Mister Micawber's Curriculum Vitae


EMPLOYMENT

Current: Owner/Operator, Mr. Micawber's. Private lessons for business and conversational English, and language test preparation. I also write test questions for TOEIC and Eiken STEP, and offer proofreading, rewriting and editing services for corporate clients.

1994-95: Corporate and School English Instructor on contract to GEOS, Simul Academy, TOFL Seminar, Career Development Inc., YMCA, and Sony Communications.

1992-93: Head Teacher, latterly Curriculum Manager, Bi-Lingual Language Institute, Yokohama. Responsible for supervising teachers, advising them on teaching texts and methods, liaising with sales staff and head office, advising staff and customers on curriculum, curriculum planning, daily class scheduling, student file maintenance, and other school operations.

1990-92: Corporate English Instructor, Bi-Lingual Language Institute. I taught corporate classes at Nissan, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ajinomoto, Kirin, Maruzen, Fuji Bank, Macnica, IDEC, Isuzu, Kanebo, Nikki, Nippi, and many other companies.

1988-90: Office Manager, Los Angeles Audubon Society, Los Angeles, California. Active management of a non-profit environmental conservation organization.

1983-86: Auditor, Office of the Auditor General of the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Financial accounting and auditing while working toward chartered accountant (CPA) certification.

1977-81: Production Manager, Department of Drama, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Overall responsibility for coordination of production facilities, schedules, budgets and technical staff. I was also a Stagecraft and Stage Management instructor, teaching two undergraduate courses and a graduate seminar.

1968-77: Stage Manager or Technical Director for theatre and dance companies in the USA and Canada, including Les Feux-follets, Canada's national dance ensemble.

1967-68: English Instructor, Berlitz School of Languages, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Private and group ESL classes for francophones.

EDUCATION

1997: Tactile English Workshop, International Management Institute, Tokyo, Japan

1996: TOEIC Item-Writing Workshop, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ

1994: Advanced Certificate in TEFL, Tokyo, Japan

1985: School of Chartered Accountancy (Income Taxation), Vancouver, Canada

1983: Associate of Arts (Business Management), Camosun College, Victoria, Canada

1980-81: Graduate Studies (Behavioural Ecology), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

1979: Production Management Seminar, Banff School of Management, Canada

1966-67: Graduate Studies (Theatre), University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

1965: Secondary Teaching Certification (English, Biology), State of Florida, USA

1965: Bachelor of Arts (English), University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA



PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, PUBLICATIONS AND INTERESTS

I am a member of the Japan Association for Language Learning (JALT), Canadian Actors' Equity Association, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Special interests include content-based language instruction and authentic materials development. I presented on the latter at the JALT '97 International Conference, and published on the same topic in The Language Teacher, September 1998 (V.22 no.9). I have edited several short works on kyudo (Japanese archery) and produced a trilingual Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Japan.

PERSONAL

'Dual' US and Canadian citizen, in good health, born Kinston, North Carolina, USA. Permanent resident visa in Japan. Third dan in kyudo.