John Spiri
formerly John Small
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
3-8-1 Harumi-cho
Fuchu-shi, Tokyo, 183-0057
globalstories@mac.com

Education

Master of Science: Elementary Education – May 1989

The College of St. Rose, Albany, New York

Bachelor of Science: Accounting – May 1984
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Associate of Applied Science: Accounting – May 1982
Herkimer County Community College, Herkimer, New York

Professional Development

• Principles and Practices of Online Teaching Certificate Program, TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), six courses to be completed fall 2006.
• Temple University, Fukuoka, audited two day course: Vocabulary Teaching, 2001.
• David English House’s Teaching English certificate (with merit), fall 2000.
• St. Michael’s College Peace Education course, summer 1996.
• A number of post-graduate English courses at the State University of New York at Albany and Siena College, Albany NY, USA, 1986-1988.

Teaching Experience

Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology
Associate Professor, English Department
April 2007– present

• Taught Core and Academic Writing in a content-based EAP program.
• Create blog and wiki pages for students.
• Lectured on Go and Buddhism to foreign students, summer 2004.

Akita International University (AIU)
Assistant Professor
April, 2004 – March 2007

• Taught Core and Academic Writing in a content-based EAP program.
• Co-developed, with colleagues, curriculum for an entirely new program (AIU opened in April 2004).
• Instituted “Service Travel Club” and led students on a two-week NGO research/volunteer work trip abroad to Chiangmai, Thailand in March, 2005, and to the Asian Youth Forum, February 2007.
• Advisor to 5-8 students.
• Regularly administered the TOEFL ITP examination.
• Created, use, and maintain two websites for students http://www.aiu.ac.jp/~spiri/ and http://www.globalstories.net.
• Created, use, and maintain a self-study Moodle page for students.
• Lectured on Go and Buddhism to foreign students, summer 2004.
• Taught SETS program (to Akita prefecture high school teachers) summer 2005.

Kumamoto Gakuen University
Full-time English Instructor
April 2001 – March 2004

• Taught English conversation courses in Foreign Language Center.
• Taught Oral Communication to freshmen English majors.
• Extensively involved in materials development.
• Main research area: Global Issues in Language Education (GILE).

Nagasaki Junior College of Foreign Languages
Full-time English Instructor
April 1998 – March 2001

• Taught English Conversation, Listening, and English Composition to International Culture majors and English majors.
• Prepared students for and judged an English Speech Contest.
• Prepared for and participated in annual overnight excursion to Unzen National Park.
• Instituted and participated in two clubs: English Conversation club and Go club.
• Co-taught a culture course to foreign students, lecturing on the history and theory of Go.

Nara YMCA
Full Time EFL Teacher
April 1997 – March 1998

Taught adults and children English conversation.

Community College of Vermont – Middlebury, USA
Adjunct Instructor
September 1993 – December 1996

Taught Composition (every semester) and Sociology (one semester) to students.

Champlain College – Burlington, Vermont USA
Adjunct Instructor
September 1994 – December 1996

Taught Composition, Accounting, and Freshman Focus (a course about notetaking, study skills, and college pressures) to first-year students.

Tainan, Taiwan YMCA
Full Time EFL Teacher
September 1989 – September 1990

Taught adults and children English conversation.

Other Relevant Work Experience

• Volunteer English Teacher for community classes in Nagasaki (1999-2000), Kumamoto (2001-2003), and Akita (fall 2005). Proceeds of these classes were donated to charity.
• Volunteer English Teacher at the Cosmo Language School, Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, summer 2001.
• Proofreader/Advisor for two English textbooks: One More Step (2004), and Liven It Up!: Simple Tips to Sharpen Conversation Skills (2005), both by Yuichi Kurosawa.

Self-Published Textbooks and Readers

• Global Stories low intermediate classroom EFL textbook, April 2002.
• Nature Stories beginner classroom EFL textbook, April 2003.
• Inspiring Stories intermediate classroom EFL textbook, April 2003.

·       Asians at Work online at http://globalstories.net/worldatwork.htm.

Grants and Awards

·  UNESCO grant recipient 2005, coauthor: “Promoting Conservation of Cultural Heritage and
Cultural Exchange.”
·  Toastmaster’s Humorous Speech Contest Finalist: An Upside Down World. Fall, 2003.
·  Best of JALT, 2003: “Putting Words in Their Mouths,” for Kitakyushu chapter presentation.
·  A top ten percent rated presenter for JALT CALL 2004, based on participant surveys.

