currently Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and an Executive Council member of the Malaysian AIDS Council, the peak HIV NGO in Malaysia. At the international level, Professor Kamarulzaman is presently an Executive Council Member of the International AIDS Society and a member of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel on HIV. She has also been an advisor to numerous WHO committees on HIV/AIDS. She has played a key role in the establishment and ongoing activities and collaborations of a regional HIV research network initiative; TREAT Asia. Her achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards including the Tun Mahathir Science and the Merdeka Awards for her role as a member of the University of Malaya’s Nipah Investigative Team. She is the first recipient of the Advance Australia Global Award in the category of Alumni in 2012 and in April 2015 she was honoured with a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from her alma mater, Monash University. She also has the distinct honour of having been featured in both The Lancet and Science publications in 2013 and 2014 respectively.  

Dr. Diana Abdul Wahab is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Statistics, the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She completed her Doctorate at Leeds University Business School, Leeds, United Kingdom. Dr. Diana has been interested in applying statistical models to understand graduate labor market issues throughout her academic career, beginning at the Master’s level when she collaborated with the Tracer Study Unit in the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. Her interest in the field has evolved to a deeper understanding of graduate employment issues including gender pay gap, first destination choices, and migration while developing her interest in the field of data science where she applies data science techniques in other areas of studies such as education and economy. She has published her paper in the Institutions and Economies and continues to write for other international academic journals. She has won a scholarship award to go to Kazakhstan to conduct a comparative analysis on the graduate employment issues between the two countries. She teaches Statistical Computing and Business Analytics and planning to expand her research interest in the field of data science.