Meet the Officers
The JALT TYL SIG Officers are a bunch of cool people coming from different cultural and professional backgrounds working together to provide support and professional development opportunities to teachers working with younger learners. Our differences make us stronger and we always welcome new team members who share our same goals!
Erin Noxon
SIG COORDINATORDr. Noxon has been teaching for more than 20 years. She has a B.S. in Environmental science, an M.Ed. in Secondary Science Ed, and an Ed.D. in educational technology, all from the University of Florida. She has been a full time teacher, an ALT, and a media specialist and has taught science and English in both the US and in Japan. She currently is a full time high school teacher at Kyoto Prefectural Sagano High School in Kyoto City. She first joined JALT in 2013 and has served in many roles in different committees and SIGs. Her current research is in global learning with EdTech, ALT training, and public school blended learning environments.
Grant Osterman
IMMEDIATE PAST COORDINATORDr. Osterman has been teaching in Japan since 1993. Originally from a small Midwestern town in the United States, he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from the University of Maryland. After a short hiatus, he completed his doctorate degree from Northcentral University in educational leadership. Over his career, he has taught at elementary schools, junior high schools, and universities, and is an administrator at a private school in Okinawa. He joined JALT in 1995 and has served in many roles for the Okinawa chapter. He is the Okinawa Chapter membership chair, the Teaching Younger Learners Special Interest Group’s immediate past coordinator, and the SIG Representative Liaison for JALT.
Paul Nanton
TREASURERHello! I’m Paul Nanton. I’ve been in Japan since 1998. I started out in Chiba, did a three year stint in Saitama and currently I’m teaching at a junior/senior high school in Tokyo. I have held a variety of positions from Newsletter editor, Membership Chair and now Treasurer. My teaching interests are bilingualism and language acquisition. If you ever have an idea for a speaker or would like for us to co-sponsor an event, please let me know and we’ll see what we can do.
Kate Sato
PUBLICATIONS CHAIR (EDITOR)Hello everyone! I’m originally from the UK, and first came to Japan in 1991 (I think!). After a few years of teaching in different countries, I came to the conclusion that the future of Japan and English education lies how the children are taught. So, in 2001 I set up my own school for children in Sapporo aged 0-12 which had an immersion full-time pre-school programme. I (taught and) ran the school for 15 years before being lured into full-time into the world of academia and research.
Away from university, teaching, and research, I enjoy gardening, cycling, skiing, and swimming. Please send in your contributions to the School House! I hope to hear from you soon!
Gaby Benthien
PUBLICATIONS CO-CHAIRGaby Benthien (B.Ed., M.Ed. Ed.D.) was born in Germany and immigrated to Australia when she was 12 years old. She began her teaching career teaching Japanese as a foreign language and P.E. at a secondary school in Australia, and has lived in Japan since 1999. While the first 15 years of her career in education focused on primary and secondary education, Gaby is now involved in primary and secondary education by teaching a variety of subjects at tertiary level, including primary school English, primary school teaching methodology and cross-cultural understanding. Her research interests include L2 motivation, study abroad and teacher development. She has often attended and presented at JALT and Tokyo TYL events, and is currently the co-chair of Tokyo TYL. Gaby enjoys any outdoor activity including cycling, hiking, skiing and gardening, as well as creative pursuits such as pottery and leatherwork.
Masako Moriwaki
PROGRAM CO-CHAIRHello, my name is Masako and I’m from Nagano in Japan. I have been teaching English for more than 25 years in various settings – Eikaiwa schools for young learners, prep courses for proficiency exams (TOEFL, TOEIC, Eiken, Cambridge), bilingual preschools, and elementary schools. I teach mostly young learners but I enjoy teaching adults as well. I am also a qualified teacher of Japanese as a foreign language, and in 2004 I was dispatched to teach Japanese in Brazil where I stayed for 13 years. During my years in Brazil, I became an academic coordinator of an English language school which later became a bilingual elementary school. Along with teaching, I trained teachers, developed curricula and assessment methods, and planned and mediated various pedagogical projects. I studied Fine Art Ceramics at Falmouth College of Arts in the U.K. and more recently I completed a teaching license university course in Brazil. I became a JALT member in 2020. I like very much the community that it creates and I enjoy meeting so many passionate and talented teachers through it.
Ran Niboshi
PROGRAM CO-CHAIRHi, I’m Ran Niboshi. I was born and raised in Hyogo, Japan. I currently live in beautiful Kyoto.
I’m a full-time adjunct English lecturer at Ritsumeikan University. Additionally, I work as an assistant teacher at St. Michael International School, where I facilitate English language learning at the primary level. My current interest lies in researching how to encourage and support ESL children in the classroom using a method called Positive Discipline. I hold two certifications related to this method: Teaching Parenting the Positive Discipline Way and Positive Discipline in the Classroom. I have been incorporating approaches that I learnt from those courses.
