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Contributor
Biographies
Jessica Bretherton has taught Japanese, Humanities, Music and EAL at a variety of regional and suburban Victorian
primary and secondary schools. She currently teaches Japanese at a small primary school in the Dandenong Ranges.
Jessica taught English in Aichi, Japan, and lived in China where she attempted to learn Mandarin while running workshops
for Chinese teachers on creativity in foreign language classes. Jessica is always looking for new ways to make learning
real and meaningful for her students, and believes CLIL is the way to do this.
Nicholas Creed is currently the College Innovations Assistant Principal at Mernda Central P-12 College. He completeda Bachelor of Arts at The University of Melbourne alongside a Diploma in Modern Languages (Japanese). Nicholas
subsequently completed a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary), and in 2012 completed a Professional Certificate
in Education (CLIL). Nicholas moved to Mernda Central College in 2018 to establish the Japanese program. Prior to this,he taught Japanese and History for 12 years at Mount Waverley Secondary College. Nicholas has extensive experienceteaching Year 7-VCE Japanese in flexible learning environments, and a passion for sharing knowledge of Japanese
language and culture.
Kathleen Duquemin holds a Masters of Applied Linguistics and Graduate Diplomas in Japanese Language and Primary
Education. She has been involved in curriculum development for second language education and has contributed as awriter and curator to develop digital resources for Japanese language learning. She currently teaches Japanese from
Foundation to Year 6, incorporating texts, technology and Japanese sign language in the classroom to differentiate andenrich the language learning experience.
Nagisa Fukui is Senior Lecturer of Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney. She has developed and taught a wide range ofJapanese courses at UNSW Sydney, including the university’s largest language course. She also supervises Japanese
language teaching practicum students interested in teaching at tertiary institutions. Nagisa’s research interests include
Japanese language education and Japanese discourse analysis through the systemic functional approach (SFL). Nagisa
has published book chapters and articles on Japanese language learning and SFL.
Akiko Hiratsuka is an associate lecturer of Japanese language and culture in International Studies at the University ofTechnology Sydney, where she has taught since 2006. She is involved in program development for intermediate- andadvanced-level courses. She also regularly teaches at Western Sydney University, and has previously taught at UNSW
Sydney and The University of Sydney. Her area of teaching includes Japanese language, intercultural communicationand linguistics. Her experience extends to teaching Japanese language in the adult education sector, having taught ata community language school in Australia. Akiko was a Japanese teacher in Daegu, Korea and Tokyo, Japan prior tomoving to Australia in 2004, and holds a Master of Letters in Linguistics from The University of Sydney. Her ongoing
research interests lie primarily in the fields of multilingualism and language practice in families.
Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson is Professor of Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney, where she engages in both undergraduate
language teaching and postgraduate research supervision. Her research areas include Japanese language education,
applied and educational linguistics, and inclusiveness and the role of language learning in learner development. Herteaching reflects her research interest in bringing together learners and members of different communities to engage
with each other. She is a recipient of numerous honours including The Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation, anAustralian Government Citation, and a UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Award. Chihiro was Chief Editor of the 2012 and 2014
NSJLE Proceedings.

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Takuya Kojima is a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney and Japanese language teacher at UNSW Sydney and Macquarie
University. His research interests include social learning theories, language learner identity, language learning inCommunities of Practice, and cross-boundary learning in Japanese language education. His teaching is informed by thesocial learning theories. Takuya is also involved in organising research activities for postgraduate students both locallyand internationally. Takuya has published articles and book chapters on learners and postgraduate students of Japanese
language education.
Teresa Marnik is Junior School Assistant Principal at Mernda Central P-12 College. She completed her Bachelor ofEducation at The University of Melbourne, and recently earned a Master of Education (Literacy and Reading) at Torrens
University Australia. Teresa has 20 years’ experience in education and is dedicated to developing an authentic andengaging learning experience for all students, using her expert pedagogical knowledge and extensive experience inleading curriculum at a whole-school level. Teresa values the importance of second language learning and understands
the benefits of learning Japanese. She also values innovation and creativity within and beyond the curriculum.
Steven Miyazawa has been teaching Japanese since graduating with postgraduate qualifications in education from The
University of Melbourne in 2013. Prior to his postgraduate study, Steven attended Sophia University, Tokyo, on a one-yearexchange program, which afforded him the opportunity to enrich his cultural and linguistic knowledge about his subject
area. Steven moved to Mernda Central P-12 College in 2018 to help start the College’s new Japanese language program.
