Word Hunters: Left, Right and Off-Center

Richard Harrison was granted the title of Professor Emeritus at Kobe University in early 2025. He received his Ba. Hons (1st Class) in Japanese Studies (Japanese linguistics) from Sheffield University in 1988. He has since been teaching Japanese in the UK, Australia and Japan. He received an Master of Education (Technology) from Monash University in 1999, and has been teaching Applied Linguistics specializing in Computer Aided Learning. Show notes can be found HERE.

In this episode, Emma Rye shares stories from her childhood, school days, travel experiences, academic and career pursuits, and living and working in Columbia. Show notes for this episode can be found HERE.

Charles Browne was born in Boston in the United States but has lived and worked in Japan since 1985. He is a Professor of Applied Linguistics & TESOL and researches both Vocabulary and Reading, especially as they apply to online learning. He has more than 25 years of experience working as a teacher trainer, works with several boards of education, and has sat on several committees for the Japan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEXT). He is best known for developing two important new corpus-based word lists for second language learners, namely the New General Service List (NGSL) and the New...

John Adair is the head brewer and part owner of Sooke Brewing Company. In this talk, recorded on November 14, 2018 at the brewery, John talks about his background as a forest firefighter, his entry into homebrewing as a hobbyist, competing on the homebrewing circuit in Canada, and challenges of opening the brewery. He also shares his insights into the brewing scene on Vancouver Island and other parts of British Columbia. Feel free to check the show notes for information on some of the topics covered.

Ixchell Reyes teaches English at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. DLIELC is the leader in English language training for the Department of Defense and builds security cooperation capability through English language training and cultural immersion. Reyes also cohosts the DIESOL Podcast, which focuses on developing innovation in ESOL. She’s been recognized for her innovative efforts by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) as an emerging leader, and by CATESOL as a Professional Development awardee. She previously taught at CSU San Bernardino, UC Riverside, and at the University of So...

Dr. Amihan April M. Alcazar is scholar from the Phillipines. She is currently the University President of Urdaneta City University, Pangasinan, and is the Co-Chair of the Internationalization National Review Committee of the Commission on Higher Education.

In this episode, she talks about growing up in the Philippines, her educational background, her experiences studying and researching in Europe and Japan, her involvement with Teachers Helping Teachers, challenges working in academia and being a university president, and other topics.

Show notes for this episode can be found HERE.

Chris Poel from Shiokaze BrewLab sat down for an interview with Brent and students in his Beer Industry Project at Konan University. Chris shares some stories from his early days in Japan as well as more recently, especially as related to the craft beer movement in Japan. Links to more information can be found in the show notes for episode #36.

In this episode, we spoke to Laura Pollacco,  a freelance writer and photographer working in Tokyo, Japan.  Laura talks about her background growing up in the UK, her experience on the JET program, her work as an actor in the theatre, her journalism, and other topics. You can find out more here on her newly designed website and show notes for the episode can be found HERE. 

In this episode, we catch up with Brent Warner, who is a professor of English as a Second Language at Irvine Valley College and is currently on a research sabbatical in Japan. His work focuses on building academic writing skills for multi-lingual learners and integrating technology in the learning process to help with language acquisition. He blends research-based pedagogy with cutting edge technology to find the best ways to help students become more efficient, autonomous learners. Some of the topics covered can be explored further in the show notes on our blog.

Stefan Thorgeirsson is an Icelandic actor and producer currently based in Sapporo, Japan. Stefan is a graduate of the Iceland University of the Arts with a BA in Acting degree. He also holds an Engineering degree from the University of Iceland. As an actor, Stefan has mostly worked in theatre in Iceland and Japan. In this episode, we talk with Stefan about his childhood, various overseas sojourns, and life in Japan. Episode show notes can be found HERE.

We had the good fortune to sit with John Dix, legendary potter and long-time resident of Japan. In this episode, John graciously shares some experiences from his childhood and talks about his travels and career. Some of the topics covered in this Episode 32 are linked to in our show notes.

In this episode, Brent shares his experiences and adventures (and misadventures) about his trip to Iceland. He talks about his journey, his presentation at the conference, and other topics. 

In this episode, Brent speaks with Jökull, born and raised in Iceland. He talks about his background growing up in Iceland, including interesting insights about the Icelandic education system. He also talks about his passion--working in the theatre-- as well as his work as a tour guide in the capital, Reykjavik.  Show notes can be found on our BLOG.

Angus McGregor has lived and worked in Japan since 1990 and is currently based in Kyoto. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Studies at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies and still works with students at Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School where he taught for many years. Major features of his department are the teaching of global and social issues through English and involvement in community engagement activities.

In this episode he talks about his background, shares his experiences working with students in Japan, as well as his involvement in TEDx Kyoto. Links to information...

