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- I am from Philomath Oregon in the United States. It is a small town of about 5,000 people and it is very rainy.
I like biking, hiking, surfing, running, studying Japanese and science. I enjoy going to hot springs and pubic baths. I love road trips and multi-day hiking and biking trips. 
- I came to Japan to learn about Japanese Culture. I also wanted to learn about American Culture and what I like and don't like about the place I am from. By living in Japan I felt I could learn about what is good and bad about American culture because Japan is so different. I believed that by coming to Japan I would learn a lot about myself as well. I truly have learned a lot.
- I became a teacher at HSE because I think that you can have more personal relationships with your students and work with them more when we spend a full week together. We are away from our daily lives and the things that keep us busy, so we can really work hard.
- The good things about HSE are that at this school we don't just focus on teaching English. We teach other skills as well: debate, giving your opinion, speeches, problem solving, leading a conversation in English. These are skills that Japanese are weak at because they are not taught very much in the Japanese education system or at English conversation schools. In western schools we focus on these skills. Because of this, to be a good strong English speaker you also need to develop these skills. We work on developing these skills and do it while speaking English which is great for the learner. Another thing good about this school is it intensive, the learner must only speak English for five, seven, or thirteen days. The learner is away from their normal life. This gives the learner the time and intensity to focus on learning English and allows them to start to think in English. This can lead to great improvement by the student. Finally this school is intense and highly interactive. The student is expected to do more then just sit back and listen for a few days. The student is expected to be an active learner and be engaged in the lessons at all times. It is hard work, but this leads to improvements in a lot of areas.
My fundamental belief as an educator is the student should be the star. Too many English teachers in Japan think that teaching is about taking about themselves as the student listens and tries to understand. I believe that the student learns best when they are speaking and trying new things. This exploring and interacting in English should be guided by the teacher though asking questions, challenging the student to talk about different things and exposing the student to different conversation situations and environments. The more the student is talking, active and engaged with the teacher correcting them as they speak, the more they will learn.
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