Staff Profiles
At TIS, all of our homeroom teachers are native English speakers and are qualified to teach elementary school in their home countries (currently Australia, Canada, and the United States). They also have teaching experience in elementary school settings and are comfortable working in an international environment.
Teacher Profiles
Mr. Shaun Beilby
Mr. Beilby has over 15 years experience in teaching middle and senior school in Australia and England after graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary Mathematics and Science) from the University of South Australia. He has worked in government and private schools, with the last ten years spent at a large Catholic Secondary School in Adelaide, Australia. He held a number of coordinating/leadership positions where he was responsible for curriculum development, monitoring of student academic progress, career counselling, pastoral care, student behaviour management and providing support to staff and parents. Mr. Beilby will be assisting in the continual development of the middle years program at TIS in addition to teaching the middle school students. The enjoyment and satisfaction he gets from teaching and working with students and other teachers enables him to encourage them with positive reinforcement to reach their full potential. His hobbies include travelling, sports, gardening and personal fitness.
Mr. Michael Chartier
Mr. Chartier is from Wisconsin, US. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yale University (1995) and a Master of Arts in Teaching (Elementary Education) from National-Louis University (2007). He is currently working on his MA in TESOL at Columbia University’s Tokyo Campus. He started his career as a banker, but after spending three years as an Assistant Language Teacher in Ami-machi, Ibaraki, he decided that he wanted to become a teacher. He loves working with young people and hopes to help them develop a lifelong love of learning. As the philosopher and educator John Dewey said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Mr. Chartier is currently teaching language arts, math, science, and physical education. His hobbies include traveling, hiking, and reading nonfiction and poetry.
Ms. Jodie Gilbert
Miss Gilbert is from Melbourne, Australia. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Teaching (2005) from Australian Catholic University. She believes that she has one of the most important jobs in the world. As a teacher, she hopes to install a love for learning in each and every one of her students; and wants to allow each child’s natural curiosity to direct their own learning. She wants to encourage each child to achieve his/her highest potential, and wants her students to know that they can make a difference in the world. Miss Gilbert’s hobbies include hiking and camping, yoga, scuba diving, figure skating, bible study and visual arts. She loves travelling the world and volunteering in developing countries, and she loves Japan.
Ms. Misato Hasegawa
Misato Hasegawa taught at two international preschools in Tokyo before she came to TIS. She graduated from Seisen Catholic University and is qualified to teach English at the junior high and high school level. She also has a certificate for teaching Japanese to foreign students. Misato decided to become a Japanese teacher when she spent a year studying in New Zealand at the age of 16. When she was there, she realized that learning a new language by living amongst people from various countries opened up the door to new friends and helped her see her own country (Japan) in a new light. She decided that she would like to become a teacher one day to help other people experience the joy in learning new things. Misato believes that learning a language is not just about studying the language itself, but also about learning how to use the language as a tool of communication, broadening one’s views, understanding other cultures, and seeing a new side of one’s own culture.
Mr. Perry O’Connor
Mr. O’Connor is from Australia. He graduated from The University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Teaching. He really enjoys Japan, and he has lived and taught in Japan for a long period. In his spare time, he likes spending time outdoors and reading, though his major interest is education. Therefore, he is very excited to be a part of TIS and he is looking forward to helping students discover new things about themselves and the world around them.
Ms. Ava Richardson
Ms. Richardson is originally from Ontario, Canada and moved to Japan in 2008. She received a science degree in Biology and Environmental Science from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario in 2006 where she also later graduated from Teacher’s College in 2008. Although Ms. Richardson is only entering her third year teaching at the elementary level, she brings with her over 10 years of experience teaching curriculum-based outdoor and environmental education. Along with her experience teaching all regular elementary classroom topics, she also has experience teaching a variety of other subjects such as dance, puppet theatre, composting, ecology, urban farming, animal and plant biology, ecosystems, habitat and Native Studies. She also brings with her seven years of organic farming experience and a passion for growing food and protecting the environment. Ms. Richardson had the pleasure of teaching using the PYP curriculum both in Kobe and in Tokyo over the past two years and looks forward to continuing her learning and teaching journey at TIS. She strongly believes that learning is a wonderful life-long adventure. She also believes that great things can happen in a school and classroom community when inquiring minds work together to communicate, collaborate and create. In her leisure time, Ms. Richardson enjoys gardening, playing beginner fiddle, square dancing, reading, singing, cycling, nature walks and traveling.
Ms. Dianne Suzuki
With three uncles as teachers influencing her childhood it’s no surprise that Ms. Suzuki dreamed of one day becoming a teacher. Graduating from Northern Rivers CAE (Southern Cross University) with a Diploma of Teaching, Dianne set her sights overseas and found herself teaching English in Japan. Dianne was involved in TIS in its infancy, initially as a volunteer teacher, then a part time teacher, then finally as principal teacher before leaving to concentrate on her own family. Dianne’s many years as a teacher in a variety of settings and as a parent gives her a unique insight into the challenges that multi-lingual, multicultural and internationally-minded families face in Japan when trying to find the right educational setting for their children. Dianne is excited to be back at TIS to see the school grow and become what its founders dreamed it to one day be. “Education is not the filling of a bucket but rather the lighting of a fire”.
Administrative Staff
Mr. Masayasu Kano, Principal
Mr. Kano has a Bachelor’s degree from International Christian University and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Tsukuba. After graduating from ICU, he went to El Salvador to serve as a Japanese teacher on the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) program, and he stayed there for over three years. After returning to Japan, he was asked by the first principal of Meikei Gakuen, a prestigious private school in Tsukuba, to work with him to establish the school. Along with working as an English teacher at Meikei for twenty nine years, he was a part-time lecturer of Education at Shinshu University (Nagano) for six years. His Master’s thesis focused on the admission policies of North American universities, demonstrating how such universities take into account more diverse aspects (not just examination scores) of the students they are evaluating for acceptance than is done in Japanese universities.
Ms. Shaney Crawford, Administrator
Ms. Crawford is originally from Canada. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Linguistics from Queen’s University (Canada) and a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Tsukuba. She originally came to Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) on the JET Programme in Fukushima Prefecture in 1995, and has since worked as a Co-ordinator for International Relations at an international association and a translator at a research institute. She enjoys the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment with highly motivated teachers and students. In her spare time, Ms. Crawford likes to learn about computers, attend square dancing classes, and perform in drama productions. She is currently working on a PhD in Library and Information Science.