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.  

Mohd Hafiz Jamaludin is a senior lecturer in the Department of Shariah and Law, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. He is a graduate of Al-Azhar University, Egypt, in 2007, with a degree in Shariah Islamiah. In 2009, he pursued postgraduate studies in the Department of Shariah and Law, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, specializing in the Law of Fatwa. He completed his postgraduate studies in 2011. Subsequently, he received sponsorship from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia under the Bumiputera Academic Training Scheme (SLAB) to pursue his doctoral studies in Shariah Law in 2012 at the same university. Throughout his doctoral studies, he had the opportunity to attend courses in Arabic language and Islamic Studies Methodology at the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, in 2013, and the Student Exchange Program at The Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, Turkey, in 2014. He completed his doctoral studies in 2016. He has been involved in various research projects led by his supervisor, Professor Dato’ Dr Ahmad Hidayat Buang, in the fields of fatwa and Islamic finance. Furthermore, he led a research project in the field of Islamic finance funded by the Ministry of Education, University of Malaya, and INCEIF in 2017. He has published several articles in the fields of Shariah, fatwa, and Islamic finance in local and international journals, as well as presented at national and international conferences. He is the first of three siblings, is married to Norlaila Md Yusof and is blessed with three children.

Hanaa Zainuddin is a General Paediatrician at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and a Medical Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Malaya. A native of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, she obtained her MB BS with an intercalated BSc (Hons) from Imperial College London in 2013. Her early research activities investigated a mouse two-hit model of ischaemia-reperfusion injury in the Department of Cancer and Surgery, Imperial College London. She is passionate about social mobility through the enhancement of early childhood determinants of health and neurodevelopment ("The First Thousand Days") and is embarking on early career research to further national and regional knowledge on the impact of preterm delivery on later neurodevelopmental outcomes.