Steven is passionate about the education of young adults and is a strong advocate of second language learning. As of 2021,
Steven Miyazawa is Curriculum Leader of Japanese in the middle and senior schools at Mernda Central P-12 College.
Yuji Okawa is an experienced secondary school Japanese language teacher, having taught in Sydney since 2008.
Yuji utilises his rich academic and practitioner knowledge to put educational theories into practice and regularly reports
his findings back to the academic community. Yuji is currently a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney. Prior to this, hecompleted a Master of Arts in Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney in 2017. He also holds a Master of Social Anthropology
from SOAS, University of London, a Masters of Applied Linguistics from UNSW Sydney, a Diploma of Education from theUniversity Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Economics from Doshisha University, Kyoto.
Shinji Okumura obtained his doctoral degree in applied linguistics at Monash University. He was previously Associate
Professor of English at Mukogawa Women’s University, and is currently Associate Professor of English in the Facultyof Information and Communications at Bukyo University, Kanagawa, Japan. Shinji’s research interests are focused ontechnology-enhanced language learning, foreign language education in primary schools, and language-in-education
policy. He has served as a reviewer for Computer Assisted Language Learning (Taylor & Francis). His articles haveappeared in Intercultural Education (Taylor & Francis), among other publications.
Mandy O’Mara has worked in state education for over 30 years, and was the inaugural principal of Mernda Central
P-12 College. She graduated with a Diploma of Teaching from The Phillip Institute, followed by a Bachelor of Education(Science) from Victoria University. Mandy has taught and led in many settings including primary, Prep–12 colleges andschools operating under the Public Private Partnership Program. She is passionate about all students acquiring aneducation that will challenge, inspire, and prepare them for successful futures. Mandy is also committed to supporting
teachers to develop skills and competencies to deliver engaging curriculum that motivates students. As of 2021, Mandy
is College Principal of Point Cook College.
Shoko Ono has many years’ experience teaching Japanese language and culture in various Australian institutions.
She is currently a lecturer of Japanese Language and Culture at the University of Technology Sydney, and lecturer ofJapanese language at The Japan Foundation, Sydney. She holds a Masters of Arts in comparative English literature andJapanese studies from The University of Sydney. Shoko’s interests include how educators can effectively support thefurther development of Japanese language learners at the advanced and upper-advanced level, with particular focus
on reading and writing skills. She is passionate about issues concerning children and young adults in relation to heritage
language learning.

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Masae Uekusa obtained a master’s degree in applied linguistics and postgraduate degree in education from Monash
University. She is currently a primary school teacher at three government schools in Victoria. Her research interests areforeign language education in Australia and Japan, ICT-based language teaching, and gesture-based language teaching
methods. She participated in the research on the use of “inking” conducted by Dr Sarah Passfield Neofitou, and presented“Use of tablet computers in a beginners’ Japanese course: benefits and issues of using inking in the classroom” at theNSJLE 2012.
Ayako Wada started her career as a Japanese language teacher and has taught students from diverse backgrounds
and levels in South Korea and Japan. She is currently in charge of both Japanese teacher training and Japanese learning
courses for foreign students at Konan Women’s University in Japan. Her longstanding research interests include
motivation in foreign language learning, language teaching methodology, developing classroom activities, and how
to spread the concept of a multicultural society through language learning. Her recent work focuses on the learning
experience ofJapanese language learners abroad using hands-on materials. This material has been used in South Korea,Australia and Indonesia.
Nobuko Wang obtained a master’s degrees in area studies and teaching Japanese as a second language from Tsukuba
University in 1988. She is now a professor at the School of Letters, Department of Japanese Language at Senshu
University. Her research interests include the teaching of Japanese language phonetics to learners. Nobuko previously
received a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from 2017
to 2020.
Rowena Ward was President of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA) from 2017-2019, and SeniorLecturer in Japanese at the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, The University of Wollongong. Rowena graduatedwith a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Newcastle and holds a PhD in politics and international relations
from UNSW Sydney. Rowena’s research interests cover the internment and repatriation of Japanese civilians resident in
the Asia-Pacific region before December 1941, gendered language use in the language classroom and the employmentof language graduates.
Hirofumi Yada has been a librarian at The Japan Foundation, Sydney since 2001, where his duties include acquisition,cataloguing and reference services. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Library and Information Science,
Japan. Hirofumi worked for a library of a private university in Japan before joining The Japan Foundation, Sydney. His
current goal is to make the library’s Japanese-language collection more accessible to language learners.