Sessions /
Bilingualism SIG Forum #98

Currently an adjunct lecturer at Rikkyo University, with interests in teaching young learners, bilingual education, and intercultural project-based learning. I'm also the Program Chair for the Bilingual SIG and editor of the resources column of our newsletter. Please let me know if you're interested in writing for us or sharing your story! :)

I'm originally from Canada, and am an associate professor at Chikushi Jo Gakuen University, where I have a seminar class full of novice researchers in issues connected to bilingualism and biculturalism. My real-world experience in bilingual childraising comes from working with my Canadian husband to bring up our two made-in-Japan daughters, and from leading a bilingual learning circle for nearly fifteen years.

I have been involved in researching mixed-race identity in the context of Japan for the past couple of years. Whilst "race" itself is a controversial referent hotly debated in the academia, my study adopts this generic term to look at the chronotopic identities of Japanese adults of mixed ethnicity. In particular, I am interested how their stories of bi/multicultural lived experiences reveal their identity metamorphosis over time and space (Bakhtin, 1981). In addition, I have been recently involved in bilingual primary education of bilingual children and their education during the COVID-19 lockdown. I look forward to sharing my teaching experience with the audience.