Nate teaches conversation and content-based classes part-time at Showa Women's University, Tokyo University of Science, and Nihon University. He is interested in creating conversational and content-based materials in which students improve their language skills and participate in activities which give students numerous opportunities to express things in their own words.

Azusa is currently balancing her two careers as an English teacher and as an editor and layout creator with ELT publishing. She has a M.S.Ed. in TESOL from Temple University, Japan as well as a CELTA certificate. She is happy to join MW-SIG and to serve as an officer, however she is a little concerned about her English ability as it is a challenge for a non-English speaker to take this role. Please give her your kind support and forgive any mistakes in English she may make.

Jim is a lecturer at Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University up in Sendai. He is the author of English Care, Therapy Care and Nursing Care, a series of coursebooks for students in health-related English classes. Also, he has authored Frames and Taking Issue which are general textbooks for communication classes. His latest book, co-authored with Jon Catanzariti, Conversation Master, teaches conversation using techniques developed in conversation analysis. See his website for more information.

Travis works at Meiho Jr. & Sr. High School in Tokyo where he teaches conversation and the 21st century course of the Global Studies Program, which includes training critical thinking skills through a problem-based learning approach. His main goal is to "professionalize" the English conversation teaching field through conversation analysis-based materials and activities. He has been developing and implementing a program which trains students to co-construct open-ended conversations in real time, and firmly believes that Japanese students can master daily conversation by the end of junior high.

I am happy to serve as the treasurer of the Material Writers SIG. After these several years, I have finally gotten a handle on the job (sort of). I came to Japan in 1977 and lived in Matsuyama for two years. Then, I returned to the US to obtain an MA in ESL from the University of Hawaii. I returned to Matsuyama in 1981 and worked for a few more years. I moved to Nagoya in 1984, where I worked for the best Catholic University in the city. After that I moved to a junior college and am still at the same institution although it eventually upgraded to a university. In the 90’s, I travelled to Tokyo every week to attend the graduate school at Temple University, where I was granted an EdD in Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in Education in 1998.