Atsushi has the distinction of being our first repeater, as this is the second time he has been on the podcast. He is a university student and world traveler, aspiring journalist, and an one of the most interesting students we have met in Japan (see episode #10 for his background and early travel experience). In this episode, he talks about his recent travels to Turkey, where he visited the site of the recent earthquake;  and he reports on his travels to Ukraine, where he interviewed citizens and made a short documentary for his  Youtube channel --World Windowz - YouTube.  Links to...

In this episode, we spoke to Amy Shapiro,  originally from New York, but a long-time expat in Japan.  Amy has been teaching in Japan for more than 30 years and is currently promoting Kobe through the Kobe Ambassador Program. She shares some interesting stories from her childhood and talks about her experiences of living and working in Japan. We hope you enjoy it. Show notes can be found HERE.

John Rucynski is an educator, writer, editor, cyclist, hiker and baseball enthusiast, not necessarily in that order. In this episode, John shares some stories about his background, world travels, teaching and writing/editing. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Center for Liberal Arts and Language Education at Okayama University, and his main research interest is the role of humor in foreign language acquisition and intercultural communication. Show notes for this episode can be found HERE.

Gary Ross has been developing, programming, and designing online educational systems for over 15 years. He has taught at KIDI Parsons (the Japan affiliate of Parsons School of Design, NYC), and ran his own web design company. He is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kanazawa University, where he is developing the online ESL program as well as being the former webmaster for the CALL-SIG of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). His focus is on usability and the integration of mobile into the classroom. Show notes/links can be found HERE.

Rica Bradshaw is the founder and Managing Director of Core Eight, a real estate agency located in Kobe with luxury property listings throughout Japan. Through her work in Japan, Malaysia and the U.K. in fashion and as an apprentice to a Japanese landscape architect, she well understands the importance and impact of design on a space; how the spiritual elements in traditional Japanese design and craftsmanship and the style and personality in contemporary urban design alone or fused together can create an inviting ambiance and enhance the human experience! Topics discussed in this episode can be explored further...

Trevor Raichura is a university lecturer by day, and one of Kansai's biggest Hanshin Tigers fans by night. He hails from Canada but has been in Japan for nearly half his life. He lives in Nishinomiya, Japan with his wife and two sons. His obsession with the Tigers has drawn attention from local newspapers and television, and has helped establish him as one of the English-speaking experts on Japanese baseball. Some of the topics covered can be explored further via show notes HERE.

Blue is an exchange student studying Japanese Konan University in Kobe. He is a student at the University of Hawaii and grew up in San Francisco. In this episode, he tells us about his background and his experiences living and studying in both Hawaii and Japan. 

In this episode, we spoke with Elaine Hodgson,  a teacher, teacher trainer, author of educational materials, and editor at Macmillan education. She has taught English for over 30 years in different public and private educational institutions in Brazil in the states of São Paulo, Ceará and the Federal District. She has also worked on training and development projects for public school teachers at the US Embassy and the British Council.  She has a keen interest in Diversity and Inclusion and was a volunteer at Raise Up! for ELT, aimed at producing more inclusive material, and EVE, aimed at helping wome...

In the episode, I interview Brent about his annual fieldwork in the Phillipines. He has been taking a group of Konan University students to the Phillipines for more than a decade now. These trips are a part of an elective at Konan and the students get a chance to interact with local students and learn about the culture of the Phillipines. Brent details the educational objectives of this field trip and talks about how it has evolved over the years, including the challenges he has faced.  Show notes can be found HERE.

Carol grew up in the UK and trained to be a French and German teacher in the UK. She has taught EFL in Greece and Mexico and is currenlty based in the US (San Francisco). She has worked on the UC Berkeley extension Certificate in TESL/EFL for about 20 years teaching Methods and Materials and Fundamentals of Linguistics for ESL/EFL teachers (since 2020 online), and worked on the New School MA online TESOL program for about 15 years until the program was discontinued.

She has also been writing textbooks and materials for learners since about 1997 and has authored...

Russ is an author, blogger, teacher and teacher trainer based in Japan. His book, An Introduction to Evidence-Based Teaching in the English Language Classroom: Theory and Practice, has been well received in the teacher training community and the larger ELT field-- it is a great reference for examining common teaching practices. His popular blog is also filled with interesting critical writings on popular teaching techniques.  In this episode, we talk to Russ about his background, his experience teaching, his book, his current interests, and other topics.  See our blog for links to references mentioned in the episode. 

Ken Lackman has been presenting workshops and developing materials for English language instructors since 1996. His company,  Ken Lackman and Associates, was formed in 2007 to offer teacher training sessions to schools and other language teaching organizations. Since that time, he has presented over 300 workshops at schools and conferences in Canada and Europe. In this episode he talks about his background, his experiences teaching and training, and other topics.  You can find links mentioned in the episode on our website. 