Exercising is a significant part of my life, and I ensure to allocate time for gym training three times a week. During my free time, I enjoy cycling down to Kamogawa with my friends and spending a day there. Kyoto not only offers high-quality tea but also coffee, so I enjoy trying out new coffee shops too!
Kyoto is renowned for its gaming culture, and we host major game events every year. I occasionally work as an interpreter and translator at these events.
Frances Shiobara
PROGRAM CO-CHAIRHi I’m Frances Shiobara
I have been living in Japan for over 35 years. I came to Japan in 1989 to teach at a conversation school. I taught there for about five years teaching a variety of students from 3-years-old to 80 years old. After getting married I moved to Osaka and have been teaching at universities in Kansai since 1997. I have three children and started teaching at the Senri International School Saturday School program when they were enrolled. After that I helped set up a new Saturday School program at St. Michael’s International School in Kobe. I have now been teaching there for over 10 years. I also teach full-time at Kobe Shoin Women’s University Department of Education. I love the balance of teaching university students how to teach, and teaching elementary school students. Recently I became interested in Positive Discipline and completed a course to become a Certified Positive Discipline Educator. I am also very interested in how we can combine language learning with craft and project work and have published in The Language Teacher among other places on this topic. I hope in the future to continue to combine my dual roles as a teacher trainer and teacher of elementary school students.
Amy Braun
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRHello, my name is Amy Braun and I am the new Membership Chair. I am from Maryland, USA but currently live in Aichi. I have been teaching for almost ten years with seven of those years as a preschool teacher. My interests are more practical-based resources, critical thinking, special needs, and the learning behaviors of young children. Nice to meet you!
Nicholas J. Wilson
PUBLICITY CHAIRNicholas J. Wilson is an elementary and junior high school English teacher and curriculum developer fostering students’ digital literacy through foreign language education. He is a Google Certified Innovator supporting the professional development of English and Japanese teachers as a mentor, area leader, and member of the local board of education’s Digital Transformation Committee. His current research focuses on exploring the potential of the metaverse as a learning environment. He is also an active JALT officer involved in planning, promoting, and coordinating regional events and national conferences, and the founder and organizer of ALT Agorà, a series of monthly webinars designed for assistant language teachers, part of the ALT Training Online grassroots initiative.
Mary Virgil-Uchida
JALT JUNIOR CONFERENCE CHAIRHello, my name is Mary Virgil-Uchida and I’m the JALT Junior Conference Chair. I’ve been a member of the sig since it was first formed and I’ve always felt we are a unique group of teachers. I came to Japan 39 years ago to teach at an international kindergarten for just one year but I’m still here! I left that school after three years and opened my own English school for younger learners in 1986. I love my job and I love helping new teachers about the joy of teaching children. I hope to see you all next year in Fukuoka!
Martin Sedaghat
MEMBER-AT-LARGEMartin is from San Diego, California, and has been living and teaching in Niigata since 2003. He started off on the JET program and worked at elementary and junior high schools, and then moved on to be a homeroom teacher at a private high school. In 2018 he moved to a preschool where he is currently teaching, and also teaches university medical English courses. He completed his MA TESOL in 2023, and is particularly interested in picturebook use, games and game design for language learning, and second language acquisition for young learners. Apart from TYL, he is an officer for SPIN, ART SIG, and Niigata JALT, and also a co-editor for The Language Teacher journal.
Marybeth Kamibeppu
MEMBER-AT-LARGEMarybeth Kamibeppu is from a small-town on Long Island, New York. She always had an interest in travel and other cultures and languages, and her family hosted exchange students from many countries. This allowed her to have short-term homestays in Quebec and Caracas, and eventually led to a semester abroad in Japan during undergraduate work at Colgate University. To earn tuition for graduate school, Marybeth returned to Japan for a “couple” of years. After graduate school at the School for International Training (MAT), she taught at the University of Maryland, College Park, intensive English program for eight years. Return to Japan followed and she taught students from age 2 – 70 in the Kanto area. Six years ago Marybeth and her family moved to Hiroshima where a new stage of her teaching career began at Hiroshima International School, a small international baccalaureate (IB) school with students from age 3-19. In addition to teaching English language acquisition, Marybeth is the Middle Years Programme (MYP) coordinator and one of the college counselors. Outside the classroom, Marybeth enjoys aerobics, walking outdoors, attending sports events, and watching Netflix. She looks forward to meeting friends and family beyond Zoom when the pandemic is contained.
Marian Hara
MEMBER-AT-LARGEMarian Hara is now retired from teaching younger learners from nursery school to high school for over 30 years in Tokyo. She served as the first Teaching Younger Learners chair of Tokyo JALT and co-edits the Teaching Younger Learners page in The Language Teacher. While Marian is still a member at large at present, she thinks it’s better to get more younger people involved if possible!