Hi! I'm Thomas. I'm from the USA. I was born near Minneapolis, Minnesota. My first teaching experiences were in elementary school. I tutored a French girl in English and I helped teach French to a summer school class of American sixth graders. I spent most of my sixth grade school year living in Paris, so it was easy for me to teach in both languages. Both of my parents were school teachers, so teaching is a tradition in our family. I attended community colleges in Minnesota and Los Angeles, and graduated from the Grove School Of Music in 1988. I have always played the piano and guitar, and I sang and danced in musicals ever since I was a child. Also, I worked for several years as a full time piano teacher. I have lived in Japan for a long time with my wife, Megumi, and our twin daughters Angelina and Jennifer who are now in high school. I've been teaching English classes for kids at Ladybug for many years. Yukiko has a great system and we have a lot of fun. I think the fact that we use music and movement in class helps the students remember what they learn even after they leave the classroom. Our students do very well. I have watched many of them improve over time and it is gratifying. I encourage parents to have the children sing the songs they've learned and do the actions together at home. I also continue to work every evening as a pianist and singer. Every week I perform at the Osaka Ritz Carlton hotel (Tues & Wed), The Rhiga Royal hotel Cellar Bar (Thurs). Kyoto Granvia hotel Southern Court (Fri), And the Kobe Portopia hotel Pleine D'étoiles (Sun). Please come and listen some time...
Hello! I am Andrey. I am from Russia. I was born in Moscow, the capital of Russia. My mother is a piano teacher and I was surrounded by music since early childhood. I learned to play piano and trumpet, but I have not been practicing for a long time now and probably have lost all the skills. However, music still plays a huge role in my life. Thanks to my parents, I started learning English when I was four and continued to master it in school and later in the university. I entered the Moscow State University (MSU), Department of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics in 2006. At the second year in the university I enrolled in a kendo club which sparked my interest in Japanese culture. Later I started learning Japanese and visited Japan a couple of times, joining volunteer work camps. I also participated in a short term program in a Japanese language school, located in Namba, Osaka. At that time, I think, I deeply fell in love with Japan and Kansai area in particular. During 5 years in the university I tutored high school children in mathematics and physics. I graduated MSU in 2011. I wanted to experience Japan on a deeper level and applied for Monbukagakusho scholarship. I was one of the few lucky ones to get it! I came to Japan in 2012, and enrolled into PhD program of the Osaka University, Graduate School of Information Science and Tech. later that year. I have been working on getting my PhD since then. English plays a significant part in both: my scientific life, and daily life. I read papers, communicate with researches around the world, talk with friends watch shows and read books in English. I think English knowledge, and especially communicative ability, is a crucial skill in the globalized world. I enjoy working with kids. It is fun to learn the language in a more natural environment, through games and songs. There is nothing more exciting than watching a child learning something new!