Elbert is an artist, librarian, freediver, traveler, and nature lover. In this episode, he tells us about growing up in Los Angeles, and how experiencing racism made him more resilient and tolerant. He shares stories about teaching in a poor neighborhood in South Central L.A. and talks about his current passion, freediving in and around Suma, as well as other topics. He has a YouTube channel and you can visit our blog to see other references made in the episode. 

In this episode, we talk with Ikuko Sunagawa about her background and experiences learning the English language, translation work, and other interests. Links to some of the topics can be found in this blogpost. 

Leo is the founder of Learn your English (.net), as well as an ESL teacher, trainer, and entrepreneur.  Leo believes that individuals develop through reflection, experimentation, and learning from their mistakes. Leo and his business partners work to build a language community for both instructors and learners to become more autonomous and effective.

In this episode, we talk to Leo about his background, his own language learning, his experiences traveling and living abroad, the lexical approach, some interesting ideas for professional development, whether the teacher's role is to just give students information,  or to enable and empower th...

Anthony is a teacher trainer, blogger and teacher, and most known for developing an ‘unplugged’ CELTA course based on Dogme teaching principles. We discuss this interesting model of teacher training as well as Anthony’s background, his views on the resistance to more ‘reactive’ styles of teaching, and other topics. Show notes (links) can be found HERE.

Dr. Josh Jodoin is a lecturer, researcher, and author. He is passionate about sustainable development and is currently writing a book on a new area of study called Language Education for Sustainable Development (LESD). In this episode we talk to Josh about his research, his experience teaching in Europe and Asia, his experience with indigenous people in Calgary, and other topics.  Here is a link to our BLOG where you can find the references mentioned in the episode.

Vincent is doing research for a Master’s Degree at Kobe University and is focused on Japanese literature and history.   In this episode, he shares his experiences of living in different parts of his home country, Germany,  his experiences studying in Japan, and his current research interests. He also gives us his views on the differences between German and Japanese universities and classrooms, as well as other topics. References in the episode can be found on our blog here: https://wordhunters.com/10-vincent-lebert/ 

Atsushi is a unique and adventurous Japanese university student, and has traveled to 37 countries, hitchhiked across Japan and America, and is planning a trip to Africa.  In this episode he tells us about his background and some of his travel stories. 

In this episode, we talk with Neil McCutcheon. Neil  is an author, teacher trainer, and ELT consultant with more than 30 years of experience. He has worked on teacher training courses around the world, including in Ghana, Hungary, France, and the UK. He co-wrote Activities For Task-Based Learning  in 2019 and has an excellent blog for teachers at https://fluencyfirstelt.blog/.  He's also an amateur musician and vinyl collector. You can find the references mentioned in the episode on our blog:

https://wordhunters.com/9-neil-mccutcheon/

In this episode, we talk to Cory Mckenzie of Hamstead, New Hampshire in the US. Cory is a Research Fellow at Kobe Universtiy studying medieval Japanese literature, with a particular interest in a little-known legend called Yuriwaka.  Interestingly, he reads classical Japanese texts in Kobun ( classical Japanese), and is also writing his thesis in Japanese. His dream is to someday share with students his love for Japan's history, language, and culture.  Here is a link to our blog which includes references mentioned in the episode:

https://wordhunters.com/8-cory-mckenzie/

In this episode, Derek talks with Danyk Amyot, a teacher, community-based event organizer, designer, and polyglot. We discuss his background growing up in Canada, his language learning strategies, his projects, current interests, and other topics. Our blog post with links to references from the episode can be found here: https://wordhunters.com/7-danyk-amyot/ 
 

In this episode,  we hear from author, teacher, and adventurer Jim Jensen.  Here is a link to the references mentioned in the episode:

https://wordhunters.com/6-jim-jensen/

Edward is an Air Force Academy Teacher & Pilot and is currently doing his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. His research interests are at the intersection of eastern and western philosophy, particularly focusing on what it means to be an ethical person. He is a great guy to converse with and I am sure you will find something interesting in this wide-ranging conversation that includes topics on education and teaching, philosophy, the tension between the individual and the group, Zen, Japanese society, and more.  Links to references mentioned in the podcast
https://wordhunters.com/5-edward-montgomery/

In this episode, Brent and Derek discuss the topic of reticence to speak among Japanese learners of English. Here is a link to the references mentioned in the discussion:
https://wordhunters.com/4-derek-and-brent/

John Spiri is an educator, writer and self-publisher based in western Japan. In addition to EFL textbooks, John has researched, written and published the "Asians at Work" series, featuring "Japanese at Work." His hobbies include hiking, bicycling and go. Here is a link to references mentioned in the conversation:

https://wordhunters.com/3-john-spiri/