Other Accomplishments and Skills:
·  Vermont State teacher’s license, 1989
·  Suan Mok Monastery, Thailand, ten day meditation retreat, 1999.
·  Japanese Driver’s License, 2004
·  Approximate 2 dan Go player in Japan
·  Computer proficiency: Mac OS 10.4.2, Windows, Vtrain (vocabulary training software), Macromedia Dreamweaver, Photoshop Elements 2.0, basic video editing skills
·  High-Intermediate/Advanced-level speaker of Japanese

John Spiri
formerly John Small

List of Academic Publications

Research Book Publication

The Significance of Prior Knowledge and Motivation in Fourth Graders’ Writing. The College of Saint Rose, May 1989.

Refereed Academic Publications

“A Content-Based Career Design Course for University Students,” JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) National Conference Proceedings (due out October 2005).

The Word of the Day. the language teacher, October 2004, vol. 28, no. 10.

The Potential of Language Education: A Global Issues Perspective. the language teacher, March, 2003, vol 27, no. 3.

Shadow Talking Warm-ups. the language teacher, April 2002, vol. 26, no. 4.

Teaching for Charity. the language teacher, February 2001, vol. 25, no. 2. (online at http://www.jalt.org/global/36Charity.htm).

Combining Dictogloss and Cooperative Learning to Promote Language Learning. The Reading Matrix (coauthored with Jacobs, George) http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/jacobs_small/article.pdf, vol. 3, no 1, 2001.

Every Picture Tells a Story. Between the Keys (JALT’s Material Writer’s Special Interest Group’s Newsletter): vol. 9, no. 1, spring 2001.

Selected Non-Refereed Publications
Language Digestion: Student Self-Assessment. Developing Autonomy: Proceedings of the JALT CUE conference 2001 held at the Miho Kenshukan of Tokai University, 2001

The Vocabulary Notebook. The Journal of Nagasaki Junior College of Foreign Languages, no. 53, 1999.

Self-Instruction by Audio Cassette.  The Journal of Nagasaki Junior College of Foreign Languages, http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Small-SelfInstruction.html, no. 51, 1998.

Every Picture Tells a Story. The Journal of Nagasaki Junior College of Foreign Languages, no. 56, 1997.

Working for a Nuclear-Free World. Global Issues in Language Education newsletter #41, January 2001.
Selected Other Published Articles
“Bringing Up Baby: Cultural Differences In Parenting.” Kansai Time Out magazine, July 2004.
“The World of Zen.” Kansai Time Out magazine, May 2001.
 “The Japanophile’s Classic Books Review.” Kansai Time Out magazine, March 2000.
“The Art of Ninjitsu.” Kansai Time Out magazine, http://www.japanfile.com/sport/martial_arts/Ninjutsu-1.shtml, August 1999.
“Spiritual Thailand.” Spirit of Change, 1998.
 “Burlington’s Homeless.” Vermont Times, 1995.
“Spectrum: A Home For Runaways.” Vermont Times, 1995.
 “Diamond Mining in New York.” The Boston Globe, 1994.
 “Look, Mom, I Got My Cyberdegree!” Vermont Times, 1994.
 “Finding the Work You Love.” Spirit of Change, 1990.
“A Land of Intrigue and Beauty”          Travel in Taiwan, 1987.
 “The Art of Typing”         Transformation Times, 1985.

Over 50 other published articles including 32 published interviews for Japanese at Work series in Kansai Time Out magazine, most of which were conducted in Japanese and translated by myself into English

Self-Published Textbooks and Readers
Global Stories classroom EFL textbook, April 2002.
Nature Stories classroom EFL textbook, April 2003.
Inspiring Stories classroom EFL textbook, April 2003.
Traveler’s Tales Siberia (a cloze book with audio for listening)
Traveler’s Tales Japan

The World at Work series of self-published readers:
Japanese at Work
Koreans at Work
Vietnamese at Work
Thai at Work
Malaysians at Work (in progress)
Southeast Asians at Work (Laos, Cambodia)
Japanese Homeless at Work (started summer 2005)